Hog's Bog's Bugs (Part IV)

Here is the final piece of Hog's Bog and its trouble with bugs. Part I. Part II. Part III.

 The Muddy Keep

This squat, green brick octagonal keep is overgrown with vines and moss. A large double door sits slightly ajar in the front and shuttered windows populate both floors. The roof and small overhangs above the windows are made from red ceramic tiles.

-The Yard. The front path of small, overgrown stones is worm infested. The soil shifts and moves. Sensing the parties vibrations on the ground, 2 Giant Worms emerge and attack from the front. 1d4 rounds later, a Worm Swarm attacks from the rear.

-Mud Room. Worm eaten wooden cubbies and benches are worthless and will collapse if touched. A single wooden door leads to the central staircase.

-Staircase. This octagonal room is empty save a spiral stone staircase going up and down.

-Kitchen. An rusty, cold, wood-fired stove sits in the angled wall. The cupboards are empty. The sink next to the stove has stagnant water but will pull clean water if the hand pump is turned. Two doors lead to the Dining Hall, one opens inward and the other outward.

-Dining Hall.  A large table with 8 chairs dominates the room, sitting next to a fireplace and a window seat. The shutter above the window seat flaps in the wind. A few leaves flutter about the room. Cobwebs string about the room. Any player examining the chimney will find it is clogged with webs and a Spider Swarm will drop down on them.

-Guest room. Smashed up furniture and linens piled against the window now host a hornets nest. Buzzing can be heard in this room. Searching or disturbing the pile will release a hornet swarm every 1d4 rounds until the players leave or kill 4 hornet swarms. Inside the pile is a docile and rare wasp queen and 2d6 surviving drones with 3 ounces of sparkling golden honey, which is 100GP worth of gold if refined. They produce 1GP worth of gold each week per drone in fertile environs in a safe hive.The hive will grow by 5% a week until it hits a maximum of about 1000 drones.

-Library. From north to south: two shelves are empty, one shelf is about marsh flora, another shelf contains family history and a family tree for the Bogstock family, another shelf describes local fauna and the last shelf holds cookbooks and handbooks. The stuffed chairs are eaten out and hollow, dropping any sitting player to the floor. The small bench along inner wall is well made and worth 20 SP. There are 108 books in total, worth 10 SP each on average.

 The Second Floor

-Staircase. A simple stone octagonal room. There is a small clump of detritus in the north-west corner.

-Study. Private magic study has since been looted by The Queen. Only two sitting chairs, a leaning shelf, and an empty cupboard remain.

-Lab. The lab once held both mechanist and alchemist equipment. The alchemy half the lab, the southern most cupboard and workbench, is starkly empty. The mechanist things,  the workbench on center wall and the cubby and cupboard on the northern end of the room, are in somewhat good repair, used by The King occasionally. They are heavy but valuable tools and materials, worth 300SP. Nearby is very fine chitin and other hardy bug parts usable for weapons and armor crafting, worth 300SP. The oven is still warm.

-Main bedroom. The King rooms here when not at the Hogstock Manor. If defeated there, he will be here alone and will parley. He is normally guarded by two Dire Ants, his pet dogs. He has some letters in Thri-Kreen on his person, signed ‘The King and The Queen Forever’. If he is near losing, he will parley, pretending to shake free of his undead curse. His terms will be to join them to free him and The Queen from their ‘curse’ from the Fell Hive. This is a ruse, he helps the party to the best of his abilities, waiting to counter-attack until he is in the first cavern where he can retreat if needed. He knows the Muddy Fort well and will give advice and hints even without being asked.

-Second Bedroom. This room is furnished with nicer sheets and has fresh sugar cubes in a small plate on the nightstand.

-Aerie. Two large bird cages sit in the middle of the floor and smaller straw filled cubbies line two walls. Branches and grasses cover the floor. Two large shutters sit slightly askew. An Infested Roc is roosting here. The bird and its resident Nightshade moths will attack. Searching the northern cubbies will find three small parchment rolls with a reusable magic mouth spell, worth 100SP.

