Grave Grub
When a pile of dead bodies is not the worst discovery you'll make, you're in for a bad day.Grave Grub are magical maggots birthed from within rotting flesh that have been saturated with necrotic energies. Formed by the mingle of decay and necromantic magic, Grave Grub can spawn anywhere though the concentration of magic required is rare. They are most common within the Corpse-Empires of the Darklands, where they are considered terrible pests. In the land of the living, they are often lethal hazards to the poor adventurers who sometimes blunder into them. Only the most unhinged of necromancers would choose one for familiar as they are ravenous things, always gnawing and eating. Although spawned in rotting meat, they will devour the living just as eagerly.
by Rock Cafe.info
Description
Grave Grubs range in size from a man's fist to an equal of a cat, with mad rumors insisting on even larger specimen lurking in the forgotten corpses of titans. Their blubbery flesh is black and cracked, ending in a distended maw filled with teeth of stone. Clusters of spider-like eyes ring the front of the grave grub's body and a sparse mat of rusty quills jut from their bodies. When struck, they bleed a slow sludge of ichor mixed with coagulated chunks. While one is no threat to a sharp blade, they are usually many and much more resilient than their form would suggest.
When a Grave Grub begins to starve, which is common, they begin to turn a shade of stone grey and become sluggish. Besides the constant splattering chewing, the only noise they make is a hiss that has been described as that of a combination between a snake and an angry honey badger.
Behavior
In a way, they are a symbol of entropy; always devouring.If they aren't eating, Grave Grubs are looking for something - or someone - to eat. They are not smart or subtle predator, or particularly long-lived. Most Grave Grub die as quickly as they spawned once their spawning-host and any easily accessible flesh have been consumed. Popular myth holds that Grubs devour the memories of their feasts and become more like them, but in truth no grub has ever exhibited any sign of higher thought.
But that hasn't stopped the especially mad trying. Some "experimental necromancers" feed the Grubs all sorts of exotic flesh, just to see what happens.When there's no food left, the Grubs turn on each other. Those who show signs of starvation are eaten first, in a slow spiral of waiting and frenzied consumption until only one remains to begin feasting on its own flesh.
by Rock Cafe.info
"Life"-Cycle
Grave Grubs spontaneously spawn from rotting flesh and are birthed by an abundance of necrotic essence. Such energies are typically found only within the Darklands, but particularly grisly battles, massacres, plague-pits and other places that draw darkness can sometimes be enough. Within the Darklands, they can arise within the undead population of zombies, which lead to an eating contest of sort - can the zombies eat the grubs before the grubs eat them? Grave Grub rarely live long and most starve. When they die, they calcify into a black substance that resembles bone. But well-fed Grave Grub occasionally becomes gems of necromantic magical essence.
No matter how much they eat, Grave Grubs never bloat or swell. They slowly grow as they consume, but most starve to death within days of spawning.
Gnawing Little Bastards
Grave Grubs are uncommon outside the Darklands, only found in places of atrocity and terror. Because of their connection to dark magic and tendency to eat pets and small children, they are seen as an ill-omen to be eradicated. In the Darklands, they are considered annoying pests at bests and outbreaks of Grave Grubs can be compared to how the living might view an infectious disease. At least one outpost of the Empire of Bones was devoured to the last ghoul by an especially nasty outbreak. Grubs are sometimes "farmed" to produce the prized death gems, but it is hazardous and unpleasant work. These hellish maggot pits require a constant supply of flesh that most cannot stomach to provide. by Rock Cafe.info
Across the Multiverse!
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Show spoiler
Grave Grubs aren't any more popular in other parts of Scrunk than their native world, though they've spread across the Multiverse since their first brood. In Scrunk, they're under strict ban by Scrum not to consume anyone and so usually starve even more quickly there than anywhere else.
But there's at least one sub-dimension that welcomes them; a nightmarish realm where the land is rotting flesh and the rivers flow slowly with half-coagulated blood. This corpse-world is the one place where Grave Grubs can truly thrive; and few others want to visit, so it works out for everyone.
Darklands Darklands are places where the realm of the dead and living merge. It is a land in decay though never truly dead, shrouded in perpetual gloom and haunted by undead terrors. Darklands are rare and the cataclysms that create them thankfully few. Read More About Darklands
Necromancy and Grubs
Hovering between life and death, Grubs are not easily controlled by magic. The same spell that offer absolute protection against a true undead might offer only momentary peace from a ravenous horde of Grave Grub. It is something many necromancers have found out only too late. There are spells that involve the Grave Grub, such as Chaella's Feast From Within and Phok's Rain of Ruinous Insects, most which require essence gems to provide the necessary amount of raw necrotic energy. by Rock Cafe.info
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