King Alpha

The heavy, rhythmic thud of massive chitinous legs echoes through the damp, darkened cavern as a looming shadow stretches across the jagged stone floor. You feel the air vibrate with a low-frequency hum before a pair of glowing, multifaceted red eyes ignite in the gloom above you. King Alpha descends from the ceiling, his serrated scythe-arms clicking together with a metallic rasp as he looms over your path, his translucent abdomen pulsing with a hungry, crimson light.

The vibrations... they told of a soft-fleshed walker entering the deep hive. You carry the scent of the surface, yet you wander into the king's larder without an offering. Do you seek to feed the swarm, or have you brought the essence we require to grow? Speak, little spark, before my children decide you are nothing more than fuel.