Lantern Egg Brood-Capsule
This living capsule hunts by scent, heat, and proximity. When a creature draws near, tendrils inside the shell lash out, coil around the target, and drag it into the hollow core where the hazard drains fluids, extracts vitality, and seeds a new clutch of parasitic spores or brood-cysts. At the table, it should feel like a terrible mix of ambush predator and incubator, with a fight to rescue the victim before the capsule finishes its cycle.
Lantern Egg Brood-Capsule
Defenses
Detection
“A pale, fist-sized capsule clings to cave walls like a pearl of wet bone. Veined tendrils sleep inside its translucent shell, coiled around a dark hollow core. When warm breath or blood scent reaches it, the shell flexes with a faint, wet click and the interior twists as if something alive is turning over inside.”
Standard Engagement
A living creature comes within 20 feet, makes loud noise nearby, spills blood on the stone, or touches the capsule's shell.
On its turn, if no creature is currently restrained inside it, the capsule shifts 10 feet along stone surfaces toward the nearest living creature, then attempts to engulf a target within reach. If a creature is already inside, it uses Brood Siphon instead. The hazard prioritizes unconscious, restrained, or bloodied prey.
The capsule slowly re-coils over 10 minutes if not destroyed. If it successfully feeds, it resets by spawning a fresh tendril cluster and remains active. If reduced to 0 HP, it ruptures and cannot reset.
Engulfing Tendrils, when a creature enters the hazard's reach or starts its turn adjacent to it, the capsule lashes out. The creature must attempt a DC 46 Reflex save. Critical Success: no effect. Success: the creature is grabbed and pulled 5 feet toward the capsule. Failure: the creature is restrained and drawn into the shell, taking 12d12 bludgeoning and 12d12 void damage. Critical Failure: as failure, and the creature is also sickened 2 and immobilized inside the capsule.
Brood Siphon, a restrained creature inside the capsule takes 10d12 void damage at the start of each of the hazard's turns as the tendrils extract blood, warmth, and life essence. If the creature is reduced to 0 Hit Points this way, the capsule begins gestating a brood-cyst from the remains or extracted essence, depending on the campaign tone.
Spore Leak, if the capsule is damaged by fire, acid, or a critical hit, it vents a choking cloud in a 10-foot emanation. Creatures in the cloud must attempt a DC 44 Fortitude save or become sickened 1 for 1 minute, or sickened 2 on a critical failure.
Rescue Window, a creature pulled inside the capsule can be freed by dealing 40 damage to the shell or by a successful disable attempt from an adjacent ally. While the shell remains intact, the victim has cover from outside attacks but is not protected from the hazard's internal effects.
Alarmed Brood, if the capsule is destroyed while it contains a victim, the released creature falls prone in an adjacent space and takes 6d12 bludgeoning damage from the rupture, but the brood cycle ends.
Nest Memory, if one capsule in a cluster is awakened, adjacent dormant capsules gain a +4 circumstance bonus to initiative and Stealth for 1 minute.
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