Dragon	-	Monsters	-	Dragon #119
-	-	Notes	-	-

Slowly, like a drugged man regaining
consciousness, the sun rose over the dead
water. The quavering calls of the night
birds, the croaking of the frogs, and the
hidden plops and gurgles were slowly
replaced by the drone of the day insects
and the songs of distant sparrows. The
sun began to burn away the night mist,
revealing the thousands of shades of green
in the vast swamp of the Wet Maze.

Jaffang watched it all and hated it. It
was the wrong place for a full-blooded
orc. He hated the birds, the frogs, the
insects, the green of the plants. Most of all,
he hated Sasher.

He looked at his silent companion.
Sasher squatted motionless, looking out
across the water; only his yellow eyes
moved. A myriad of gnats and mosquitoes
swarmed around his face and arms, but he
made no effort to slap them away. On
either forearm were curious Y-shaped
scars ? probably the brand of the thieves?
or assassins? guild. Sasher  liked  it here.
Jaffang knew he did. It was the human
half of him. Sasher liked it here, and he
probably liked it that much more because
he knew Jaffang hated it. Jaffang hated
him that much more for it.

Sasher stood up slowly. Taking an onion
from a leather belt pouch, he rubbed it
vigorously over several spots on his pants
and shirt before he took a bite. That was
also the human in him ? afraid to eat a
dirty onion. What more could one expect
of a half-breed?

Drawn by his companion?s gaze, Sasher
looked at Jaffang. Jaffang tried to smile,
but it didn?t work. He thought of running
his spear through Sasher and the smile
came, but by that time Sasher had turned
away.

?Light enough. Better take off your
armor,? Sasher said, as if to no one in
particular.

Jaffang?s immediate suspicion was slowly
replaced by the realization that he couldn?t
swim well, and that armor would just be a
bother. As Jaffang removed his armor,
Sasher arranged a wooden box on a shield-
sized raft, then waded out waist-deep in
the swamp?s green water, probing with the
butt of his spear as he went. ?You bring
the box,? he said.

Jaffang started to curse but caught
himself. With Sasher in front, the half-
breed would be the first to meet any possi
ble danger. Jaffang contented himself by
watching the place between Sasher?s
shoulder blades ? the place where one
day an orcish spear would rest.

For now, Sasher was necessary. Soon,
Jaffang would learn the secret of making
blade venom from the leech?s spit, the
venom which could make a man bleed to
death from a single cut. Then, by One
Eye?s Spear, they?d all have reason to fear
Jaffang. And he would kill Sasher first ?
of that he was certain.

The water was warm, almost like fresh
blood. Jaffang?s bare feet sank ankle deep
into the receptive ooze on the bottom. He
pulled the raft along the trail Sasher cre-
ated as he pushed through the water
plants. Suddenly, Jaffang tripped on an
underwater snag, fell headlong, and came
up sputtering. Sasher looked back and
laughed out loud.

Laugh now, Jaffang thought. He decided
to kill Sasher slowly. But first he needed to
learn about the leeches and the blade
venom.

?Where do we find these leeches?? Jaf-
fang asked, to cover his rage more than to
get a response.

Sasher maintained his distant gaze. ?We
don?t,? he replied. ?They find us.?

Jaffang looked suspiciously at the water,
belly-deep on him. ?Ragshaf says they?re
bigger than a man.? It was more of a ques-
tion than a statement.

?Ragshaf?s a fool. Besides, he?s only seen
one.? Sasher seemed more talkative than
usual. So much the better.

?When??

?Not long after I got into the guild.?
Sasher rarely talked about anything at all,
much less about guild activities. ?Me,
Ragshaf, and a couple of other boys from
the canting crew were supposed to pop a
smuggler coming down river at night.?
Sasher smiled as he stared into the dis-
tance. ?Ol? Jandamon was along to guide
us. We were in a boat on the river, not
knowin? exactly when he?d come by, so we
decided to draw lots for a watcher while
the others slept.

?I thought the leeches breathed water.?

?They don?t have to. They live just fine
as long as they?re wet, so they come out at
night or in a rain. Good climbers, too.
Watch for some on the tree trunks ? it?s
still early enough yet.?

Sasher stopped. From a fallen tree, a
sinuous, mottled gray-brown form lazily
sculled across the stagnant water toward
them.

?A leech! A leech!? Jaffang cried as he
readied his spear. Now that they had
found their quarry, he was not sure what
to do next.

?It?s a marsh adder,? Sasher said, leaving
the word ?fool? unspoken. He reached for
an arm-long cane tube slung across his
back. As the adder swam slowly past, he
put the tube to his lips and puffed his
cheeks. After what seemed to be the longest
seconds Jaffang could remember, the snake
convulsed violently and disappeared
underwater.

