[Index]

INSIDIOUS SPAWN4 (12)

Cypher Bestiary

Whether they are person-sized tumors with a mind or protoplasm that seeped down from the abyss of space, insidious spawn apparently seek to consume every other living organism with their cancerous, never-ending spread.

Health: 15

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound

Armor: 1

Movement: Short

Modifications: Disguise and deception as level 7

Combat: An insidious spawn sprouts toothed tentacles or extra mouths to attack twice each round.

Spawn flinch from flame, taking double damage from fiery attacks.

A spawn also has the following traits.

• Regenerate: A spawn regains 1 point of health each round, but not the round after taking fire damage.
• Adhere: If the spawn deals damage, the attacking tentacle or mouth adheres to the target. The affected target automatically takes damage each round and their physical tasks are hindered until they succeed on a Might task as their action to pull free (dealing a minor wound to themself).
• Consume: The insidious spawn consumes a defeated target over the course of one minute if not interrupted. The result is either a huge spawn, or two separate, full-health creatures.
• Mimic: The insidious spawn can physically mimic a creature they have previously consumed and mentally "wear" that creature's memories and behaviors as a mask. This mask is so convincing that the spawn may not realize it's not real. At least not until it finds and attacks a new target, usually after having lured them to a private location where they can attack with surprise and consume their target without being discovered.

Huge spawn: level 5; 30 health; Armor 1; standard insidious spawn abilities

GM Intrusion: The insidious spawn splits off a smaller, skittering spawn (level 2, dodge as level 5 due to size; bite inflicts a minor wound).

HORRIBLE APPEARANCES

Things, almost by definition, have an inconstant form. But what does it look like right now?

d10	Appearance
1	Shapeless pile of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly luminous
2	Pustules constantly rise and pop, excreting a greenish-red fetid ichor
3	Temporary eyes blinking open across the mass, sometimes overlapping
4	Distorted, stretched, half.mimicked form of some previous victim, thrashing
5	Writhing, slapping, undulating tentacles; tentacles all the way down
6	Humanoid face splits open revealing a wide, tooth-filled maw
7	Lump of six or seven half-fused human bodies moaning, gurgling, rising tower-like
8	Glimpsed in mid transformation; limbs sprout, bones snap, and flesh tears apart
9	Oily, reflective pool of fluid reminiscent of a sewage spill from a butcher's stall
10	Translucent gel-like mass in which darker tendrils slither along wormy trails

WHAT A THING WANTS

A thing's goal may be unknowable. Other times, a thing has a motive.

d6	Motive
1	Assimilate all flesh
2	Prepare the way for invasion by aliens
3	Escape back to space
4	Gain knowledge (through assimilation)
5	Build a machine to call mate from nightmares
6	Successfully blend in and be left alone

WORDS OF WOE

Use some of these "Lovecraftian" adjectives when you're describing a thing or its degenerate trespasses: Abominable, amorphous, antediluvian, bleating, blubbery, chattering, colorless, croaking, degenerate, dripping, faceless, gangrenous, heaving, howling, inscrutable, jabbering, loathsome, mucilaginous, murmuring, obscene, quivering, profane, pustular, rubbery, squamous, undigested, writhing