Hermit Grub / Snatchwing

Deep in the soil and crawling in the rotting leaves they squirm, and chew. The worms, molds and slime thrive on decay and rot. The Hermit Grub is the glutenous perfection of parasitic death.

Torvan isn't dead! Damned Snatchwing carried him off, I heard him screaming as it planted its eggs. I tell you, the undying is a curse no one should endure, and least of all a man being liquefied by a hatching Hermit Grub. Can you image being wrapped tight in the cocoon of a Doom Moth, getting your eyes eaten out, stabbed in the skull, then a freaking egg hatches and the ooze eats your body from the inside out...and since you can't die properly you are just stuck there, in that slime sack feeling it all, and for HOW long? When do you get the sweet release of going mad? I hear now some Snatchwings are really two demons in one, the undead version of a man that never really dies. Torvan, just wishes he was dead... We c-cut the tree down the next day. The cocoon had already begun to harden but a section had been ripped away by his face...his..his eyes had been gnawed out. Two blue glowing eggs were buried deep one in each socket. we dug out the eggs with a dagger and listened to his muffled screams the whole time. One egg popped and oozed a burning slime that sizzled and smoked as it turned the inside of his skull into a sloshing soup. Finally we cut him out of that leathery sack. He begged us to give him the eternal rest rights. He knew we didn't have a priest with us. There was no way we would have made it to Strandhaven before the madness of undeath took him. We left him there! Oh forgive me, I left him there...

Kravin Bundyson (Caravan wheelwright on the Highroad)

Basic Information

Anatomy

In Grub form they resemble a traditional grub with a blackened skull of their host. 
In Beetle form they have a black or green chitinous shell that is elongated over their abdomen. They retain the appendages of their host and have six additional climbing legs. In some cases they have assimilated the use of the hosts limbs as well as their own, in rare cases some beetles have been found with ten working limbs and a skeletal prehensile tail.

In Snatchwing form the males resemble giant white moths with a flickering glowing spot on their abdomen which can be blue or green, the wings are usually plain white and covered in a fine spore powder. Females resemble giant black moths with two long tails trailing their abdomens. In rare circumstances they can be found trapped on the ground unable to fly, if their hosts skull was especially large, for instance a moose with huge antlers makes the snatchwing incapable of flight.

Growth Rate & Stages

All hermit grubs go through a life cycle of metamorphosis as follows...
however the duration of each stage is vastly different for the many different species. The fastest cycle lasts a single year from beginning to end, the longest can last hundreds of years. The smaller the version the faster the cycle. 

Stage 1. Egg in slime sack

The host creature has been encased in a slime sack, which constricts and crushes the host into a tight ball. The moth carries its slime sack to a safe location and secures it usually at the crook of a tree branch above wet soil/water. Once secured the moth will tear open the sack by the hosts head to reveal its eyes. It chews out the eyes and then with a spine on its thorax it punctures the skull through the sockets and injects two luminescent eggs into the hosts skull. These glowing eyes attract male moths who will fertilize the eggs. The slime sack will harden over time into a solid cocoon. The first one to hatch as an amoeba slime will devour the second. The amoeba creature then grows inside the skeletal structure of the host devouring the fleshy parts of the host creature. It spreads like mold until it has run filaments through the marrow of all the bones. The next stage is a metamorphosis into a grub.    

Stage 2. Grub

The shape of the hosts bones remain unchanged. During the process the majority of the bone is absorbed and is transformed into a lightweight insect chitinous material. The fleshy grub outer skin looks very much like a common grub or maggot, however the normal insect head is replaced with the shape of the host. Its lower mandible is however grossly left hanging and unused as the grubs custom horizontal pincers and serpent like tongue are used for feeding. In addition from the hosts eye sockets retractable eye stalks grow. The grub will grow too large for the cocoon and it will burst falling to the ground/water and crawls to a location with very wet soil to burrow under the ground, or fall into a body of water. If the Hermit Grub lands in or finds stagnant water it will live in the scum at the bottom and will grow a tail like a tadpole in order to swim.   

Stage 3. Cocoon transformation to beetle

After it has consumed enough rotted material it will go into a state of hibernation and from its body a spiderweb of mold will grow creating a new cocoon. Inside this cocoon underground/underwater it will transform into a beetle with useless wings under a protective shell.  

Stage 4. Crawling beetle

This beetle form has no need to feed, it is simply the vehicle for the creature to crawl out of the ground/water and find a good location to transform yet again. During this stage the beetle shell acts as a mobile cocoon. Once it finds the location for its next transformation, usually high in a tree, it will dig claws into the surface and once secured become catatonic and its outer shell will fuse at all of the joints. During this stage the outer wing shell covering is shed and the creature that emerges resembles a moth with its hosts skull, ribcage, limbs, and the same mandibles, retractable eye stalks and long tongue.