?A leech wiggles up and down when he
swims, not side to side like a snake,,
Sasher murmured, putting the blowpipe
away. ?Leeches swim fast, too.?

Jaffang stared. at the water where the
adder had vanished. ?Can one swim down
a man??

?Probably could, but they don?t. Leeches
sit and wait for something to pass by. They
only swim to get away from something.?

?What would a giant leech need to get
away from??

?Big snapper turtles, garfish, lots of
things. Kobolds spit ?em on a stick and
roast them like a rack of lamb ? when the
runts can catch ?em, and if the leeches
don?t eat the kobolds first.?

?How many people wade through here
for leeches to eat? They must have a long
time between feeds.?

Sasher smiled crookedly. ?You think they
eat nothing but people and orcs? I?ve nev-
er seen a swamp troll without a couple on
him ? ?course, trolls don?t care. A leech?ll
eat other things than just blood, too ?
frogs, mud dragon eggs, eels, and the like.
Mama leech feeds her brood on small
frogs. They may suckle on her, too; I?m not
real sure. After a good meal, they just find
a hiding place and lie low for a time.?

Jaffang sneered. ?Mama leech? You
expect me to believe that a big worm takes
care of its babies??

Sasher spat. ?Better mother than my
own ? they ride their babies on their
bellies, like little piglets on a sow.?

Sasher was making fun of him now. Big
mother worms riding their babies around!
Damn him for a half-human anyway! Soon
enough, he?d wish he?d been respectful.

Jaffang asked no more questions, and
Sasher lapsed into his usual silence.
 
 

The sun was straight overhead as Jaf-
fang jerked the raft across yet another
snag. The full sunlight hurt his eyes, and
his jerkin and pants were heavy with mud
and water. He had begun to fall further
and further behind Sasher. Often, he lost
sight of the half-breed altogether and was
left with only the trail through the water
weeds to follow. He would eventually
come upon Sasher sitting on a fallen log or
leaned against a tree. Sasher would imme-
diately lead out again, without time for a
rest, but always with an amused smile.  By
the Cave Mother’s Claws, Jaffang thought,
You’ll eat that smile and choke on it. He
was going to love killing Sasher.

Sasher was ahead of him again and out
of sight. Jaffang began feeling the heavy
press of exhaustion. This was worse than
the forced march on the Dunlands last
year. Jaffang shoved the raft through a
thick mat of cattails. Following through, he
found Sasher sitting cross-legged on the
bank, eating an onion. Why was this place
so familiar . . . no!

He?d kill Sasher  now ? to the Hells with
the blade venom! Tired as he was, Jaffang
knew he could still handle any half-human
dog.

Dropping the raft rope, Jaffang
advanced purposely toward the bank,
clutching his spear. Then it hit him ?
something was wrong. He hefted his spear
to throw, but he fumbled it in clumsy
fingers. The spear fell and splashed into
the green water. Jaffang swayed but man-
aged to stagger forward again, pulling his
dagger free with a nerveless hand. Some-
thing. . . something was very . . . very . . .

Sasher watched Jaffang come toward
him. The fool meant to kill him. The fact
that he was still walking was a credit to
his race?s endurance; he might even have
to be finished by a dart in the throat.
Perhaps it would be wise to . . .

Jaffang dropped his dagger. As Sasher
relaxed and watched, the life drained from
the orc?s eyes like liquid from a slashed
wineskin. The orc stumbled ashore and
fell face forward onto the grassy bank.

Sasher finished his onion. Tossing the
core aside, he waded out and retrieved the
raft. Taking a large heavy canvas sack out
of the box, Sasher dumped its contents of
rocks. Returning to Jaffang?s body, Sasher
drew a dagger and slit the orc?s mud-
stained jerkin up the back.

?Oh, ho, now!? he murmured. ?Don?t you
boys look fat and happy!?

Attached to the middle of Jaffang?s back
were two glistening leeches, each mottled
red and green, and each a forearm in
length. Sasher found a third of similar size
on Jaffang?s calf.

Sasher removed a small pouch from
around his neck and took out a pinch of
salt. Gently, he sprinkled the salt over one
of the leeches. The passive leech released
its hold and began a series of wild undula-
tions. Sasher splashed a handful of water
over the leech and quickly worked the
parasite into the bag.

Where the leech had been attached, a
neat Y-shaped cut began to well up with
thin, watery blood. Sasher repeated the
operation for the other two leeches.

Wasting no time, Sasher removed a
smaller leech from a pouch on his belt and
put it in the bag with the others. Each
time he was well ahead of Jaffang, Sasher
had searched himself carefully for leeches.
The onion had worked well; only one had
dared get near him.

Sasher turned to go but stopped short.
Out from a tangle of roots at the water?s
edge, a leech worked its way up the bank.
The leech?s head waved back and forth as
it followed the thin stream of blood which
ran from Jaffang?s body. Sasher gently
placed the opening of the bag in the
leech?s path, and the leech obligingly
crawled inside.

