Daily Campaign Log: Year of the Snake
Title: Day 6 — The Earth Shakers
Date: January 6, 2026
Location: The Southern Defensive Wall, Tygerian Capital Outskirts
By: Captain Hedges
Title: The Thing That Should Not Be
Date: Day 6 — 08:00 Hours (Orbit over Tygerian Isles)
By: Captain Hedges
We were holding the line in orbit. The Tygerian "Striped-Wing" interceptors are good ships—fast, agile, and piloted by cat-folk with reflexes sharper than any human's. We were turning the standard Ophidian needle-fighters into scrap metal, painting the high atmosphere with streaks of orange and green fire.
I was in the cockpit of Stripe-One, leading Red Squadron on a strafing run against a cluster of their troop transports, when my proximity alarm didn't just beep—it screamed.
I had decided to fully transform into the robot tiger form when the transmission came in "Captain! Aether-tear forming off the starboard bow!" Lieutenant M’Ress hissed over the comms. "It’s... massive. The energy readings make no sense. It’s not mechanical."
Standard Ophidian ships warp in with a clean green flash. This was different. Space didn't fold; it ripped open like an infected wound.
Out of that swirling, oily black nebula emerged a nightmare.
It wasn't a ship. Not in any language I know. It was alive. A colossal monstrosity, a hybrid of ancient dragon and deep-sea horror, grown in the abyssal hatcheries of some forgotten dimension. Its hull was black chitinous armor plate that pulsed with wet veins of glowing emerald ichor. Massive, leathery wings spread out, blocking the sunlight, and dozens of writhing tentacles lashed out from its undercarriage, swatting two of our interceptors out of the sky like flies.
It was the Ophidian "Basilisk" Bio-Frigate. Looking directly at it made my head swim, a psychic pressure that tasted like copper and fear.
"All units, break off! Focus fire on the big one!" I yelled, banking hard.
We threw everything we had at it—plasma torrents, kinetic missiles. They just splashed against a shimmering, oily psionic displacement field around its skin. It ignored us. It hadn't come to fight fighters. It had come to deliver a package.
As we watched in horror, the massive, scaled underbelly of the creature-ship distended. It split open—not like bay doors, but like a grotesque maw unhinging.
From the wet darkness of its hold, it "birthed" something enormous. A massive cylinder of fused obsidian and Aether-steel, dark and sleek as a bullet.
The Basilisk Siege Wurm.
It dropped away from the Bio-Ship, caught by the planet’s gravity well. It didn't have thrusters; it was a kinetic kill vehicle the size of a skyscraper. Its nose cone began to glow red, then white-hot as it hit the atmosphere, screaming down toward the capital city below.
"Tactical command, brace for impact!" I shouted down the long-range channel. "They just dropped the hammer!"
Up here, we were fighting snakes. Down there, the ground war was about to change from an infantry skirmish into an apocalypse. The Bio-Ship shrieked—a sound we felt in our teeth more than we heard—and turned its hateful, glowing green eyes toward my squadron.
The Siege Engine Arrives
Tuesday morning brought a tremor that registered 6.5 on the Richter scale. It wasn't natural. The Ophidian Empire has deployed their mechanized armor.
They don't use tanks. They use "Basilisk" Siege Wurms—colossal, burrowing mechanical serpents the size of freight trains.
The Breach: At 09:00, a Basilisk erupted from the earth beneath the Southern Wall, swallowing a defensive turret whole. Its hull is made of obsidian-glass and reinforced Aether-Steel, making it impervious to standard kinetics.
The Atmosphere: The Wurm vents thick, green exhaust—a concentrated acidic smog that melts concrete and lungs alike.
The Captain's Gambit
This was the moment my immunity to acid and poison became the deciding factor in the battle.
The Tactic: While the rest of the Tiger Force fell back from the toxic exhaust cloud, I moved in. Using the "Dead Zone" as cover, I scrambled up the obsidian scales of the moving Wurm.
The Kill: I didn't use a rifle. I used one of Gideon Thorne’s "Nova-Cell" Grenades. I jammed it directly into the Wurm's exhaust vent. The "Pure Light" explosion inside the machine didn't just break it—it vaporized the pilot and turned the mechanical snake into a statue of fused glass.
"They built a machine that breathes poison. They didn't count on a Captain who breathes it right back." — Captain Hedges
D6 Stat Block: Ophidian "Basilisk" Siege Wurm
Scale: Massive (Siege Vehicle) Type: Mechanical Burrower
HULL (Strength): 8D (Obsidian Armor Plating)
SHIELDS: 0D (Relies on Armor)
MANEUVERABILITY: 1D (Can only move forward or burrow)
SENSORS: 3D (Tremor-Sense)
Weapons & Abilities:
The Maw: 10D Damage (Crushing/Swallowing). Can target structures.
Acid Exhaust: Vents a cloud every round. 5D6 Acid Damage to anyone within 10 meters. Note: Captain Hedges takes 0 Damage.
Burrowing: Can move underground to bypass walls and emerge for a surprise attack.
Product Identity & Legal The following items are designated Product Identity of Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. / The Adventures of Captain Hedges: The world of Zimrala, Zimrala One, The Ophidian Empire, The Basilisk Siege Wurm, The Tygerian Isles, the Ether Dragons, the Tiger Force Shadow Saga, the specific "Hedge Wizard of the Shreveport Cabin" persona, the "Stellar Cartographers Guild," and the character "Emperor Rajah." Monsters! Monsters! and Humans, Humans (1st Edition) are trademarks of Ken St. Andre and Troll Godfather Press and are used with permission. The statistics and game mechanics provided herein are designated as unofficial playtest material for the Tygerian Isles campaign setting. © 2026 Arthur Earl C. Hedges Jr. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment