It seems you've gotten away from that slick, gelatinous creature of... some type of unknown substance... eh... and continue your path through the rooms. Your nerves are shot, and you constantly check over your shoulder at the doors behind you in each new room, imagining the monster seeping its way in. But it never happens...
A calm settles over you, not necessarily relief but your anxiety diminishes slightly. A bit of a reprieve.
Something else captures your attention: a smell. An earthy smell of dirt and grass and rotting wood.
[You open a door.]
The room you enter is completely overgrown. Vines climbing the partially collapsed wall, and various grasses spread across what is left of the floor. In front of you is the door to the next room, its frame decayed and splintering. On the wall to the right seems to be a large hole, perhaps a tunnel, leading to God knows where...
[You inspect the hole.]
What?! Are- are you joking!?!
Need I remind you the last time you wished to look at something, a hellish creature emerged to tear the flesh off your limbs?!
[You persist.]
...
...Fine.
Fine. Sure, why not. No patterns forming here. Not at all. Sighs. Don't say I didn't warn you.
You look toward the tunnel's entrance. The rocks that protrude from the cracking wall have been weathered down and are smooth to the touch. Moss has accumulated on the surface of the stones. Thick roots grow along the length of the cavity. It appears whoever or whatever excavated it did so a long time ago. Not too concerning, but still-
Oh, God no...
Suddenly, something shifts at the other end of the tunnel. Something large. A pair- no, wait... oh, fuck... three pairs of eyes glow in what looks to be hunger and fury. Now should be the time to start running for the exit, surely...
[You quickly step to the door and try to open it. Fortunately, the rotting wood gives way and collapses, making your exit easy. However, you hear a series of scratches and thumps as the monster crawls through, growling and clicking as it begins its chase.]
Fucking told you...
Specimen 03: The Burrow
Type: Active
Total Fatalities: 143
Method: Infectious bites
Further Notes: I had a hard time trying to figure out the design of this fucker. Most of the first passes just looked like the Den but with more limbs. They looked fine I guess (I might share the prototype versions later), but they weren't "bug" enough, if that makes sense... So I took more inspiration from Specimen 3, and gave her the more centipede/spider body, and it went off from there. The balance between bug and lion chimera was a bit tricky, but I'm pretty satisfied with the final product. The wings were an interesting point, as I wanted to include them but they gave her a cockroach-like(?) appearance, not the original intention but it works so...
