CELLQUEST: RIP in Piece [DEAD due to inactive host]

[Sam B]

Well, nobody got it. But since a certain suggestion would have the same basic results as Dodging (which won the vote) while also opening up some interesting possibilities, I am going to use it instead.

Act:

You spin around in place and waver back and forth as you try to distract the beast long enough for you to get away. How your odd movements are going to keep distracting it as you turn around and leave does not even occur to you. All you've got for planning combat strategies is a measly little nucleus, so really, nobody can blame you. The Snakeweed, only encouraged by your delicious display, charges with renewed fervor.

Instead of expending all your remaining energy in a mad dash to get away, you instead opt to expend all your energy right out of your mouth, sending a dark brown liquid cloud of all your stored proteins right at the monstrous worm. Though the Snakeweed does not actually have any eyes and therefore has no vision to obscure, it is more than content to dine on all your delicious vital fluids instead of you. You're Belly is totally empty, but you are now free to leave without the worm giving chase.

You aren't quite on the verge of death just yet, but your body has begun to feed on your S-Layer in a desperate attempt to stay alive which could surely be viewed as an early sign of starvation. (-.1 Defense) On the bright side, by expelling everything you've eaten from your body, you also got rid of the Snakeweed's Venom that was coursing through you. Also of note, your coloration seems to have disappeared. You've unlocked a new ability: Protein Expulsion! This dangerous skill lets you shoot out the entire contents of your Belly in the form of an opaque cloud! It is probably not a good idea to use this too often!

You're feeling extremely tired, but still capable of movement thanks to your body's self-preservation technique. The light in the distance is probably still glowing, but you are far too exhausted to detect it anymore. If you want to have any hope of surviving, you'll need to get some food and fast. The Seakelp Forest looms ominously behind the deadly Snakeweed Worm, who is still feeding on your generous offering. You really don't feel like trying to eat any more of that stuff, but you are kind of desperate... There may be some other cells inside that you could attack, but if you ran into another predator there's no way you'd escape again... The sand down below is also an option, you guess, albeit a far less appealing one compared to the kelp.

What do you do?

A. Sneak past the busy worm and eat some of the Seakelp.
B. Sneak past the busy worm and search for some cells inside the Forest
C. Drift down to the sand and try eating some of that instead.
D. Flee the area and try to make it on absorbing your own S-Layer.
E. Other: ___________________


Stats:

Homeworld: Aros.
Name: (Biobe: 1; First to 3 votes wins)
Traits: Cell (You are full-fledged cell with a nucleus), Asymmetrical.
Appearance: Translucent, slightly crystalline; Spiral shape. Red eyespot and mouth on 'front' end, tuft of flagella on 'back' end; a row of cilia along each side.
Diet: Can eat almost anything, prefers plants.
Belly: 0% [WARNING: STARVING]
Size: 0.3; Slightly larger than an average cell.
Sense: .5; Able to detect light, and sense nearby chemicals.
Mobility: .8; You can move very well for your size, but still cannot fight the current.
Intelligence: 1; You have a nucleus.
Attack: .5; You have a mouth.
Defense: .2; You have a durable S-Layer, protecting you from basic attacks. [-.1 PER ACTION; STARVING]
HP: 10/15

Abilities:
Cell Division: Split yourself into two cells and evolve. Slightly reduces size and halves Belly (req. 80% Belly or higher to use)
Dodge: A short burst of speed in any direction. (-35% Belly)
Protein Expulsion: Eject the contents of your Belly through your Mouth in a thick cloud. (-100% Belly)


Edit: I just now noticed how hilariously fitting this update is considering the recent thread subtitle. All the more justification for using mystic's suggestion.

[Knight_of_Hide]

We've eaten minerals and plants already, lets go find some small, weak plant eaters to munch on

B

[Ross_Varn]

C. No need to risk ourselves any more than we already have. Kinda figured that would be the result, as well...

[Aabcehmu]

I vote for C as well. It may not be less likely to contain predators, but it doesn't require the energy that hunting other living things does.

[Sam B]

Act:

Feeling way too tired to actually move in order to get some food, you let your body go limp while you slowly descend down to the seabed. Desperate to fill your Belly with something, you greedily bury your front end in the sand and start shoveling the stuff into your mouth. Unexpectedly, the soil here is actually even more filling than the space dust you had that one time. It is none other than Arosian Blue Sand: This fertile soil spans across the entirety of Aros' large, frozen sea, and it is ripe with all sorts of healthy minerals, making it a very accessible source of nutrition for the select few species that are able to digest it.

You gain a whopping 3 DNA Pts from the large meal, and manage to fill your Belly by half. Now that you are no longer starving, you can feel your S-Layer starting to recover its original integrity, and it seems you've also regained the strength to properly use your Stigma as the ever-present distant light's location once again becomes visible to you.

The Snakeweed Worm seems to have slithered off someplace after filling itself with your essence, and you can no longer detect its presence. The outskirts of the Seakelp Forest are now bustling with cellular activity, as many hungry herbivorous cells begin grazing in the wake of the deadly worm's departure, confident of their own safety. You're feeling pretty confident yourself right now, or as close as you can come to that sort of feeling. With all this energy you could probably go anywhere you wanted to, even if another predator tried to stop you.

