[✓] [Creature Lore] – Loch Dúin Leeches

[riorr 1970]

 

LOCH DÚIN LEECHES

 

 

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“In the dark and misty waters of Loch Dúin,

Under cold, pale moon, 

Lurks a danger deep and keen,

Deadly creatures, seldom seen.

Beware the leeches of Loch Dúin,

Sharp of mouth and swift of ruin,

They’ll scent your fear from far away,

And swarm you ‘fore the break of day.”

Many a tale the old folk tell,

Of those who met a watery hell,

Stray not near, the wise all say,

Or the horde will make you their prey.

So heed this warning, friend and foe,

Stay far from where the leeches roam,

For in the Loch, both dark and blue,

The Loch Dúin leeches wait for you.”

 

-A Halfling folk song.

 

 

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Habitat

 

These leech-horrors are named after Loch Dúin, a lake in The Silent Valley, situated between The Shiredom of Dúnwen, The Grand Duchy of Silasia and The Kingdom of Aaun.

 

In the daytime, they shelter in Curdled Cave, allowing sailors safe passage across Loch Dúin from the leeches during these sunlit hours, however at night they make the entirety of the lake their hunting grounds.

 

Though this is where they receive their name from, these creatures can be found naturally in any freshwater-filled cave at daytime and the body connected to it at night. To survive they require two conditions; dark and damp.  

 

 

 

Physiology

 

They each have powerful suckers and one very sharp sense of smell – they can smell even the smallest bit of food from up to 40 metres away.

 

They are larger than most leeches, ranging between 10 and 25 inches in length, adding to their fearsome reputation. 

 

A mouth formed of a ring of muscle creates a seal on whatever surface it adheres to, and moves back and forth to wear away and break down the surface underneath forming their anterior sucker. Alongside this is the posterior sucker, a similar muscular ring at the base of their body, allowing them to adhere and climb surfaces – the side of a rowboat, the standing supports of a lakeside pier, or the skin of a person.

 

Like other leeches, they cause extended bleeding at the attachment site even after the leech is removed. This is because the saliva from leeches is an anticoagulant and interferes with blood's normal clotting.

 

Unlike most leeches, however, their muscular ‘bite’ is much stronger, not only capable of causing larger wounds to feed their larger bodies with, but also to gradually wear down and bore through thin wood – exactly like that of rowboats. 

 

Life Cycle

 

Loch Dúin leeches follow a system of reproducing like other leeches, laying small eggs periodically, these contained in a small cocoon adhered to the shaded underside of rocks or within caves. Newly hatched young are carried with adults for their first meal, but after that, individuals scarcely interact with each other. However, they rarely thrive in groups smaller than thirty individuals – unable to obtain large enough prey to feed upon without relying on numbers.

 

In the wild, they live a long time for leeches, averaging 8-10 years. In captivity this number lowers to about 4-8 years.

 

Behaviour

 

Loch Dúin leeches live in hordes, they are never solitary creatures. The presence of one Loch Dúin leech signifies more, each with a very strong instinct to cluster together in groups, but without a strong social hierarchy or even bond between individuals. Also akin to most species of leech, those of the Loch Duin are hematophagous, feeding entirely on blood. Specifically, they seem to prefer to feed on a number of freshwater turtles, possibly the reason they bear such strong bite force and the ability to wear through harder surfaces. 

 

Dwelling mostly in dim lake bottoms and underwater caves and crevices, these animals are extremely sensitive to light and heat, only emerging to feed during night. During the day, they enter a dormant period, ‘sleeping’ in large groups.

 

Due to their larger size, Loch Dúin leeches enter a state of constant feeding, brief resting, and immediate searching for their next meal shortly thereafter, in order to fulfil their nutrition needs during the darker hours. Once latched onto a source of blood, they feed until full, and then simply drop off.

 

Though they have no need, nor simple desire, to kill their prey, their body size coupled with the size of their hordes means that the animal being fed upon rarely emerges unscathed. A high metabolism also means that to survive, each leech must feed several times a night.

