Cordyceps

From Nuishe's journal

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Some time ago, after the second Spore Lord was wrestled into the world, I made a halfhearted joke about how it was a grand improvement on the first because it was definitely alive.

I can’t say the same for this one.

The third and - Gladekeeper willing - final Spore Lord is an actual corpse. A deceased, decaying, desiccated corpse. I don’t know what became of the Nocturne it used to be - there aren’t any obvious wounds on the body, and it doesn’t look starved or elderly. I’m not sure I want to known how they died.

The other dragons in this lair maintain their personalities. The Blight’s control is subtle and silent, likely only surfacing in their conscious minds as hints, preferences, and suggestions that keep them in this lair and under the fungus’s spell. The Blight has no reason to directly control everything they think, say, and do, and so it doesn’t. At least, I think that is true.

But, as before, I can’t say the same for this one.

Being dead, this body has no mind or personality of its own. Left to its own devices, it would simply lie in a heap, nourishing detritivores until it decayed into dust. Therefore, every one of its actions must be the direct work of the Blight.

And that’s the worst of it. Unlike my other clanmates, who jerk and jitter around when controlled directly by the Blight, this thing moves like an ordinary, living dragon.

It is far quieter than an ordinary dragon, of course. It isn’t always moving around, but it can sometimes be seen gliding silently through the tunnels, cruising lazily past dragons going about their everyday lives.

And, though it makes no noise, everyone notices it. Even more than that, they seem to respect it.

When it passes outside a room, the dragons within the room pause what they are doing, even mid-sentence, to turn and watch it go by. There is a brief, uncomfortable silence once it has gone, after which ordinary activity resumes as if nothing happened.

Nobody speaks to it, save for the Mold King.

I have the strangest sense that they feel they’re not…worthy.

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