#two bugs

[Checking the sky outside, it looks like you still have time for one more page before you need to leave. You only manage to flip through a couple pages before a loose page with pen drawn pictures of some kind of wasp or hornet catches your eye. You pull it out to try and read the notes when the name of the item on the page behind it catches your eye— it looks like the page below goes with the picture in your hand.]

Name: Barbs of the Parasitic Ghost Wasp, Spines of Pestilence

Description: The barbs are initially very pale and almost completely clear at the pointed end. They are approximately 1 to 2 cm long depending on where the barn snaps off the wasp. As they are exposed to ghost derived ectoplasm, however, they begin to darken with the color of the host’s ectoplasm. The barbs then seem to undergo a softening or melting until they become the larval form of the creature. That the larvae is also the same color as the host’s ectoplasm— likely a sort of camouflage to prevent detection by more intelligent ghost species.

Known Abilities: The barbs are best described as a primary or secondary reproductive method for the large parasitic ghost wasps. The easily latch onto and pierce into ghosts’ ‘flesh’ with little to no sign beyond mild irritation. Once imbedded in a ghost’s skin, it’s likely already too late. If the barb is not fully removed, then any pice left behind will still form a larvae, albeit one that that takes much longer to reach full size.

Location: The wasps appear to be native to the heated section of Foggy Swamp and the Infected Plains beyond. DO NOT GO THERE [The words are darkly bolded and underlined several times over seemingly frantically.] According to Skulker, some ghosts attempt to collect and sell the barbs under the name Spines of Pestilence as a way to torture one’s enemies. Avoid these ghosts at all costs as they often end up the victims of their own greed and spread the creatures into otherwise safe areas.

Notes: I first became aware of these items and the creatures that produce them while assisting Skulker. They had once more decided to make an excursion to Foggy Swamp in an effort to catch the elusive Earth Core Salamanders that reside there. As with every time they have tried hunting in the Swamp, I received a distress signal from their suit saying that it had been broken beyond Skulker’s ability to repair it in field.

Upon reaching the swamp, I found that the distress signal was coming from much deeper in than I expected. The Swamp itself, despite the fog preventing sight beyond a few feet, is actually rather safe to traverse as long as you do not attempt to touch the ground. I was therefore unconcerned and quickly made my way to where the beacon was signaling from. I found myself on the edge of Foggy Swamp and the plains area beyond that I later learned was called the Infected Plains by the ghosts that live in the area.

While searching the area for Skulker, as the beacon was not with the rest of the suit, a large (at minimum 4 to 5 feet long) lizard ghost ran into me, knocking us both to the ground with the lizard landing on top of me. Thankfully we landed on solid ground rather than the muck that covers large swaths of the Swamp. Or, at least, lucky for me. With the lizard on top of me, I was unable to identify the source of the sudden buzzing that filled the air. The lizard panicked and attempted to flee, but it was quickly captured by a ghostly wasp only slightly smaller than the lizard.

The lizard struggled, of course, but went limp upon being stung by the wasp’s oversized stinger. Thankfully, the creature was content with its catch and did not attempt to come after me. Rather it turned and flew off towards the plains. At this point I was concerned that Skulker may have been captured by another of the creatures and widened my search to include part of the plains. This is when I saw the Pupae. Large, bulbous, and white, the only reason I even considered going near the thing was because of the dimly glowing ghost core sitting on the ground next to it. It is not often that a ghost becomes so reduced without completely fading away, after all. I was still examining the core— fully intact if a bit dull and grey around the edges— when the pupae split open and released a second of the wasp creatures I right next to me.

Thankfully I was able to notice the creature before it noticed me and I flew towards the Swamp once more. After all, the lizard from earlier had been heading that way and, given that I had never seen these particular types of ghost before, I assumed that they were somehow repelled or at least more easily lost in the fog. Despite being freshly ‘hatched’ and likely disoriented, the wasp managed to catch up just as I was getting to the edge of the swamp. It just barely managed to latch onto my cape before who should appear but the very ghost I had been searching for earlier. Skulker managed to stun the creature just long enough for me to remove myself from its grasp and get past the edge of the Plains. Skulker dragged both of us deeper into the Swamp until the Plains were out of sight.

I demanded answers and Skulker gave them to me, though not before pulling several clear barbs out of my cape and demanding to know if I had been grabbed anywhere else. As it turns out, the barbs that had been left in my cape were one of the Parasitic Wasp’s reproductive methods. When introduced to a ghost’s ectoplasm they become larvae that burrow beneath the ghost’s ‘skin’ and consume them from the inside. The core I found was the only thing left of the poor sod that ‘birthed’ the wasp that had chased me. With the core undamaged, the ghost will reform, but unless they’re fast enough to escape the Wasps’ hunting grounds, they will just be doomed to be repeatedly infected until their core gives out completely or, more mercifully, they’re consumed by a hungry adult Wasps. I was very, Very lucky.

I was able to convince Skulker to allow me to take the barbs home to experiment with. Dropping spilled ectoplasm in several jars, one filled with my own and the rest with donated ectoplasm, I watched the barbs transform quickly from slim spikes to bulbous round creatures the same color as the ectoplasm they were created from. The stronger the ghost who donated the ectoplasm, the faster the creatures formed with the fastest taking just over an hour and the slowest just under five. Once the ectoplasm in the jar was consumed, all the larvae became lethargic save one. The one formed from my own ectoplasm was aggressive and persistent, throwing itself at the sides of the jar, mouth opening and closing in some kind of threat or perhaps out of hunger, every time I entered the room. It continued this behavior right up until the last hour of its existence.

I also chanced handling one of the more docile ones in order to examine how much damage the creatures could take before perishing. Out of the creature’s seven segments, all but the last behind the head can be removed without destroying the creatures. It is actually rather terrifying how hearty the creatures are. The fact that they seem to secrete a kind of numbing agent from their bodies just makes it worse. I have scanned myself several times over the course of my experiments just to double check that none of the barbs actually managed to implant within my own body. The thought of the creatures burrowing inside my flesh and consuming me from the inside with out my knowledge haunts my nightmares.

I have taken the liberty to attach some of my notes to this page. The rest I will share with Skulker since the fool still hasn’t managed to catch one of those damned salamanders and refuses to stop hunting in the area until they get one. They have also been informed that I will Not be assisting them if they stray too close to the plains again.

[You shiver in your seat. You don’t think you’ll ever look at wasps the same way again. Brushing at your arms, you close the book with a snap. Thats enough book time for today, you think.]