Shepherd’s End
10 Spring, 1019
[The handwriting begins a bit shaky but slowly transitions into a neat, orderly cursive with distinctive pleasantly looping letters.]
Summary Page
Primary Reference: Tomes of Aberrant Creatures - Poisons, Venoms and Diseases
Additional Source(s): Personal encounter
Summary Begins
Puddings come in a variety of colors. The colors displayed appear to correlate to the creature’s physical manifestation. Both appear to change in response to an encounter with a particular substance.
When contacted with fire, a Gray Pudding became a Red Pudding. It’s form then embodied the flame it was scorched with and the new Red Pudding began ‘coughing’ small flames of its own.
The fire appeared to hurt the creature but it is possible that any change in its form just appears violent and painful.
The Gray Pudding burned like acid against skin and wood. It did not appear to burn glass or stone.
When severed with a glass container, the creature split into two halves; each half moved independently and appeared unaffected by its change in size.
The Gray Pudding attacked (aggressively), hid and fled but whether it operates with strategy or mere instinct is unknown, although evidence suggests the latter to be more likely.
When attacking, the Gray Pudding burns most objects on contact. The Pudding appears to direct its energy towards the victim’s face, either directly, or by moving along the victim’s body with the face as the ultimate destination.
The focus on the face is likely because the creature appears to gestate inside its victims. Entering through facial cavities is the current working theory.
Once inside, the victim is rendered unconscious. Within an hour, the victim will show signs of fever. The victim remains unconscious for several hours. Once they awaken, the victim will appear healthy. All signs and symptoms of ailment are gone. However, the victim will suffer memory loss and is unlikely to remember the attack itself.
It is possible to identify an affected person by testing their Third Fluid with a Fractal Spectrometer. The shock of the fluid will cause a violent reaction and the Gray Pudding within the fluid will emerge instantly. As noted, this piece can function on its own and also attacks the face of a potential victim/host.
[The writing becomes shaky once again]
This test also caused the primary host (the victim whose blood was being tested) to begin violently seizing and vomiting. The bile ejected proved to be the Gray Pudding itself.
The victim did not survive.
The Pudding that was ejected appeared lethargic. It is possible that this was a consequence of the ejection process, because the timing was premature (as its incubation was interrupted), some combination of both, or other yet unknown reasons.
Regardless, this is the only Pudding yet encountered that did not immediately appear ‘awake’ and attack, hide or flee. Even still, the orientation process was only a matter of seconds, certainly less than a minute.
Important Take Aways
The Pudding appears to be affected by different elements. The transformation as the creature adapts to take on the new element may or may not be a painful process to the Pudding, but encountering the opposite of its current state is purported to be harmful. So far, the creature has shown an aversion to fire and fire retardant powder. Most importantly, at least one form of Pudding (Red) can be killed by bludgeoning force as demonstrated by being crushed under a person’s shoe.
Ava Porter
Physicker Assistant
10th of Spring
Addendum:
As noted, the sample of the deceased victim’s Third Fluid produced a small Pudding when exposed to an electric discharge from Fractal Spectrometer. An important note: it was a Blue Pudding. This Blue Pudding died when torched with an open flame.
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