Tainted Fruit: A Taint of Shub-Niggurath

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We got a call that some kids didn’t come home after being out late. Turns out they’d been going down County 12, near the old Fletcher place. I hadn’t really thought much about it after the raid all those years ago when he disappeared under, undisclosed circumstances.

When we got there, the land was overgrown, the plants were all too big, bloated. It stank like hell too, rotten and kind of like old sweat. I walked over to an apple hanging by the side of the road. It was huge, dark and it look like something was squirming under the skin.

I reached out and held it, gave it a little squeeze with my thumb. It just popped open and blood came gushing out. I yelled like hell, Jake pulled his pistol, and that’s when the bad shit started happening.”–Excerpt from intake interview of Henry Thompson, Sheriff of Benner County Louisiana: performed by Gregory Reynolds, Chief Alienist, Benner County Hospital.

The presence of Shub-Niggurath and her minions may greatly alter the characteristics of flora in the local area. Following are some possibilities.

Size (D3) – 1. Smaller than normal 2. Normal 3. Larger than normal
Color (D10) – 1. Red 2. Orange 3. Yellow 4-7. Normal for fruit 8. Green 9. Blue. 10. Purple
State (D3) – 1. Unripe 2. Ripe. 3. Over-ripe/burstingly rotten
Flavor (D8) – 1. Sweet 2. Sour 3-6. Normal for fruit and state 7. Bitter 8. Salty
Special Effects (D6) – 1. Full of tiny fetuses* 2. Full of maggots/worms/bugs** 3-4. Flavor as above but no other result 5. Has a vascular system filled with AB blood 6. Full of black, semi-viscous feces.

Poison – All of this fruit is poison, with a POT of 2D6+10. For effects of this poison, roll 1D6 and consult the following table. Effects begin in 1D6 minutes, and last 1D6 hours or until death.

1. Quickened pulse, blurred vision (-40% to vision based skills), joint pain, and mild heart attack for 1D6 hit points of damage. (The D6 damage only occurs once per dose.)
2. Joint pain, vomiting, dizziness, and temporary loss of 1D6 each of CON and DEX.
3. Weeping, despair and suicidal desire
4. Euphoria, “drunken love,” and inability to recognize danger.
5. Generalized paranoia, with a “pulse” of 1D6 Sanity loss at onset and at the end of each hour of duration. The subject is especially concerned with plant life. If this results in insanity, the ensuing madness centers around a generalized fear of plant life.
6. Generalized pain, the temporary loss of 1D6 each of STR, CON, and DEX, followed by bleeding from the mouth, eyes, nose, ears, anus, and genitals. The subject then falls unconscious, and drifts astrally, able to see a silver cord extending from their navel. They drift away from their body, the locale, the Earth, then out amongst the spheres.
The length and details of this journey are at the discretion of the Keeper.

* and ** A mere bite of either of these two causes the feeling of something wriggling down their throat, and the follow apply.

*If the subject is female, they will develop a very strong sex drive, be extremely prone to pregnancy and will always become pregnant if they have unprotected sex outside of their menstrual period, which will now last only three days and be quite bloody and accompanied by irritability and nausea. Menopause will not occur and, if it already has, it will reverse. If the woman is physically incapable of pregnancy, her body will mutate, growing new organs etc., in order to allow for pregnancy.

Each birth will result in 1D4+1 offspring. These children will be variously unfortunate–including a combination of hermaphroditic, conjoined, two-headed, etc. Viewing these children will result in a Sanity loss of 1/1D4+1, except for their parents and those present for delivery, who will lose 2/1D6+1

**Male or female, the next bowel movement the Investigator has is normal. The following one is not. They feel a surprisingly large amount of substance emerge, including something which feels slightly scratchy. The result will be a writhing mass of bugs, along with very large worms and maggots, all bearing small versions of the Investigator’s face. These creatures will try to escape and survive. Winged ones will have to de-compress and dry their wings in order to fly, but they all try to escape.

Experiencing this causes a sanity loss of 2/1D8+2. Viewing it causes a loss of 0/1D6 Sanity.

Seeds from any of these fruits are viable, and prove very easy to grow. The resulting plants will be robust and hearty, produce fruit that is very large, plump, plentiful, delicious and very nutritious. These plants will also live twice the normal duration for their species.

Seeds from these resulting fruit will be normal.

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