My Friends in Maplewood,
It has come to my attention that there has been significant discussion of a certain incident involving a kazvak at the crossroads just north of the town. Having both personal involvement in the incident and academic knowledge of the affliction the poor creature was suffering from, I would like to take this opportunity to dispel some rumors I have heard passing through the Spinning Jenny, and inform the public at-large of what they should be looking for, and how to treat it.
To begin with, a recounting of the event in question: a man approached me asking for help with his pet kazvak, whom he affectionately named “Pup.” The kazvak itself seemed to have a different idea of what its name was, but this medium is not fit to communicate what it told me in its native canine tongue. The kazvak had been cared for by the man for eight years and had, by report of the owner, never been fed sparks, and was normally of a gentle, cheerful disposition. Now, however, it was behaving much more erratically, with a strange substance coming from its mouth, an unusually ill temper, and seemingly random jerking and twitching.
When questioning the kazvak itself, it expressed extreme hunger, and vague desires of violence. Due to circumstances that I won’t discuss here, I had a deer heart on me that contained a glimmer (read: not a full spark). In an attempt to temporarily calm Pup so we could approach, I offered this to him, and it did seem to work, albeit to a small degree, but enough so that another adventurer more skilled in restoration magic than I, Lynn, could properly diagnose the creature.
Many in town have proposed that this poor creature was infected with lycanthropy. While I have encountered kazvaks with this horrible condition before, I can confirm that this was not the case here. Lynn’s diagnosis was that the creature actually had rabies, an equally disturbing disease of a different sort.
Rabies seems to be a neurological affliction in nature, primarily transferring between hosts by saliva. Perhaps this kazvak was involved in a fight with something in the wild that happened to come through its yard. The disease progressively degrades the victim’s ability to control its movements, while at the same time causing great pain, which perhaps leads to the increased aggression that we see in later stages. As the affliction reaches its end stages, the poor creature knows nothing but pain and fear. It is unable to so much as contemplate a drink of water, yet will lash out at anyone or anything that approaches it, thus passing the plague on to its next victim before finally succumbing to its own suffering.
I have read of cases in a large variety of creatures afflicted with this disease, including humans and elves — although, rather curiously, I have not heard of a single case in insectoid or reptilian species, suggesting something in their anatomy offers immunity to the condition. Based on my reading of prior research, I hypothesized that a remedy ritual could serve as a cure to the disease. Fortunately, I am an accomplished ritualist myself, and was able to prove my theory correct. By the time the candle flickered out, Pup was back to his usual jovial self, and properly reunited with his owner in sound mind and body. In spite of its pain and aggression brought on by the disease, Pup did not once hurt its owner, showing that kazvaks can, in fact, become loving and loyal pets, without the shamefully oppressive training called for in Gersh!
If you have seen a creature that you suspect may have had this affliction, I would love to hear about it! Please seek me out in Maplewood.
Yours,
Imbri Curiose
The Paragons (for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)