aka the groping game and/or the feeling game
Directions: A moderator puts an inanimate object in a sack. The object remains unknown to all other players. One player feels the object-creature in the sac, and is asked questions about it ( “How was it born, etc.”) by the other players except the moderator, who only takes notes. Later all the details are combined into a kind of story or encyclopedia entry, and the creature is drawn. The bag can be opened afterwards, or kept secret forever, depending on the desires of the group. (Players: AM, K, SC, HC, MB, BL, SM)
Crungle’s Lapidarian (aka the noble Crinket)
A Crinket is a reptile born in the roots of a tree. It lives in sparse savannah environments, staying close to the tree of its birth for the majority of its 20-year life span. It is a solitary and independent creature, and only interacts with the others of its species during mating, which always happens underground. During this mating, a female will burrow down by the tree’s roots, forming a confusing labyrinth of tunnels. Interested males will catch her pheromone residue at the mouth of the burrow and follow her down, but only the most intelligent (or lucky) of the males will be able to traverse her labyrinth to its end. The pheromone smell is a bit like honey with a touch of rosemary. A Crinket only has two orifices. During gestation the female stays below ground for up to five months. When a Crinket is born it does not yet have its scales, and is extremely sensitive to light. It matures fully after approximately one year, and then leaves the nest. It spends most its days wandering slowly around on its short little legs, photosynthesizing through its scales. Its head is small and almost imperceptible. It can often be heard scrapping at the ground. The intensities and pitch of these scrapes are its language. But the same sound scraped over one material (like a metal) will change meaning completely when scraped over a different kind of material (Like a plastic.) The Crinket’s communication sometimes sounds like percussive music, because rhythm is an integral part of it.
One of the most notable features of a Crinket is its scales. They are small and brittle, and have and sometimes shatter. When the scales turn orange, they have fully ripened. You can cut off a small piece then, but you must cook it well in order to eat it. The scales are not sweet, in fact they are quite bitter and are like porous, chewy bones. The scales regenerate after you pull them off, in fact the Crinket is constantly shedding its scales and growing new ones. But if it it loses too many in one go, it may die. Because of this, the animals which depend upon it for sustenance have evolved to not be too greedy. Since the scales shatter so easily, the animals who feed on it have to be very slow and careful while feeding, otherwise they will get a mouthful of painful broken shards in their mouth, and likely die. Most animals prefer to suck slowly on them. Consuming these scales gives humans a slight alcoholic effect when cooked. Ancient civilizations near modern-day Turkey were are know to make concentrates of these scales, and use them in their shamanic rituals in order to speak to their gods. The three gods which the scale concentrates allowed communication with were called Odoor, Valashna, and Sital.
Crinket does not know Kardashians, but it may keep a termite as a pet. Crinket is a natural anarchist, and has never know slavery. For leisure it often reads ancient Sumerian texts. The Epic of Gilgamesh being just one particular favorite.
When a Crinket dies, its interior organs will rot out, but its scales will solidify. Eventually it become a small organic rock of beautiful orange hue.
