The Colony - Turn 24 - Squirmy

The party finds some unexpected "friends" in the depths.


Start Date: July 31, afternoon
Start Status: Back in Bats
Start Location: In the lizard caves (hex 39 27)

The Turn

While there is some interest in checking out the stones laid out in a serpent pattern, the stench of bat guano and the mass of small, squeaky creatures overhead dissuade the party from too much poking around. They retreat up the tunnel to the entrance, check the time (there are still several hours of daylight left).

The group decides to see if the lizard carcass has drawn any scavengers they need to worry about. With Kessel in the lead checking for tracks in the tunnel, they head down the left-hand passage. The smell is... amazing. As they get closer to the main cavern, Kessel raises a hand. "Listen!"

The usual quiet of the cave is broken by faint slithery, splashing noises that seem to be coming from the big cave. "I guess something's found the corpse," says Sim. Everyone prepares their weapons and moves forward at a cautious pace. The near shore is empty, apart from some streaks of mud on the floor. The island in the middle of the pool is another matter. Dozens of huge worms crawl over the remains of the lizard and wriggle through the surrounding pool, which is now fouled with mud, blood, and gore.

"I told you we should have explored those stairs when we were here before," says Kessel, while the party studies the creatures. They haven't noticed the party, yet, so everyone gets a good look [description below].

"There certainly are a lot of them," says Mendel.

"I've counted at least 30," answers Rennard. "Where did they come from?"

"I don't know, but we should probably fall back and figure out what we're going to do about them," suggests Zenobe.

The others agree and back away. Before leaving the room, Kessel picks up a few small stones. "I want to try something." He tosses one into the pool close to the near shore. None of the creatures react. They do, however, respond when he throws a stone further out. Several creatures swim over and investigate the spot before returning to the gory lizard corpse.

"I think we should set up camp away from the ravine," says Rennard as the party makes its way outside. The others agree and march east about a quarter mile to a small spring they discovered on their last trip. There's not much cover, but the open ground offers good sight lines, and there's no place better nearby.

OOC

The worm-things are 5-8 feet long and 4-8 inches in diameter. Their bodies are segmented and covered in slick blue-green skin, broken here and there by rough, stone-like growths. They have a circular mouth at their head end that's lined with sharp, protruding teeth. They have no visible sensory organs. Their bodies split into multiple whip-like tails that are about 2 feet long. The creatures can grasp objects with these appendages. Xon saw several of the creatures use them to lash other worms when they got too close.

Other than the smeared mud marks on the near shore, there's no indication where these creatures came from. They've done a good job of ripping the lizard corpse apart in a relatively short time. There are already bones showing in the remains, and the rolled up hide is mostly gone.

Back at the Tulip

Various people go shopping, and a few make inquiries about subjects of interest. Javiera makes a new continual light stone. Hagan visits his new favorite tavern but doesn't run into his new acquaintance.

End Date: July 31, evening
End Status: Eeew
End Location: Near the lizard caves (hex 39 27)