EVOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Faster- 3, Smarter- 5+1, Nocturnal- 3+2, Zap things for confusion- 6+1, Electrical communication 3+2, Weaponised tail- 5, Digger feet- 6, Webs- 5
SURVIVAL ROLL- 3! Our species is still in trouble, and another bad generation could spell our doom.
The loner slicer has managed to form social groups again, and has evolved into the nightmace. These animals are even more intelligent than previous species, with their already-existing cultural abilities being expanded even further. Their most obvious feature, however, is their tail. It has developed a spiked ball of spongy bone at the end of their tail. This is frequently groomed, as tiny grooves on the surface are used to carry deadly neurotoxin. This isn't enough for it to be a lethal concentration, but the nightmace can also generate powerful electrical shocks, which are powered by the ever-working muscle of the wings. They sprawl webs across trees in their mountainous homes, and feed on any creatures that are caught when they wake or return to their homes. These animals have powerful feet, with which they can dig through solid tree bark, where they keep their young in a maze of silk. The silk can be a secondary shock communicator, as it is an excellent conductor and a sprawl of threads attached to prey can be highly effective.
The world is continuing to dry. The montane forests are shrinking.
GENERATION 24:
Nightmace
A mottled dark purple bird-like animal that hunts under the montane forest canopy. They use their fanged tentacles to attack and kill their prey. They mostly fly. They grow up to 40 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets. They use two claws on their back to snatch prey from the ground or air.
SOCIAL: They live alone, as they can no longer support themselves in a group.
SENSES: It has a sense of touch that lets it figure out if it's touching food, and an extremely good sense of smell/taste. A keen electrical sense lets it find creatures that are close to it, and it can feel vibrations from moving creatures. Its hearing is superb, and it can echolocate. However, this is still inferior to the eagle-eyed vision of other slicers.
REPRODUCTION: It 'kisses' a mate it approves of, passing male cells to it, and growths grow inside of the womb. Tentaclets follow their mother and are fed by them. They eat regurgitated food from the mother's guts, and when they are old enough, they leave.
MOVEMENT: They fly by using their front wings to glide and their back wings as engines. They have two legs on their underside.
EATING: It impales small animals and digests them by drawing them into the guts. They are able to prey on most animals smaller than them, and they use venom. Most of their food is from grazing worms and the dense vegetation. Other prey include land-dwelling spearfaced worms (slitherers) and other flappers, as well as leggedgrinders. We can use a precise jet of neurotoxin, laced with silica shards (to pierce the skin), to kill prey.
PREDATION: We are fed on by many predators, despite our toxicity.
COMPETITION: Many predators our size are taking over the daytime niches.
ENVIRONMENT: A moist, cool rainforest, with scarce balloons over the sky and many purple-ish trees.
CURRENT ENVIRONMENT: Montane forest
NEARBY ENVIRONMENTS: Bubblegrass prarie, mudflats, taiga, open ocean, lowland woodland