Book of Inhumans

Tentacle Creatures

     Out of all the Inhumans I know of, this species is my favorite. I most likely favor these compared to others as I have raised one myself whom I love with all my heart. Tentacled Creatures have a very complex lifecycle and it is often rare for oneself to become infected with them anyways. Due to the manner of this being the beginning of the chapter I shall start with the beginning of their lifecycle.

     It all starts when spores from more common mushroom form blows along a rare breeze of wind of gets stuck on another type of Inhuman. It strangely seems that these creatures greatly prefer humans as host and therefore the Inhumans carrying the spore along are in no type of danger from it. Eventually the spores will fall off of the creature and onto the ground. From there they will begin to grow into mushrooms. The process of them growing into adult mushrooms takes around eight months- one year. This time is very hard for me to track as time is almost nonexistent here so this is most likely not accurate. During this time and always the mushrooms are in danger of being eaten by creatures passing by. The fungus has adapted to be able to turn closer to the color of the surface that it is growing on. Even though this helps them stay hidden creatures that have Dark Sight can spot them very easily and will be happy to have a meal.

     In the rare case a human comes by and touches, eats, or gets a spore on them the infection process will begin. As said before it seems that the spores will only infect humans for a reason unbeknownst to me. The infection starts with the first stage, to be known as the Growing Stage. I this stage the spore/spores will burrow into the human host and find the stomach. The spores will eat the nutrients from the stomach and use them to grow. At first the mushrooms will be damaged by the stomach acid, but they will develop a protective coating on themselves. During this stage the infected will most likely not know they have been infected unless they know the symptoms. The symptoms often include needing more food due to the mushrooms stealing the nutrients from the body and stomach pains. These are the most common symptoms, but, there may be more of this stage. This stage lasts 1-2 weeks depending on how much food the infected has available to them.

     The next stage is the Stemming Stage. During this stage the fungus will have gotten strong enough to begin shooting tendrils out into the rest of the host's body to infect more of it. The tendrils seem to strangely not like infecting the arms of the host. They will instead attack the arms, causing the bones and flesh to rot away, causing the arms of the host to fall off of the body. I theorize that the reason this is happening is that since the creature will eventually develop tentacles that it can then use to grasp and move objects, there is no use for spending extra energy on the arms. When the host is in this stage they will most likely by now realize that something is wrong with them. Because of this it is likely they will go into a stage of panic, letting adrenaline into their body. The adrenaline will also effect the fungus, putting it into a state of panic and causing it to grow faster. If the host doesn't want this stage to go by quicker they should try to remain calm. Some of the other side effects are: feeling weakness in the arms due to rot, nervousness, avoiding light, and internal pains in their body.

     After this stage comes the Bursting Stage. The beginning of this stage is signified by the arms of the host falling off, now completely rotted and limp. I personally recommend amputation of the arms before this happens since the dropping of the arms is often more painful then putting the host under and amputating their arms. The host will be calmer now due to the fact they are most likely accepting their fate. Like the previous stage they will have a distaste of light and bright objects, except it being more severe and them often hiding in complete darkness. They will also may begin eating things such as rotting food and dirt, as this is nutritious to the mushrooms. They will question the fact to why they are eating these things and therefore will probably not actually eat them often. Closer to the end of this stage the infection will have reached the brain and will cause the host to begin eating these strange foods on a daily basis, even if they don't really want to. Another side effect before the very end of the stage is severe head pain because the fugues and it's tendrils are now absorbing the brain and using it as a final bit of food before it will need to survive on it's own. At around a day after the head pains the head of the host will fall off, signaling the end of the host. The fungus does not need the host's head as it has other ways of eating and attack. It will most likely do this in a dark space since that is what it prefers. By staying in a brighter area you can prolong this stage if you truly wish. This is the end of this stage.