Featured Creature: Udushae N'yasnu

Excerpted from Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils:

"Little is known about the origins of the Udushae N'yasnu.  There is a rumored Gnostic legend that on the seventh day of creation, after God had finished his work, the Udushae were the left over flotsam.  Before God could return the unformed creatures to the void, they skittered into the darkest corners of creation and hid.  Regardless of their origins, a recorded characteristic of the Udushae is their thirst for human bodily fluids.

Over a period of days or weeks, chosen victims of the Udushae are slowly drained of vital fluids during sleep.  Often the symptoms of an Udushae assault are confused with that of a Vampyr attack.  However the Udushae feed exclusively on human fluids whereas a Vampyr will feed on any available source of blood including livestock, family pets, and local wildlife.  Also absent in an Udushae attack are the telltale puncture wounds left by a Vampyr.  It is generally assumed that the Udushae drain fluids from the body of the victim directly through existing orifices.

The prolonged debilitation from an Udushae encounter is sometimes referred to as the "sleeping sickness".  The affections of the Udushae bring terrible nightmares of drowning and suffocation, a dramatic decrease in lung capacity, excessive dehydration, extreme physical weakness, a blue pallor from incipient hypoxia, and often an escalating mental hysteria.  The Udushae will seek out hospitals and sickwards of any kind as their preferred hunting grounds but they are just as likely to be found in a mundane household.  With the commonplace use of electric lighting, recorded incidents of their nighttime attacks have dwindled presumably due to the creatures loathing of any source of light whatsoever. 

The Udushae are nocturnal creatures, gravitating towards darkness and warmth at all times.  Once they have chosen a given habitat, the Udushae tend to be territory exclusive.  Removing the victim from the abode where the Udushae have nested will often save the victim's life.  If the victim should remain in the dwelling where the Udushae resides, the victim will surely die.  Most recorded methods of deterrent used against these parasites have failed.  The only enduring method known to eradicate the abominations is exposure to direct sunlight."

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