The Basement

-Staircase. The bottom floor of the simple stone spiral stairs. It is noticeably warm.

-Magical vault. Inside the wooden door is a small area with two magically lit stone pillars and a smashed open steel door. Traces of fire and sulfur can be found about the room. The cubbies and cupboard are empty.

-Well. The stone well with metal inlays still draws warm, clear water. Its intricate stonework is damaged and burned but the metal mechanism is untouched and has recently been polished. The King, being undead has tremendous thirst but cannot drink, in his jealousy he attacked the well. A bubbling sound comes from the mechanism, it is too hot to touch.

-Heated baths. The door to this room opens up to a heavy black curtain and a few flies and gnats lazily fly about. Behind the curtain are small benches, a wardrobe, curtains cordoning off the benches, and a final curtain leading to a warm, stagnant pool. If the curtain is moved without taking special care to move it slowly, the curtain is revealed to actually be a light green color that was covered in countless tiny bugs. All players within 30ft of the curtains take 2d6 poison damage from the scattering insects and are nauseous for 1d6 minutes, a moderate DEX save (DC 14) reduces the damage by half and negates the nausea. The bugs settle back on the curtains in 1d3 rounds. If the pool is cleared of brown algae and insect eggs, it will begin to refill with clean, hot water. Fully cleared, it will refresh any players that bathe. This allows the players to take a short rest with 2 bonus HD of healing once each day.

-Cellar. A clean hole, about four feet in radius opens into the earth below. There are marks where shelves uses to sit. This way leads to the first set of tunnels in the Fell Hive.

-Basement storage. Shelves and cupboards fill this room. They are empty of any foodstuffs or magical components, as labeled on most of the storage. Two shelves are labelled ‘salts’ and ‘cans’. They contain 34 small ceramics of salt, worth 10SP each and 18 cans of canned marsh peaches, worth one ration or 1 SP each.

Wandering Monsters

1: 1d3 Giant Worms wiggle up from behind some furniture, sensing the vibrations of the players footsteps. They attack.

2: The wind picks up and the shutters flap wildly. If they aren’t secured, they attract the attention of a 1d2 Worm Swarms from the bog outside, who will swarm outside the fort.

3: A Giant Ant carrying a letter scampers past the door. It’s a love note written in Thri-Kreen, signed “The King and The Queen Forever”.

4: A piece of furniture falls over in the last room the players were in.

5: A fluttering of wings and a loud cawing can be heard. The Roc in the Aerie leaves or returns. If dead, it is actually just harmless crows scavenging in the Aerie.

6: Loud bubbling and sizzling can be heard from the Heated Baths. Hot water pumps in within 2 rounds and the bugs there attack all within the baths and the basement staircase before settling 1d3 rounds later. See the Heated Baths encounter.

7: A thick cobweb now strings across a previously clear doorway. A difficult WIS check (DC 18) or the player catches it in the face. Ech.

8: A howl and then a loud, cicada-like buzzing is heard outdoors from far away.

9: Hundreds of small spiders scurry into the corners and under furniture when the players enter another room.

10: Spiders scurry into cracks in the stone. 1d3 Spider swarms emerge to attack in 2 rounds and 1d2 more swarms attack 2 rounds later if the players have previously had a spider related wandering monster result (7,9, or 10) or fought the spiders in the chimney.

The Fell Hive

There are 5 caverns, and between each one is 2 miles of winding, twisting, interconnected dirt tunnels. If not lost, the players can choose to move towards the next cavern or back towards the previous one. Treat it as overland travel with modified random encounters.

Random Encounters. 4/6 Nothing. 2/6 Trap, Patrol, or Getting Lost.

Traps: 2/6 Deadfall, 1/6 Deadly Mushroom Spores, 1/6 Acid Spray, or 2/6 Spider Threads.

Patrols: 1 Insect Swarm, 1 Dire Insect, 2d4 Giant Insects, or a 1d3 Infested Hogs. Determine the insect type randomly: Ant, Centipede, Nightshade Moth, Spider, Wasp, or Worm.

