Devalpa

A debalba, also devalpa or dawalbay, is a fae of the desert that appears as a decrepit old man on the side of roads or near streams. They especially prefer salt flats and dried lake beds, themselves smelling intensely of salt. They do not speak, and looking pitiful and worn, they make gestures for travelers to carry them along the way on their backs. As soon as one does this, though it may be as light as a spirit at first, a debalba will grow, doubling in size and weighing the kind traveler down unbearably. Now the debalba can exact what he needs. He will drive his helper to the nearest oasis, no matter how far that may be, so that he can pick fruit from personback that he could not reach on his own. His legs are woolly and leathery like a cow's and he has a long cowlike tail he will produce from under his robes when he settles in. If one attempts to set him down or otherwise get free, the debalba will wrap its leathery, desert-snake/octopus-like tentacles around its victim, which he bears in addition to legs. If the victim does not reach any fruit, the debalba will just suck the life out of their body once they collapse—and indeed the life draining process begins as one tires.
==Warding==
The only solution to free oneself from a debalba is to lead him to enchanted fruit he will susceptible to, or even better, to find a fruit one can ferment and offer him the alcohol. He has no tolerance for it and will swiftly get drunk and collapse of the now free victim's shoulders.
To prevent being beguiled by a debalba, a traveler can ask an old man asking to be carried to lift up his robes and show his legs. If he is not a debalba he will know your concern and gladly show you his normal stature, but if it is debalba he will refuse yet continue to persist in gesturing for a ride.
==Patronage==
Debalba are the fae of salty inland seas and salt lakes. They rule over these as their domain. When the salty waters give way to the desert and dry up, the fae become listless, weak, and wander into the wastes to become debalba. Natron harvesters often must contend with them. The fruit they seek provides them with water, as does the liquid they suck from the corpses of their victims. The destitute posture they take along roadsides is as much to convince potential victims as it is to conserve water through extremely low activity.
davalpa.jpg
== Sources ==
https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/06/05/davalpa/
https://studyofmythicals.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/all-about-devalpa-20-10-11/
Category:Fae
Category:Ashan
Category:Desert