Full Description

Found in an amazingly wide range of colors that vary from a painfully electric orange to a bruised hue of murky brown, these repellent organisms are completely flattened in shape, allowing them to wrap their infinitely flexible forms over the bodies of many species of aquatic creatures that are much larger than them such as fish or turtles. A highly useful function, this phenomenal stretching ability of the Ahoi worm enables it to latch its numerous orifices on the nearest living thing within reach and drain the unfortunate creature of blood until its voracious appetite is sated. To ensure that its host does not resist, its numerous feeding holes release a powerful toxin that is strong enough to immobilize a large crocodile for the duration of a few hours straight.  Once this is accomplished, it burrows into the flesh of the immobilized prey with the aid of a vicious little spike that projects from its underside, and begins the process of depositing a large clutch of eggs in the cavity it has created. Then it detaches itself from the dazed animal and floats away, leaving its victim to recover from the ordeal.

But the eggs hatch following a period lasting no more than a couple of months. Upon doing so, they follow the example of their parents and attach themselves to the insides of their erstwhile incubator until they finally succeed in draining it of all its blood. After this fatal act of paratisim, they leave the wizened husk of the unfortunate animal though its rectal cavities.

The Ahoi worm is not native to our world. In the early stages of their aggressive campaigns of conquest against their closest neighbors, the Quarsooth encountered these ravenous invertebrates in the course of establishing a military base on Ahoi, an obscure swampy little planet that orbits their home-world. Intrigued by the worm’s interesting habit of sustaining itself, some specimens were collected for the purpose of research. The results that arose from the eager effort channeled into this project, proved to be extremely satisfying for the Quarsooth. Enthralled by the ability of the worm to paralyze large animals, one of their brightest armourers devised the idea of using it at a tool to capture the precious host bodies of other sentient beings rather than resort to slaying them in a wasteful manner with lethal weapons. The result was a steel pistol that contained a hollow inner tube filled with fluid that housed an Ahoi worm. When the trigger was squeezed, the worm would be propelled outwards from the nozzle with great force, flying with great accuracy towards the target. Once contact was established, it would obey its natural instincts and release its toxin into the quarry, rendering him easy prey for capture.

To prevent an infestation of the host from taking place, an antidote was developed that would slay both the eggs and the parent. But that was no great loss, considering that these asexual things were able to breed quickly in laboratories.

The worm enabled weapon remains as the mainstay of the Quarsooth, though there is less need for its use now, given the policy of peaceful domination that they currently pursue.
    

Additional Information

Updated: http://www.strolen.com/content.php?node=2279

This is the URL for the original post that has inspired all the Quarsooth offshoots.

School of Parasitism
 
The School of School of Parasitism is an uncommon and unpopular branch of magic. It’s hallmarks are the sapping of strength, subtlety and disease.

Practitioners of this art typically are employed to subtly weaken enemies. The Parasitists generally become immune to disease and toxins imparted by parasites, both natural and magic. Otherwise, they would not survive to become serious practitioners.  The school is closely associated with insects and similar creatures, but is sharply focused on the concept of parasitism.  Normally a caster would not rely solely on this school, as it is fairly limited in it’s scope.  There are other schools, such as necromancy and Zoimorphists which would work with this one.

Dominator Parasite
 
This spell calls into being a Dominator Parasite, a disgusting worm-like parasite about 8" in length and 2" in diameter.  When placed on a non-resisting victim (or at least well bound), it will burrow into the victim with a specialized tail, leaving a small head exposed.  It avoids damaging major organs and seals off most blood vessels. It then integrates with the victim’s nervous system and takes over.  At greater degrees of proficiency the caster may share the senses of the victim.
 
Dread Parasite

Summons forth a Dread Parasite, one which causes severe affects upon the victim. The Parasite must be delivered to a victim either directly by the caster (by touch) or at a distance through use of the Infestation spell.Sample Dread Parasites:

Mingoven Brain Worm
Appearance: Black worm with chitinous bands, 1" long and very thin.
Mode of Operation: Enters ear or burrows through skull (the latter only on immobile victims). Causes acute insanity. Interestingly enough, the parasite completely seals the skull once it enters.

