Trylli Bug
| by Kinlin Slingthrower |
|
| Climate/Terrain: |
Forest |
| Frequency: |
Very Rare (4% chance)
|
| Organization: |
Group
|
| Activity Cycle: |
Any
|
| Diet: |
Omnivore |
| Intelligence: |
Semi-Intelligent (2-4) |
| Treasure: |
nil |
| Alignment: |
Chaotic Neutral
|
|
| No. Appearing: |
1-4
|
| Armor Class: |
6 |
| Movement: |
14
|
| Hit Dice: |
1-6 |
| THAC0: |
14
|
| No. of Attacks: |
2
|
| Damage/Attack: |
5-10
|
| Special Attack: |
Bite, Cone of Light |
| Special Defences: |
Semi-constant invisibility
|
| Magic Resistance: |
7% chance to be unaffected by seeing spells |
| Size: |
2-6' |
| Morale: |
8-10 (slightly unsteady) |
| XP Value: |
20000
|
| General Introduction: Trylli bugs are essentially giant
bugs. They grow to be around
3-5 feet in length, with the
biggest being 6. They are
blessed (not literally) with
constant invisibility, and are
basically beetle-looking. They
live sometimes in the tops of
trees in dense forests. Usually
though, they live in houses
and other structures.
|
| Combat: A trylli bug will only fight if
scared, backed into a corner,
or attacked. They of course
do not fight often, usually
never, because they are
invisible. When in combat,
they will become visible so as
to channel their limited inherit
magic to a short, thick,
antenna-like extrusion with a
very lightly glowing organic ball
on the end (much like an
angler fish). From this is
projected a cone of light. The
trylli can use this when still
invisible, but not to attack.
When invisible, the light will be
purely organic and only
enough to light up a small
room. When attacking though,
the cone of light will be very
powerful and destructive,
enough to sear flesh and
discourage warriors. The trylli
bug also has large mandibles
which it can use to chomp on
its opponent, or to knock it
down. They sport a very
tough exoskeleton, with few
soft spots. These would be
located near the "neck" (for
want of a better word), the
underbelly, and between the
abdomen and thorax. A trylli
bug will usually only fight long
enough to get away and hide. |
| Habitat/Society: Trylli bugs live, as a general
rule, in houses and other
structures. They usually dwell
in the rafters or clinging to a
corner in the roof, but are
sometimes found in unused
closets or under beds
(sometimes, the ones found
under beds or in closets do
not use their invisibility
constantly as they are not
necessarily in plain view. They
are generally individual but are
also often found in groups of 2-
4. Usually, the bigger the
structure, the more trylli bugs
inhabiting it. This is of course
not to imply that every
structure contains trylli bugs,
only about 1% or less do.
Because of their need of
rafters, high ceilings, and large
spaces, they often infest
cathedrals. Using a spell of
seeing has a 93% chance of
revealing all of the trylli bugs in
a dwelling. Even if it so
happens that it doesn't reveal
the bugs, there will be a light
flicker and a shower of sparks
from the position of it (or
them) A less practical and also
somewhat dangerous, yet still
widely used, method of
seeking them out is to build a
semi-large firepit right in the
biggest room of the house or
building (this is where they
most likely will be) and start a
fire with the burning of bark,
leaves, and sometimes
parchment. This will coat the
bugs (and everything else)
with a thick black soot, which
will make them easy to spot.
|
| Ecology: The trylli bugs actually do more
than simply cling to a ceiling
and skitter around up there.
They have an interesting
activity cycle as they seem to
sleep and be active at
seemingly random patterns,
but they do this for good
reason. The trylli bug is smart
enough to realize when the
regular inhabitants of the
structure are gone or
incapacitated (asleep, tied up
and blindfolded, dead, etc.),
which is what they base their
cycle around. When they
realize they are not being
watched, they will crawl down
a wall to the floor and figure
out a way outside. They of
course do this every 9 days so
they already know a sure way
out by the first time. Once
outside they will feed. The
trylli bug will eat most
anything, but primarily grass,
tree bark, and large insects.
While outside they will also
release their wastes. When it
is finished, it will move back
inside and climb to it's regular
position. Sometime afterwards
it will sleep for about 5 hours.
Tryllis can reproduce without
mating, which is a benefit
when there are so few
around. At the age of
approximately 7 years, it will
create an egg sack in a corner
of the ceiling with only 2-3
small eggs. These will incubate
for around 3 months. They will
grow to about 1 foot in
diameter and then hatch.
Once they hatch,
unfortunately, the parent will
usually die from the energy of
caring for them. The remaining
bugs will cannibalize the dead
bug out of necessity, leaving
the hard shell for the unlucky
inhabitant of the house to
stub their toe on. |
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