Underhive

The Underhive's "true form" - the larval ooze

The Underhive are a subterranean, magical race of eldritch creatures of unknown origin, though they are thought to have originated at some point during the War of the Nine Knights - one of many negative byproducts of the Collapse. They are native to the underdark of Zventhos - where they were apparently bred as an experimental bioweapon that got out of control either before or after the final days of the war.

The hive's life-cycle is very strange and alien - with their "true forms" being merely small mounds of slime called the "larval ooze" that attempt to enter a victim's body (usually through the mouth) and then gestate inside of them for about a day - clouding the victim's memories of the incident - before eventually destroying and reforming parts of the victim's body into a hard, chitinous, bipedal form. They are also known to gestate inside a corpse, so long as the victim is infected before dying. This form can be destroyed, but the larval ooze merely emerges from the carapace and attempts to find a new victim. The larval ooze is incredibly resilient to attempts to magically remove it from it's host, and the creatures' acidic blood makes it incredibly dangerous to fight in close quarters.

## Variants

### Drones

The Underhive Drones or warriors are the most common variant of the creatures - the usual result of a larval ooze infecting and then bursting from a victim. The drones are usually dark in color, with a hard chitin, two scythe-like claws, and a tail - and a long, eyeless head bearing razor sharp teeth. They occasionally develop horns as well. The drones are incredibly fast and also bleed acidic blood, making them very threatening foes in close quarters. They can also be incredibly stealthy and make habitual use of their dark color to camouflage themselves in the caves and annals of the underdark.

### Harvesters

   The Underhive harvesters are larger, more grotesque variants of the creature. They are bred for the purpose of carrying and gestating victims and egg sacs carrying larval ooze - which can burst and then seek out new victims. The harvesters themselves bear many similar characteristics and abilities as the drones, with claws of their own. The victims the creature carries are often incubating hive hybrids - humanoid, zombie-like variants that were converted rather than fully infected by the ooze - used as a sort of lesser infantry by the hive. The Harvester

s are often called as such for collecting and incubating these lesser host bodies - either collecting still-living victims, or infected corpses.

### Hybrids

The Underhive hybrids are perhaps the weakest variant of hive creatures - being humanoid, partially infected hosts of the larval ooze. These hybrids are formed from a larval ooze that neglected to burst and form a fully-blown hive drone, instead depositing it's DNA and magic into it's host body and then exiting it - or in some cases, incubating within it as a new egg sac to be deployed to a new host. The hybrids are generally unintelligent, mindless worker slaves, used as fodder in battle or even nourishment by the more pure hive creatures. They do however, possess the uncanny ability to temporarily reconfigure their genetic makeup to disguise themselves as a normal, functioning humanoid for the purposes of infiltration and deception. They are occasionally gestated inside large egg sacs carried by Harvesters.