Broken Antler Fen when we drive

Whether others believed them or not was no concern to Mephistopheles, they could hear the caution in the wolf's voice as their words were echoed thoughtfully.

"Yes, the dark things. Not all are malevolent, but the ones that are sometimes seek to cause imbalance in the realm of the living," They asserted, roving their nose tip in an arc as if to cast their surroundings into focus. Whatever they were after could wait for this conversation, a quick educational chat for this stranger.

"They can latch onto creatures, canid folk and others. Burrow in to cause chaos in their heart and soul, in severe cases even take control..." Mephistopheles lowered their voice to a hoarse whisper, their eyes aflame with a frantic passion as their story went on. "I've seen it, I've dealt with it...it's a terrible, terrible thing to behold."


Yes. Yes these things could latch on like blood sucking ticks, growing fat on the woe and fear they spread. The damage left in the wake could leave a permanent scar, even if not seen by the common eye.

This unfamiliar, this stranger needed to know.

"When I was a yearling, my mother dealt with a possession that was so severe that I was not to be allowed to watch the patient's treatment. But being the young one that I was, I glimpsed a peek anyways.

It was an infection that had been left to rot for too long, and all that remained of the poor soul was a writhing and snarling husk. No longer even able to speak full sentences.

Tiny white blossoms bubbled from their maw, bound with long dried grasses and filled with herbs to keep them from biting. Their eyes were afire with hatred, limbs quaking and shaking with tremors as the thing attached to them fought for control. They'd refused water for several days, and were soon to pass from this world."

Here, they stopped to breath, panting lightly from the intensity of their tale. Then they went on.

"Before they passed, they had managed to bite several pack members. And the madness spread, each wound carrying a seed of darkness. It was the downfall of the vale where I hail from. And that is why it is my duty to destroy the darkness in this world."

The frantic, unsteady energy that had taken hold of Mephistopheles seemed to bleed out of them, leaving the midnight furred wolf looking much more subdued. "And that is only one variant, there are many dangerous things in this world, unfamiliar."