[Index]
Numenera Destiny
This irregular mass of not-quite-flesh is the color of drit and iron. It stands about 9 feet (3 m) tall, lumbering on half a dozen projections that resemble long-healed, amputated stumps. Scents of oil, rubber, and strong chemicals pervade the area where an esculant is active. Esculants prefer dark ruins, basements, or the outer edges of a settlement's walls at night. Synth and metal draw them, but so does the flesh of living things.
Sometimes esculants don't try to eat living creatures they encounter. Instead, esculants follow them for a time. For what purpose, no one knows.
Motive: Hungers for synth, metal, and flesh
Environment: Encountered alone or in groups or two to three in dark places where synth and metal can be found
Health: 22
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 2
Movement: Short
Modifications: Stealth tasks and tasks to see through tricks and avoid traps as level 1
Combat: An esculant attacks a living creature by attempting to topple onto it. If it succeeds, it inflicts damage and the target becomes stuck under the esculant until the target can pull itself free. Each round the esculant remains in contact with the victim, the victim takes an additional moderate wound (5 points) from tiny, mouthlike intake channels that abrade the victim's body. (The creature uses this same method to devour inanimate objects of up to level 5.)
Interaction: Esculants are predatory, but not especially clever. It's possible to avoid a conflict with one merely by getting away from it, after which the creature seems to forget, going back to whatever it was doing before.
Use: The PCs open a vault, a neighborhood home, or a storage room only to discover that one or more esculants has consumed everything inside.
GM Intrusion: The character toppled onto by the esculant is knocked unconscious unless they are able to resist. Unconscious characters automatically take 5 points of damage each round they remain trapped. A character can attempt o regain consciousness once each round.