Arcanohelminth
The fever hadn't left Ilia, but she couldn't let her friends down. She waited for an opening, then called upon her best attack spell: magic missile. It was a classic, she'd used it a thousand times and it was always dependable. This time, however, the spell went wrong. The spell energy gathered in front of her, forming a rough simulacrum of her shape but transparent and made up of chaotic, ricocheting magic missiles. The newly made being rushes off, obliterating a bandit and her elf friend, the ranger Cael, on the way to the forest and its freedom.
Inside her subconscious, the ethereal worm coiled again and planted its theoretical eggs in another spell held in her mind.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Arcanohelminth are the embodiment of spells trapped in the mind of a wizard that died unexpectedly. They appear as faintly glowing, translucent worms that swim through the air with ease. They are incorporeal, and can pass through solid matter.
Genetics and Reproduction
When a wizard dies, their spells remain behind imprinted in the brain of the wizard, and on occasion, the scavengers that come to eat them may be infected with the spell. The scavengers are consumed by the power that they took in, and from their ashes wriggle out the incorporeal arcanohelminth. The newborn parasite will seek out creatures of high intelligence or charisma (13+) and will attach themselves in the mind of a host.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Arcanohelminth can live for hundreds of years without food, growing slowly more sluggish until they finally die, imprinting themselves on the stones around them as fossilized spells. If they find food, however, they can grow and live as long as their host, or even outlive them. Arcanohelminth embed themselves in the subconscious of hosts with high Intelligence or Charisma scores (13+) and feed on their minds.
While embedded, the parasite causes a fever called reconditosis. The parasite also represents a spell slot and a spell. If the spell is cast or the spell slot is used, the parasite has a 5% chance to swell within the mind and take over another spell slot. If this happens, the spell used becomes a Living Spell.
If all of a character's spell slots are infected, the host dies and will rise as a Worm That Walks in 1d4 months.
A Cure Disease spell or potion cast on the caster instantly kills the parasite, as does any infusion of or contact with carcolite.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Arcanohelminth sense intellect. They can see the world as a shadowy, smoky presence, but intelligence and personality shine like firelight. The higher the intelligence or personality, the brighter and more attractive the light.
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