Slugblood
“The Slugblood? Tale of it's reached here, has it? Come closer, I don't want to shout across the bar. Going to chill some bones, like as not, and everyone here seems happy enough. Don't want to ruin it.
Yeah, I'll have another grog, thanks.
Right so I saw a body in Whitecrown Palisade a short time back. Two weeks, maybe. Washed up ‘round a riverbend near the Pig and Palm Frond. It was this waterlogged, bloated thing wearing a BTC coat…skin pulled tight like a sausage fit for bursting. Damn thing started twitching as some half-drunk folk neared it, and its flesh rippled like something stirred underneath. All of a sudden, it lurched alive, crunching and slurping, and green sludge leaked from its nose, mouth, ears, even under its eyes like tears. Guessing its other orifices were leaking, too...
Anyway, one of the folks near it took a shot at the thing. Bad idea. Splashed a hole clean through its arm, and I do mean splashed. Was like a popped pimple, just this eruption of green slicking the dock. The shooter got spattered with the spray, too, only to find it was filled with leech-sized slugs that tried to burrow into his flesh. He managed to brush them off before they could, then looked an awful dancer as he smashed them under his boot. Must've been twenty or so of ‘em.
Took the folks what seemed an Age to nab one of the dockside torches and set it alight. It went up QUICK and smelled of cooked blubber and a salt marsh at low tide.
I hear Commodore Stythe set a curfew after that. Pompous ass.”
~Nathanel Jance, Captain of the Lucky Duck
Overview:
“Slugblood,” as it has been dubbed by the residents of Whitecrown Palisade, home of its largest number of confirmed cases, is the result of an organic creature being infested by a pregnant, hermaphroditic, flesh-burrowing, rapidly multiplying, bioluminescent green, two inch parasitic slug. Upon infestation, the slug secretes a powerful toxin that modifies the composition of the host's bloodstream, thickening the plasma and turning it the same green hue as the slug. The blood takes approximately twelve hours to change, which causes a succession of symptoms, including fever, dehydration, fatigue, difficulty breathing, extreme irritability, delirium, exaggerated aggression, and ultimately death.
As the blood is changing, the pregnant slug lays a clutch of hundreds of eggs. It then makes its way to the host's cervical spine and, as the host perishes, embeds itself into the nervous system, gaining control of the host's motor functions. The slug eggs have an incubation period of approximately 24-36 hours, during which time the altered bloodstream provides an optimal environment for development. Once hatched, the neonates continue to feed on the altered bloodstream and begin to breed. The parent slug then searches for noninfested organic life and instinctively attacks the first creature it encounters with the host body. Any cut or wound in the host body causes an expulsion of infested blood. Likewise, when the neonates mature, the host body consistently excretes infested blood from its orifices.
Within the infested blood are the now-pregnant, matured slug spawn. Upon contact with a new organic life form, the slug spawn within the infested blood attempt to burrow into its flesh to begin the infestation process in a new host.
History:
The origin of slugblood is unknown, though most serious outbreaks seem concentrated near excavation sites of ancient Aelanthine architecture. However, it has been noted that slugborne corpses have washed ashore in settlements with no known nearby Aelanthine ruins. Moreover, several merchant and naval captains have logged encounters with small drifting boats either slicked with infested blood or “crewed” by a slugborne corpse.
This has led to a massive influx of the disease, as it is now been carried throughout the Baravian Sea.
Cause:
Parasitic infestation by a pregnant, hermaphroditic, flesh-burrowing, rapidly multiplying, bioluminescent green, two inch parasitic slug.
Symptoms:
Symptoms progress rapidly upon infestation, generally in the following order:
1-2 Hours: General weariness
2-4 Hours: Extreme thirst, mild fever
4-6 Hours: Exhaustion, moderate fever, some difficulty breathing, anxiety, body twitches
6-10 Hours: Internal sensation of “burning under my skin,” high fever, irritability, extreme shortness of breath, impulsive behavior, involuntary physical convulsions
10-12 Hours: Extreme fever, excruciating nerve pain, extreme bronchitis-like symptoms, bloating of blood vessels, uncontrolled rage, delirium
12-14 Hours: Death
14+ Hours: “Zombie-like” state, disease transmissible through direct contact with slug spawn in infested blood
Transmission:
Direct contact with infested blood containing pregnant slug spawn
Hosts:
Fauna including mammals, large reptiles, and large birds. Enlightened species seem preferred hosts
Treatment:
None known save magecraft intervention
Prevention:
Cover exposed skin with clothing, wear a helmet or mask to protect the face and head
Terminology:
Slugblood: The disease itself, also used to describe altered, infested blood
Slug Spawn: The slug-like parasites that cause slugblood
Slugborne: The infested organic creature capable of transmitting the disease
Comments