Getting Lost: Navigator makes a moderate navigation check (DC 16); otherwise, 3/6 chance they reverse direction without noticing.

Nothing Happens: 1/6 False Signs. 2/6 False Patrol.

 Spawning Pits

-This cavern is a roughly 50 ft diameter dome with numerous ledges and clusters of holes in the walls and floor of this stepped cavern. Each drop is 10 feet, with the northwestern tunnel at the highest point, this tunnel leads upwards, and the south tunnel at the lowest point, which leads downwards. -Insect young of ants, centipedes, nightshade moths, spiders, wasps, and worms nest here. These larva occupy the numerous holes, hexes, and pits in this cavern. Any given hole will have 1d4 eggs, 1d3 larva, 1 pupa, grey slime, or nothing. There are 18 clusters of 2d4 holes, 3 clusters for each species.

-1d3-1 Giant Insects of each type are spread about the room and attack intruders. 1 Demonic Giant Insect sits immobile on the center plateau, laying 1d4 eggs each minute. 1d6+5 workers of each type scurry about, mindlessly performing their tasks of moving eggs and caring for their young. The young, if fed a steady diet of vegetation and decaying animals, will grow to be workers ⅚ or Giant Insects ⅙. When tamed, they are worth 50SP and 500SP respectively.

 Rot Farms

-An oblong cavern slants downward, with numerous earthen steps of abundant fungal growth, and a quick stream cutting down the middle. The ceiling is only 20 feet high and the room is about 50 feet by 100 feet. The highest step is on the right, and each step is 10 feet above the step to its left. Scattered among the fungus are many broken and dismembered insect carcasses along with numerous workers harvesting or tilling the soil in the hazy purple, sulphuric fog of the room. The right tunnel heads up  and the left tunnel heads down.

-Creatures in this room must make easy CON saves (DC 10) each round or take 1d6 poison damage and spend the round coughing. Covering the nose and mouth confers advantage on this check. The worker insects are immune.

-Numerous workers, 4 Ants, 2 Wasps, 1 Nightshade Moth, 1 Centipede, 2 Spiders, and 4 Worms, each tend to their own ‘step’ of insect carcasses and mushrooms, in that order from right to left. They will not fight back, but instead continue to plod along tilling the soil, moving carcasses, and harvesting fungus.

-Fungus is nutritious but poisonous to humanoids until cooked. If eaten raw, make a moderate CON save (DC 14) or throw up your food and be unable to hold any food down for 1d4 days. If cooked, the fungus forms a dense, black, highly nutritious hardtack. More than 200 rations worth could be harvested from this room alone.

 Worm Water

-The third cavern is a natural cave following with a slow stagnant stream leaking from the ceiling near the northern tunnel heading up, collecting in a stone basin, and then traveling in a downward half circle. The total drop is 50 ft around a radius of 40 ft. and the cavern varies between 20 ft and 30 ft wide and has many salt deposits in the wall. The stream ends in a second basin that percolates away into gravel. Near this basin is the tunnel that leads down.The tunnels between the third and fourth cavern are carved from solid rock, unlike the other loamy tunnels.

-The cavern rumbles and tremors can be felt as the party near the southern end of the room. There are insect casings and wear on the extreme inner radius of the tunnel.

-There is a Demonic Dire Worm in the gravel around the water, he is hungry and there are scraps of fungus are strewn about the gravel. The worm will attack if players come near the gravel but will be more interested in food than aggression, unless the players are the only visible food. It will take over 100 pounds of offered food to satiate the beast and 200 pounds of food is enough to attempt to tame it.

 Parliament

-The tunnels down open up to a cavern that is a 100 ft deep cone with a 50 ft radius. There is a steep ramp spiralling down its side, traveling downwards 5 feet every 15 feet. This cavern, despite being so deep in the earth is still made of packed earth, mud, and insect secretions. Indentations set in the wall along the ramp down the entirety of the cone each contain an immobile Giant Insect. This chamber functions as the core of the hive mind, with many individual queens bringing their own hives into the collective. The ceiling extends up in a dome that is obscured by thick webs overhead.

