A Strange Slugcat I Have In Clangen

Grian unironically calling Cub "Cubby wubby cub cub" multiple times has now made me mentally call Cub that. I'm all for nicknames, but this is getting ridiculous the amount of times per day I end up going "awww, it's Cubby wubby cub cub" in Grian's voice. I hate this (/hj)

Meet the Parasite

(Images soon to be seen)

The Parasite is one of my scugs, lol

Anyway backstory time and then gameplay stuff: (Info under cut)

Whisp was an older pup who was going out with their siblings, another unrelated slugpup, two adults, and Gourmand to gather food and explore. They split up at some point in Industrial Complex, with Gourmand instructing one group to visit Shoreline for some snacks and the group he led was going to visit Pebbles for some delicious neuron flies. Whisp was with Gourmand, along with her siblings and one adult.

Anyway, they were going up through Unfortunate Development due to lack of karma for the Wall, and as they did, of course, rot does what rot does best and attempts to eat them. Despite Gourmand's best efforts to keep the whole group alive, the other adult was sucked in and devoured. Whisp was also attacked trying to save them, but was pulled away by her siblings.

Once they got to Febbles, and (begrudgingly) he gave them marks, he pointed out clearly that Whisp had the rot infection growing inside of her from the attack. He suggested to kill it immediately, and almost did, if not for Gourmand being a protective father figure. Gourmand insisted he'd take care of it. 'Taking care of it' ended up being abandoning Whisp in a shelter in Pebbles, hoping she died on her own without much food or protection. He couldn't bear to directly kill the poor pup.

Fast forward some time, Whisp hasn't died. Instead of the rot consuming her from within, she's grown with it. Become dependent on it to survive. A diet of nothing but neuron flies and rot, happily munching on Febbles like any other creature would. Overtime, she got bigger and grew more, becoming similar to the Daddy Long Legs she lived with. Of course, every day was a struggle to get enough food for both herself and the rot growing in and on her, especially while trying not to get absorbed by other rot, but soon enough she started eating the rot creatures as well.

Eventually, come the time when Pebbles collapses. Without his structure to thrive in, the rot, including Whisp, begins to wither away and die. However, Whisp, being more intelligent than your average rot creature, isn't going to take this. With an insatiable hunger and a limited amount of time, she has plans to make it to the next suitable host. Someone who recently became a little more active, just enough for the rot to have a chance of surviving in there.

Okay now gameplay shit

The Parasite needs 9 pips to hibernate, and can hold 3 over for the next cycle. They are omnivorous, and can maul dead creatures.

They are locked on a cycle timer, similar to Hunter, that starts at 20. It decreases by 1 upon both death and a successful hibernation. To counteract the fact it will go down much quicker, the cycle timer can be increased by mauling creatures of rot, who, instead of giving you food, give you a number of cycles proportional to the creature. (Baby gives 3, Brother gives 5, Daddy gives 8, and, if you somehow did it, Mother gives 12) The max number of cycles you can have at any time is 45. Further cycle gain does nothing.

Their main gimmick, however, is the fact that they change forms (and with it, abilities) depending on many cycles you have left.

With 1-19 cycles left, you assume a form similar to a Brother Long Legs. You have small rot tendrils, small cycles, and a black-brown color to you. Your only capabilities are a tentacle whip (a short range attack done when pressing throw without holding an item), and the power to cling/climb walls (touching the wall and holding the direction of it grabs it, up or down moves you up or down, jumping releases it). Creatures scared of rot are scared of you for 17.5 seconds the first time they see you each cycle.

With 20-39 cycles left, you assume a form similar to a Daddy Long Legs. You have much larger rot cycles and tentacles, enough that they can propel you in the air with great force. Tapping jump again in the air, provided you are close to the ground, will prompt the tentacles to launch you upwards and in the direction you're facing. You also have the tentacle whip and can climb walls. Creatures scared of rot are scared of you for 17.5 seconds the first time they see you each cycle. Thrown spears can be blocked by the tentacles passively, though it does stun them for a bit and disable the tentacle whip (they can also be deflected with a well-timed whip).

With 40-45 cycles left, you assume a form similar to a Mother Long Legs. You have huge cysts, taking most of your body, and long tentacles as well. As well as propelling yourself with a double jump, you have increased movement speed, jump height, backflip height, crouch jump distance, and wall jump height/distance. You can still climb walls and have the tentacle whip. Creatures scared of rot are scared of you for 30 seconds the first time they see you each cycle. Thrown spears can be blocked passively or by a whip, but a spear hit as a 15% chance to not kill. Lizard bites, except for 100% lethal ones, are always non-lethal. Your spears and tentacle whip also do more damage, being 1.2 and 1 respectively. (Tentacle whip normally is .8)

The way to get more cycles is by eating rot: But that only exists in Pebbles, right? Wrong, at least with this guy. A creature killed with a tentacle whip will come back the next cycle as a rot creature, depending on what it was. Small creatures (Snails, Batflies, etc) simply die. Medium creatures (Scavs, Yeeks, Most lizards) become Baby Long Legs (described below). Larger creatures (Red lizards, Vultures) become Brother Long Legs. You can then kill and maul them for more cycles (do we warned, they can still kill you)

The Parasite has a hefty damage increase against rot. Any attack considered to be from you deals extra damage to a rot creature. (Exact numerical increase tbd, but it's enough to kill a Brother in 3-4 spears)

Baby Long Legs are small rot creatures that are teal or cyan in color. They are considerably smaller than most rot creatures, being similarly sized to a Hunter Long Legs (slightly smaller). They are considerably weak, with little ways to defend themselves and both blind and deaf, but still have 50 health. They do have an explosive weakness.

