The Hive

> *"Sallow Skin, eyes sunken with no colour but sickening, ghostly white. It was clear what this was, and it meant that soon, the town would fall."*
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> - The Diary of Tulipus Cree, Low Priest of the Divine.
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The Hive is a term for monsters created by the sickness known as Hiveblood, that causes the personality and feelings of the infected to atrophy and be consumed by a strange, seemingly psionic hive-mind.

The Hive is a pack, similar to Goblins or others, that lives deep underground. They emerge first in small groups, then armies, with the purpose of taking living flesh to consume or turn into more of their own.

The Hive can be found all over, emerging from the earth and attacking small villages from time to time, but mostly staying away from towns and cities. However, in the Deepunder, they swarm in innumerable quantities, feasting, revelling, and attacking the dwarven cities.

## Origin

Although the Hiveblood sickness has been around for generations, it is unclear where it comes from.

Some believe that it is a virulent plague of demonic origin that had it's birth in the Deepunder, before being unleashed by the Dwarves, while others see it as a mutation of the failed experiments of the Winter King. Others still believe that they are the result of the Dwarves trapped underground during the Rune Wars becoming violent and bitter.

## Emergence

Occasionally, the Hive breaks through to the surface through ancient tunnels, and when it does, they will find the nearest civilization, tear it apart to feast and drag those they deem worthy off into their burrows, where they will be forced to drink of the infection until they are one of the Hive.

The Hive most frequently emerge in the Wilds, near small cities and towns, seemingly intentionally avoiding locations that can defend themselves such as cities or major events.

### Early Signs of Emergence

In the early days of Emergence, Hive Spawn led by a Hive Warblood will encircle a town, feasting on livestock and the occasional person who strays too far from sight. Normally, this is all that will happen- there will be a small raiding part who return to the earth once sated.

However, should they decide that a Grand Feast is required, they will before long emerge in greater and greater numbers to devour, creating an army that strikes on the next full moon.

### Beating them back

The Hive can be found before they emerge, the Dawn Wardens and the Mage's Guild both use diviners to keep track of it's activities in the hopes of evacuating civilians and fighting off an Emergence.

However, this is costly and time consuming, so usually they will wait until there are early signs before detecting if it is a true Emergence or more of a minor issue.

## Epidemiology

Hiveblood is infectious, spreading via bite and bile infesting into open wounds.

The Infection spreads and worsens as time passes without treatment.

* *Every half hour after infection, or when the patient experiences abnormal stress, the infected rolls a Con save with a DC of 15. On a fail, they progress to the next stage of infection.*

 **2** | The patient becomes increasingly paranoid, believing they can hear
"Whispers" talking to them from the shadows.
Sunlight begins to irritate, and intelligence begins to degrade.
* *Disadvantage on INT Checks and Saves*
 **3** | The patient loses all vision, and the whispers become as loud as people speaking,
making it difficult to hear the people around them.
The patient will suffer from vision loss, and their eyes will appear sunken and fogged over.
* *Disadvantage on INT Checks and Saves*
* *Disadvantage on WIS Checks and Saves*
 **4** | The patient is incapable of perceiving the external world, and is in inconceivable pain. At this stage, they will be uncommunicative. Their skin will begin to turn to shades of grey and yellow, sloughing off. Open, bleeding sores will appear on the Patient's body.
* *Disadvantage on ALL Checks and Saves.*
* *Passive Perception reduced to 1.*
 **5** | The patient takes on their final form as one of the Hive creatures. They will awaken to a hunger for human flesh, a desire to spread the infection, and obey the orders of the Hive overmind. All traces of their original self have now been consumed by the Hivemind, adding their knowledge to it's own.
In this stage, the disease is incurable. Death is the only option.
* *The DM rolls on the Hive Creature Table or adds the Hive stats if the creature is not a Sentient or Folk.*

## Treatment

As a particularly virulent infection, a Lesser Restoration will not cure the sickness. However, using a Lesser Restoration will delay the progression of the disease.

* *Casting a Lesser Restoration on a Patient when they are called to roll a Con save allows them to succeed without rolling, provided it is cast before they have rolled the save.*

Hiveblood can be cured through the use of a Greater Restoration or the creation of a potion containing the petals of the rare Wildercrest flower. This potion requires a Herbalism Kit check with a DC of 13 to craft a vial, and consumes one Wildercrest flower to create.

## Hive Creatures

Beasts and other similar creatures turn into a different type of Hive creature, depending on their size;

Sentient Creatures, such as those listed on the Species page, instead take a more virulent transformation. Upon reaching Stage 5, the DM rolls 1d6 on the following table to see what form this transformation takes;

Hive Ghouls that return to the Hive their strain comes from are outfitted with armor and turned into a warrior that is known as a Hive Warblood.