Five leeches. It had been a good day?s
work, even if he did have to spend it mak-
ing conversation with an orc.

Notes
1.  Leeches (both the small variety of our
world and the giant variety of AD&D®
game worlds) are segmented worms. The
posterior and anterior segments of leeches
are modified into suction disks. The poste-
rior disk is larger and is used only to hold
the leech in place against rocks and the
like. The smaller anterior disk contains the
leech?s mouth, which is equipped with
three jaws of teeth which make a clean,
Y-shaped incision.

A leech?s saliva contains an anesthetic;
because of this, a leech bite is painless and
almost always goes unnoticed. This viscous
saliva acts immediately upon contact with
the victim?s skin, and is only removed by
alcohol, ether, or similar liquids. Addition-
ally, leech saliva contains an anticoagulant
(hirudin) and a substance which enlarges
the blood vessels in the area of the bite (a
vasodilator, in medical terms) for
increased blood flow. Some leech saliva
even contains a substance which dissolves
pre-existing blood clots.

Due to these anticoagulants, blood con-
tinues to flow from a leech bite much
longer than from a normal wound. Char-
acters bitten by a leech lose blood at the
rate of 1-4 hp per melee round for l-12
rounds after the leech is removed (or until
the wound is bound). Clerical healing
spells negate this excessive blood loss, as
may other actions at the DM?s discretion.
As an example, some swamp-dwelling
races commonly use spider webs to help
clot leech bites.

In addition to anticoagulants and vasodi-
lators, a leech?s saliva contains antibiotics,
so leech bites rarely become infected. It is
suggested that the Monster Manual section
dealing with increased chance of disease
from leech bites be disregarded, and that
leech bites should be treated as any other
wound for chances of infection.

2. Not all leech species are blood-sucking
parasites. Many are predacious species
which feed on other animals, and many
parasitic species eat other animals on
occasion. Some leech species also eat
carrion.

Leeches typically rest attached to plants
and other underwater objects, waiting for
prey to pass by. Extremely sensitive to
vibrations, leeches become restless and
attempt to locate the source of the vibra-
tions by stretching and waving their ante-
rior disk through the water.

A leech may thrive for months on a
single meal. Once sated, a leech typically
finds a sheltered place and stays relatively
inactive for a time. A well-fed leech cannot
be induced to feed again for weeks.

It has long been known that blood in a
leech?s digestive tract does not coagulate.
This knowledge may be exploited by some
evil forces in the AD&D® game world to
keep blood used in ceremonial liquids for
a longer duration.

3. A leech?s eyes typically consist of
groups of light receptive cells (ocelli)
which register light intensity but cannot
see images. Leeches often react when light
conditions change, such as when a shadow
is cast by a passing boat, fish, or a wading
person.

Receptor cells on the leech?s skin are
sensitive to slight amounts of certain
chemicals. This keen sense of ?smell?
allows leeches to home in on substances or
organisms attractive to the leech or to
avoid those which may be harmful.

Blood-sucking species may be attracted
to bloody areas in the water. In AD&D®
game terms, the chance for encountering
giant leeches should be doubled for
wounded characters.

4. Leeches have two main modes of
locomotion. The most common is an ?inch-
worm? movement, by which the leech
stretches forward and attaches its anterior
disk, then moves the posterior disk for-
ward and attaches it in turn. This method
is slow (3?/round) but very efficient. A
leech can climb any vertical or overhang-
ing surface in this manner, although it
generally avoids those that are potentially
harmful (such as one covered with thorns
or salt). Additionally, a leech may swim
very rapidly (12?/round) by employing
vertical undulations, but it will not attack
prey in this manner.

Leeches do not bite in self-defense. If
attacked while unattached, a leech tries to
escape as soon as it is wounded. An escap-
ing leech swims away or attempts to craw
into a protective tangle. Since leeches are
invertebrates, a relatively large leech can
crawl through a very small space.

5. While attached to prey, leeches are
very unresponsive to outside stimuli. Salt,
ashes, or other dehydrating substances
cause them to release their hold quickly, as
will an open flame. An attached leech
which is slain continues to draw blood at
the normal rate for an additional 1-4
rounds.

6. Leeches are hermaphroditic, but they
cannot fertilize their own eggs. Eggs may
be laid in protective cocoons attached to
underwater rocks or logs, or buried in the
bottom ooze. Some species of leech carry
their eggs in membranous sacs on their
underside. In such cases, the young live
for a time attached to the parent?s ventral
surface, although they gain no nourish-
ment from the parent in this manner.

7. Leeches are very sensitive to traces of
metals in the water. Copper in their water
always proves fatal to captive leeches.
Additionally, captive leeches must be pro-
vided with a rock or other rough surface
to rub against, in order to slough off old
skin.