[This past week, I found myself eating a Mountain Dew flavored gummi worm that had been steeped in gummi worm flavored Mountain Dew, and the recursion of novelty flavors might have broken something in my brain. For Halloween this year, I watched Halloween III: Season of the Witch with my friend @bowelfly. If you haven't seen that movie, it's a take on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as conspiracy horror, in which Halloween masks are used as the agent to commit mass murder. Which got me thinking about consumer goods ushering in apocalyptic death. My wacky candy experiments put me back in a Willy Wonka mood and with the pun "conqueror gummi worm", I was off to the races. There's also elements of The Stuff and the Slurm episode of Futurama, for those of you who are fans of consumption-as-horror.
If you're interested in a more straightforward version of the Silver Shamrock masks from Halloween III, I've statted them up as a cursed item on the Creature Codex Patreon. Because every day is Halloween.]
Rillot
CR 20 NE Aberration
This creature is a neon colored worm the size of a building, garish blue from its head to about halfway down its length, and then bright pink down through the tip of its tail. Its mouth is full of rows of teeth, and it periodically gnaws on its own flesh.
Rillot the Insatiable is a conqueror worm, a manipulator and despoiler of nations in the form of writhing vermin. Her medium of achieving ruin is candy. It was not always this way. Rillot’s previous manipulations involved steering a cult of Trelmarixian, the Horseman of Famine. One of Trelmarixian’s high priests was the form she possessed and pupated from via her telepathic escape ability when she was found out by adventurers, and Trelmarixian was not pleased. Trelmarixian enslaved her for this affront, turning her flesh into living candy as a means of humiliation and sending her out to corrupt bodies and souls on his behalf. Rillot’s current scheme is baroquely creative and cruel even by the standards of the conqueror worms.
In benighted, bland and boring little towns, new candy shops have been opening up. They are operated by smiling and sympathetic merchants, the Candy Men, who bring with them novelty and whimsy. The candies they offer come in all manner of strange shapes and flavors, and some of them even have magical properties. They keep a handful of special reserve candy on hand which they sell only to dedicated customers, or those who strike the Candy Men as needing a little extra pick-me-up. This “special reserve” is candy made from Rillot’s flesh itself, which is delicious, invigorating and dangerously addictive. Anyone who eats Rillot’s corrupting candy recieves a fraction of her mental link, and through repeated dreams is enticed to come to the Factory.
The Factory is run by Rillot’s dedicated agents, a cult of avolakia who survived Kyuss’ failed attempts at ushering in the Age of Worms and have gone apostate. The workers at the Factory are those drugged and addicted victims whom they judge are capable of manual labor. Those who are not are killed and eaten, their skin and bones processed into gelatin for the Factory. Particularly powerful victims are deemed worthy of being eaten by Rillot herself, and their souls are encased in rock candy shells. These are then fitted onto a wooden stick and given some polish, and the finished Soul Pops sent out to Trelmarixian and his court as special treats. Once a worker has become too weak from prolonged candy consumption, they are sent home with a batch of special reserve candy to distribute to their family and friends before they succumb completely, transforming into a gummy fiend. These monsters run amok, killing innocents and distracting from the greater danger posed by the bag of sweets left behind. Those who come too close to discovering the truth find themselves stalked by implacable killers, mezlan assassins loyal to the Conqueror Gummy Worm.
Rillot finds herself delicious, and feeds on her own flesh intermittently while engaged in the day to day business of running a candy manufacturing empire. She has no desire to face combat with anything like a fair fight, and so her Factory is full of guardians and traps to winnow down the forces of anyone trying to confront her. Rillot prefers to fight through a projected image with her psychic magic before emerging to consume any survivors. Due to the Lysogenic Prince’s mutations, Rillot can no longer use her telepathic escape ability, and so if slain this time it will be for good. Trelmarixian strings her along with promises of restoring the ability, but Rillot is operating under the assumption that her service is merely delaying when the Horseman decides she’s better off as a meal than as a minion.
Special Abilities
Candy Soul (Su) Whenever a creature dies in Rillot’s gut, it must succeed a DC 31 Will save or its soul is trapped inside a candy crystal. Treat this as a soul bind effect, except that it does not require a material component.
Corrupting Candy (Su) Rillot can produce a number of doses of corrupting candy equal to her Constitution score a day. Corrupting candy functions as a drug with the following effects:
Corrupting Candy: type ingested; addiction moderate, DC 32; effects 3 hours; +1d4 alchemical bonus to Strength, -1d4 penalty to Wisdom; damage 1d2 Con and 1d2 Wis damage. A creature reduced to 0 Con or Wis by this drug transforms into a gummy fiend over the course of 1 minute. Only a limited wish, wish or miracle can stop or undo this transformation. A creature that becomes addicted to corrupting candy becomes known to Rillot, and she can communicate with it via dream spells. The save DC is Constitution based.
Deific Conqueror worms can grant divine spells to their worshipers. Granting spells does not require any specific action on a conqueror worm’s behalf. Rillot grants access to the domains of Charm, Evil, Madness, and Trickery. Her favored weapon is the spiked gauntlet, and her holy symbol is a lollipop made of pink and/or blue candy.
Mental Invader (Su) A conqueror worm infects the minds of others from afar, allowing it to control its puppets without leaving the safety of the earth’s depths. When Rillot communicates with a creature mentally, such as by using telepathy or spells such as dream, she can attempt to form a lasting mental connection with that creature. The target can resist this connection with a successful DC 31 Will save. A target that succeeds at this save is immune to Rillot’s mental invader ability forever. Once a connection is formed, Rillot can communicate with the bonded creature using telepathy over any distance, and can target the bonded creature with mind-affecting spells and effects regardless of range. A worm can form bonds with a number of creatures equal to its Intelligence modifier (8 for Rillot). If a new bond would exceed this limit, Rillot must choose to break one of its previous connections. The effects of a bond are suppressed while Rillot and the bonded creature are on different planes. A bond can otherwise be broken only via a break enchantment, miracle, or wish spell cast on the bonded creature, or by Rillot’s death. This is a mind-influencing effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
genuinely tearing up at hellboy defending Roger and saying “im not human either, remember? when are you guys gonna put a bomb on me?” Like oh my goddd that’s just so. like this is the core of his character he’s so important to me
