Brewer's Bane: Myxogastrids (Wermspittle)

Brewer's Bane
Myxogastrids
No. Enc.: 1d4
Alignment: Varies
Movement: 10'
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 1 to 10
Attacks: 1
Damage: Flagella do 1d4/HD (Chance of infection)
Save: MU (HD=Level)
Morale: 4

Most Myxogastrids are content to break down rotting leaf-matter out in the woods. Some have adapted to the unique conditions and opportunities to be found within urban environments. A few have become real pests.

Shy and deceptively inconsequential-seeming slime molds, Brewer's Bane are an all too common sub-type of urban-adapted Myxogastrid that coagulate and congregate around rich deposits of yeast, fungi, bacteria or decaying matter. Swarms of the sluggish things accumulate around cess-pits inhabited by Gobbling Grouts, hoping to feed upon the Grouts. They can also be encountered attempting to infiltrate compost heaps, or the nite-mounds of the Powder-Millers, causing them to set-out salt-boxes or to hire specialists who know how to remove these pests before they foul the nitre-making process. Given half a chance, just one of these creatures will ruin an entire miller's operation in less than a full day. And if the thing is allowed to bud, to produce fruiting bodies...the entire operation is practically guaranteed to be a loss. But by far, the most common problem for which these things are known and reviled is their stealthy infiltration into the taps, kegs and works of brewers, beer halls, rathskellers and aging-cellars.

Driven by an intense hunger for yeast, these slime molds seek out every bakery, brewery and any other source of yeast they can detect. They are slow-moving creatures, but they are persistent, unrelenting, determined. Driving them off won't work. They'll always come back as long as they can sense the presence of yeast. And they can squeeze through even the tiniest cracks or crevices, if given enough time. Bakers traditionally make arrangements with the colony-minds or hive-queens of Honeymongers (either bees, ants or the other sort), and those creatures prevent the spread of the most harmful forms of molds into those areas under their aegis. The Honeymongers have been watching over Bakers for so long that it is considered a tradition, a sacred trust; and thus they cannot even imagine watching over anything other than a Baker's shop.

Thus Inn Keepers, Bar Tenders and Brewer's aren't so fortunate as the Bakers. They have to keep an eye out for signs of infiltration, set-out salt-traps, hire scrapers to remove the things as they appear, or when it gets bad enough, pay professionals to come in with domesticated jellies to hunt down and devour more established masses of Brewer's Bane before they get into the tap-lines, the kegs or apparatus. And that can get really expensive.

You might also find the Variant Forms of the Squick & Ickorous Table useful...