-Loud, constant buzzing is heard throughout the room. All players must make an easy WIS save (DC 10) each round. Those that fail begin to hear female voices in the buzzing, like a mixture of young maidens and old crones singing nonsense in harmony. This is a senate hearing on fungal distribution. It puts the character to sleep for 1d6 rounds, or until shaken. If they complete their sleep without disturbances, they gain the ability to understand one type of the six insects for a year and can talk talk with animals 1/day with that type of insect. After sleeping, they are immune to the sleep effect for one year, but the discussion is still very boring.

-The Queens are deeply entranced and show no response to player actions. However, taking any hostile actions will result in 2d6 Giant Spiders leaping from the ceiling in a lightning strike of web and fang. This can occur three times before the entire guard squad is exhausted.

-There is a large inset chitin shell embedded in the floor at the bottom of the cone. Opening the ‘wings’ of the shell reveals chitin lined tunnels leading to the last cavern, The Queen’s Chambers.

The Queen’s Chambers

-The last ‘cavern’ is actually a long box that was then built up with chitin, wax, and insect secretions into a thri-kreen hive.

-Entrance/market. Empty stalls and toppled, tri-legged basket-stands sit in this cleared out cleared out room. Rotten or broken detritus lies scattered about the room. A ladder in the northeast corner leads up to the Common Room and beetle-wing double doors open to the Barracks.

-Barracks. Five piles of straw and four empty weapon racks populate this room soiled with brown-black splatter and pooling stains. Each nest-like pile hides a sleeping giant centipede. If awoken, they’ll hiss and attack in unison.The ladder leads to the Kitchen.

-Common Room. A sagging floor bears the weight of an empty cupboard, a fresh pile of straw in the corner, and scattering of empty glass bottles. If more than 500 pounds is in this room at one time, the floor collapses to the Market below, with only the 5 feet of floor adjacent to the north wall remaining. The east ladder leads down to the Market and the west ladder leads up to the Waiting Room. The west door to the Kitchen is stuck. The southern double doors to the School are barred from the other side.

-Kitchen. Those entering the room are greeted with warmth and a pulsing red light. The ladder leads down to the Baracks. The west door leads to the Larder and the East door leading to the Common Room is stuck. The floor and furnishings have many old, dry, black splatter stains. The cabinets sit ajar and empty, while the stove has glowing magical lump of coal giving off heat, Everheat Coal. Gives off constant heat like a flame if oxygen, can be stoked with lots of air for hotter coal. Sizzles and pops in water but will give off heat again after drying off five minutes after being doused.

-Larder. Empty chitin shelves line the wall and broken pottery covers the floor. One jar remains on the shelf. It is trapped with a Dancing Locust Curse(“hello my honey, hello my baby, hello my ragtime gal”). A cat sized locust will follow the player or party that opens the jar, dancing and singing. It will only dance and sing in front of those who are so cursed. It will evade all attempted harm and if discarded the Locust will reappear in odd places, showing up in bags, boxes, and closets. The player(s) must make an easy WIS save (DC 12) each day or lose one point of WIS until the locust moves on or the player(s) go insane. The player(s) get advantage on this save if they attempt to trick Dancing Locust into performing in front of others each day. The locust will only leave if someone else agrees to voluntarily take them. The doors lead to the Kitchen and to the School.

-School. A simple room containing four desks and a flat black chitin plate hanging from the north wall. The doors lead to the Common Room and the Larder. On the underside of the middle desk on the south wall, there are carvings depicting scary pointy metal, humanoid monsters with heads covered in countless antennae as well as a small, crying child surrounded by sleeping adults.

- Waiting Room. The ladder leads down to the Common Room. This chitin tiled room is meticulously clean. If inspected, the tile grout is actually tiny ants who will clean and remove any mess left in the room. The door leads to the Temple.