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Silderian Heart Borer
Appearance: Pale green grub-like worm with dramatically shaped cutting mandibles, about 1/4" in diameter and 2" long.
Mode of Operation: Enters the chest and burrows into the heart. Victim weakened to the point of immobility. Excess stress could easily kill the victim.

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Lyvoran Gut Worm
Appearance: Appears as a very wide tapeworm with oddly human-like eyes. Initially is it vanishingly small until it makes its way into the digestive system.
Mode of Operation: Enters the body through either mouth or nose and makes it’s way to the stomach. Victim cannot obtain nutrition from food until cured. 

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Tyanic Eye Wasp
Appearance: Blue and grey striped wasp similar in size to normal wasps.
Mode of Operation: Wasp lands upon victims eyes, and injects egg. If not removed (by surgery or equivalent magic), will result in total eye loss when the eggs hatch.  Until that time, the victim can see spots in their vision that get gradually larger.

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Velathian Spinal Leech
Appearance: Dull purple leech with an array of small tentacles near the mouth.
Mode of Operation: Attaches to spine and draws forth spinal fluid, causing intense pain and incapacitation.

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Greathian Nerve Flea
Appearance Unless viewed with magnification, appears as a little black flea. Magnified, it appears a dark metallic green.
Mode of Operation: Bite causes local nerve tissue to dissolve, eliminating control and sensation in affected area.

Draw Strength
This spell when cast on a victim will leech away vitality and continually stream it to the caster until the spells duration expires, or the spell is otherwise removed.  The victim feels exhausted until the spell is over and will be impeded in many activities.  The caster gains a boost in physical strength and endurance while the spell is in effect, and the caster may have more then one victim at a time, so long as they remain in range of the spell. 

Infestation
Target pointed at becomes Infested (as per Infesting Touch). Once infested, the caster requires less effort to cast additional spells on the victim (Spells that require touch now become line of sight). 

Infesting Touch
Victim becomes Infested with a swarm of parasites, generally causing minor damage and a great deal of horror and revulsion. Willpower is required to ignore the critters and proceed normally. Tasks requiring concentration will be impeded while so infested.  Critters include lice, mites, ticks, and worse.

Lurking Pestilence
Caster creates a magical trap that will deliver another spell in this domain onto the target.  Involves planting some token, usually grotesque, that the next person to touch will deliver the spells.
 
Malarial Swarm
Summons a swarm of malaria-bearing mosquitos under the casters control.  The Malaria is exceptionally virulent, causing symptoms almost immediately.
Convulsions, vomiting, shivering and eventual collapse and death are the hallmarks of this disease. 

Mindworm
The victim becomes susceptible to suggestions and impulses insinuated by the caster.  This effect remains so long as the victim does not pass to far away from the caster.  If sufficient distance separates the two, the spell is ended.  The victim may or may not be aware of these being of external origin.
 
Parasite form
Caster assumes the form of a massive swarm of parasites which can then disperse to the four winds.  The caster can choose to Infest a target, but may not engage in further spellcasting until they regain their original form.  Caster is unhurt even if the swarm is damaged so long as a single parasite remains alive - the caster can shift their consciousness from critter to critter as desired, even if the current one is slain. 
 
Parasitodial Summoning
   Target becomes the host for some large insect or insect-like horror.  Victim is generally paralyzed and 2-7 days later, young creatures will burst forth, killing the host. This is used by the Parasitists to produce some of their creatures, including familiars.  It is rumored that insectioid practitioners of this art can use this spell for their own reproduction.
 
Sunder’s Coat of Vermin
This spell, when cast, covers the wearer with a cloak of wiggling parasites (species as desired by the caster). It is a minor defence primarily intended to make people stay away, as any who come within 3’ of the wearer are subject to infestation by the horde of parasites.
 
Taint Water
Infests water with disease-causing water-borne parasites, including nematodes and leeches. Once introduced, the critters will multiply naturally though will be somewhat more tolerant to harsh conditions for several days.

Touch of the Leech
By touching a victim, the caster may draw blood from them, which will in turn revitalize the caster. 

Touch of the Spirit Leech
As Touch of the Leech, but instead of blood, spiritual energy is drawn, and can be used to restore caster’s manna. See Spirit Leech.

