Red Mold

## **Red Mold, Parasitic Nightmare**

The Red Mold is a man-made parasitic fungus only found in the ruins of Satra and, as the name implies, appears as red fleshy mass, with occasional clusters of orange spores visible underneath. The Mold can grow exceptionally quickly, but it’s most terrifying ability is taking control over the corpses of various animals and keeping them in suspended animation, during which the mold appears to have the full control over the body. It can keep a host for an undetermined amount of time, and it has been proven that this can last for years.

## **Story**

Bane of mankind, Moris' failed experiment now called The Curse of Undying is an ancient disease and no cure has been made to this day. Infected people will never die and their immortal corpses will wander forever, feeling no pain, no fear, no cold and only hunger. Over the centuries many ways of fighting the infected hordes of Undead Ones were developed and tested out, with varying results. Most of them had no significant effects, many were forgotten, and some of them turned out so pathetic that people joke about them even nowadays.

And then, there is also the one which everyone who saw it's effects would give everything to forget.

How it came to be is now unclear, and will probably remain a mystery forever. Some testified it was a containment breach. Some old reports suggest that the safety procedures were ignored. Some blamed it on a terrorist attack. Whatever the true story might be, the constant fact is that the unfinished bioweapon got out from the underground laboratory. And it grew fast.

The Red Mold was supposed to decompose dead bodies, which would help in getting rid of the Undead. Instead, it could not differentiate between dead or alive organic matter, and consumed all. It did not destroyed it. It grew on it. Adapted it. Used it. And with every consumed body it grew faster.

Within a few week the entire population of Satra had to be evacuated. The laboratory was sealed, and none of the bodies were ever recovered. When a team of 10 pyromancers entered a few days later, only 4 of them came back, and none of them was ever the same. The walking… things they fought in the corridors covered with the uncaring fleshy shrooms filled them with enough terror and disgust to traumatize an entire generation. The Mold grew faster than anyone could expect, and it evolved and adapted on the fly. Every fallen man was a new host for it to take, and use to carry it’s spores further. The people of Satra who tried to fight the Undead have, unintentionally, created something much worse.

City of Satra has been lost in the war between humanity and the malign red parasite. The war, unbeknown to the public, is still going on above and below the ground of the lost city, frozen in time, filled with regret and sorrow on the surface, and crawling with despair and horror below. The Mold hates light and heat, so it hides itself from the sun, and the flames brought from New Satra slowly drive it back, be it one room at the time. This war can be won, but the price those who fought it had to pay was their humanity.

There were many of them. Volunteers, heroes, gods and demons, criminals and madmen. The things they had to kill will haunt them in their nightmares forever. The Undead, as horrid as they are, are dead. They don’t feel. They used to be humans, now they only are.

The hosts of the Red Mold used to be humans too, for most part. Some were animals, some plants. The looks on their faces, if they still have them however, are always the same.

It’s not a face of a corpse.

It’s a mask of unspeakable anguish which never ends.

Of the restless suffering and hunger.

The Mold is growth.

The Mold is hunger.

The Mold is terror.

The Mold is the suffering.

## **In-game**

Red Mold is one of the most unique characters in the game, whose gameplay is more similar to a real time strategy than to an arena brawler which Songs of Greavesoyl is. Mold itself cannot interact with other players in any way – instead, it must summon minions and stationary structures to attack, defend and support the team.

Abilities
Mold can spend Spores to summon Warper Structures and Mold Hosts.
 Command and Control
 It Grows
* Shroom Sentry (Cost: 3) - Shoots at the closest enemy within 15 blocks every 2 seconds, dealing 2 damage.
* Lost Ravager (Cost: 3) - Shoots a mortar shell every 4 seconds, dealing 4 damage to enemies in a small area.
* Mycelium (Cost: 6) - Grants 1 Spore every 7 seconds.
* Crumbling Ground (Cost: 3) - Slows all enemies within 8 blocks by 30% and grants Mold Hosts +20% speed.
* Hungering Mold (Cost: 4) - Defiles all enemies within 5 blocks and heals all Mold Hosts by 6 health once.
 Army of Horrors
* Consumed Brute x2 (Cost: 4) - Melee host, slows enemies by 15% with it's attacks.
* Gorged Mage x2 (Cost: 3) - Every 4 seconds shoots a projectile at enemies dealing 3 damage.
* Devoured Healer x1 (Cost: 5) - Very slow melee host. Every 6 seconds heals all Mold Hosts within 10 blocks by 6, grants them 4 shield points and increases their lifetime by 4 seconds. Does not affect other Healers.
* Ravaged Knight (Cost: 8) - Slow melee host. Every 8 seconds stuns all enemies in 4 block range.
* Sprouted Runner (Cost: 1) - Very fast small host. Explodes upon catching an enemy, dealing 4 damage and slowing all enemies within 3 block range by 45% for 1 second.

## **Trivia**

* Red Mold’s gameplay was based on Clash Royale.
* Originally, it’s gameplay was supposed to be more reminiscent of RTS games like Starcraft, but this idea was scrapped due to not fitting the faster pace of Songs of Greavesoyl.
* Devoured Healer uses the same head and armor colors as the removed Parasite Host.
* Red Mold is the only character unable to capture altars, or directly interact with the enemy team in any way.
* Despite being called that for the organisation purposes, the Mold is not actually a character by itself.
* One of the main reasons of Red Mold existing in the playable form was the fact that Parasite Host failed to portray the body horror of the Mold in-game.
* The Mold's passive is names after SCP-610.