Luring Hole

I decided to translate my nightmare from last week into a frightening creature... ENJOY! - Joozey

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We had been travelling through the forest all day. The weather was dreary, a constant light rain had been collecting on the treetops, now forming thick droplets that had us soaking wet in a very short time. Night was falling and we heard a rolling thunder approaching us in the distance. My companion walked on with determination but I struggled to keep up. Eventually, finally, after suggesting for the third time we should find shelter and set up camp, she agreed. "These forests are not safe", she said. "Many dangers linger here, hard to spot and predict. But we must rest. Lets find a proper shelter." And so we spent the final hour of daylight looking for a place to get dry and spend the night. Passing over a hill, we found a hole in the forest floor, earth had collected between several large boulders, and some large animal had apparently carved a home for itself. It seemed abandoned now. The cave went quite a way into darkness. Happy to be dry, we set up camp.

Soon as we attempted to light a bonfire, our tinderbox and dried wood got splashed by a goop of disgusting brown ooze falling from the ceiling. Just our luck. But somehow, as a moonless night fell upon us, a yellow light illuminated us from the back of the cave. We decided to take a look. My companion took the lead. Every step forward I kept feeling this pressure on my ears. A throbbing sound. As if listening to someone's heartbeat. And with every step, a faint sweet scent became stronger. My companion noticed the same, and she increased her pace. Perhaps her hunger and the prospect of food made her drop her guard. I hurried after her but she was several feet ahead, saying it must be close, that the light source got stronger. We had to crawl as the ceiling got low, on our hands and knees. Then I noticed that my thighs were scraping the walls. I shouted to my companion, now at least twenty feet in front of me, telling her to wait. She was more slender than I was and had experienced no trouble going in further. She didn't reply for a moment, until I heard her call out to me: "help me, I'm stuck". At that point, I couldn't move myself forward anymore, the cave got too tight. And to my horror, I squeezed myself into a position where I couldn't move back either. I tried to twist and curl, but my legs and arms couldn't find the angles to push back. She too seemed stuck. Now yelling "help" with more panic. I thought I was mistaken but after several minutes the horror and panic made me realise this wasn't a normal cave. This cave was slowly collapsing on us. This was a living creature about to devour us. I screamed, kicked, panicked and anxiety got the better of me for a good while. Our screams must have been terrifying to witness to anyone listening. But nobody was.

I was now completely stuck, but in a moment of clarity and effort I managed to reach for my tinderbox. Thankfully my arms were free enough to grab it from my pocket and open it. It had dried up. It took several attempts to strike a spark, but finally I managed to set my shirt on fire. It was all I had. I'd rather burn to death than slowly die from being crushed. Never had I felt this desperate. The fire was unbearably hot, and it scorched my entire body, but I wasn't the only one in pain. The cave felt it too. The walls became soft, throbbing and pulsing, pushing me outwards. This cave was puking me out, and moments later my burning body was exerted onto the wet forest floor. The rain doused the flames, but my body was severely burned. As I lay there, breathing for air, I just heard fading agonising screams echoing from the cave, as the entrance slowly sunk in behind me. And then, silence. I was the only one to get out.

Luring Hole

Some label it as a supernatural phenomenon, others a living, conscious creature. A Luring Hole appears as an amorphic creature inside a cave entrance or covering a gap in the ground, in which creatures are lured, trapped and slowly devoured. It can manifest itself inside a small natural cave or pit in the ground, and mimic the inside as to become indistinct of its environment. Careful inspection reveals slight throbbing plantlike veins and a brown slimy excrement in gaps and nooks. For the unobservant traveller looking for a shelter, this creature may well be their death.

Trap

The further one travels into this living cave, the more narrow it becomes, forced to crawl, then to squeeze, until the wandering creature gets stuck. No way forward, and too awkwardly positioned to move back, the hole continues to slowly collapse, pressing in on the trapped creature until bones snap and eventually the air is pressed out of its lungs and dies of exhaustion. It must adapt its body slowly to maintain tension on its inner tissue and remain hard as rock. Trapped creatures experience days of insanity and suffer from intense madness and delusion as their uncomfortable position becomes unbearable. But there is nothing they can do except awaiting salvation by death.

Lure

Creatures normally are not willingly squeezing themselves into a tight dark cave with no clear destination. The Luring Hole has two features that convinces a wandering traveller to go deeper. First, the hole emits a dim light, often yellow or blue, at its perceived end. As the traveller gets deeper to inspect, the cave morphs around the victim in a nearly unnoticeable pace, stretching and collapsing, and the victim becomes stuck before ever reaching the light. The second feature is temperature. It exerts a warm, sweet breeze from it's back to the front. Mpst creatures are allured by the sweet scent and press on to figure out where it comes from.

Weakness

Its weakness is fire. People with torches will find their fire somehow is continuously extinguished by dripping ooze from the ceiling. If the Hole is unable to kill the fire, it will collapse and force out whoever is in. When the Hole collapses, a traveller has little trouble getting out of it, as the tissue of the hole becomes soft and tender. In order to consume a traveller, the hole must adapt its body slowly to keep a hard surface.

On the move

The hole is not stuck to a place. It can practically move wherever it wants over land, but usually sticks to lush, rocky environments. A migrating Luring Hole has the appearance of a 14 feet large black hairy maggot, that crawls silently through forests, sniffing out its prey until it finds an opportunity to trap it. Nobody knows exactly how intelligent these creatures are, but they have a strange habit to be at the right place at the right time to satisfy their hunger. Whether travellers seek shelter for a storm or an enemy, or simply set up camp for the night, a Luring Hole knows where to be to trap them.

Basic Information

Anatomy

It's body is amorphic, and it leaves clumps of brown excrement on anything it touches. It has one mouth, and fully opened, becomes a six feet wide hole. Sticky hairs grow from the outer skin to suspend its body to floor, wall and ceiling, effectively pulling itself open into an inviting shelter. When completely stretched, the Luring Hole can reach a length of over 50 feet.

Genetics and Reproduction

It grows from fermented ooze and slime building up in dead-end caves. A moldy layer grows over the ooze, black, with sticky hairs. Veins, muscles and nerves grow in threads through the ooze, connecting the entire being. Once matured, the creature pulls itself inside-out, taking the shape of a giant maggot, as the molded layer becomes its outer skin and its inside tissue consist of an amorphic brown ooze.

Growth Rate & Stages

Growth rate varies, depending on how much ooze and slime has gathered, and humidity and size of the cave. There are two stages: the development stage and the mature stage. In the development stage, its nervous system, muscles and layer of mold skin is growing through the fermenting ooze. When the growth is compact enough, it will free itself from the walls and turn inside out to become a fully autonomous giant maggot.

Ecology and Habitats

Wet, dark, cold forests, with lots of places to suspend itself, and in range of large wandering creatures.

Dietary Needs and Habits

It feeds on large creatures of flesh and bone, luring them into its body with an inviting shelter, curious lights and sweet smells.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

It is unknown exactly how perceptive and intelligent this creature is. But it has a habit to show up in the right spot at the right time to capture unobservant travellers.

Scientific Name

Magna Termes Specus

Origin/Ancestry

Spawned in the underdark