What do you do?

A. Leave this terrible place and head towards the light already.
B. Explore the Seakelp Forest after all.
C. Investigate some of the nearby cells.
D. Rest a while instead.
E. Other: ___________________


Stats:

Homeworld: Aros.
Name: (Biobe: 1; First to 3 votes wins)
Traits: Cell (You are full-fledged cell with a nucleus), Asymmetrical.
Appearance: Translucent, slightly crystalline; Spiral shape. Red eyespot and mouth on 'front' end, tuft of flagella on 'back' end; a row of cilia along each side.
Diet: Can eat almost anything, prefers plants and minerals.
Belly: 50%
Size: 0.3; Slightly larger than an average cell.
Sense: .5; Able to detect light, and sense nearby chemicals.
Mobility: .8; You can move very well for your size, but still cannot fight the current.
Intelligence: 1; You have a nucleus.
Attack: .5; You have a mouth.
Defense: .2; You have a durable S-Layer, protecting you from basic attacks. (temp. +.1 per action, recovering.)
HP: 10/15

Abilities:
Cell Division: Split yourself into two cells and evolve. Slightly reduces size and halves Belly (req. 80% Belly or higher to use)
Dodge: A short burst of speed in any direction. (-35% Belly)
Protein Expulsion: Eject the contents of your Belly through your Mouth in a thick cloud. (-100% Belly)

[Aabcehmu]

I maintain that we investigate the light, and vote for A.

[Ross_Varn]

A. Up and out. Well not actually out but you know what I mean

[Kíeros]

> About that light that we've heard of for forever...

[Shrump]

A.

(dang, I missed all the action.)

[Sam B]

Act:

You finally resolve to go after the one thing in your tiny world that your little red eyespot is good for seeing: The light in the distance. Leaving behind the mysteries of the dangerously tempting Violet Seakelp, you spiral up and out. Figuratively speaking, that is; you are actually swimming sort of west and down a little bit.

The journey is shorter than expected and also completely uneventful, and the only sign that you are actually making progress is the steady increase of the light's size and brightness. You finally reach an area where the sand dips downwards in a steep decline, leading to some sort of hole of unknown depth where the mysterious light glows brightly from within. If you were large enough, you might notice that the hole is circular in shape.

You're feeling a bit hungry again from the long time spent traveling, and you can sense a bit of unknown plant matter floating above the large hole, but the sand everywhere is equally appealing to you. As you contemplate which food you'd like to go after, a dead cell floats by between the glowing hole and yourself. It is large and round, not unlike the hole itself, and seems vaguely familiar to you in some way other than that, but your intelligence is too low to remember how or why. You also can't imagine why there would be possibly be a dead cell floating around perfectly intact.

What do you do?

A. Eat some more Arosian Blue Sand?
B. Eat the unknown plant matter?
C. Try eating a bit of the dead cell?
D. Forget about food and dive into the glowing hole?
E. Other: ___________________


Stats:

Homeworld: Aros.
Name: (Biobe: 1; First to 3 votes wins)
Traits: Cell (You are full-fledged cell with a nucleus), Asymmetrical.
Appearance: Translucent, slightly crystalline; Spiral shape. Red eyespot and mouth on 'front' end, tuft of flagella on 'back' end; a row of cilia along each side.
Diet: Can eat almost anything, prefers plants and minerals.
Belly: 30%
Size: 0.3; Slightly larger than an average cell.
Sense: .5; Able to detect light, and sense nearby chemicals.
Mobility: .8; You can move very well for your size, but still cannot fight the current.
Intelligence: 1; You have a nucleus.
Attack: .5; You have a mouth.
Defense: .3; You have a durable S-Layer, protecting you from basic attacks.
HP: 10/15

Abilities:
Cell Division: Split yourself into two cells and evolve. Slightly reduces size and halves Belly (req. 80% Belly or higher to use)
Dodge: A short burst of speed in any direction. (-35% Belly)
Protein Expulsion: Eject the contents of your Belly through your Mouth in a thick cloud. (-100% Belly)

[Aabcehmu]

I vote for A. We know it is unsuspicious, and provides relatively large amounts of DNA points. Not to mention, I have a sneaking suspicion that the hole is a geothermal vent, which would imply that is also spewing out tons deadly chemicals, which is also likely what killed the other cell.

[Kíeros]

> A. Safety before exploration.

[dragonpaul99]

Yeah let's go with A. Hanging around the dead cell in an unknown place like this sounds real dumb.

[Ross_Varn]

Yep, A. Sand for the sand god!

[Knight_of_Hide]

That dead cell better not be our clone buddy.

I'll vote for B

[Sam B]

Now how would your clone get all the way out here before you, knight?

Act:

Drilling downwards into the delicious Arosian Blue Sand, you eat your fill and gain another 3 DNA Pts from the precious mineral particles. Your translucent cell membrane has taken on dulled blue color, not unlike the seabed although a bit less vibrant, and for some reason non-mineral food sources seem even less appealing than they did moments ago. Probably because eating dirt is just way cooler.

