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Barnacle Brute — Description

As folks trapped in this war can tell you, it can always get worse. Like the discovery of the Arimakki that infested an entire mine, which was awful, but soon the feverish bugs were spreading across the land like wildfire. Or how bandits now run wild since the Church called forth every able body to fight, but when platoons of gold sworn warriors finally show up, they usually bring a chunk of the war with them. Many people stuck in this hopeless situation have long accepted this fact. To them, there is no bottom, no lowest point. Even when you think you've lost everything, someone will quickly show up to steal something you didn't even realize could be taken. So when the diseased barnacle goose breed started to get out of hand, there were those who were waiting in silence to see what new horrors would come from this. To no one's surprise, they were quickly proven right.
With the war removing potential hunters and fighters from population control of these horrid birds, their numbers found little threat. And with short supply of medicine to cure the terrible disease they carry, more and more victims became mindless living nests for their young. Thus their population grew even more. Now entire flocks of these infectious geese were running rampant, bringing terror whenever breeding season kicked in. But their population boom came at a price, as more geese meant they needed more hosts. Unfortunately, these birds appear to be unaware that a massive war is going on, which means the supply of fresh living bodies can quickly become scarce. What this leads to is more birds than infected hosts, and thus fighting over the resulting nests. In many cases, the largest and strongest of the barnacle geese wins and stakes its claim. The withering husk of a host will become theirs and theirs alone. However, there can be times when this isn't the end result.
When it comes to larger hosts, be it a bigger species or even a bulked up human, there may be the impression that there is enough to go around. Larger size and more meat means more nutrients for their parasitic young and more places for them to inject their eggs. These bigger soon-to-be nests become difficult to protect for a single barnacle goose, meaning many more birds can swarm in and lay their eggs. What comes from this is a host that is absolutely overloaded with barnacle goose eggs, even with their larger size. More young means more leeching of nutrients from their body, and a heavier weight to their petrifying form. Even worse, the multiple parents responsible for these eggs means that they squabble and fight over who nests upon the neck stump, and in most cases all the geese get so worked up that they wind up abandoning the whole endeavor. No parent shall stick around, and the growing young will rely more and more on the host to provide. In many cases, this living nest is doomed, unable to keep up with the demanding barnacles and the eggs themselves fail to get enough to fully form. Some adult geese may bud off from this nest, but most starve to death alongside their host, being reduced to a drained withered tree. However, there are rare cases where it doesn't end in miserable failure.
In some instances, the bulky host will be able to survive the surplus of barnacles and move to areas where the young can find enough food to get by. The controlled victim will be driven to seek out nutrients, be it stagnant humors, random critters or even larger prey. They use long gnarled claws to tear apart food and then give the bite-sized morsels to the eager beaks. While this does prevent the barnacles from starving to death, this famished state they dip in and out of stunts their growth. The young are unable to properly develop without the constant flow of food, as their host is also lacking enough nutrients for them to all leech. Their growth cycle into a flying adult is aborted, and instead they slowly morph into a strange half stage. Instead of wings and a bird body, their barnacle shell grows larger and thicker. Their simple beak for feeding turns into a goose head, but that is the only part that comes out normal. The end result is a sessile goose stage, where they retain the heavy shell, but now have an extendable head that can properly see, vocalize and get food. This is so the stunted forms can more easily obtain food, not relying fully on the host. Their super long necks means they can stretch out to nab passing insects, or help their nest take down prey.
These rare occurrences have gained the name "barnacle brute," due to their huge bulk and barnacle encrusted bodies. Their mass means that the tree-turning disease cannot shrivel them down to the bone, which gives them more mobility than the emaciated nests. The layers of barnacles also give them a sort of living armor. However, the load of hungry geese means they are constantly hunting for food, the need to feed upping their aggression. Barnacle brutes will attack any living thing they come across, using gnarled claws, razor shells, their own bulk and the honking heads to do the job. The stunted geese join the fight, launching their heads forward to act like biting tendrils, often pecking foes to death. With large clusters of them, the force of their combined attack can send enemies flying from the explosion of beaks. They may snare prey to keep them still for the brute to finish them off, and folk who had the misfortune of facing one of these abominations states that their ceaseless honking and hissing makes the battle deafening and disorienting.
While they are thankfully rare, barnacle brutes are just another nightmarish monstrosity now stalking these war-torn lands. Their hunger is bottomless and their honking is maddening. Those who try to slay them will have to deal with their thickened skin, armored growths and hissing beaks. With the malformed geese controlling them with their parasitic connection, they can survive injuries that would normally be fatal. And forget trying to ambush them, as their many heads are always on the look out for food. The key is taking out these heads and killing the barnacle geese, as they are the ones puppeteering the host. The more barnacles that perish, the less precise and mobile the brute becomes. While it isn't impossible to slay them, do remember it may not be a battle worth fighting. These stunted geese carry the disease, and can infect others with their fluids. If you don't have medicine available for after the battle, you may wind up taking the fallen brute's place...
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Ol "Anser of Ebrietas" over here! Have fun fighting that!