Inktober XI: Lurking

Of slumbering beasts and bleating sheep,
Me you'll surely find.
With eyes of insanity and no need to sleep
I'll make you lose your mind.

-Ancient Proverb

  The inblin is a parasitic creature that lives chiefly among sheep and their shepherds, preying on the flesh of the former and the mind of the latter. When it is satisfied with its host, typically when they are close to acting on their newfound insanity, they will migrate to another host when the shepherd wanders past another traveler or to a market.  

Appearance

Though the inblin is diminutive, often smaller than the length of a fingernail bed, its physical appearance stands out against all backgrounds. It resembles a quadrupedal periwinkle goblin with a long and thin prehensile tail which it can use to wrap itself securely around strands of hair or wool. Its head is divided evenly between a large mouth and two eyes of pure blackness.  

Behavior

Inblins split their time evenly between the livestock and the humanoid host, slowly sucking the blood and nutrients from sheep during the day and manipulating the mind and dreams of the shepherd during the night. If they are ever spotted or wounded, they will quickly head for cover in the hair or skin of the livestock, wrapping their tail tight around a clump of thick hairs until they feel safe enough to emerge. They are found to be resistant to significant temperature or other atmospheric changes, meaning that the seasons will not affect their behavior.  

Signs of Affliction

Inblins are hardly ever able to make their presence unknown with the effects they have on their hosts. Because of their sapping of livestock, the skin of the animal will turn dark or its hairs light, and may also be less resistant to weaker diseases like yellowtongue or Shenklefter's.   In sapient species, the signs of inblin affliction will come about in several stages. The first stage lasts roughly 1-3 weeks after the inblin has been around them, during which the hosts will complain of constant tiredness and dry eye. During stage two, which lasts 4-6 weeks, hosts will feel nauseated in the mornings and start experiencing some mild hallucinations or very light amnesia. Stage three's 3-7 month period features the host always feeling dizzy, overly sensitive to temperature changes, inadvertently mumbling random phrases or words, and moderate to severe bipolarity. Stage four is believed to be permanent, and is the stage in which the host will progress into dementia, sudden and full-blown panic episodes, delusions of grandeur or persecution, occasional incoherent babbling, finally concluding in either suicidal or homicidal events.