 

In lakes which are used for boating, fishing, or are modified with canals or dams, the Loch Dúin leech seem to become less picky about preferred species of prey, but seek out increasingly larger animals with a larger quantity of blood, as well as increased area for feeding upon. Unfortunately for most races, they fit this description.

 

Attacks by the Loch Dúin leech are rare, but devastating. Only the largest hordes, consisting of large adult leeches, with a higher volume of blood needed, and on their first feed of what may be several nights, are brave enough to feed on a person – but when these feed, they drink deeply, and many, many come to drink. 

 

In captivity, the Loch Dúin leech rarely thrives. The risk of danger of keeping even as few as five individuals, the large space requirements for a thriving swarm, a steady supply of purified, cool water, and being extremely picky about prefering to feed on live animals makes them both more troublesome, and controversial, to keep compared to the traditional leeches used in medicine. However, it is not impossible.  

 

In Medicine

 

The Loch Dúin leeches are a naturally occurring abomination, with no magical origins. Curiously, however, they have been utilised within medical practice and alchemy. Pressing on the swollen body of a leech shortly after feeding causes it to expel its consumed blood. With an extremely fast metabolism, the leech begins purifying consumed blood quickly, and the largest specimens are able to consume an entire half-measure of blood if left to feed for 30 minutes. 

 

In addition to this, though they usually do not feed on humours other than blood, a Loch Dúin leech can be pressed to adhere to the skin above abdominal organs, and from the appropriate source, extract another half-measure of yellow bile, black bile, or phlegm. These particular properties lead to them, on rare occasions, being utilised by alchemists, or doctors practising humorism. 

 

 

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“Sundown is a guide for those ignoramus, it’s perfectly safe for experts after dark.”

 

-The last words of Silasian Dr. Seymour Sanguis before he was swarmed to death by Loch Dúin leeches.

 

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Abilities

 

Swarm: Loch Dúin leeches hunt their prey in hordes. Due to their large size and power, enough leeches could potentially sink an unsuspecting sailor in his small rowing boat. 

 

Climb: Their posterior sucker allows them to climb onto surfaces. 

 

Speed: Owing to their gargantuan size, Loch Dúin leeches are somewhat slower than most other leeches, moving only around a metre in water every few seconds. 

 

Drain: Due to their enormous proportions, they take more blood than their counterparts before dropping off, leaving their victims faint from the loss.

 

Suction: Their suction is remarkably powerful; it can disintegrate material as strong as wood in an effort to get to its prey. It is sharp and very painful due to the sheer power behind it. The pain of these leeches may cause the victim to want to remove them immediately with force, however this would be a mistake, removing the leech without careful patience will leave them prone to profuse bleeding and ultimately, death.

 

Redlines

 

 

Leeches can be played by non-ET in player events, as well as ET. 

 

Leeches cannot be tamed or used in player on player combat. However, they can be kept in captivity with significant difficulty, and would require a large fish tank built to be realistically kept.

 

Outside of a player-ran, creature versus player combat event, leeches cannot be used in combat. This means throwing a jar of leeches at someone is not a valid CRP tactic. Leeches are not allowed in CRP.

 

However, with mutual OOC consent they may be used for non-combat RP outside of player events (such as medical rp, including malpractice), and here at player discretion may cause minor injuries/blood loss.
 

Loch Dúin leeches can never exceed or be less than the proportions stated above.

 

Leeches only naturally live in freshwater. Saltwater will damage and harm them.

 

Leeches are vulnerable to bright light and fire, as well as bitter and salty substances.

 

In combat, leeches move slowly, limited to five blocks per turn when pursuing in water. Three emotes of consistently fleeing, and 20-30 blocks distance, will be considered a ‘safe’ distance where leeches can no longer find the player, and a safe escape. 

 

It would take 10 or more leeches feeding for over 5 turns of CRP in combat to cause life-threatening blood loss, and being drained by the same amount of leeches consistently for 15 turns to be fatal.

 

Leeches can be cut in half yet if the head end is attached to someone, it will continue to drain them for 30 narrative minutes and after that time still require proper removal. In combat events, this translates to 4 turns in which blood is still being drained. Forcefully ripping off a leech will have the same result.

