Once Shaper had subdued the giant mole beaver, Dendra watched him intently. He devoured the creature swiftly, and his wounds recovered with a speed not unlike that of a troll’s. She had seen him consume at least one troll, but the level of the ability he displayed spoke of experience in devouring their kind.

Through the segment of herself that she’d invested into the root necklace around Shaper’s neck, she’d observed and communicated with him. Shaper was fascinating. Fascinating and amusing. And, above all, ridiculously adorable.

She watched him as he entered a deep meditative state, right there in the center of the giant mole beavers’ lodge. While his consciousness was in a deeper state, she took the moment to extrude tens of thousands of hair thin roots from the cutting, and had them gently come into contact with the various areas of his surface.

She restrained a giggle. This chance would allow her great insight into her adorable little companion. She allowed the little hair-like tendrils of roots to alight upon Shaper’s skin with the utmost delicacy. Through the thousands of points of contact, she viewed his magic aura, and how it was reacting to its most recent feast, as well as its reaction to the remaining environment.

The results were interesting. Intriguing, even. It was clear that there was more to this anomaly than just a talented beast with an unusual mind. Once more, she was surprised with the speed with which he entered into a deep meditative state and directly interacted with his own magic aura. She watched as he isolated the freshly added sections from his most recent meals, then tore chunks away, fully integrating it with the rest of his aura. It reminded her of when she’d watched the elven mages and druids who would sometimes visit her and meditate beside her tree.

She lost herself in her memories for a moment, recalling when she had had her current tree planted, a contingency in case of disaster. She’d been exceptionally irritated when she was forced to fully transfer to the new tree, as her own was struck by a bolt of lightning far more powerful than could naturally manifest. Even now, centuries later, she was certain it was that damnable storm sprite who had been responsible.

She shook herself from her reverie and returned her attention to Shaper. He’d finished ‘digesting’ his meal and was now focusing on altering his present form. The ease with which he did this hinted to her at the staggeringly high potential he’d have for magics that focused on himself. She watched with giddiness as she awaited the changes to his form. Her adorable little Shaper would certainly leave his mark on this world.

Finished with integrating my meal, I pulled myself back up from my meditative state. I’d reinforced my fangs to be more like the beaver’s ultra dense teeth, and discarded the venom glands for now. The venom that had been in my fangs had become less and less of use as I grew stronger, because it simply took too long for it to take effect, and was far inferior in quality to the venom in my tail quills.

As I came back to my senses, I noticed Dendra withdrawing numerous hair-like tendrils back into the necklace. Curious.

I slipped back into the water and moved on to the next lodge. I moved much more stealthily this time, and inched my way into the structure’s interior. As I gradually surfaced onto the mound inside the lodge, I barely made a ripple. There were two targets nesting here, both soundly asleep.

I crept around until the heads of the two sleeping forms were in sight, and charged up a large blast of electricity. Once my hands were both fully charged, I placed my hands a hair’s breadth above their heads and discharged the bolts. A loud crack and the smell of burnt fur later, I had two corpses. I quickly ate them.

I cleared out half of the beaver lodges this way, sneaking about with supreme care. The sturdy construction ensured that no sounds escaped the structures and woke the others, so it proceeded rather smoothly. Having consumed ten of the beasts, I departed and headed for the section of shore the orcs said the fog turtles inhabited. I passed the remaining hour or so till dawn first by 'digesting' the beavers, then by practicing my swimming.

As the sun peeked over the valley’s edge, I headed to shore. I found a nice rock outcropping that overlooked the shore, and laid there. It was pleasant, lying there and absorbing the suns’ rays. I’d never thought much of it, but in James’ memories, there was only one sun. Here, there were two of the fiery orbs. Presently, they were both easily distinguishable and disbursing a double dose of luminescence and warmth. For a late fall day, today would be quite warm.

As I luxuriated in the unseasonably warm weather, I kept my senses on full alert and waited for signs of my prey.

Ah, there, I thought. I picked up a weak magic aura crawling toward the shore. I turned my gaze toward it, and spotted a dark greenish grey shell a yard across dragging itself towards the water on thick legs. Its head had a heavy brow rimmed with spikes, and an obviously heavily muscled jaw. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it appeared that they sheltered on land during the night.

I remained as still as possible as I observed the creature on its ponderous path towards the water. As I inspected it, I picked out small gaps in the shell along the ridge that bisected the shell into left and right halves.

In the distance I could make out other fog turtles ambling their way toward the water.

I watched my prey. They were extraordinarily cautious and slow. The closest one was about twenty feet from my perch when I decided to act.

I leapt at the turtle, aiming to land right next to it. Noticing the movement, the turtle began to scurry toward the water, as the vents along the ridge of its shell began to pour out a thick, silvery mist. As I landed within the rapidly expanding cloud of fog and began to pivot towards the turtle, I was shocked. Not only was the fog inhibiting my eyesight, but it was all but impenetrable to my magic perception, and had a cloyingly sweet odor to it which overrode everything else. Even the sound of the turtle’s legs churning along the rocky shore was muted and difficult to pinpoint.

The fog was a formidable defense indeed. However, there was still one sense which came through unhindered, perhaps even a little amplified - the electrical field perception I had picked up from the thunder drakes. I could sense the slight field given off by the turtle. I reoriented myself and closed the few feet between myself and my prey.

The turtle, sensing me closing in, withdrew into its shell, trusting in its last line of defense as it continued to pump out its fog. The shell was indeed quite strong. My claws could barely scratch it and it shrugged off my electrical bolts. I tested out my newly enhanced fangs on it and found that, with some difficulty, I could damage the shell. I chewed open a small hole in the side of the shell, between the limbs, just large enough for me to poke a few fingers through.

Utilizing that breach, I electrocuted the beast. As the turtle’s fog began to clear, I began the laborious process of eating the fog turtle.

The ensuing meal took more than an hour, but I managed to eat the entire creature, shell and all. However, in that time, the other fog turtles had cleared out from the lake’s shoreline, and were nowhere to be seen.

I’d have to come back and hunt them later. For now, I had the beginnings of a plan for hunting the last creature of note in this area. I swam back to the orc village and had Dendra translate for me as I bossed them around. They were surprisingly compliant.

“Dendra, tell them to build a raft for me.”