Summon Demon Ticks
Summons a swarm of  Demon Ticks. 

Plot Ideas and Campaign Use

Used only by the most horrid of individuals, it is a tool for villains and others that would use revulsion and horror as weapons.  The school can also include other pest-related spells already present in your game world.

The Street King
Gerthic, poor and living in the worst places, where no other riffraff would dwell, was kicked around and beaten by pretty much everyone. A runt, with little hope, he fell into the influence of an infernal power.  The devil granted knowledge of the School of Parasites, and with this fell knowledge, he came to increase his station.  Now he is a petty crime lord, using his powers to enhance his position.  Numbers of his followers are infested, unwittingly lending him their strength.  He occasionally hires out his services, either to weaken or kill targets as the contract requires.  Perhaps the PCs are selected as a target.

The old barber looked over the body of the man. There seemed to be no apparent cause of death. He listened to his chest again, just to be sure. No heartbeat…
“Are you sure nothing happened out of the ordinary?” he asked the man who brought him in.
The man looked nervous.
”We were out collecting samples for our studies, like we’ve been doing for months…” he replied.
”Well, go tell his folks while I take him to the mortician” the barber told the young man.

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The boy ran quickly through the alleys. He was not however heading to the boy’s parents, but to their master, the local necromancer. Reaching the door of his master’s home he knocked furiously. The minutes passed like hours as he shifted his weight nervously from side to side. The door slowly opened.
”Master….we have a problem…”

The cryptosidius trilobita, or “tomb trilosydes” as it is sometimes called, is a small parasite resembling an ant sized horseshoe crab that enters the host through any available orifice. This is usually done when the host is sleeping, although the parasite is so small as to go unnoticed in most cases even when awake.

It is commonly found in putrid remains (corpses) but can easily be found in stagnant water, rotting garbage, privies, or other suitably unclean places. They can survive in nearly any environment for up to two weeks. The primary diet of this parasite is liquor cerebrospinalis¹ and serum albumin². The average life cycle is one year.

Within hours after becoming host to one of these parasites, an itchy skin rash will develop. Stomach cramps or pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea begin within days.
Fever, chills, cough, and muscle aches set in within one to two weeks of infection.
This is purely coincidence, as the parasite lives in only the vilest of places and commonly carries with it several infectious diseases.

Once in a host, the “tomb trilosydes” borrows deep into the pelvis, finding its nest in the curve of the coccyx. From this nest it extends from its “tail” several fibrous tentacles. These wrap about the spinal column and arteries in and around the pelvis. From these tentacles eggs are laid.

These eggs will grow and hatch into the larval form of the “tomb trilosydes” and work their way into the bloodstream and spinal cord. They will make every attempt to slowly make the arduously long journey to the brain of the host, where they will eventually mature into the hard shelled cryptosidius trilobita.

The larvae that travel to the brain through the spinal column can cause seizures or paralysis. Seizures will be evident by convulsions, rolling back of the eyes, drooling, swelling or swallowing of the tongue, temporary facial paralysis, and loss of bodily functions. If paralysis sets in the infected will appear, even to the most astute eyes, to be dead. Those traveling by bloodstream may cause heart attacks, fainting spells, numbness or pain, and internal bleeding.
These symptoms continue until the parasites leave the host.

One to five of the larvae will survive, the weaker ones being cannibalized by the stronger. Once matured they will burrow back to the intestines and leave the already inhabited host in search of one of their own.

The only known treatment for this infestation is as follows:

“Mix equal parts powdered wild roses, ashes of oak and juniper berries. Infuse into strong spirits for three days.
Drink one thimbleful at sunrise and another at sunset.
This curative takes seven days to effect.”

This parasite evolved independently within the confines of a large underground tomb. After surviving on the remains interred there for hundreds of years they entered a torpor-like stasis until a resent breach in the antechamber of the structure.

1 Liquor cerebrospinalis, is a clear bodily fluid that occupies the space between the skull and the cerebral cortex. It is a very pure saline solution with microglia³  and acts as a “cushion” or buffer for the cortex.

2 Serum albumin, often referred to simply as albumin, is the most abundant plasma protein in humans and other mammals.

3 Microglia are a type of cell that act as the immune cells for the central nervous system.