Courage Leeches

Courage leeches are not actual entities but an actual manifestation of a void that the loss of courage by the souls in Zarganash leaves behind. All the more does the animalistic intelligence that they display mock such origins. Yet as it was the realm of Zagarnash that gave birth to them, this fact might only be an expression of some cosmic law that makes everything in Zarganash a twisted mockery of sane expectations. The courage leech are not actually leeching courage but they poison their victim's soul with a numbing enchantment that makes their targets prone to their fearsome attacks. They carry desperation and fear like a disease they spread, albeit involuntarily. While their own intention is probably more mundane, the stealing of essence and the spread of inner corruption is what makes the leeches extremely dangerous, especially for the living. Even more disturbing is the fact, that even when someone survives their attacks or overcomes them, the attacks of the leeches leave a spiritual scaring on the soul that never truly recovers. The interpretation of such scaring differs wildly. The most common interpretation is, that the soul is actually damaged if not diseased and that even to most pious, devout and pristine souls can be affected. This scaring is unaffected by any magical means known to men and seems not to heal on its own, even over an extended period of time. The death cultists of Ankrahmun see it as a permanent damage to one's soul, yet they claim to be able to repair the souls of true believers in elaborate rituals. In some rare cases souls harmed that way recovered seemingly on their own, but such occurrences are so rare that only anecdotal evidence exists and no reproducible steps could be determined. Some enchantments might provide a temporary shield that prevents the wounding in the first place but the few techniques to acquire such shields are closely guarded and seem to come with heavy penalties for the user. The leeches seem to have an affinity for the entity known as the unwelcome and are drawn to areas where it thrives. Given their nature it seems unlikely if they are allied, so it's up to speculation if they somehow leech on the action of the welcome or if is somehow using them for unknown purposes.

Courage Leeches have 27000 hitpoints. They cannot be paralysed. Moreover, they are strong against energy, holy and physical damage. On the other hand, they are weak against death and earth damage. These creatures can neither be summoned nor convinced. In addition, they are able to sense invisible creatures.

Courage Leeches yield 18900 experience points. They carry crystal coins, ultimate health potions and sometimes other items with them.