Shrile – The Cryptidery

Uncomfortable

Posted on July 23, 2021 - July 4, 2021 by The Cryptidery

This morning, as I was unlocking the doors to enter the Cryptidery, I heard strange noises above my head. I backed up so I could get a better look at the roof.

I try not to look up there too often because that is where the silver chimeras live. I find them unsettling. I know it is strange coming from someone like me, but they seem so unnatural. They do not move during the day, so I have learned to pretend they are not there. Looking at them makes me uncomfortable.

Of course, in looking at the roof, I saw the silver chimeras lined up and frozen at the edge of the roof as they typically are during the day. But today something was different. One of the chimeras was standing awkwardly, holding its arms out in front and possibly holding something in each of its hands. I considered my options. The silver chimeras were definitely not going anywhere. I could wait until someone else arrived. I could send someone else up to the roof. But then I would have to explain why I did not just go look myself. And there was still a noise I could not explain, definitely not being made by the silver chimeras.

I let myself into the building and went looking for Mohammed. He is usually here overnight, and I hoped that in asking him for a ladder I could also have him accompany me when I ventured onto the roof.

I felt fortunate that Mohammed was still working when I found him. However, he informed me that I did not need a ladder to access the roof. It seems we have a hidden staircase and a door. So, no need for someone to accompany me. I thanked him for the information and silently reminded myself that it was daytime and the silver chimeras would not be moving in the daytime as I made my way to the roof.

Having successfully found my way onto the roof, I slowly made my way to the edge where the silver chimeras usually sit. I saw the same one I had noticed from the ground, holding its hands out awkwardly, and I tried to see what it was holding without getting too close. The noise was definitely coming from that direction.

To my surprise, I found that the chimera was holding the remaining two escaped shriles. Unfortunately, there is no way to remove them. We will have to wait until tonight when the silver chimeras reanimate. All I could do was make sure the shriles were safe for the day.

I found Mohammed again and told him that I needed to create some form of shelter on the roof. He helped me construct a tent around the chimera holding the shriles. I was glad to have his company. I could not avoid being that close to the chimeras, but having someone with me made it easier. I left dishes of food and water within reach of the shriles, who are now protected from the sun. I am sure they will not be comfortable today, but they will remain alive.

As soon as Jose arrived, I asked if he could stay past dark to retrieve the shriles and return them to their enclosure. After all the times I have helped him, he should have been willing to do this favour for me. However, it seems he is still working on the paperwork from last week’s “adventure”. He would not stay unless I agreed to do the paperwork. I did not argue, although I wanted to. I do not like to go near the chimeras during the day. I do not want to go near them at night.

So now I have piles of paperwork to do. Again. Jose told me he had started, but if he has done any work I have not found it yet.

At least Maria is happy. She made a point to thank me for my work this morning. I think she must know my opinion of the silver chimeras. The grungles will be happy, too, when we can return them to their normal enclosure tomorrow.
Nushi

To Catch a Shrile

Posted on July 16, 2021 - July 4, 2021 by The Cryptidery

Hello, my loyal admirers! It’s Jose, here to tell you how I have once again saved the day!

The last couple of weeks have been an adventure. An adventure right here in quiet little Cacheclee! Who would have thought?

I’m sure you’ve all been made aware of the shriles’ escape. I believe Nushi and Maria wrote about it, and Draven did whatever it is that he does to get the word out (something to do with birds, I think, though I was under the impression that humans do not understand the birds’ tweets). If you live around here you may have even seen Wei and their team canvassing the town, making sure no one had seen any strange creatures outside of the Cryptidery.

No need to fear! None of the shriles have been seen or caught outside of the Cryptidery’s property (technically), and all except two are now back in their enclosure.

But the story! The adventure! That’s what you all came here for, of course.

So, there I was, climbing through an air vent in search of the shriles. We had been fairly certain they were hiding in the ducts somewhere. I had a team of caretakers with me, those able to squeeze through, but each time the ducts split off I sent one of them in that direction, hoping that we would eventually surround the shriles. Mohammed had given me a map, but… let’s just say drawing maps and plans isn’t his strong suit. He certainly knows the building better than anyone, but he has never been good at transferring that knowledge to others.

