Adroni
the Compass-Holders
prefix a suffix droni
stratis mu
physical appearance
The adroni /ˈeɪdroʊni/ is an elongated, aquatic stranger characterized by its contrasting black and white stripes, vivid blue lips, and red eyes. Its moist, slick skin is muscular and textured to the touch, much like the surface of an eel, and it exudes a thin, translucent mucus to protect itself from dehydration. Its flesh is dark and oily, and waterlogged to a point where it can even be pulled apart with one's bare hands.Ҩ
Ҩ Pull one up onto the docks. Use a dull knife, and everything still cuts like jelly.
Water oozes out, but it smells like blood.
Although the adroni spends much of its life underwater, it does possess small, short limbs, which are, despite their size, strong enough to support the adroni's full weight when it stands. The adroni keeps its body held upward when it moves on land, and does not allow its underbelly to drag along the ground. It is able to regenerate from cuts and abrasions (with deep gashes closing up after two to three days), but must come on land to do so, as contact with water appears to exacerbate injuries.
The adroni speaks through long, droning trills, bellows, and whines. Its voice also carries across infrasonic frequencies, theoretically allowing the calls to be picked up over SONAR systems.
Monnnnn, wennnn-nnnn. Bolllll, wunnn.
environment and generation
The adroni is found in a wide range of murky, aquaticԃ locations, both natural and man-made. Pipes and water tanks are common homes to an adroni, as are lakes, rivers, and bays. While the adroni tends to prefer locations which are part of a more extensive aquatic network (such as the drainage systems of a city), it is not unusual for adroni to appear in small, isolated bodies of water as well, such as ponds, wells, or swimming pools.
The adroni always generates in the darkest depths of the waters in which it appears, where it starts off as a small and mouthless, growing legs and elongating as it swims. The adroni always grows to fill the space in which it lives; thus, individuals that appear in small pipes and water basins never grow more than a few feet in length, whereas individuals that generate in rivers and reservoirs grow many dozens of feet long.
There does not seem to be an upper limit to this growth, with adroni in excess of one hundred feet not unheard of, lurking deep beneath the surface of harborsႥ and bays in certainႻ infested cities.
Ⴅ Lucky-in-landlocked.
Ⴛ Certain...of what?
behaviour
The adroni possesses a sprightly, edacious temperament. It swims from place to place with quick, eel-like movements, keeping its arms tucked to its sides. It lives in darkness, and always moves towards lower light levels. Even when an individual appears in an immense, natural body of water, it tends to lurk in the shadows and mud along the bottom, emerging only on the cloudiest of nights. Although the adroni is capable of surviving for short periods of time out of water (provided that its skin retains enough moisture to keep from drying out), it requires water to survive, and, when displaced, always seeks out a new body of water in which to live.
As it swims, the adroni hunts fish and crustaceans, snatching and clutching them with its dextrous hands. It snaps the spines of fish, cracks the shells of crustaceans, and crushes jellyfish in its palm, but rarely (if ever) consumes its prey. When the adroni hunts, it salivates blood from its gums – this substance drips from its lips in copious streams, staining the water crimson. The adroni's oral cavity does not connect to any larger inner cavity (with its throat ending in only a shallow pocket), and must regurgitate all consumed objects in periodic and garishಣ expulsions.
ಣ so it's easy to imagine...
how red you'll be as you drown.
The adroni is able to turn valves and screws within seconds, and uses its nimbleness to sabotageႯ man-made structures, such as underwater drainage and sewage pipes, as well as aquatic vessels, such as ships and submarines. It is particularly attracted to oil tankers,Ҏ and compromises their structural integrity by pulling out rivets and peeling back side panels.
Ⴏ The classic saboteur... was this the one what you were thinking of, when you decided on that name?
Ҏ
Another ecological catastrophe – "Oops!" says oil company president
Are outdated safety regulations to blame?
The adroni is a social stranger, and bands with others of its strain and size. Groups of adroni swim in loose formations, and even play games with one another by grabbing each other's tails, competing over fish, and chasing one another through pipes and other tight openings.
Large adroni lose social behaviours as they grow, and so while small individuals form sizable groups, bigger individuals appear only in pairs, or by themselves. The largest of adroni display cannibalistic tendencies, as well, and often devour whole hordes of younger individuals with voraciousϑ satisfaction.
interactions with sensitives
A partially or fully submerged adroni displays playful tendencies towards a sensitive. It nips at their ankles, pushes its body against their side, and splashes water onto them. While on land, however, it displays complete indifference, with only the more curious of outliers displaying anything more than an errant head-turn or flick of the tail.
If attacked, the adroni responds violently, but otherwise, is not overtly aggressive. Despite this, encounters are not without hazard, as the adroni's presence causes water to develop in the blood of nearby sensitives. Although brief encounters are non-fatal, encounters of longer than twenty minutes lead to a gruesome end, as the blood both thins, and becomes pressurized. The eyes and fingernails bulge, the veins swell with excess fluid, and the soft tissues burst.
it's better than you expect
oil cruise?? OIL CRUISE!
amazing, you won an OIL CRUISE, oil slick oil luxury garbage in oil, luxury offshore disposal, OIL CRUISE, YOU'VE WON AN OIL CRUISE!
Warning, the adroni is more dangerous than you might think! Mostly it just wants to mess with you, but even if it doesn't seem interested in you, don't let your guard down! You might think that it's just hanging out near you, but it's also putting water in your blood, and even a little of that isn't good. You'll be dead after around twenty minutes and you're gonna gross everyone out with your grody corpse too. Kill it if you can, or just avoid it.
danger rating: water in your blood, not fun
interest in corpses
The adroni reacts to a human corpse with destructive delight. It dances with squirming joy as it either rips the body apart, or carries it from place to place, until the arms and limbs break off from the adroni's lively shakes.
Groups of adroni turn competitive and fight for possession of any corpse that they find. Large quantitiesბ of human corpsesɝ incite manic, feeding frenzies (and as various sizes of insatiable adroni gather, larger adroni are able seize the opportunity to prey upon their smaller companions, as well).
look now, look now, look now
Concerned that your blood might be... diluted? ¤Q ¶Ç £¸ ¦Ê
Wait, is that true, its seeping into your BLOOD?no, it's not... animal by-products??
ბ Like the kind you're going to start seeing a lot of, right?
ɝ Such as those left behind following gas attacks, chemical containment leaks, military death squads, and the peripheral edges of dirty bombings. (No one wants to believe it, but they're dumping the bodies into the ocean...in with all the empty milk jugs and plastic straws.)
The adroni's water-generating properties also extend towards sensitive corpses, which become grossly distended, the flesh blanched white regardless of the sensitive's complexion in life.
aging and death
Once the adroni reaches the end of its life, it expands in width, as though bloated by water. This deformation progresses rapidly, each movement causing further expansion. Its skin sweats in profuse bloulobules, as its hands paw furiously at its eyes and mouth.
Upon reaching this state in a group, an adroni is attacked and eaten by its companions, who react to it with the same appetence that they show towards human corpses. Otherwise, a lone adroni's sides eventually rupture, and exude a blackened, sludgy fluid. Its watery corpse grows softer by the minute, and melts away to nothing within several hours.
now listing: posts containing "adroni"
Are you interested in "Large quantities of human corpses"??
we have great news for you about shipping delays
Vanished into thin air
Over four million mattresses lost during shipping per year