Vapor Mouse (A to Z, V)

Their feet were wrapped in rags to muffle their footsteps but for all that they moved with exaggerated care to avoid making even the slightest sound.  Their prey had not noticed them, they each readied a small weighted dart in their primary hand, and three more in their off-hand.  They looked to one another nodded and began throwing darts as quickly as they could.  The first struck and the second and third were already in flight.  The first targets died but not soundlessly, only two more mice were impaled before the rest turned to mist and melted away.  “Could have been better,” said the first hunter as he was retriving his darts and dropping the bodies into a bag.  “Or worse, four is not bad.  And we still have the far end to check.”

The vapor mice are a plague wherever their appear and many techniques have been developed to try and eliminate them but they remain a potential threat.  They are just mice, you might say, what harm could they do, but they are mot just mice, they are mice that can turn to vapor and then reform.  Only airtight seals can keep them out and they eat voraciously, thankfully, they only reproduce as quickly as other mice, which is quite quickly enough.

While the origin of the vapor mice is unknown, they do not seem to predate the Sundering, their first recorded appearance is almost three centuries after that event when they overran the graineries of Watt and nearly caused a famine in that region.

Beyond giving them the ability to get in almost anywhere, their ability to turn to vapor is an excellent defense and it is their initial reaction when startled is to turn into vapor.  This protect them from most predators, though cats and owls occasionally get the jump on them, and from most mechanical traps.  Poison is the most effective way to kill them but must be applied subtly or the mice will avoid it.  Magic is another option but still requires catching the mice unaware.

The vapor mouse coloration is usually a cloudy brown or grey.

Notes: Pests deserve their place too, these mice are a much greater threat than the jumping snails, capable of wiping out food stores before they are noticed.

Image field mouse by Jean Beaufort found on PublicDomainPictures.net and is in the Public Domain.