Creeping Death

A contagion of corruption

The Merikan adventurers who captured Farport Outpost on January 31^st 1000 PCE made a disturbing discovery on the following day. While searching town for travel provisions, they witnessed the return of three villagers who had been missing in the jungle for weeks. A local Farporter whom the explorers had saved from Vril bondage tried to speak to the returned villagers, but he and the other party members found their speech and habits strange. To their horror, the party came to realize that these villagers had been usurped by a possessing force. Worms and other crawling pests had entered their bodies and replaced their innards with a writhing, mass of sentient vermin. These verminous swarms imitated their human hosts and wore their flesh as disguises. Astonishingly, the bugs bursting forth from these hosts each bore little human faces identifying them as bearing the imprimatur of their host bodies.

Transmission & Vectors

The epidemiology of the condition is unknown, but the observed occurrence of bugs entering and the exiting the bodies of the victims indicates that the invasive presence of certain vermin may be the cause of possession. When William Benjamin was rendered unconscious during the Farport encounter with Creeping Death, a swarm of pests engulfed his body and began entering his mouth and ears. Soon thereafter the bugs in the swarm all bore William's visage upon their tiny heads.

Causes

Assuming the bugs are causing the condition, the origin of the bugs or the cause of their special properties nonetheless remains unknown.

Symptoms

The pathology of the Creeping Death is largely unknown but during an encounter with Inspector Locard's band of survivors on the evening of February 1^st, the party witnessed a victim suffering early onset of the condition. One of the survivors was suffering from fever and experiencing nausea symptoms. When the party inspected the afflicted refugee, they observed traces of vermin near the body and upon closer examination witnessed worms moving under the victim's eyelids. Concluding that the victim had contracted the Creeping Death, the party explained the situation to Locard and, with his assent, arranged to dispose of the victim with fire.

Treatment

No treatment is known nor has any been tried. There is no known way to save a victim of this condition or reverse the effects. The only way to dispose of Creeping Death vermin is by the application of fire which burns away the swarm and destroys the corrupted flesh of the possessed host body.

Hosts & Carriers

This condition affects humans and other animal species, though the way in which Creeping Death afflicts sapient humans differs from how it affects simple animals. When Zen attempted to inflict a psionically induced Slumber on the possessed humans the power had no effect. When he tried the same power on a rampaging boar coated in a Creeping Death swarm the power worked. Traits common to all afflicted hosts include improved strength, endurance, and resiliency.

Prevention

No preventative measures are known.

Epidemiology

The spread of the condition is directly linked to the spread of Creeping Death swarms.

Type

Supernatural

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare