A Dungeon For Ants
WHAT IS THIS?
A DUNGEON FOR ANTS?!
…yes
OUR QUEEN IS GONE
THE TITAN has STOLEN HER
Without Her our already dying colony cannot survive.
You must
(FIND HER) FIND HER. (FIND HER)
Leave our last safe Hovel.
Brave the tainted tunnels that were once our home.
AND GO BEYOND THE NEST
SHE MUST BE FOUND
SO WE CAN BE FREE
THE TITAN
Like clouds before a storm, Its impossibly vast being fills the sky, with a voice of thunder which shakes the earth.
A single filthy fleshy finger squashes a dozen ants in a moment, without hesitation.
OVER and OVER,
It defiled The Nest.
Remaking our home to Its own sadistic design, infesting our tunnels with invaders and poison.
But it seems It grew bored of us, committed one last heinous crime.
and tossed us aside.
Encounters in the Deep Nest
- A weary group of ANTS injured and trying to find the way back to THE HOVEL
- LADY BUG battling a horde of APHIDS who are squabbling over a single withered leaf.
- A gang of THE TURNED, a wild violence in their eyes, SPORES swirling around them.
- A few members of JUNKER’S CREW, they want EVERYTHING you have, and NOW.
- THE EARTHWYRM, slowly chewing the end of a rotting root like a cigar.
- WOODLOUSE, a tough shelled critter, who curls up at the first sign of trouble.
Encounters in the False Outside
- An enticing sweet scent lures creatures to the snapping jaws of a CARNIVOROUS PLANT.
- An ambush from a PRAYING MANTIS, she waits in silence for the perfect strike.
- A seemingly impassable row of STICKY TRAPS, a few critters slowly withering upon it.
- A deep pool of OIL. It coats any creature that touches it with its iridescent sheen.
- A DEAD SPIDER, drying out in the sun, curled up like a claw.
- The SUN beats down relentlessly forcing critters to seek cover in the limited foliage.
LOCATIONS
THE LAST STAND
NO ESCAPE
Many have tried and failed to escape through the slippery tube, but even those who manage the climb are only greeted by a cork blocking the other end. The Queen is not this way, and you cannot survive without her.
THE HOVEL
The last remains of the colony cower in a single cave. They wander without purpose; tending eggs that will never hatch and scrounging for food they will not find.
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
A tempting mound of berries and nuts, dripping with a sickly sweet liquid. It has lured many a naive ant to their slow and painful death as THE TITAN has poisoned it as another of Its cruel jokes.
FUNGAL TUNNELS
Twisting tunnels covered with mold and long thin mushrooms which occasionally puff clouds of spores into the air. At the base of each mushroom is an ant corpse, flushed red, a tendril-like stem bursting from their neck.
THE UPPER NEST
DEVIL’S LIGHT
A magnifying glass directs a beam of concentrated light into the tunnel. Scorch marks on the floor and walls, fragments of glass and piles of ash. No Ant has ever passed unscathed through it scorching rays.
THE ASH TRAY
The stench of old cigarettes and charred chitin hangs in the air. Streaks of DEVIL’S LIGHT filter down through the smog, occasionally sparking the butt ends and fallen corpses, sending plumes of smoke billowing into the air.
HONEY POT
A lone exhausted bee huddles beside a single piece of honeycomb. Sticky syrup oozes over her limp body and pools on the grime beneath her. Many a creature of The Nest scavenge here. She no longer cares to stop them.
JUNKERS YARD
Piles of rubbish; sweating and festering, tower precariously from floor to ceiling. A single pig’s eye sits front and center on this terrible altar of refuse. An incessant buzzing fills the putrid and humid air, this is the domain of JUNKER and his thieving gang of FLIES.
THE LOWER NEST
THE MARBLE RUN
A smooth straight tunnel; made of ageing coloured plastic, slathered in grease and lined with trip wires; which send perfectly smooth, round glass boulders hurtling down the run.
DEATH LAKE
The deep murky water crackles and sparks. Small islands of a soft, floating material bob on the surface, safe havens from the electrified waters below. A tangle of stripped metal wires coiled around several giant rusting batteries powers THE TITANS trap.
THE TURNED
The Ants who gather here are infested with spores from the FUNGAL TUNNELS. Their chitin is flushed red, eyes sparking with rage, censer-like mushrooms sprout from their backs, swaying and spewing spores as they stumble through the cave.
THE PIT
A thin strand of wire stretches across a deep seemingly bottomless pit. THE TITAN has sanded the walls and set rows of sharp blades and spikes along the bottom of the pit to impale any poor victim that slip below.
INHABITANTS
JUNKER, lord of the flies
He rubs his hands together menacingly and sups from an acorn shell filled with a stomach wrenching potent liquid.
LADY BUG, the valiant knight
She accepts your quest graciously, without question. Sworn to fight and defeat any APHIDS she encounters.
THE EARTHWYRM
An old kindhearted creature, blind and trusting. Inside their stomach it is said they hold a many great treasures.
THE BEETLE
A giant horned beetle wild eyed and rampaging, tormented by a bell tied to the tip of his horn by THE TITAN
THE SNAIL
Marked by THE TITAN - shell painted black with a white skull. Pins and needles poke outwards from its shell.
TREASURES
Matches
Broken Glass
Bottle Caps
Pins and Needles
Loop of Twine
Strand of Hair
Ball of Cotton
Sticky Pear Drop
Scrap of Paper
Blob of Glue
Frayed Wires
Glass Marble
THE TITANS TRAPS
The Titan has set up many traps and tricks around the many tunnels of The Nest to torment the ants. Each trap only appears once, mark off when encountered.
- Toothpicks and small sharpened sticks to make a deadly spike pit.
- Razor blades swing from the ceiling.
- A canister of hairspray and a well timed spark set off a burst of flames
- Sticky traps line the floor & walls.
- The thick odour of Vinegar wafts down the tunnel. The smell makes you retch
- A JAR OF ANGRY WASPS
ARACNID
Lace-like webbing stretches across every surface, touching a single thread sends a ripple across the ocean of silk.
A single staccato explodes into a crescendo.
A chittering in the darkness. Eight milky-white eyes flicker open in front of you, vicious and hungry Beyond her domain is The Outside.
THE OUTSIDE
There is no Paradise as you were promised.
Only DEATH and DESOLATION. (FIND HER | FIND HER | FIND HER) BUT THE QUEEN IS HERE (FIND HER | FIND HER | FIND HER)
amongst the BLINDING SUNLIGHT and STICKY TRAPS and CARNIVOROUS PLANTS and POISONOUS FRUIT and the HUNGRY CRITTERS and the SCALDING HOT DRY SAND
THE TRUTH
Our SALVATION was A LIE. NOTHING but ANOTHER CAGE.
The FALSE OUTSIDE is nothing but a plastic container, no bigger than a shoe box. THE TITAN has constructed it to resemble a barren, uninhabitable wasteland. THE GLASS WALLS stand between you and the last hope of freedom… …if you can find a way past.
THE QUEEN
She has been pinned to the wall of the False Outside. She is dying. There is no hope of saving Her.
With Her last ragged breath she can:
- Tell you a secret way out
- Bestow a worthy ant as the new Queen
- Rally her subjects for one final battle
- Place a deadly curse on a sworn enemy
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