The Wasteland: 3 Horrible Ways to Die

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? Hah! What doesn’t kill you probably wants you to be a supply of nutrients for its young while you are still alive.

We are trying to be educational here at Aftermath Report, so we decided to ask no other than the Captain himself, a renowned caravaneer and founder of Antecursor Trading Company who has made countless trips across the wasteland, to give us a list of 3 Horrible Ways to Die on the way to mutant territories. Let’s try to raise our collective chances of survival.

1. Tsehun

The mutant word for “skewer” is also a word for something more sinister. What makes them particularly dangerous, other than the fact that they actively hunt humanoids, is how quickly they evolve compared to other desert fauna. First historical sightings of them gave us an image of a solitary predator, a parasitic wasp that would try to attack under the cover of the night and kill livestock. The species as it is now has developed coordinated social behaviour and sturdy exoskeletons that are exceptionally hard to pry open. They descend from the skies like a meteor shower and try to overpower you with brute force, and they get their fill more often than not - snatching the dead and the wounded to support their high calory intake. If you are too tough of a nut to crack, they may leave you alone, so your best bet is to try to gun down as many as you can, but remember that they are just as good at stalking prey on foot.

2. Ramshanks

Also known as “yet another reason why we don’t travel at night”. These nocturnal ovoid insects can easily be mistaken for sun-bleached boulders when they stay buried in the sand. However, the moment they sense movement, they use their legs to propel themselves forward with life-threatening force. Their segmented bodies, covered with chitinous plates, turn them into living battering rams. They are incredibly persistent in their pursuit of prey and good at wrecking vehicles - the very vehicles that usually spell the difference between a job well done and an early grave. Aim at the side, between leg segments or at the soft underside of their thoraxes. Otherwise you will find yourself broken and pulled beneath the sand.

3. The Whirlpool

The Whirlpool is not a creature per se - it is a location with several dustcutters clustered together. Each dustcutter - a whip-shaped creature firmly lodged in the ground - supports several drones that do their bidding, and their cunning, alien proto-intelligence is their key to being successful wasteland predators. Drones raid campsites and drag the supplies to the Whirlpool, as well as use weapons and equipment of their previous meals to make a play at human greed. When prey is close enough, dust cutters trigger a fall trap constructed by the drones, and the ground beneath collapses, forming steep upward slopes. Several pairs of massive mandibles emerge from the sand and dormant peons swarm the victim. There is usually no hope at this point, so the best advice I can give is to avoid things that look too good to be true.

Now that you are better informed, feel free to never think about leaving Rock Head again. Or contact Antecursor Trading Company if these are not enough to deter you. They make good buck and collect horror stories. Until next time!