Adze

Biting Cousins: the adze and the vampire

 * Adze are a vampire derivation from Ewe Culture in Ghana and Togo which are believed to take the form of an insect–most commonly a firefly–to feed on blood
 * It is said that the Adze prefer to feed on the blood of innocents and therefore have a preference for children’s blood. However, this varies from Adze to Adze.
 * An Adze can sustain on any type of blood, but gets the strongest energy from those who are pure of heart – often, but not always, children.

Multi-Faceted: the forms and abilities of the adze

 * An Adze has three forms: its bug form, a human form, and a form which appears as a hunchbacked and ugly human with very long claws and viciously sharp teeth.
 * The bug form can be taken by an Adze at will, along with the human form.
 * The monster form occurs when an Adze is forced from their bug form by being maliciously captured. However, to avoid this interim form, an Adze may choose to switch into the less hideous true human form upon capture in order to avoid the feral and unpredictable monster form. In all forms, Adze are very agile and difficult to catch. It prefers its bug form so that it may slip into small spaces.

Eclectic Appetites: the dietary habits of the adze

 * Blood is not the only substance on which an Adze can survive. The Ewe people often trap the Adze by luring them into traps with palm oil and coconut water, which can sustain an Adze well enough when they are not desperate for blood.
 * The failure to consume blood after a long stretch of time will put the Adze into a frenzy in which their bite will inflict their victims with a deadly disease commonly mistaken for malaria. This disease can also be inflicted when an Adze is feeling vengeful.
 * In bug form, an Adze prefers to feed from the thumb.
 * Adze’s do not need to kill to survive. They can take only a little blood and be satisfied.

Hidden Dangers:  the risks of confronting an adze

 * When threatened or enraged, an Adze in human or monster form can tear open their victim, drain them of blood, and consume their heart and liver. This is not necessary for survival, however.
 * The Adze have the ability to possess humans and commonly possess people with low willpower or willing victims (often, a sorcerer or shaman would accept a possession to gain the ability to take on a secondary form via shapeshifting).
 * Those possessed by Adze, however, cause misfortune wherever they go. As it is a misfortune of supernatural means, it is unavoidable unless the Adze leaves or is cast out. Eventually, if allowed to remain, the Adze will use up all of the energy the possessed body had to give and the host will become sick and die.
 * Adze are very difficult to kill, as they can only be killed in monster form. Therefore, hunting Adze is very dangerous. In human form, they can take heavy damage and be harmed, but their insect form is invincible to damage completely.