Still, after a week of encountering dead ends and making notes on the “map”, we were sure we were closing in on the missing shriles. Everyone else had branched off on different paths, and I was crawling along by myself. Signs of the shriles were everywhere, and that was part of the problem. It seemed they had been everywhere in the building, leaving dents and scratches and excrement behind in the ducts, and it was hard to tell where they had been most recently.

As I made my way towards the front of the building, I heard a scream. Not the scream of a creature, but a human child. Since we are not yet open to visitors, I assumed that it must be Draven (who is not a child, but sounds like one when scared). I suspected that he had simply come across a spider, or broken a phone charger, or perhaps stepped in something sticky with his new shoes… again.

Despite my suspicions, it was my duty to investigate!

I sped towards the office (or where I thought the office was since I do not often find myself crawling through ducts). As I got closer, I saw a damaged grate. I cautiously approached, looking down the connecting paths for shriles before peering into the office. Below me, I saw Draven frozen in his chair, staring at the ceiling in horror. Trying my best not to laugh, I removed the damaged grate and lowered myself into the hole to see what he was looking at. There, hanging on the ceiling fan in Draven’s office, were two of the missing shriles!

You can’t bring much equipment with you when you’re climbing through air ducts. It isn’t practical. But that doesn’t mean I came unprepared! I jumped down to the ground and pulled a burlap sack from my back pocket. Earlier, I had cleverly used this sack to play a game with the grungles, so that it would smell like them. I unfolded the sack and shook it, holding it open below the fan. The shriles didn’t stop to think. They both wanted to be the first one into the sack. And so, they both jumped in. I quickly found a cage to put them in, sack and all, before they managed to claw through it, and before long they were safely back in their enclosure.

A few days later, having had no more luck capturing the shriles, I thought to put the little trick I had played on Nushi to use. Surely if Nushi had believed I was a grungle, the shriles would too. I managed to lead three more shriles right into their enclosure this way, but after narrowly avoiding being eaten by the third I decided to stop using myself as bait.
The next day, I went out to my van. I do my best planning in my van since it is usually with me on my adventures and has most of my equipment in it. I turned the radio up loud while I looked through my equipment and made some notes. After a while, I opened the back doors and carried some things inside. I got outside just in time to see my van driving away! I suppose I should have known better than to leave my keys in the ignition, with the music blaring, while I went inside.

At first, I thought it must be a simple theft (which would be out of the ordinary, but not unheard of, in Cacheclee), but then I noticed a couple of caretakers running across the parking lot. I couldn’t hear them, but they were waving their arms and gesturing at a vent on the side of the building that was obviously broken. I ran back inside and ignored Maria’s protests as I grabbed her keys from her desk and ran out again. I jumped in her car and drove as quickly as I could after the shriles that had stolen my van.

Thankfully, most residents of Cacheclee know me and know my van. Things are normally pretty quiet around here, so a van blaring music and driving erratically had not gone unnoticed. I only had to ask a few people where it had gone before turning a corner and seeing it. What followed was a high-speed chase! The action! The thrill! It was as exciting as any chase scene you’ve seen in the movies!

And perhaps as destructive. We’re going to have to pay for a lot of repairs. Maria is not happy about that.

But finally, my van ran out of gas. It’s a good thing Maria always keeps her tank full (and I don’t). My van had stopped in the middle of the road with the two shriles still inside when I caught up to it. One was honking the horn incessantly, and the other had found a taser and seemed mesmerized by the sparks it made.

I had to act fast. I stopped Maria’s car at the back of my van and jumped through the back doors that were still open, pulling them closed behind me. The shriles of course heard the door close. Both dove towards me. My first priority had to be wrestling the taser away from them. Doing so while making sure none of us got tased was difficult, but I finally managed to pull it away and hide it in the glove compartment. Now that I was in the front of the van, I was able to keep the shriles contained in the back. There was only a small space they could climb through, so I kept pushing them back through it as I removed my keys from the ignition and rolled down one of the windows. Then I quickly jumped through the open window and used the remote on my keychain to close it.

