Four-Coloured Tick

Type

Vermin

Base HD

2

Terror

-2

Height (cm)

< 1

An impressively annoying and persistent parasite which can be found in woodlands and tall grass, much like their equally annoying but more mundane cousins. The four-coloured tick is so named because while it is not yet attached to a host, its colours change depending on the direction from which one looks at it in a striking and discontinuous fashion. From the direction of its head it appears blue, from its rear red, from its left green and from its right yellow. The purpose, if any, of this coloration is unknown, but it is consistent across all such vermin. Its appearance and behaviour is otherwise much like a mundane tick. It waits at the edge of grass blades or reeds for a suitable creature to pass by, then skitters on their skin until it reaches a suitable location. It then attaches itself to the host and begins feeding. Unlike other ticks, which resemble flat black spots on a person and hide in damp and dark spots, the four-coloured tick becomes completely invisible and also becomes nearly untouchable; only its fangs remain physical, while the rest of the tick becomes incorporeal.

The four-coloured tick is not dangerous to most sentient mortals because they, unlike other ticks, are deeply intolerant of water once attached, and even sweat is more than sufficient to dislodge or drown them. Insofar as they might attach themselves to a person they prefer places such as the back of the hand or ear, which do not sweat. However even a quick rinse suffices to dislodge the creatures because, having become incorporeal except for their fangs, even a small amount of water that can completely envelop the back end of their still-physical fangs causes the creature to become waterlogged and drink many times its weight in water or sweat. Four coloured ticks are otherwise impressively durable and can survive a shoe landing on them with the weight of a disgusted Man, but being ticks they are not able to meaningfully retaliate.

While the tick is not dangerous to sentient mortals it is much more dangerous to beasts which do not sweat, like most forms of livestock. Pigs, which wallow in wet mud, and horses, which unlike most beasts sweat a great deal, are largely immune to the creatures; but cows, sheep, and chickens are often infested, and dogs and cats likewise. The presence in the region of four-coloured ticks is reason to douse livestock in a bucketful of water on a weekly (or even daily) basis, as four-coloured ticks can swell to the size of a man’s thumb before detaching, and also like mundane ticks cause all manner of disease. Despite being vulnerable to water, four-coloured ticks must reproduce in water and they are not found in arid climates.