2026-09-08 14:06:33
Anonymous:
Clarify Bellback telegraph, blocked siphon drain and required death shifts
hold the flood/horde creature proposals.md ..
@@ 1,6 1,6 @@
# Hold The Horde — Horde Creature Proposals
-
**Status.** Three illustrative creatures, not an adopted roster, balance or origin story. Their names describe functions, not species history. All attack on sight under local perception. Ordinary fire stays mostly automatic; the player moves, positions, interacts and uses manual specials. Journal pause freezes combat, oxygen and work without completing anything. The station may shift after death while selected completed work persists; every route here is therefore a local encounter shape, not fixed geography.
+
**Status.** Three illustrative creatures, not an adopted roster, balance or origin story. Their names describe functions, not species history. All attack on sight under local perception. Ordinary fire stays mostly automatic; the player moves, positions, interacts and uses manual specials. Journal pause freezes combat, oxygen and work without completing anything. The station shifts after every death while selected completed work persists; every route here is therefore a local encounter shape, not fixed geography.
## 1. Bellback — redirect a force wave
@@ 8,7 8,7 @@
**Replaceable origin.** It could be a remnant of an ancient ascension chamber or a human compression-treatment machine grown into a patient; neither explanation is required for the behaviour.
-
**Action and causality.** Completing the brace emits one pressure wave through the cone, shoving the astronaut, loose objects and unbraced creatures until solid structure stops them. It deals condition damage but interrupts work only by moving the astronaut off the control. Displacement, leaving the cone, hard cover or defeat prevents release; afterwards Bellback must brace again.
+
**Action and causality.** Completing the brace emits one pressure wave through the cone, shoving the astronaut, loose objects and unbraced creatures until solid structure stops them. It deals condition damage but interrupts work only by moving the astronaut off the control. Once the warning begins, the cone direction is locked. Leaving it or reaching hard cover avoids the blast without cancelling its release; displacing or defeating Bellback interrupts the brace. Afterwards it must brace again.
**Encounter.** Finish one hand-cycle on a cargo iris beyond a lane of pressers while Bellback enters diagonally. The player can circle a pillar during warning while automatic fire works; spend a shove to break the brace; or face Barrier Plate into the impact and feed Dynamo under normal wave rules.
@@ 44,7 44,7 @@
**Encounter.** Close two service caps, each a checkpoint, while Siphon watches one and pressers approach from the other side. Bait the hose into a pillar and cross during retraction; reposition until automatic fire selects Siphon; or use shove/Barrier to stop the launch and buy a cap stage. Completing one cap and leaving shortens the return.
-
A Cascade that reaches the Siphon can delete it with the surrounding crowd. Counterwall can catch launches and turn impacts into stored charge, but remaining in tether range still spends oxygen, so defence is not automatic immunity.
+
A Cascade that reaches the Siphon can delete it with the surrounding crowd. Counterwall can catch hose launches and turn their impacts into stored charge. A caught hose causes no extra drain; ordinary oxygen consumption continues while the player remains there. An already attached hose must be broken by the stated range, cover, displacement or defeat conditions.
**Return and cost.** Closed caps persist, though a death shift may relocate the remaining work and invalidate the old route. Recognising the bladder flash still changes later choices. The main cost is distinguishing altered oxygen drain from ordinary consumption, damage and capacity; if those signals compete, drop the creature rather than make it surprising.