By now other caretakers had caught up. We decided it was best to get my van towed back to the Cryptidery with the shriles still inside, where we were able to get them back into their enclosure without much trouble.

So, there you have it! Seven shriles, captured by me and back where they belong!

I suppose I had better stop avoiding the paperwork. Nushi refuses to do it. I can’t imagine why! She seems to enjoy it, and she knows how painful it is for me!

Until next time, remember, adventures can be had right in your proverbial backyard (even if you live in a tiny boring town no one’s ever heard of).
Jose

Everything is under control…

Posted on July 9, 2021 - July 4, 2021 by The Cryptidery

Hello everyone! This is Draven.

Maria just wanted me to take a moment to write a blog post and reassure everyone that there is no need to be alarmed. It seems that Wei and their team asking questions around Cacheclee has some people worried.

So, let me assure you that we have everything under control here are the Cryptidery. Mohammed has reinforced and redesigned parts of the shrile enclosure to make sure they will not escape again, and our caretakers are all working hard to capture those that are still on the loose.

Yes, there are still shriles loose, but they are all in the building. We haven’t found any signs that they have left the building, and there have not been any sightings around town. If you do see one, let us know, of course. But we are all confident that they’re still in the building… somewhere… so you, the public, outside of this building, have nothing to fear.

I, on the other hand, am here in my office in the Cryptidery… and I’ve just noticed two shriles hanging from my ceiling fan…

Smile of a Shrile

Posted on July 2, 2021 - June 18, 2021 by The Cryptidery

It’s been quite the week here at the Cryptidery! Somehow, all the shriles got loose

Since shriles are the grungles’ only natural predator, we’ve isolated the grungles in a smaller enclosure. They’re not happy about it, but it’s the best way to make sure they are all accounted for and there are no more shrile infiltrations. We have a caretaker or two in there with them at all times, doing their best to distract them from the situation with instruments and games. Hopefully we can get them back to their usual enclosure soon.

The shriles are uniquely suited to hunt the grungles. They look very similar, allowing them to infiltrate a grungle troupe unnoticed. They have smaller ears , no tail paddle and duller colours, but these are all differences the grungles can easily overlook because of their colour blindness and bad vision. It can be hard for even humans and caretakers to tell the difference between the grungles and the shriles when they’re up in the trees and not in brightly lit areas. Up close, however, the shriles can be a little unsettling. At first, it looks like they have mouths similar to the grungles, but if you see them eating or baring their teeth, you’ll immediately realize you’re looking at a shrile. That grungle-like mouth is just for show. Their actual mouth is huge, seeming to split their head in two, and unlike the grungles, the shriles have sharp, pointed teeth .

Once a shrile has successfully infiltrated, it will try to lure individual grungles away so it can eat them without the rest of the troupe noticing. At first, this is easy to do. Show a grungle a toy or a game and they’ll happily follow you. However, once the grungles notice that members of their troupe are going missing, they will become stressed and be less willing to leave the rest of the troupe. Often the shrile will then move on to a different troupe before the grungles identify them. If the grungles find the shrile before it moves on, they’ll gang up on it, using their paddle tails and armored fists to drive it out of their territory. This can result in injuries or even death for both the shriles and the grungles, so making sure the shriles and grungles stay separated is important to keep both species safe.

The shriles are hard to catch, though. It didn’t take Mohammed long to patch up their enclosure, and he’s working on some permanent modifications to hopefully avoid this in the future. But so far there’s only one shrile back in the enclosure, the one that Nushi escorted back from the grungle enclosure last week. There have been sightings of others, but so far we haven’t managed to catch them.

As far as we can tell, they’re all still in the building. Jose has been setting traps, and the caretakers who are small enough are climbing through the air vents looking for them.

