Verivarkaat

The Talath Uichel is noted for the size and voracious appetite of its mosquitoes, which have been known to drive reindeer and elk mad, sending them galloping midlessly into the Lhúchir or Everhir. The mosquitoes spawn in the marshy pools of the Lakeland (and, to a lesser extent, throughout the Herd and Fire Tundras) in the summer. A verivaras is the size of a child's thumb, with nearly a six-inch wingspan and an inch-long proboscis for stabbing and drawing blood. The mosquitoes can swarm in the tens of thousands, assailing any warm-blooded creature. Anyone caught unprotected in such a swarm dies a slow and horrible death as their blood is drained, bite by bite, each insect leaving a small but intensely itching red welt that remains for two to ten days. Anyone caught in a swarm of verivarkaat (protected or unprotected) must make a 10th level RR or be overwhelmed with anxiety and run away, heedless of other dangers and slapping themselves ceaselessly in an attempt to be rid of the insects.