Antediluvixen

The Dust: Begin Again

Name: Nachthund
Species: Canis noctis
Rarity: No longer seen in the wild except on remote parts of Dust. However, common as relatively domesticated animals on Ash and Isla Diablo especially.
Behavior: Wary of strangers, will attack if provoked. Fanatically loyal to a human of its choosing and will fight to the death if need be.
Location(s): Everywhere humans are.
Key Points:

• Finally something that's relatively nice for a change.
• Rigid fur mats have over time essentially hardened into armored plates and will easily halt high velocity handgun cartridges and nearly any commonly found melee cutting weapon.
• Has no venom or anything of that nature, instead a highly septic bite that will rapidly cause extreme blood poisoning.
• Can see perfectly in near absolute darkness.
• Teeth and horns hard and strong enough to pulverize bone and penetrate mild steel plates.

Appearance: The Nachthund, despite a superficial similarity to the bloodhound, is anything but. Standing at the size of a large tiger, the Nachthund is genetically speaking still in the same family and genus as the bloodhound and old world dogs, its physiology has diverged dramatically. Originally a feral species, the Nachthund was somehow domesticated through means unknown and has now become a favored companion for adventurers needing a big friend, or simply people who want to be absolutely sure about their guard dog being an effective one. Covered in fur that has hardened and matted into what are basically overlapping armored plates, the Nachthund can in fact go toe to toe with some of Dust's and even Ash's nastier fauna. Also sporting large horns that curl under its jaw, the list of things that the Nachthund cannot disembowl or generally fuck up is a small one that includes monsters such as the A.D.T. Spider, or Armatapede.

Also they're big enough to ride.

Name: Armatapede
Species: Nobody's wants to get close enough to find out.
Rarity: Uncommon, act as an apex land predator on the island of Ash and even on the southernmost end of Isla Diablo.
Behavior: Highly aggressive apex predator.
Location(s): Southernmost tip of Isla Diablo, Island of Ash.
Key Points:

• Nope.
• Highly aggressive
• Well armored along entire body, resistant to handguns up to .44 Magnum
• Delivers a necrotoxic sting that, if it doesn't kill its victim simply from the wound itself, will result in agonizing death within hours without medical attention.
• 180 degree vision
• No ability to hear, limited smell
• Can move rapidly in a straight line, slow to turn.

Appearance: The armatapede is one of Ash's most deadly land predators. Able to reach up to 20-25 meters in length and with scorpion like claws that can deliver a devastating cut or crush, or simply to hold prey still while it stings it. It has powerful jaws that are not unlike a pair of hydraulic shears, and a sting capable of easily piercing centimeter thick plates of most common metals. The Armatapede is a burnt red coloration, with large black eyes. It is easily detected by sound if moving at top speed, the bug's legs and chitin clacking together create a harsh rattling sound that can be heard some distance off- even then, at that point it's often too late to run.
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I had a few others in mind but they're a bit too 40k for the setting, I'll hold off on truly bad shit until later.

The Dust: Begin Again

@RedDusk

I'M JUST GETTING STARTED!

The Shifting Sands

@AbysmalDemon Alright then.

The Dust: Begin Again

Some more fauna for y'all! Luckily for y'all, these aren't on any of the landmasses you're currently on, so don't worry about running into any unless you take a boat to Hell's Gate.

Before anyone asks, I've PM'ed Isla Diablo's map bit to Darcs, so hopefully she'll add that in for me soon so you all know what the hell I'm talking about.

Name: Ash Strider
Species: Eremobates chasmatis
Rarity: Far too common
Behavior: Aggressive as fuck
Location(s): Isla Diablo
Key Points:

• No. Nonononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono.
• Can move 30-40 kph through knee deep volcanic ash.
• In place of venom, the Ash Strider has sacs of extremely caustic chemicals that it shoots at prey in superheated jets.
• Fangs capable of penetrating solid homogenized carbon steel.
• Chitin is capable of resisting most semi automatic handgun rounds up to and including 10mm/.357 Magnum.

