(TFT) Joe Hartley and TFT Nightcrawlers --> (Joe's Bane)

[Rick Smith <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

Hi everyone,
  I also would like to thank Joe for his work in
maintaining the TFT list.  


	TFT Monster: Nightcrawlers
	(C) 2005 Richard W. Smith

	A large blind Nematode like creature that
lives in swamps.  It attacks at night.  Also known
as Myocst, Wet Worms or Joe's Bane.  They like to
pick off sentries patrolling a camp.

ST 18 to 24
DX 10 to 12
IQ  6
MA  4 (hard ground) / 12 (shallow water)
		     /  8 (swimming)

Bite 1d+1
Nematocysts have special poison attack.

Armor 0 points / hit.
An adult is 3.2 to 3.6 meters long.

They will attack as individuals or in groups
of several members.


	A Nightcrawler looks like a rubbery dark 
grey worm with 20 short legs on its front half.
It is about 40 cm in diameter at its front which
narrows to about 10 cm 2.8 meters along its length.
(The anus is at the bottom of the narrowest part.)
It then widens to about 20 cm at the rear end.
The tail of the thing folds horizontally.  When 
the tail is open it is a circular sensor organ.
There is a fleshy lip that pulls over its wide 
head, and another circular sensor organ 30 cm in
diameter in on the outside of this lip.  The 
surface of these organs are flat black.

	When the tail is closed it forms a flipper
shape that helps the creature swim.

	The sensor organ is a heat detector. It
gives very poor resolution, but if the creature
is laying sideways the two organs are about 3 
meters apart and this binocular 'vision' gives
it fair accuracy up with its Nematocyst attack 
up to 5 meters.

	On its lower side of the mouth is a gas
powered launcher that fires a thin tongue of 
flesh with poison cells at the end.  The cells
spread out on impact and often squish thru cracks
in armor to poison their victim.  (See below for
details of how to make this attack.)

	A Night crawler can fire this stinging
lance once per hour.  However if it successfully
bites someone, there is a 50% chance of poison
entering the wound.

	
	Night crawlers will approach large warm
animals in the middle of night.  Crawling very
slowly they will approach their prey making 
pretty good use of cover.  When they get within
4 or 5 meters they will turn sideways and open
their sensors fully, waiting for the prey to 
move closer.

	When the time is right they will fire 
their poison stingers.  They are at no DX negatives
for the first 2 hexes, and get a -1 DX for each
hex beyond that range.  If several Night crawlers
are nearby, the sound of the first firing will
prompt the others to fire if they have any sort
of shot.

	Upon impact a bunch of fine stinging
tentacles spreads out from impact.  The creature
fires at the warmest areas so the impact is 
likely to land near the face or hands.  There is
a 5/6 chance of penetrating normal clothing or
cloth armor; a 3/6 chance of penetrating leather
or chain, and an 1/6 chance of penetrating 
heavier armor.  If the victim has Acute Hearing
(or the GM rules that they are aware of the 
attack) the victim may attempt a 4vsDX.  If the
victim succeeds, the Night crawler must roll 1 die
to penetrate armor twice.  If it does not make 
both rolls, then the victim dodged any stings. 

	Assuming the poison penetrates the victim
must make a 5vsST.  Add 2 dice for each additional
Nematode that touches skin.  If the victim fails
their muscles contract with pain and they will 
breath out suddenly making it hard to yell for 
help.  They will be unable to run and must make
a 4vsDX to remain standing.  Maximum movement will
be 2 hexes per turn.

	If they make the ST roll above, they are
not affected by the poison for 3 turns, have no
chance of falling and their maximum movement drops
to 4 hexes per turn.

	Unless the stinging cells stuck on the skin 
are killed (vinegar or other weak acids do this in 
12 turns, alcohol does so in 5 minutes) the victim
will go into a coma much like the Little Death 
spell.  This death state will take 1 minute to take
effect however prompt treatment will delay or 
prevent the coma.  (The person will still be very
sick for at least 4 hours.)

	This death state will last for 8 hours, then
the victim will recover tho they will be very sick
for a day after wards.  This coma is effectively 
like suspended animation, the victim will not breath
during this time.  Their body temperature will drop
to within a degree of ambient temperature and they
will look dead to any casual examination.

	A victim that falls into this death state 
will be dragged into the swamp by the worm.  They 
will be pulled into a shallow pool and positioned
so the victim's head is out of the water.

	The Night crawlers will then lay a few
hundred eggs on the victim.  These will hatch in
12 to 15 hours and burrow into the flesh.  They
will rapidly grow, killing the host in 2 or 3 days.
The Night crawlers will sting the victim every few
hours to maintain the death coma, until the larva
burrow into the body.  Then the adults will lose
interest.

	The larva do best if the host is living but
a dead host will do in a pinch.  80% of the larva 
will die in that case.

	After the host dies they will grow until
they are about 20 cm long and then exit the body.
They are harmless until they grow to 1m when their
adult teeth come in and most Night crawlers are 
killed before they reach that size.


	If a party rescues a member with eggs on
them it is a trivial job to scrape them off.  If
a few of the larva have eaten their way inside 
a prompt operation by a Physicker has an 5/6 chance
per larva of removing it.  Master Physickers roll
as above but they automatically remove the first 
10 larva.  Any larva that are missed have a 50%
chance of doing 1 point of damage every 2 days. If 
many have eaten their way inside, a Cleansing spell 
is the best bet. 


	If an adult Night Crawler is attacked on 
ground it will thrash about.  It is +2 to attack
(height advantage) -2 for thrashing.  It will
attempt to disengage and crawl towards the water.

	Once in water its thrashing will splash
water.  It will shape its body to splash water 
into the eyes of the attacker.  Humans are taller
then it can comfortably aim its splashes.  Dwarves
and other short races must roll 4vsDX to avoid
getting swamp water in the eyes.  Human sized 
beings need only roll 3vsDX.  Getting water in
the eyes will blind the person for a random 1 to 
3 turns. (Warrior talent will subtract one turn
from this duration.)

	In water it may attack with its bite if
it is desperate or feels it has an advantage.

	In deep water it will bite (roll normally)
and try to hang on.  It makes a 5vsST roll.  If
it makes it, the victim must also make a 5vsST
roll.  If it succeeds and its victim misses it
has grabbed on and is now in HTH.  (Also check to
see if its poison gets in to the wound if it 
does any damage.)  It will then roll the victim
like a Alligator attempting to drown the victim.
(This is easy to do if the person is poisoned.)


	If an chicken or other type of egg is
going bad it can make a useful defense.  If a
rotten egg is broken in water that a Night crawler
is in, it will immediately abandon its attack and
will flee great distances.

	In the day time the worm hide in deep 
silty pools.  They can breath air and will 
absorb oxygen thru their skin when wet, but can
not stay indefinitely underwater.  (They will
come to the surface once an hour and swallow a
bubble of air to sustain them.)


	A Chemist or Chemist Journeyman can 
take the poison cells and preserve them.  This
makes a Little Death potion which will put the
person into a 6 hour Little Death coma.  The
potion will last for 5 to 6 months before going
bad.


	Rick
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