The Beast Fears Fire - Slooch

Slooch [Disaster 2]
Impulse - To Bring Forth Shadow

Slooch have a little more interaction with people than most custodial spirits, and, maybe a better understanding of us than the spirits that take care of the elements. Shadow is where the dead chose to reside, and spirits are less concrete and discrete than physical beings. Because they reside so close to the remnants of humanity, it's likely that Slooch will sometimes pick up fragments of human memory, making them curious about the living. Generally, they satisfy this curiosity peeking in on people from their native habitat (young children are especially sensitive to their appearance, which is the usual reason why, if you have them, you are likely to be waking up three or more to the bed most mornings). That's usually the extent of interactions, but, every once in a while, a slooch will get a hold on something particularly strong or especially malevolent, and start acting on that.

The only other times you are likely to see a slooch, its because a shadow witch sent one, a shadow witch screwed up and is getting backlash in the form of one, or some other magical force has stirred up the shadows and caused a problem.

When slooch manifest, they usually do as spherical clouds of semi-distinct darkness, often (and ironically) shedding an indigo or violet luminescence. Alternately, they will take on the shape and form of a shadow, sometimes a copy of your shadow, sometimes other shadows in a place - shadows which clearly move around of their own.

Harm - 1/Peril [Shadowed] Whatever form they take, a slooch that wants to hurt you can only do so by fusing with your shadow and, through it, your body. Someone who is shadowed becomes a darkened, grayscale version of themselves, agitated, but somewhat morose. A slooch can, over time, draw a shadowed human completely into shadow, converting their body over. What happens to the person after that is up for debate, but it's a choice between death and possible conversion into a slooch, thus, kind of academic.

Count the Shadows
If you are being marauded by a slooch, face Disaster
On a Hit, you are able to avoid the shadowy grasp and escape or find safety in the Scene.
On a Hard Hit, you manage to trap the slooch in light or darkness that prevents it from manifesting, and the slooch leaves the Scene.
On a Miss, you get got. Take Harm as stated.

I can understand your disbelief as you tried to turn away
Shadow witches who get a slooch as a result of backlash find their usual powers of facing Malevolence in place of Disaster ineffective against the spirit that comes after them, though their other powers still work fine on the spirit.

It's possible to "milk" shadow stuff out of a slooch, generally using shadow magic, but some formulae allow folks who aren't shadow witches to extract the stuff. Pure liquid darkness has a lot of uses, and you can get a fair amount in trade for it, but those who make a career out of extracting the stuff figure out how to go easy or they don't stay in the career for long.