-Temple. Carved waxy pews line up before a wax altar. The hardened wax is carved with well ordered marching lines of insects of all kinds, even a few exotic ones with sickle like claws or giant gas bladders. The nests on the south wall are mostly empty but if searched extensively, there is a Golden Needle in the middle pile of straw and silk. This magic sewing needle is able to mend almost anything. 3/day it can mend a torn or damaged object, cure 2d6 hit points, or attach two objects together requiring a moderate strength check (DC 13) or 1 point of slashing damage to split apart. The northwest door to the throne is barred from the inside, the northeast door goes to the Waiting room, and the east  door to the vault is slightly ajar.

-Throne. This dimly lit room is floored with a spidersilk carpet and ends in a carved obsidian and rainbow-chitin throne. The light comes from four metal baskets of dim glowing mushroom on the four columns in the corners of the room. The Queen sits on her throne, copying from her spellbook or writing letters to King, with one of each kind of Dire Insect sitting along the walls.

-Upon entering, she orders the Ant to attack and then Centipede if the Ant is losing. If her Centipede falls as well, she begins to click and buzz angrily, as she sends the Nightshade Moth and Spider together to attack. The Queen finally joins the fight along with the Worm and the Wasp if the Moth and Spider begin to lose.

-She will ‘surrender’ at low health, offering her ‘phylactery’, her crown, as a sign of truce. Once surrendered, she tries to touch each of the players with a contact poison hidden in her normal slime. (DM, go around shaking their hands, throwing yourself prostate in front of each one, kissing hands, etc. until the party reacts).

-Her poison is a baleful polymorph poison, onset 1 minute. The target must make a moderate CON save (DC16) each round or spend the round vomiting on himself, taking 1d6 damage. If they succeed three times, they burp up some silky strands and are cured. After three rounds of vomiting, the player is covered in a ‘cocoon’. Once in cocoon form, they go unconscious for an hour and must make a moderate WIS save (DC 16). If they succeed, they emerge later with a random mutation. If they fail, they become dire insect, keeping their mental stats, now fiercely loyal to The Queen.

-Vault. The open door to the vault reveals a hollowed out centipede shell shelf full of knick-nacks and childish toys. The metal double doors to the rest of the vault are locked and magically sealed. The spider shaped key is on the The Queen. The Arcane Lock spell opens to the phrase, ‘The King and The Queen forever’, in Thrikreen. This phrase is on all the letters to The King. The sealed vault holds two chitin cupboards and two sewn up, decorated egg-sack chests. The furniture is well made and entirely waterproof and fireproof, it would be worth 1000 SP if identified as such. Inside one cupboard is the Mud Staff, the Flute of Fairweather, and the Fell Hive. In the other is a single spider silk and chitin thri-keen doll, sitting on silk cushions next to a small hand mirror. This doll is The Queen’s actual phylactery. In the two egg-sack chests are Books penned by Perriweather Bogstock, Perriweather’s Spellbook, a collection of gems worthy 15000SP, and a large cut glass of rainbow colors that is worthless.

-The Mud Staff is a dry-mud covered, gnarled walking stick that functions as a +1 quarterstaff. It creates thick and muddy difficult-terrain in a 10ft radius on earthen ground after hitting a foe or striking the earth as an action. Creatures within that area must DEX save, DC 10, or fall prone in the mud. Once each per day, the staff can turn 500 cubic feet of earth to mud or mud to earth. The earth or mud must be continuous and the Mudstaff must touch some part of it, with no section being thinner than 6 inches. The wielder is not affected by mud or quicksand while wielding the Mudstaff.

-The Flute of Fair Weather is one of the most important artifacts in bog folk culture. If the Flute of Fair Weather is played by a human, it will get windy after 1 hour of continuous playing, overcast after 2, rainy after 4, and stormy after 8.  If the human is not an experienced flautist, they will lose control of the magic in the worst way possible.In the hands of a bog mermaid, the flute has more powers, all of them weather-related.  Notably, it can be used to calm down storms and summon up stiff winds (although it cannot control the direction).

-The Fell Hive is a bulbous, waxy orb is a basic tool of Thri-Keen Entomomages and insect farmers. In the hands of a human, acts as a spell focus for poison spells, adding 1 damage and +1 save DC to the spell. Once each day, it can release a single swarm for five minutes before the insects return to the hive: ants, centipedes, nightshade moths, spiders, wasps, or worms. In the hands of a Thri-Keen, the Fell Hive allows them to speak with insects and control up to four times their HD in insects.