The Parasite starts in Silent Construct, waking up in the same room as Febbles, from an inactive (but alive) Proto Long Legs. Your goal is to either ascend or reach Moon. However, as the rot spreads and Moon has some power, she has taken the precaution to lock all gates leading into Frigid Coast to Karma 10 so that (hopefully) no creature carrying the rot could get anywhere near her. You start with 5 max karma, and visiting echoes raises it normally. The intro cutscene shows a view of Pebbles' collapsed structure, then goes in closer to a cluster of Daddy Long Legs. Then it focuses on one in particular, the one with the slugcat body. Then the game comes in focus with the bitch waking up. Pebbles makes some offhand comments about you, a mix of fear and confusion, but mostly just begs you to leave. Preferably, to go find your way to where the land fissures and leave everyone alone. You can attack him just to be a silly goober, he does not like it.

The world is in Saint structure, snow and all. Anyway, the two endings are these:

Ascencion

Getting to 10 karma and simply doing an ascend is an option. This results in the ending being images of The Parasite swimming in the sea, a dark substance coming off of them. As they swim closer, they see the slugcat tree. The last of the darkness comes off, and they turn around to see the darkness form into a golden rot creature behind them. Finally freed of their affliction, they swim away towards the tree and ascend.

Infection

If you get to 10 karma and instead choose to go to Frigid Coast, eventually reaching Moon, she is terrified and confused how you got in there. She does her best to keep herself as far as she can be from you. Her dialogue includes pleas for her life, appeals to the slugcat inside of the Parasite, as well as grief for how bad Pebbles must be right now and threats on you (despite her not being able to do much). Leaving causes her to be relieved, re-entering confuses and scares her. De to the gravity distortions that happen periodically it's not hard to bonk her with a tentacle whip, prompting her to fall to the ground and writhe on the floor of her chamber, starting the ending sequence.

The ending involves the Parasite attacking Moon (color dependent on form), striking her eye. She covers the wound, but then removes her hand to show the cyst in her puppet. As she falls to the ground, the Parasite stands over, watching her depending on their form. As a Brother, they are crouched by her, gently poking her with one of their tentacle. As a Daddy, they tower over her, tentacles menacingly threatening to drag her away. As a Mother, they take most of the image up, binding Moon in all their tentacles as the game fades out.

Dumb Shit to exist

-Attempting to return to the slugcat tree (One where Monk, Survivor, and Gourmand are from) prompts Gourmand to come flying out of the air and crush you, killing you instantly with funky dialogue. The dialogue may be specific to the form (Are the purple ones . . . even stronger? ; A monster of blue, gone. ; Even the smallest thing can kill), but usually references defending the others (I won't let you hurt the others! ; Your illness will not reach us.), expressing confusion how you got here (How did such a creature come so far? ; Are you from that robot?), or showing regret and sorrow over what happened to you (I wanted to save you, Whisp ; The one I lost . . .)

Creatures with the mark can talk normally with each other in my hc. (Also this is pretty much just a joke thing so don't take it too seriously)

Yeah this thing is taking up space in my brain lol. IDK if it's balanced or fits in lore, I don't really care about it too much, because I'm just kinda happy with this result.

By the way, the reason they never died of old age is bc 1) cycle and 2) the rot kept them alive.

If they ever got in-game, it would also add some minor rot creatures in Moon's region as that is the canon ending for the Parasite.

I FINISHED IVYPOOLS HEART AND I DEADASS ALMSOT CRIED LIKE FIVE TIMES

my bookshelf is a part of my bed and I'm still torn up about it

I am sitting in bed next to my whole ass bookshelves. Is AO3 being down still a crisis? Absolutely. I have a Problem(TM)

Why are people so mean about domesticated rats? Like yes I'm sure a random rat you found off the side of the road has a illness but not a domesticated rat that has probably never stepped foot outside of a warm house before. Rats and other rodents are very clean too so it's always so weird to me that whenever someone posts about their pet rat, there's always someone in the comments saying that they're diseased. They're no dirtier than any other animal, stop hating.

5.5/10

Just got clouded moon after hearing about it a while ago! I'm very excited to read :3

BRO WHY IS THE JUJUTUS KAISEN TAG FILLED WITH HORNY POSTS???? THAT SHIT IS BARELY SAFE FOR WORK AND I JUST WANT TO SEE MEMES 😭😭😭😭

your dash has been BATFLIED

reblog to batfly other dashes

i dunno how i feel posting this here, but she was very active on tumblr. i figured it doesn’t hurt to try.

Who's this 🤔💭