SON OF KYUSS

Truly horrible creatures in appearance, these ghastly undead appear as animated putrid corpses with fat green worms crawling in and out of all their skull orifices.

Kyuss was an evil high priest, creating the first of these creatures under instruction from an evil deity. Since then the 'sons' have increased considerably in numbers.

Each son is surrounded by a spherical zone of fear 30-ft in diameter; a victim who fails to save against magic when entering this zone will flee in terror.

Each son regenerates 2 hit points per round; its limbs will regenerate even if severed, like those of a troll. Even after 'death' this process will continue, so the only way of destroying these creatures is by fire, lightning, acid or the application of holy water (or holy objects such as religious symbols, holy swords, etc.) to their wounds.

The sons attack with a double-handed flailing of fists, causing 1-8 hit points of damage. 

Each successful hit has a 25% chance of inflicting advanced leprosy on the victim. This disease will be fatal in 1-6 months, and each month it progresses the diseased victim loses 2 points of Charisma, permanently. It can be cured only by a magic spell, cure disease. 

The disease negates all cure wound spells. Infected creatures heal wounds at 10% of the normal rate.

In addition, one worm per melee round will jump from a son's head to an adjacent character in melee with a son. 

It needs the normal "to hit" roll to land on the victim and will then burrow into him, taking one melee round to penetrate the skin, during which time if may be destroyed by the touch of cold steel, holy water or a blessed object. 

If it is not destroyed, the worm heads for the victim's brain, taking 1-4 melee rounds to reach it; during this time, remove curse or cure disease will destroy it and neutralize poison or dispel evil will delay it by 1-6 full turns. 

If the worm reaches the brain, the victim becomes a son of Kyuss, the process of putrefaction setting in without further delay.

Sons of Kyuss are treated as mummies on the cleric/undead table. Like other undead, they are immune to mind-influencing spells.