Tumbletooth

Tumbletooth

(Creature)

Type

Fey
(swarm)

CR

5

Environment

Any

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Assault on the Crucible, pg(s). 61

Tumbleteeth are verminous fey rodents that gain a collective intelligence and psychic magic when gathered in swarms.

Appearance

A tumbletooth looks like a hairless, reddish-brown rat with beady red eyes and a single large fang. It moves in somersaults, giving it its name.

Ecology

Tumbleteeth are insatiably ravenous and spend most of their waking hours eating or searching for food. They can consume anything from unprocessed grain to rotting carrion, and a small swarm can eat the entire stockpile of a small community within hours. They usually avoid fights but will attack other creatures if hungry enough.

Tumbleteeth lay leathery, self-fertilised eggs in secluded areas, usually after eating a large amount of food. The parent then moves on, while the egg can lay dormant for years until the unhatched tumbletooth senses a large amount of food nearby. Since tumbleteeth are relatively rare, many such eggs go undiscovered or unrecognised until too late.

When gathered in large numbers, tumbleteeth's individual intelligences link up, allowing the swarm to understand languages, act as one and employ psychic magic. Tumbleteeth use this magic to enter locked stockpiles, lock doors to eat in peace, and spook other creatures away.

Habitat

It is believed that the first tumbleteeth slipped through a portal to the First World centuries ago, and have since rapidly multiplied and spread across the galaxy.

Society

Communities familiar with tumbleteeth employ scanning technology or train animals to hunt down adults and egg caches as soon as possible to prevent them from gathering in swarms.