Hog’s Bog Bestiary

Monsters are listed in a quick format.

HD: How much HP it hould have (1d8 or 5 for each HD) with the +/- following it to indicate how it attacks (HD 5+1 attacks like a 6 HD creature, i.e. it has a +1 to attack and damage but only has 5 HD).

Size

ATK: What attacks it has (it will make all of those attacks as one multi-attack unless otherwise specified).

DAM: Damage for each attack.

MOV: Movement speeds (burrow is shortened to BRW).

SAV: What the creature has saves are like (level 1 fighter, level 3 cleric, etc).

Morale: How likely it will flee when things go poorly. Roll 2d6, if over the morale number, the monster flees.

Acid Spray: Acrid smells linger in the air. If the party continues past this warning sign, muddy bubbles form in the earth and gouts of acid fill the tunnels, dealing 5d6 damage to the first two rows of the marching order. A difficult DEX save (DC17) reduces this damage by half. if investigated, the party can see this bubbles form further down the hall and can choose to wait them out, going through after the acid settles.
Deadfall: There are faint rumblings and a loose earth can be seen on the floor. Transversing the hallway will trigger a pitfall, dropping the any players on the  20 ft long pit trap when the total weight reaches 300 pounds, that is 40 feet deep.

Deadly Mushroom Spores: A hazy smoke hangs in the tunnel ahead, and a few mushrooms sprout here and there. Any investigation will reveal the fog to be spores. If the party passes through this fog, they must make an moderate CON save (DC 14) or take 2d6 ongoing poison damage until they make the save. Covering mouths and noses confers advantage on the initial save. Any significant breeze will disperse the spores.

Demonic: Insects instilled with demonic essence. Their normal coloration turns dark red or purple and they gain infernal symbols across their wings, thorax, or head. Demonic insects have 50% more HD than normal, have a +2 bonus to attack and damage, and have resistance to magic.
Dire Insects: Absolutely huge versions of normal insects. They are aggressive loners and dangerously hungry at all times. They may spend their reaction to attack any creature that enters their reach. They gain an extra reaction action.

Dire Ant: HD 6+1, L, AC 15, ATK 1 (Pinchers) DAM 2d6, MOV 30’/BRW 10’, SAV F4, MORALE 12

Dire Spider: HD 4+3, L, AC 16, ATK 1 (Bite) DAM 2d6 + Poison*, MOV 60’/Climb 60’, SAV F3, MORALE 12. *Make a tough CON save (DC 16) or take 2d6 ongoing poison damage until a successful save is made.

Dire Centipede: HD 9+1, H, AC 18, ATK 1 (Pinchers x2) DAM 2d8, MOV 50’/BRW 20’, SAV F8, MORALE 12

Dire Wasp: HD 3+5, M, AC 16, ATK 1 (Sting x2) DAM 3d6 + Poison*, MOV 10’/Fly 60’, SAV F3, MORALE 12. *Make a tough CON save (DC 19) or take 3d6 poison damage. A wasp takes 10 damage when it hits with its sting.

Dire Nightshade Moth: HD 5+1, M, AC 15, ATK 1 (Dust) DAM 0*, MOV 10’/Fly 40’, SAV F4, MORALE 12. *Dust hits all within 20 ft. 2d6 poison damage. Make a tough CON save (DC 17) or fall asleep for 2d6 rounds.

Dire Worm: HD 8-1, L, AC 14, ATK 1 (Bite x2) DAM 1d8, MOV 20’/BRW 40’, SAV F4, MORALE 12.

False Patrol: Distant chittering or digging can be heard. If investigated, they are hallucinatory or are moving away.

False Signs: Faint rumblings, loose earth on the floor, a hazy smoke in the tunnel ahead, or cobwebs stringing across the tunnel. If investigated they are revealed to be pure coincidence or minor hallucinations.

Giant Insects: Larger than life version of insects grown to massive proportions.

Giant Ant: HD 3+1, S, AC 13, ATK 1* (Pinchers) DAM 1d6, MOV 20’/BRW 5’, SAV F1, MORALE 9. *Giant Ants get +1 to attack and damage for each other giant ant within 5 ft of the target.

Giant Spider: HD 2+3, S, AC 15, ATK 1 (Bite) DAM 1d6 + Poison*, MOV 40’**/Climb 40’, SAV F2, MORALE 7. *Moderate CON save (DC 14) or take ongoing 2d6 poison damage until a successful save is made. **Made jump up to twice their move speed and make a single bite attack.

Giant Centipede: HD 5+1, M, AC 16, ATK 1 (Bite) DAM 2d6, MOV 60’/BRW 10’, SAV F4, MORALE 9

Giant Wasp: HD 1+3, S, AC 13, ATK 1 (Sting) DAM 2d6 + Poison*, MOV 5’/Fly 40’, SAV F1, MORALE 12. *Make a tough CON save (DC 17) or take 2d6 poison damage. A wasp takes 5 damage when it hits with a sting attack.

Giant Nightshade Moth: HD 2+1, S, AC 12, ATK 1 (Dust) DAM 0*, MOV 5’/Fly 30’, SAV F1, MORALE 6.

*Dust hits all within 10 ft. 1d6 poison damage. Make a tough CON save (DC 15) or fall asleep for 1d6 rounds.

Giant Worm: HD 6-1, M, AC 16, ATK 1 (Bite) DAM 1d6, MOV 10’/BRW 20’, SAV F2, MORALE 8.

Infested: A once living creature that is now being used as a mobile hive by demonic insects. Modify the original creature by doubling its hit points, giving it regeneration 5, and having it deal double damage against enemies within the swarm. The internal insects repair and rebuild the creature, crawling around under the creatures skin. It always has an accompanying swarm of insects. When the swarm is reduced to half its HP, it will return to the hive and regenerate to full hit points in one round. While the swarm is regenerating, the host loses its regeneration and takes no actions.

Spider Threads: Obvious threads crisscross the tunnel. These are false. If they try to go around them, they trip the hard to see ones and the next encounter will have an additional 1d4 Giant insects. These secondary threads can be seen with a difficult passive perception (DC 20) or a close investigation of the obvious threads.

Swarms: A large swarm of small creatures moves as a group to attack enemies. Swarms reduced to 0 hit points scatter as a number of harmless insects. *Swarms take only half damage from any weapon or targeted attacks but take double damage from area attacks. **Swarms deal their damage automatically to all creatures that start their turn in one of the eight contiguous 5ft spaces or cubes they occupy (16 spaces for H swarms).

Ant Swarm HD 10, L, AC 14*, ATK 1** (Bites), DAM 2d6, MV 10’, SAV F3, MORALE 10.

Spider Swarm HD 8, L, AC 15*, ATK 1** (Bites), DAM 1d6 + Poison, MV 20’, SAV F2, MORALE 9. Moderate CON save (DC 13) or take ongoing 1d6 poison damage until a save is made.

Centipede Swarm HD 12, L, AC 13*, ATK 1** (Bites), DAM 3d6, MV 20’, SAV F4, MORALE 8.

Wasp Swarm HD 6, L, AC 16*, ATK 1** (Stings), DAM 1d6 + Poison, MV 5’/Fly 30’, SAV F1, MORALE 12. Moderate CON save (DC 13) or take 2d6 poison damage.
Nightshade Moth Swarm: A fluttering swarm of light purple moths leaves behind a trail of soft dust glinting in the moonlight. Nightshade larvae feed off of the deadly nightshade and their adult form produces a sleeping poison of its own. A single moth produces enough dust to poison small rodents, but in a swarm, they produce enough dust to fell much larger beasts. They lay their eggs in these carcasses, which are toxic enough to prevent predation on their eggs.

Nightshade Moth Swarm HD 4, L, AC 14*, ATK 1** (Dust), DAM 0 + Dust, MV 5’/Fly 20’, SAV F1, MORALE 6. Dust: 1d6 Poison damage then make a moderate CON save (DC 13) or fall asleep for 1d6 rounds.