All the newly gained energy from your meal has allowed your eyespot to focus more clearly, taking advantage of the brightly lit area and enabling you to easily make out everything in front of you. The dead cell has drifted away from the hole and now floats directly above you, silhouetted by the shining light. The unknown plant is still idly sitting above the large hole, whose radial properties are now apparent to you. Though your intelligence is waaaaay too low to understand the implications of a glowing crater at the bottom of the ocean.

You have 6 DNA Pt(s)

What do you do?

A. Investigate the glowing crater.
B. Investigate the dead cell.
C. Split and evolve.
D. Other: ___________________


Stats:

Homeworld: Aros.
Name: (Biobe: 1; First to 3 votes wins)
Traits: Cell (You are full-fledged cell with a nucleus), Asymmetrical.
Appearance: Faded blue, slightly crystalline; Spiral shape. Red eyespot and mouth on 'front' end, tuft of flagella on 'back' end; a row of cilia along each side.
Diet: Geovore, but also capable of eating plants.
Belly: 90%
Size: 0.3; Slightly larger than an average cell.
Sense: .5; Able to detect light, and sense nearby chemicals.
Mobility: .8; You can move very well for your size, but still cannot fight the current.
Intelligence: 1; You have a nucleus.
Attack: .5; You have a mouth.
Defense: .3; You have a durable S-Layer, protecting you from basic attacks.
HP: 10/15

Abilities:
Cell Division: Split yourself into two cells and evolve. Slightly reduces size and halves Belly (req. 80% Belly or higher to use)
Dodge: A short burst of speed in any direction. (-35% Belly)
Protein Expulsion: Eject the contents of your Belly through your Mouth in a thick cloud. (-100% Belly)

[Aabcehmu]

The word crater implies my earlier suspicion is wrong. Either way, I vote for C, now that we have more points we've had at any one time before.

[Shrump]

I agree with C. Then if something bad happens with the crater we'll have a clone buddy to bach us up.

[Kíeros]

> Conquer by dividing!

[Sam B]

If it wasn't apparent before that the costs of upgrades will increase as you become more complex, it surely is now.

Also, just because certain upgrades may not provide the biggest stat bonuses now, they may open up different evolutions later that are just as good as others, or even better. Just putting that out there.

Evolve:

Feeling like you need to expend some of this new energy to propagate your species, you divide your body into two entirely new cells. Your other half just sort of mills about, floating ever-so-slightly above the seafloor, and your concentration is interrupted as you feel your body shifting and changing once again...

You have 6 DNA Pt(s)

A) Stiffen Cilia: Defense +.1, Mobility -.1; Cilia become sharp spines, detering predators but reducing flexibility. (-2 Pts)
B) Combine Cilia and Flagella: Sense +.2, Mobility +.2 (-3 Pts; -2 additional Pts if purchased with A)
C) Upgrade S-layer: Defense +.2 (-2 Pts)
D) Upgrade nucleus: Intelligence +.5, Sense +.2 (-3 Pts)
E) Develop Saphotrophism: No stat bonus; gain extra DNA Pts from plants of all kinds. (-4 Pts)
F) Develop Geophagy: No stat bonus; gain extra DNA Pts from soil and similar materials. (-4 Pts)
G) Improve Protein Expulsion: Cost- -50%; Greatly increases effectiveness of Protein Expulsion ability. (-5 Pts)
H) Splice: Random arbitrary stat change, may be positive or negative (-3 Pts)
I) Store Remaining DNA Pt(s)


Stats:

Homeworld: Aros.
Name: (Biobe: 1; First to 3 votes wins)
Traits: Cell (You are full-fledged cell with a nucleus), Asymmetrical.
Appearance: Faded blue, slightly crystalline; Spiral shape. Red eyespot and mouth on 'front' end, tuft of flagella on 'back' end; a row of cilia along each side.
Diet: Geovore, but also capable of eating plants.
Belly: 45%
Size: 0.2; Smaller than an average cell.
Sense: .5; Able to detect light, and sense nearby chemicals.
Mobility: .8; You can move very well for your size, but still cannot fight the current.
Intelligence: 1; You have a nucleus.
Attack: .5; You have a mouth.
Defense: .3; You have a durable S-Layer, protecting you from basic attacks.
HP: 10/15

Abilities:
Cell Division: Split yourself into two cells and evolve. Slightly reduces size and halves Belly (req. 80% Belly or higher to use)
Dodge: A short burst of speed in any direction. (-35% Belly)
Protein Expulsion: Eject the contents of your Belly through your Mouth in a thick cloud. (-100% Belly)

[Kíeros]

> DI seems best. Maybe we'll figure more stuff out, but most of the other stuff would be better off delayed for later.

[Mithanu]

F and I, because we've been eating soil and other such things in abundance.

[dragonpaul99]

Agreeing with FI.

[Shrump]

AF, because that'll essentially make us an amoeba-sized cactus. Which is awesome.

[Ross_Varn]

Locking in FI.