Appearance: The Ash Strider is the most common predator on Isla Diablo. A bit smaller than a hippopotamus, the Ash Strider is orders of magnitude larger than its old world counterpart, the Sun Spider. The chitin plating of the Ash Strider is a matte black/grey and blends in well with its landscape.
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Name: Acid Worm
Species: Unclassified
Rarity: Thankfully, rare
Behavior: Extremely aggressive ambush predator- has literally attacked tanks.
Location(s): Isla Diablo
Key Points:

• Nope.
• Ridiculously powerful jaws- Have been observed to cut an Ash Strider right in half, and to easily penetrate stainless steel. The real danger is the sheer crushing force, 103000 kPa.
• The Acid Worm spits scalding acid capable of eating straight through steel.
• Burrows and can lunge out at like lightning
• Covered in spiky bristles that can cause permanent nerve damage if touched even once

Appearance: The Acid Worm is a monstrosity of the apocalypse, stretching almost 12 meters in length on average and about 300-400mm in width. The front meter of the Acid Worm is coated in a tough chitinous plating that for some reason sports an iridescent sheen, easily capable of stopping a 9mm bullet in the thicker portions. Back to the rear, the worm is much softer, and can even be cut in half with a large axe- though this is strongly discouraged as the front half of the worm will remain alive long enough to demolish whatever fatally wounded it.
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Name: Thresher Hive
Species: Unclassified
Rarity: Rare in the southern half of the island, more common in the northern half
Behavior: Aggressive if prey nears, otherwise dormant
Location(s): Isla Diablo
Key Points:

• Nopenopenope.
• A typical hive might hold 5000 insects.
• Fire is an excellent way to ward them off and has in fact been used to eradicate entire hives with no loss of human life. Anything that clogs their breathing holes will kill them almost immediately as well.
  
  Recommended Handling Policy

  

Appearance:
Imagine a swarm of locusts. Now imagine that swarm of locusts being carnivorous, black and shiny, aggressive, being able to consume almost anything organic, and residing underground until something disturbs them, where they’ll promptly swarm out to strip whatever it is down to the bone. And then break open the bones to get at the marrow and some will even eat the bones too to develop tougher exoskeletons and also to make stronger hives with. And then go back to waiting for the next thing. That's a Thresher Hive.
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I had some more but those will have to wait because I'm tired af rn, I'm sure you're all devastated about that.

The Shifting Sands

Sonya watched in bemusement, and then surprise, as the Etori'ka destroyed her bonds, going straight for one of the surviving Dwarves and... eating him. She couldn't say she felt particularly sorry for the Dwarf, but she still cringed nonetheless.

Turning her attention to the Elf in the cage, Sonya shrugged, pointing to the rampaging Etori'ka helplessly. "It wasn't you I was concerned about, it was her. She seems preoccupied with eating now, but I'm not really sure..." Sonya looked back over to the Etori'ka, and decided to risk it. "... Okay..." she called hesitantly, "I'll try and find them for you but I'm not guaranteeing anything."

Hopping down, Sonya crouched low and watched for a few seconds more before moving from her position, quickly finding the weapons the Elf had asked her to and hurrying back to the cage. She'd searched the bodies and found nothing that resembled a key, and so resorted to her usual method of opening locks. Dropping her backpack, she rummaged about and found a pair of bolt cutters, taking a moment to finagle them around the lock and pressing as hard as she could on the handles until a sudden crack rang out and the lock fell away. Who needs to pick locks when you can break them?

Quickly offering the recovered weapons to... Dances-With-Phantoms -tribal names were weird- she turned to rush back to the ledge she'd sheltered on before pausing, turning back to Dances. "Sonya, by the way. Would you like to join me on that ledge? There aren't any hungry Etori'ka on it."

The Shifting Sands

@Pathfinder Alright then.

Should have a post up soon.

@AbysmalDemon How're your hardware issues?

The Shifting Sands

@Pathfinder By the way, what's Oryx doing in response to the Tiefling on the alcove?

The Shifting Sands

@Flynn Call it a hunch.

I like to think they had hard ons that she noticed.

The Shifting Sands

@Flynn Are they Stonewall dwarves?

The Dust: Begin Again

Vive la résistance!