Wei and their team have also been out looking for signs of shriles around town, just in case. If you live in or around Cacheclee and see a creature matching the shriles’ description, let us know, don’t approach it. There’s a link on the homepage that says “Have you seen something strange?”, you can always use that link to report sightings of any creature. Draven will also pass along any messages sent via social media.

I did spot one in the space octopus enclosure, but we weren’t able to catch it in time. I suppose the good news is that the space octopus ate something other than a sunflower, but it won’t be getting any more shriles if I can help it.

Hopefully the shriles will all be back where they belong soon.
Maria

A Bad Day to be a Grungle

Posted on June 25, 2021 - June 13, 2021 by The Cryptidery

We have a problem. A problem I believe was caused by Jose’s lack of responsibility.

For nearly two weeks after he got back from finding the space octopus, he hid. Shirking his responsibilities, playing a trick on me, making me think a grungle had escaped, and then making me not check the security of the enclosure because of his trick. The hole could have been there the whole time, and I would not have noticed, because I was too busy doing his work to spend time in the enclosure. Maybe he knew about the hole. Maybe he was using it to get in and out when he was playing his trick!

I suppose that is not a fair accusation. Jose has his flaws, but he would not knowingly endanger a creature. Though he may not have seen the danger. The grungles have no interest in leaving their enclosure.

But the shriles… they will take any opportunity to escape.

I went into the grungle enclosure yesterday with the usual buckets of food. The grungles all came running out of the trees as usual, but they were acting different. Quieter, almost nervous. I counted them and thought there was one less than normal. So I counted them again. Thanks to Jose’s trick, I doubted myself for a moment. I thought that maybe I was remembering the wrong number, because there was one extra last week. I am still surprised that I did not notice one extra grungle, but with so much work to do I never stopped to count. I only stopped yesterday because the grungles were not their normal playful selves.

I decided that there was definitely one missing. I started walking along the perimeter of the enclosure, watching the trees for movement. I was so focused on the tree tops that I did not notice the barrel in my path until I ran into it, almost causing me to fall over. But if I had not run into it, I might not have noticed the hole hidden behind it.
I ran out of the enclosure to sound the alarm, still watching the tree tops as I slid open the alarm panel, inserted my key and flipped the switch.

I heard the alarm sound throughout the building and hoped some of my coworkers were nearby, and that some of them were good climbers.

We have procedures in place for situations like these. As caretakers arrived, I instructed them each to take a grungle or two to an empty enclosure nearby, where they could be entertained while we searched. Those who were able started to climb the trees. Others helped Mohammed repair the hole in the enclosure.

It was not long before someone spotted movement in the tree tops. The caretakers who were climbing made their way towards the movement. From the ground, it sounded like they had found a grungle somehow stuck in the tree. They were talking to it, trying to coax it out and determine if it was hurt. One of the caretakers made their way to the ground and told me it was not a grungle at all, but a shrile that had somehow found its way into the enclosure. Worst of all, it looked like it had already eaten a grungle.

Shriles are the grungles’ only natural predator. We keep their enclosures as far apart as we can, so that they cannot hear or smell each other. But somehow this shrile had made its way into the grungle enclosure and eaten a grungle without anyone noticing.

We quietly left the grungle enclosure to find a cage we could use to transport the shrile back to its enclosure. The other caretakers kept the shrile distracted while we got the cage into the tree, but as soon as it saw the cage it became agressive. It took us nearly an hour to get it into the cage. When we finally captured it, we were all exhausted, but the work was not done yet.

I left the other caretakers to clean up the grungle enclosure and bring the grungles back in while I returned the shrile to its enclosure. I was looking forward to the end of this stressful day.

But it was not over yet. In fact, it is still not over.

The shrile enclosure was quiet. Not just quiet, but completely silent.

I did not sense any movement as I entered. I set the shrile down, still in its cage, and waited. I did not see or hear anything for several minutes. As I scanned the trees, I noticed something on the ceiling. An air vent that was somehow broken open.

I walked dejectedly out of the shrile enclosure, slid open the alarm panel, inserted my key and flipped the switch.

Nushi