Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

I've told my story of about eventually getting brave enough to tame not one, but two raptors and getting lucky enough for a breeding pair, but I also need to tell the rest of that, specifically my raptor horde.

After taming Zeus and Hera, (Zeus was a deep blue male, Hera was a splendid silver female) I immediately went to work to bring the craziest idea I ever had to live: a raptor army.

Once Zeus and Hera were safe at my base, I immediately went to work to breed them. When Silver, their first son, was born, I immediately worked to raise him, and he grew up to be an excellent potential heir to the pack leader role should Zeus or Hera inevitably be killed.

Then, I bred the parents again, and three raptors became four when Harmony was hatched. Over time, I raised those raptors to be fast and high damaging, with huge amounts of health, and then the 3rd egg hatched.

That day, not one, but two baby female raptors had hatched from the egg. I named them Harmony and Gamma according to the imprint order, and worked to raise them well.

Once all four raptors were high enough in levels and starts, I would take them out of base on a run daily to get them stronger, to hunt, and spend time with my pack, and then it dawned on me: more variety was needed in my pack.

So I took my pteranodon, Elliot (he had the colors of Elliot the dragon) for long flights to scout out spawn points of colorful raptors, land him somewhat distant from those raptors, and got to work of singling out the desired raptors I had my eyes on.

I would bola the others, and lure the desired one far from the pack, and knock them out, resulting in my four raptors becoming seven, then twelve, to eventually THIRTY-THREE!

I admired my pack, every single one of them, no matter the level, and always took four to eight at a time on runs, loving the seemingly unstoppable chaos I unleashed until a fatal day.

During one of my gathering runs, I had Zeus and Hera with me while I was in the swamp area to kill leeches for their blood and other resources, but little did I know, something bad was about to happen.

As soon as a gator/croc looking creature grabbed me, I was scared spitless. Zeus and Hera immediately came over and fought the creature, making it let me go so I could get away, but when I was far enough, I let them fight and kill it, hoping they would win, but the messages of their deaths popped up, and it DEVASTATED me.

After coming back with a half full inventory of resources, I scraped what little materials I had and crafted two gravestones, placed them side by side, and put the inscriptions of their names on each one, then silently mourned for fifteen minutes.

I never took the pack for a run for a while after that, instead just sitting at the graves after each and every resource run with Elliot.

I still miss those raptors, and my save file after it was corrupted. Rest in Peace, Zeus and Hera. You both gave your lives to defend mine.