Parborlasia corrugata for @polarlightszine! Buy it here: polarlightszine.itch.io/polar-lights-4. Proceeds go to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition!
Six feet of red proboscis worm, it takes in oxygen through its skin, which works due to the cold oxygenated water. It snurfles around the seafloor until it finds an unfortunate smaller animal or a corpse, at which point it seems to engulf the thing. It also exudes an acidic mucus when threatened!
Common Atlantic Ribbon Worm (Tubulanus polymorphus)
Family: Tubulanus Family (Tubulanidae)
IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed
Like other ribbon worms, this brightly coloured marine worm has a relatively long but extremely thin unsegmented body, and is an active predator; after locating prey using a set of chemical-sensing pits on its head it extends a sticky, flexible, tube-like appendage known as a proboscis (although unlike the proboscises of some insects this structure is separate from their digestive system) from just above its mouth, ensnaring prey and injecting it with paralysing venom. After prey (mainly smaller marine invertebrates, especially other worms) has been subdued the proboscis either passes it into a simple mouth or, if its too large to be swallowed whole, secretes fluids that break food down externally to accommodate for the worm's lack of an ability to chew.
Gorgonorhynchus, the noble and beautiful and pretty-in-pink proboscis worm! Shown here using its amazing branched proboscis to bravely tackle some kind of little ragworm.
Painting on an actual canvas is way outside my comfort zone but it was a good experience I guess?
[I love nemerteans. They’re some of my favorite animals, combining cuteness (lookit those little eyes!) and grossness in equal measure. They might include the longest animals on the planet, but it’s hard to tell, since they can distort their own body shape so extensively and they do not preserve well. I was originally intending this to be a marine version, but the best picture I found was of a terrestrial one, seen above.
And if you haven’t seen the clip from BBC’s Life of scavenging nemerteans and sea stars on the ocean floor near Antarctica, you owe it to yourself to check it out here. It’s one of my favorite pieces of natural history film. Although warning, it is gross.]
Proboscis Worm, Giant
CR 11 N Vermin
This long, lean worm is translucent and has a tiny head, with mere dots for eyes. Horrifically, it opens its mouth and a tentacle as long as its body fires out, tipped with a harpoon.
Giant proboscis worms look harmless, perhaps even cute, but their bodies contain a potent array of physical and chemical weapons. They ooze an acidic slime that burns the flesh of creatures that touch them, and their venomous stings paralyze the muscles and eventually the diaphragm, leading to death by suffocation. The proboscis for which they are named does not open directly into the mouth, instead growing over it—witnesses have likened its feeding, by skewering prey and lowering it into the mouth, as something like a carnivorous elephant.
Aquatic giant proboscis worms also exist—treat them as above, but give them the aquatic subtype, and a swim speed of 60 feet instead of their climb speed. Some variant proboscis worms lack a venomous sting, instead spewing their prey with a mess of sticky tendrils that entangle and inject venom at the same time.
A giant proboscis worm is normally about ten feet long and as thick around as a man’s calf, but can double its length and halve its width as it wills. Its proboscis is as long as its body is, kept tucked inside and compressed through muscular action when not in use.
Giant Proboscis Worms as Vermin Companions
Starting Statistics: Size Medium; Speed 30 ft. climb 30 ft.; AC +3 natural armor; Attack sting (1d6 plus poison); Ability Scores Str 15, Dex 15, Con 14, Int —, Wis 13, Cha 10; Special Attacks poison (sting, 1d2 Dex, Con based DC); Special Qualities acidic slime (1d6, Con based DC, defensive only), resist acid 5, scent
7th-Level Advancement: Size Medium; AC +4 natural armor; Attack sting (1d8 plus poison), slam (1d6 plus grab and acidic slime); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex +4, Con +4; Special Attacks constrict (1d6 plus acidic slime), poison (1d3 Dex, suffocation when 0 Dex reached, Con-based DC); Special Qualities acidic slime (1d8, Con based DC, offensive and defensive), resist acid 10
Giant Proboscis Worm CR 11
XP 12,800
N Large vermin
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9, scent
Defense
AC 23, touch 15, flat-footed 17 (-1 size, +6 Dex, +8 natural)
hp 157 (15d8+90)
Fort +15, Ref +11, Will +6
Defensive Abilities acidic slime, mindless; Resist acid 10
Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee 2 stings +16 (1d8+6 plus poison), slam +16 (1d6+6 plus 2d6 acid plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (20 ft. with proboscis)
Special Attacks constrict (1d6+9 plus 2d6 acid), rapid strikes
Statistics
Str 23, Dex 23, Con 22, Int -, Wis 13, Cha 10
Base Atk +11; CMB +18 (+22 grapple); CMD 34 (cannot be tripped)
Skills Climb +14, Perception +9, Stealth +10; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Stealth
SQ compression
Ecology
Environment warm forests and marshes
Organization solitary
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Acidic Slime (Ex) Any creature that strikes a giant proboscis worm with a natural weapon, touch attack or unarmed strike takes 2d6 acid damage (Fort DC 23 half). A weapon that strikes a giant proboscis worm takes the same damage if it fails a DC 23 Reflex save—if this damage penetrates the weapon’s hardness, the weapon gains the broken condition. The giant proboscis worm deals 2d6 points of damage to creatures struck by its slam attack or constricted by the worm (Fort DC 23 half). The save DC is Constitution based.
Poison (Ex) Sting—injury; save Fort DC 23; duration 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d3 Dex damage; cure 2 saves. A creature reduced to 0 Dex by this poison cannot breathe and begins to suffocate. The save DC is Constitution based.
Rapid Strikes (Ex) A giant proboscis worm can make two sting attacks as a standard action. This allows it to make two stings and a slam on a full attack action.
