Dune Swarm

Dune Swarm
Hidden in Southern desert sands dwells a species of centipede that lives as a hive entity. Hundreds of them hunt together in grotesque hordes, stripping flesh from larger creatures’ bones with thousands of fatal, stinging bites before scuttling away and vanishing into the dunes. Patterned in pale yellows and browns to match the shifting sand of the desert, when still they are all but invisible. Dune swarms pour forth to obliterate anyone who gets too close to their nests, which are indistinguishable from normal sand-covered mounds at a cursory glance.

Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 6 dice
Health Levels: −0x5/−1x3/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Actions: Climb: 10 dice; Cohesion: 8 dice; Feats of Strength: 6 dice (may attempt Strength 3 feats); Scavenge: 7 dice; Senses: 6 dice (see Unity of the Hive Mind, Vibration Sense); Stealth: 6 dice (see Camouflage)
Resolve 1, Guile 1

COMBAT
Attack (Bite): 10 dice (Damage 12) (see Unity of the Hive Mind, Venomous Bite)
Attack (Grapple): 9 dice (10 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 12 dice (see Unity of the Hive Mind)
Evasion 4, Parry 0
Soak/Hardness: 12/3

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Clinging Swarm: When the swarm controls a grapple, any failed attack against it automatically hits the grappled target instead, with one effective threshold success.
Deadly Charge: Every range band the swarm moves toward a single enemy in a straight line grants it two Initiative. This Initiative accumulates until it closes to close range with that enemy and makes a decisive attack. If the swarm takes any action other than moving directly toward the chosen enemy or attacking it, it loses all Initiative built up with this ability.
Furious Rampage: Whenever the swarm attacks or rushes a crashed enemy, add two automatic successes to the roll.
Ten Thousand Stinging Bites: When the swarm makes a decisive bite attack against an enemy with a lower Initiative rating, it adds +1 to the attack’s damage. Against crashed enemies, this becomes an automatic success instead.
Venomous Bite: The swarm’s decisive bite attack exposes the victim to its poison (Exalted, p. 232) if it deals any damage. The poison deals 4i/round (L in Crash), with a duration of 4 rounds and a −2 penalty.

MERITS
Camouflage: The dust-colored exoskeletons of the swarm make it indistinguishable from ordinary sand.= It doubles 9s on Stealth rolls to blend in with sandy environments.
Made of Thousands: For each smashed centipede in the swarm, ten more appear in its place. Reduce the minimum damage of any withering attack made against it by one, to a minimum of zero.
Seething Tide: The swarm ignores all difficult terrain.
Unity of the Hive Mind: Add an automatic success to the swarm’s bite attack, all combat movement actions, and Senses rolls to detect ambushes.
Venomous Bite: The swarm’s decisive bite attack exposes the victim to its poison (Exalted, p. 232) if it deals any damage. The poison deals 4i/round (L in Crash), with a duration of 4 rounds and a −2 penalty.
Vibration Sense: Dune swarms do not rely on individual sight. Instead, the hive mind feels vibrations on the wind and through the ground. They do not take penalties from poor lighting, and double 9s on Senses rolls whenever vibrations are present.

Storyteller Tactics
Dune swarms are horrifying masses of carnivorous, hive-minded invertebrates, with twitching antennae working in perfect concert. They attack anything they perceive as a threat to their territory. Characters must make a (Perception + Awareness) roll opposed by the swarm’s Stealth to notice the hive before getting too close. If they fail, the swarm attacks until all targets are dead or it is disrupted (see below). It focuses on one foe at a time, picking off the weakest first, and using Clinging Swarm to dissuade their victim’s friends from trying to smash it.
Any sufficiently powerful sound disrupts the swarm’s unity. A character must make a difficulty 4 (Charisma + Performance) roll, opposed by the swarm’s Cohesion, with either a musical instrument, another tool that can make stupendously loud sounds, or supernaturally-enhanced volume. Characters with appropriate Lore backgrounds may roll (Intelligence + Lore), difficulty 3, to learn this weakness. A disrupted swarm loses the benefits of the following: all special abilities and Made of Thousands. It regains cohesion after a number of turns equal to the Performance roll’s threshold successes.
The swarm can only savage or release a grappled foe.