[Text | computer]

[healspec]

[so after encountering that sudden vermini swarm, he's been wondering what the hell even happened there and if it was related to all this other stuff going on. he double-checked the faq to see if there was anything relevant in there. 'small black creatures' sounds accurate, but 'emerging from animals with weird human features' does not fit at all.]

[he waits a couple days to see if anybody else posts about something similar before breaking down and deciding to post himself.]

What do these 'grues' mentioned in the FAQ look like?

I saw a large swarm of something that might be the same.

[if i forget a reply format just assume it's text 8|; ]

Comments

[Text]

[shiromadoushi]

Like little black shadows or kinda like those sootballs in Spirited Away.

[Text]

[healspec]

Do they only appear from those mutated animals?

[Text]

[shiromadoushi]

They're independent of them, I think. They're what causes the mutation, pretty sure, since whatever they possess goes back to normal after they're squeezed out.

[Text]

[healspec]

Ah, I see.

Has anyone ever seen them before they possessed the animals, or only after?

Audio;

[wannabered]

The little ones are sort of little shadow clumps. The big ones like in the mines look like Cousin It's death metal cousin with razor claws.

[text]

[amberhearted]

Accurate

Audio;

[wannabered]

Wait, we can thumbs up things? Since when could we do that?

[text]

[amberhearted]

Try fiddling around with options

[Text]

[healspec]

[oh my god there are bigger ones?!]

[shou did mention 'cousin its' before... :|a dnw to meet a swarm of those things]

It was the little ones, thankfully.

Or maybe not thankfully. I don't know how dangerous they can be.

Audio;

[wannabered]

Trust me, not being stuck in a cave with the bigger ones is something to be thankful for.

[Text]

[healspec]

I think I can be thankful for that, yes.

But not very thankful that it was thousands of the small ones and they were on my balcony.

text, computer;

[somesayinfire]

They're swarming? That doesn't sound good. That really doesn't sound good.

[healspec]

They only appeared and then disappeared just as quickly, but yes, it doesn't seem good.

[somesayinfire]

I don't know a lot about them or their mentality, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say they haven't done that kind of thing before. They probably didn't all just get lonely at once, so that leaves a pretty big question or two out there.

[healspec]

Yes. Questions I very much do not like not having the answers for.

Such as, if they possessed a person once before, were they trying to do it again?

[testsonseashells]

[Mordin links some pictures he's collected from his own encounter with them.]

Look like this.

[healspec]

[oh pictures that helps a lot more than unspecific descriptions]

Ah, that's them exactly.

Thank you.

voice

[testsonseashells]

Where did you see them?

[Text]

[healspec]

My apartment, they were swarming on my balcony.

[Text | Computer]

[professorwolf]

I actually tried to study one that I caught before it expired. They look like very tiny bug-people with lots of fur, like dandelion fluff, except black. I called them dandelion sprites, myself, but grues caught on more.

[He also shares a sketch he made of the one he captured, pasted into the message. It's not the best artwork, but it's very technical-looking and accurate enough for what it is. He is, after all, a biologist.]

[healspec]

[oh ty for the much more specific description + sketch. it matches exactly with the pictures already posted and thus with the things he saw]

[he considers mentioning that he immediately thought of them as dandelion-based dark-fairies BUT NOPE THAT'S STUPID MOVING ON]

Thank you. That's exactly what I saw.

Has anyone ever seen them in very large numbers before?

[professorwolf]

Yes, they do appear to be back again. It's been a while.

I believe there was once, a couple months back, when a large collection of them possessed a human being. As I recall, none of them, nor the poor host, survived the experience. I wasn't there for it, I merely heard about it from one of my students.

[audio]

[sweetas]

Is that what they're calling the little black tick monster things? Or the bigger hairy ones?

[text]

[healspec]

The little ones, I think. I hear people call the bigger ones "Cousin Its". Like the character from The Addams Family. [of course he knows about The Addams Family, his roommate named their cat after one of the characters]

[text]

[sweetas]

Ah...yeah, I had a run in with some of those. They're awful. The little ones, I mean, I haven't seen any Cousin Its yet.