CLASS: JOKER

   Often the largest of the jokers, a Dementipede can consist of any number of segments but requires at least three to maintain its consciousness. Sentient beings caught within its gas field experience strikingly realistic but maddeningly chaotic hallucinations as it penetrates their minds, wandering a psychedelic dream-world as the monster hunts down and devours them. Only by consuming a creature in this state can the Dementipede form a new segment, integrating the prey's memories and personality with its own.

   In an emergency, each of a Dementipede's segments can break off and function as an independent creature, revealing a face identical to the true head. Segments that do not reconnect with at least two others will wither and die within twenty four hours, while any portion separated more than a mile from the head will become its own distinct entity. Conversely, any Dementipede in proximity to one another will default to a single consciousness, and it is often said that only one Dementipede technically exists.

   Every segment of a Dementipede is constantly giggling in a disproportionately tiny voice, though all but the lead are muffled.