 

 Being fed on by smaller amounts of leeches in combat would cause dizziness and loss of coordination. 
 

Leeches can be crushed, they do not have any sort of natural armour or bones, and are soft-bodied. Crushing a leech will kill it, and halt blood from being drained in CRP after 2 turns

 

Outside of combat, one leech can take up half a measure of blood from a person when applied (with ooc consent) for a narrative half-hour.  This blood will be functionally the same as blood extracted through mundane means, and though will not carry disease, is not a cure of any poison or poison-like substance affecting a person. The blood then may be utilised in alchemy or magical applications.

 

A Loch Dúin leech may also be utilised to extract a half-measure of phlegm, black bile, or yellow bile, following the same rules. They cannot be used to extract any other reagents from a player character, including magical. 

 

Removing the leech carelessly will tear away a chunk of skin that would bleed profusely due to anticoagulants secreted by the leech. When removed with care they will leave a circular bruise with some scraped off skin that still bleeds. One way to do this is cautious prying with the edge of a blade. 

 

Ripping off a leech will leave a bleeding wound with skin being torn away with it, though the wound will be shallow. This should be roleplayed correctly, especially in CRP, and will require treatment IRP.

 

Loch Dúin leeches are not yet well-studied, the above information on them should be learned through roleplay.

 

 

 

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Ooc purpose: I wished to give additional lore to this area and create a creature I would like to see in LotC. I also have never submitted a lore piece before so I wanted to try my hand at it. This server has many fantastic writers, both on ET and not, so I wanted anyone to be able to utilise what I wrote.

 

While writing this, I was informed that Cave Leech lore exists. Sal and I have made them distinct from these with a more leech-like physiology (no teeth or wings), much smaller size, different abilities, usage in medicine and wider potential for places they can be found.

 

Writing credits:

Me – Concept, writing, formatting

SalamanderMoss – Writing

 

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Spoiler

 

[_RoyalCrafter_ 5285]

give me leecherty, or give me death

[salamanderfantasy 1340]

infecting all your creature lor e with my horrible littl zoology hands. behold Fantasy Leech With No Lamprey Mouth (v rare)

[Captain Jester 238]

But can you eat the leeches? 🤫

[riorr 1970]

1 minute ago, Commander_Jester said:

But can you eat the leeches? 🤫

yes but you will get a tummy ache :(

[Zanael Moonstrider 442]

King Patches of Babblebrook looks from one of the towers of his castle towards Loch Duin, his brow furrowed.

"Something lurks under that loch... I dinnae have a good feeling about it..."

 

(Gonna have to be more careful when I go fishing now lol)

[Captain Jester 238]

ex

3 minutes ago, riorr said:

yes but you will get a tummy ache :(

EXCELLENT

[nerdy 250]

I guess Dr. Seymour Sanguis was too big for his leeches...

[cornsoda 115]

Well, to leech their own! I'd still like to see this implemented I think it'd be very funny, also really love the little folk song you wrote! :D

[Dj_McMuffin 150]

Quote

In the daytime, they shelter in Curdled Cave, allowing sailors safe passage across Loch Dúin from the leeches during these sunlit hours, however at night they make the entirety of the lake their hunting grounds.

 

 

A Series of Unfortunate Events reference? I approve. 

[satin 7600]

excellent lore. it's worth clarifying in redlines how different magics interact with it but beyond that no complaints thumbs up +1

[riorr 1970]

22 hours ago, cornsoda said:

Well, to leech their own! I'd still like to see this implemented I think it'd be very funny, also really love the little folk song you wrote! :D

Thank you! :D

 

21 hours ago, satinkira said:

excellent lore. it's worth clarifying in redlines how different magics interact with it but beyond that no complaints thumbs up +1

Thank you! Will work on that :)

[Turbo_Dog 3567]

Any nefarious leeches in the comments? Can I get a :Leech_Champ: in the chat?

[Onnensr 1908]

*walks into town with a baby carriage and trips on a loose stone. the carriage flips over and three fat leeches tumble out* 

MY BABIES!

[Islamadon 9158]

This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly.