New Creatures for Spelldancer: The Sanguiphage

The Sanguiphage Moths first appeared in 'Born In Flames: Book #1'.  These horrific parasites can be found across Eroon but are especially common in the wild  lands south of the empire and in parts of Thule.  They are he bane of cattle farmers and horse merchants.

Sanguiphage Larvae

STR  1

SIZ  1-2

AGL  1-5

PER  10-20

LUC  10-20

WIP  1-10

Armour;- None

Attacks;- Bite 20-45% KP; 5, then drain 1 hp per round.

Description;- These larvae are a few inches long and conicle in form. At one end they have a circular mouth with an arrangement of long, needle-like organs that they use to penetrate a hosts flesh so they can drink the hosts blood. The creatures are a light tan in colour when hungry, but turn a terracotta as they gorge on blood.

Habitat;- Found on Eroon, wherever large host animals can be found. With the advent of domesticated animals, these creatures can be found wherever beastmen have domesticated large animals such as horses, carsen and particularly Dronith.

Behaviour;- The larval stage of the Sanguiphage are laid in clusters of 5-15 on suitable host animals, such as Carsen and Dronith. They feed off the host animal, draining 1-5 HP worth of blood each day, per larvae. This makes a large infestation quite dangerous, and capable of killing the host in a few days. However, they are often predated by Sornth birds, so that only one or two of the clutch of larvae might survive to adult hood.

They are remarkably aggressive, and will attack any warm blooded animal the size of a small human or larger that makes contact with the host animal, trying to drain them of as much blood as possible. They also transfer from one host to another if the host animals come into close contact with one another, so a single clutch of larvae laid on one Dronith may disperse across a herd quite quickly, thus increasing the host animals chance of survival, and consequently the parasites as well.

Sanguiphage larvae pupate into Sanguiphage Moths after about two weeks.

Sanguiphage Moths

STR 1-2

SIZ  2-3

AGL 10-20

PER  10-25

LUC  10-25

WIP  10-25

Armour;- None

Attacks;- Bite 20-45% KP; 7, then drain 1 HP per round.

Description;- Large, leathery moths with a dark russet red-brown coloration, they are about the size of a domestic house cat.

Habitat;- Native to Eroonian forests, they will dwell anywhere that has a supply of warm blooded prey animals, and some dark nooks for he moths to lair in. This means they can be found in caves, ruins, and even in the barns and grain stores of civilized areas.

Behaviour;- These creatures live in small colonies of 3-8 individuals and mate about once a year, in the summer. They then lay a clutch of 5-15 live larvae later in the year (usually as the weather starts to turn cold), on the bodies of large prey animals like Carsen or Dronith (the latter are preferred).

The moths hunt by night and will attack any warm blooded animal, they will make an incision with their first attack then will fasten onto the victim and drink blood at the rate of 1 HP per round until they have drunk an amount equal to twice their SIZ, at which point they will fly off.

This small amount of blood drinking will kill small animals, but leaves larger ones only mildly harmed. However, they do tend to carry blood diseases, and any wound caused by a Sanguiphage moth has a +25% chance of infection.