Being intelligent and weak, my players ran like rabbits when the swarm started coming. They were halfway out of the crypt before the Slasher appeared. They're now cowering just outside the dungeon.
What would the beetle swarm do, seeing as how they move so slowly? Would they go back into the hole, or just mill about, eating wolf chow perhaps, for an extended period of time?
Would the slasher pursue all the way out of the cairn?
Thanks for sharing.
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Depending on the time of year, the beetles and slasher would head outside. Unless you want to rule that the beetles have lived off of the orange chicken gravy material for so long that they cannot "stomach" any other kind of food. In this case, they may mill around for a bit before returning down the hole. The mad slasher's normal environment are warm forests so it makes sense it would move on.
That's kinda the way I'm heading with it. The slasher's coming outside - the beetles may enjoy the wolves a little, but eventually head back down.
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I hate to apply "real-world" logic to critters in a fantasy setting, but the beetles situation begs for it. I feel it's safe to assume that acid beetles have been in the Lair of the Labourers for 50+ years. At least the remains of the Seeker group in their "lair" suggests that. So for 50+ years the beetles have been living in a tight ecosystem strictly based on the nourishment provided by the Orange Goo. The specialization in the Insectae Family is remarkable in the real world and given the number of generations that have pupated in the darkness, I'd venture that the beetles are light sensitive and can only survive on the Orange Goo. So they may go out and sprinkle some acidic happiness in the False Tomb and other alcoves, but the expenditure of energy doing so would drive them to hunger and their bred instinct would be return to the Orange Goo to feed. The mad slasher is something of an ecosystem mystery to me. It must be a very recent addition to the Lair. But how and from whom? ::dramatic villain sound-effects::
The Slasher was put there by the Seeker party (the Powers That Be covered that in another thread). It was essentially summoned and so it would not have really evolved beyond it's normal characteristics. While it may have made due with the orange goo for an extended period of time, I think it would jump at the chance to return to its natural environs. That said, it is essentially a conjured creature, so it may very well consider the cairn to be its "natural environment".
By a strange turn of coincidence this is exactly what my gang did last night. They were even quicker off the mark however. I have been running some Eberron with them as well and they have had several BAAAAAD experiences with beetle swarms despite being 6th level. So when I described the noise of thousands of beetles swarming up the shaft they turned and ran without waiting to see what was coming. Laugh - I did when I saw their "first-level" faces.
My plan is that the beetles will mill around, eat the wolf bodies and then lurk soemwhere for the party to return. Probably in the old wolf den as there will be bones and stuff for them to munch on.
The slasher on the other hand is going to follow them back to the mine office. They are headed there to lick their wounds - and I fancy jumping them in the middle of the night. Maybe picking off the gaurd....
My crew did the same thing. Ran all the way out of the dungeon at the first sign of danger. The slasher caught the last one (an old cloistered cleric) right at the door, but missed him, and the priest withdrew. The slasher managed one round of whirlwind attacks, doing little, before being cut down. The beetles contentedly gnawed on the wolf carcasses before being nuked by oil flasks and alchemist's fire.
The group's paladin has a 16 STR, Power Attack, and a greatsword. His AC's not much, but he's killing things on the first round (the ghoul, the water elemental, the slasher) with regularity.
My group ran and hid in another part of the dungeon. The wizard then sent his raven familar to scout it out. The raven was enough of bait to lead the beetles out, but the mad slasher was persistant. The group finally went to help the raven once the wizard realized that the fear feeling he was getting from it wasn't going away.