Monster Monday

Barrow Worum

Hit Dice:  2,4 or 6
Armor Class:  6 [13]
Attacks: Bite 1d4, 1d4+1 for medium and 1d6 for large varieties.
Saving Throw: 16 small, 13 medium, 11 large
Special:  Burrow, Infect
Movement: Scuttle 10, Burrow 6
XP: Small 60, Medium 240, Large 600

Barrow Worum's or simply Grave Bugs as they are sometimes known are a form of centipede like creature with an appetite for bone.  Small varieties hatch from fist sized eggs usually laid along the lower edge of coffins or crypts within graveyards or barrows. The many tooth maw of this creature is vicious and capable of steady gnawing through wooden coffins and even masonry given sufficient numbers.  The Barrow Worum's teeth are made for gnashing through old bones.  It delivers a bite that is deep, uneven and likely to carry infection.

Small varieties are about the size of a typical city rat.  After consuming the dead for a period of weeks they can grow to a medium size equal to that of a cat or small dog.  Large varieties have been encountered deep in tombs.  These are the egg laying, mature adult sort and they can be as long as a man is tall.

When a Barrow Worum makes a successful bite attack against a target roll 1d6.  On a roll of a 1 or 2 the target must make a saving throw against infection.  Standard infections cause a fever within 48 hours which reduce movement by 25% and inflict a -1 penalty on all rolls.  This infection lingers until the sick individual makes a successful saving throw at the start of each day or until a cure disease spell is applied.

Rarely, Barrow Worums of the large variety carry a disease known as Crypt Rot.  A failed saving throw indicates that the sick character loses one point of temporary Intelligence each day until they are reduced to an intelligence score of five.  In this state the victim of Crypt Rot has an overwhelming urge to consume the marrow from bones as their own marrow becomes somewhat deficient.  Victims of crypt rot are sometimes called half ghouls.  They are not true ghouls but they possess pale skin and light sensitive eyes.  They become only primitive in intelligence and often exist below ground in cannibalistic colonies which come to the surface after dark seeking the marrow of the living.