This creature doesn’t have art yet. You can help and possibly even win cool prizes by making the art yourself! Click here to find out more
These alien being are not native to our dimension dwelling in a shadow realm parallel to our own. They are most often transported into our world accidentally, when a wizard fails in creating a gate, performing a summoning, or in harness the powers of the cosmos. Once trapped in our dimension the Keck has a single option for survival, as it cannot exist long in our environment. The only place it can find refuge is within a living human host.
Keck are tiny, seeming like buzzing insects, although close examination (under a magnifying glass or microscope) reveals them to appear like bat-winged hookworms with mouths on both ends. They infect human hosts by entering their bodies through the mouth, nose, or by burrowing directly through their skin (causing 1 HP of damage). Once a Keck enters a human body it must fight to establish itself, forcing the target to make a CON vs. 16 check on the Resistance Table. Victims who resist this attack are forever after immune to Keck infection, but those who fail are doomed.
People who are infected with Keck retain control of their bodies and minds. However their memory of the attack is somehow repressed, seeming like a fleeting nightmare or dim fantasy. After 2D10+6 hours large red boils being forming of the victim’s body. Victims at this time try to conceal the boils with clothing. The victim’s perception is further altered, as they do not consider their condition to be any cause for alarm. Any infected PC’s should become NPC’s at this time, as they are no longer behaving logically.
After the boils form they slowly enlarge, spread, and multiply and within 1D3 days becoming impossible to hide. At this time the infected person becomes delirious and tries to reach as large a group as people as possible. They have only a few hours (2D4) before the boils erupt. This showers a 20 foot radius with new Keck which can then infect anyone they encounter. Once the boils erupt the victim dies, their bodies dissolving into a viscus, foul smelling paste. Any Keck who fail to enter a human host die in Earth’s atmosphere within 5 minutes. No efforts to preserve these creatures outside of a human host succeed as their native environment is impossible to replicate in this dimension.
Those infected by Keck cannot be saved. They become a host to further spread the infection and should be isolated or destroyed to ensure the safety of others. Efforts to treat or cure victims only put others at risk. If an infected host is killed before the boils form, the threat is ended. If a victim is killed after the boils form they erupt in 3d6 combat. If this happens during the boils have fully developed they burst with a Con vs.10 strength and are limited to a 10 foot area. If the boils are fully matured they erupt at full strength.
The best way to end the threat of a human infected by Keck, aside from isolating them, is with fire. Infected bodies or living swarms are quite susceptible to fire. Elements within Keck physiology act as an accelerant, burning with the intensity of kerosene. A single match tossed onto someone covered in Keck boils, or a body infected with Keck, is enough to have it erupt into a bonfire within seconds.
The Keck have no real purpose in this dimension. Their only goal is to seek out new hosts for their offspring before their current one expires. They are interdimensional mayflies, alien parasites trapped in a hostile dimension. Unchecked Keck could spread to epidemic proportions, killing dozens, hundreds, or even thousands provided the right conditions.
Keck, Alien Parasitic Mayflies.
char – rolls – avg*
STR 3d6 10-11
CON 3d6 10-11
SIZ 3d6 10-11
INT 3d6 10-11
POW 3d6 10-11
DEX 3d6 10-11
Mov 9 HP 10
*as human host
Av. Damage Bonus: 0
Weapons: Any owned by infected victim.
Armor: Any owned by infected victim.
Spell: Any known by infected victim.
Skills: Any known by infected victim.
Sanity Loss: 1/1d3 Sanity Points to see a person covered in Keck boils.
1/1d3 Sanity Points to see a Keck under magnification.
1/1d4 Sanity Points for see a Keck swarm emerge from a dying victim.
