MORTASHEEN

WAXWORK - The Skin Thief

CLASS: BIOCONSTRUCT

Also known as a Blobbus, Fleshoid or Mudman, this surprisingly fast and aggressive monster can liquefy and absorb the flesh of other organisms on contact, adding the skin and fat cells of prey to its own dripping mass. It reeks of body odor, and its blubbery, greasy form feels as weightless as a jellyfish.

BIOLOGY:

Most of a Waxwork's outer biomass is a matrix of freely motile, amoeboid skin cells and feeding cells encasing a reduced set of internal organs and a partial, rubbery endoskeleton consisting of little more than forearms, spine and braincase. Its control over its cellular solidity is precise enough that its every inch can vary from a hardened "putty" to an almost completely liquid state as needed, and even its skeleton can loosen into a more gelatinous state on a whim.

A Waxwork's feeding cells are armed with powerful digestive enzymes and saw-like rings of cilia, allowing the monster to quickly melt and absorb prey on contact. Most internal tissues are digested completely, but fat, skin and keratin are typically retained in loose cellular chains, providing additional reinforcement to its matrix. Housing labyrinthine sinuses in its enormous snout, it can track the odor of potential prey for miles, and pursue its meals through all but the most airtight of barriers.

BEHAVIOR:

Waxwork can quickly smother their prey, but find the absorption process more satisfying with a live, struggling victim. Plumbing is a favorite hunting ground for the creature, following streams of fresh waste to strike from sinks and toilets.

Though it usually only babbles and bleats, the Waxwork is capable of learning slurred, gurgling speech.

APPLIANCE:

A Waxwork can be a terrifying creature to reckon with, sending pseudopods through openings as minute as keyholes and leaving little more of its prey than a heap of gleaming bone or a hollowed out exoskeleton. Though it can appear sluggish and awkward, it can surge forth like a river of flesh at a moment's notice, scale walls and even swim with a rapid, serpentine undulation.

TACTICAL MECHANISMS:

AMORPHOUS: the Waxwork's semifluid body is resistant to most physical damage and can find a route through most blockades.

ABSORPTION: the monster can quickly convert organic matter to liquid through its touch, and can increase its own size or regenerate lost biomass as it feeds.

OLFACTORY TRACKING: the monster has an extremely sensitive, long-range sense of smell and is virtually impossible to hide from.

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