Stage 5. Transformation to flying moth

Now it will emerge from its beetle exoskeleton, leaving behind a hollow shell of its beetle form, very much like a cicada, and after its wings fully dry and harden it will take flight. With its wings it can make a horrible sound like a cricket or cicada but it sounds like a child screaming instead of a soothing trilling noise.  

Stage 6. Reproduction hunting

The Hermit Grub in moth form is usually called a Snatchwing. The Snatchwing will fly around in search of hosts for its eggs if it is female. The Male Snatchwing looks as well but lacks the ability to encase victims in the slime cocoon. 

Instead it uses its wings to alert female Snatchwings of potential hosts. The male snatchwing will assist the female in subduing her egg host by spraying the quarry with a misting of spores it grows in its abdomen. These spores act on most mammals as a sleep spell, though not magical, thus not subject to magical resistances. The saving throw for this is based on Constitution instead of Wisdom. This can only be done a single time, after that the male will circle its prey making its mating call scream to attract females. Male Snatchwings also have a single glowing spot on their abdomen which helps the females to locate them. 

Females are generally much larger and spend more time as a grub to build up the number of eggs they can lay, up to a dozen, as well as build a plentiful amount of slime. The female must be powerful enough to carry itself as well as its host. The slime sprayed from a female Snatchwing acts like a web spell with the DC based on the size of the Snatchwing. She can spray once every other round in a cone affect. The size of the cone depends on the size of the Snatchwing. The total number of sprays is limited but plentiful. If she runs out she will drown herself.

Stage 7. Death

The Snatchwing has a very limited life span. They do not eat and therefore rely on only the food consumed as a grub to fuel their time as a beetle and as a Snatchwing. Males and Females will drown themselves once they have used up all of their reproductive stores. The males are especially short lived and can only use their spore sleep attack once, and fertilize a single host. Thus there exists at least 5 males for every female.

Ecology and Habitats

They live in deep dark forests, jungles, swamps. They need to be able to burrow in nutrient rich soil or dwell in still water to complete their life cycle.

Dietary Needs and Habits

During their existence as an amoeba they devour their host entirely using the shape of the skeletal structure to build a foundation. Even the bone is replaced in a sort of fossilization process. 
During their time as a grub they eat plant roots, small invertebrates, and hibernating animals that burrow dens such as mice, badgers, even bears can become victims of a huge Hermit Grub. Huge Waterborne Hermit Grubs have been known to capsize small fishing boats and devour the occupants. Though this is rare, as they prefer predigested rotting flesh that sinks to the bottom.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Snatchwings have infravision, they can see the differences in temperature. They also have darkvision, and being nocturnal they are subject to being blinded by bright light. Though due to their use of light for navigation and reproduction they are unnaturally attracted to light and heat. There are horror stories of cities being swarmed by Snatchwings because of all the lights from torches and windows...though nothing like that has happened in recent recorded history, many cities are vigilant about clearing forests that could support them to many miles away from city walls. The city walls will traditionally have large braziers and fires lit every night at least a half mile away and those fires are watched carefully by archers at night in case a Snatchwing gets attracted to the bait fire. Cities and villages traditionally keep lighting inside buildings and on streets to a minimum. Shutters are always closed at night. Large movements of people usually employ a similar practice of lighting multiple fires around their perimeters in order to bait any Snatchwings away from their people. Utilizing large thick tents to hide light and heat is a common practice rather than sleeping under the stars by a campfire.

Origin/Ancestry

The Hermit Grub is referenced in the oldest stories and has existed well before any sentient creatures roamed Oayr.

Conservation Status

A true parasite these creatures thrive when there is plenty of prey. Their size is completely dependent on the size of the host. Since larger hosts are harder to ensnare most are very small averaging the size of a cat or squirrel. The larger Hermit Grubs and Snatchwings have come about due to swarms of the Snatchwings working together to blanket larger hosts, when a plague erupts in a forest any animal large and small can become a victim. The new larger offspring are then more capable of bringing down larger hosts. Though their cycle is then slowed down. Recently a new mutant version of this creature is emerging, due to the blightstones. They thrive in environments rich with decay. The blightstones provide rich rotten soil. In addition consuming a creature which has touch a blightstone and is marked appears to transfer some potent growth factor to the grub. Hermit Grubs that are fortunate enough to have a blighted host grow larger and faster than others. The species is apparently intelligent enough to recognize the benefit and when given the option will attack blight marked creatures over others. They may even be able to sense blight marked beings. The alarming news from the borders of blighted areas is that the Hermit Grub and Snatchwings are growing to alarming sizes and their numbers are increasing exponentially.