Worm Swarm HD 12, H, AC 10*, ATK 1** (Bites), DAM 1d6, MV 5’/BRW 10’, SAV F3, MORALE 10.

The King: A death knight raised from the corpse of a Thri-Keen, The King is the Queen's favored drone. She dotes over him, but in his undeath, he finds only disdain for such emotions. He is skilled with his sword and possesses the ability to shoot gouts of brimstone laden flame. He attack with his greatsword and two claw attacks or makes a fireball attack.

The King: HD 7+1, M, AC 20*, ATK 3 (Greatsword, Claw**, Fireball***) DAM 2d6/1d6/5d6, MOV 40'/JMP 80', SAV F7, MORALE 11. *Once each round, he may parry a melee attack to ignore its damage. **His claw attack ignores armor and deals necrotic damage. ***20 ft. radius fireball with a center-point within 90ft. This attack recharges each turn on a roll of '5' or '6' on a d6. Moderate DEX save (DC 14) for half damage.

The Queen: A crazed, lonely Thri-Kreen that turned herself into a demi-lich and spellcaster through her tinkerings and haphazard, ad hoc magic. Has the emotional development of a tween. Raised The King from a few of the corpses that were ignored by the Humans that came in and killed the Thri-Kreen here long ago. She relies on her pets in combat, but will cast her limited spells. While unstable and immature, she is not unintelligent. If she is losing, she will parley, offering up her gemmed crown phylactery, worth 5000SP, as a sign of good faith. This is not her real phylactery, her real one is the Thri-Kreen doll she hides in the Vault. She will be histrionic and pathetic, thanking the group, shaking hands, hugging them, groveling, kissing feet, and otherwise touching the skin of the players with a contact poison hidden in her natural bug slime.

The Queen: HD 8, M, AC 18 ATK 2 (Bite/Spells*) DAM 1d6/Vary, MOV 40’/JMP 80’, SAV W8, MORALE 8. *She has the following spells prepared. She excludes her minions and allies from the effects of her spells. Spell DC 16.

Cantrips: Poison Spray, Acid Splash, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation

4x 1st: Grease, Witch Bolt, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter

3x 2nd: Web, Arcane Lock, Suggestion

3x 3rd: Stinking Cloud, Animate Dead, Fly

2x 4th: Blight, Evard’s Black Tentacles

Workers: Sullen, dull colored insects that mindlessly perform tasks given by a queen. They will not defend themselves if attacked. They feel no fear and have no individual thoughts.

Worker Ant: HD 2, S, AC 13, ATK 1* (Pinchers) DAM 1d4, MOV 20’/BRW 5’, SAV F1, MORALE 12. *Worker Ants get +1 to attack and damage for each other ant within 5 ft of the target.

Worker Spider: HD 1, T, AC 14, ATK 1 (Bite) DAM 1 + Poison*, MOV 30’**/Climb 30’, SAV F1, MORALE 12. *Easy CON save (DC 10) or take ongoing 1d6 poison damage until a successful save is made. **May jump up to twice their move speed and make a single bite attack.

Worker Centipede: HD 4, S, AC 14, ATK 1 (Bite) DAM 1d4, MOV 40’/BRW 10’, SAV F3, MORALE 12

Worker Wasp: HD ½ , T, AC 15, ATK 1 (Sting) DAM 1 + Poison*, MOV 5’/Fly 40’, SAV F0, MORALE 12. *Make a moderate CON save (DC 14) or take 1d6 poison damage. A wasp takes 5 damage when it hits with a sting attack.

Worker Nightshade Moth: HD 1, T, AC 15, ATK 1 (Dust) DAM 0*, MOV 5’/Fly 20’, SAV F0, MORALE 12.

*Dust hits all within 5 ft. 1 poison damage. Make a moderate CON save (DC 13) or be dazed for 1 round.

Worker Worm: HD 5, S, AC 14, ATK 1 (Bite) DAM 1d4, MOV 10’/BRW 20’, SAV F1, MORALE 12.