PmWiki | EnemyUnsure / Torchworm

Autopsy Result - Twinned Serpent

Observations by Naeko, Ardi following the sneak attack on Toma's farm.

Introduction: This creature is some sort of variety of the common grass snake, specifically the albino sort -- all specimens were white-yellowish, with very dry skin. The snakes all have an enlarged midsection, not unlike a worm's, where they can break apart as a lizard does with its tail.

General condition: Much like with the altered kobolds, the snakes uniformly seemed to be days away from starvation: shrunk stomach, absent body fat, extremely lean muscles, contradicted by the fact that they seemed to move at normal speed and with normal strength. We've fed a sample of the meat to a pig to no particular ill effects.

Skin: Discoloration seems to be due to ancestral lack of exposure to sunlight. The skin was very dry, but otherwise not showing malnutrition signs. The creatures probably had never moulted.

Bones: There is a second cranium of sorts halfway through the creature; it has no eyeholes or mouth, but it contains a secondary brain. The bones are quite sturdy.

Head: Again a strong similarity to the protobolds: The eyes are particularly wide, further suggesting cave adaptation. Teeth look smaller than usual, but very sharp and unusually clean -- it's as if they either are filed often, or not used very much. These snakes have small fangs which bear no poison glands.

Tail: The end of the tail is pure muscle, like a lizard's; genitals are entirely absent, whether carefully removed or never there is hard to tell.

Chest/Gut: Organs that normally come in pairs, like lungs are distributed across the two halves. Again, lungs and heart seemed larger than usual, in contrast with every other organ -- this does enhance the starvation look however, as the skin is pulled taut against the ribs. There is no heart for the back half, however, the arteries have valves making it so blood will flow for a time if the back half keeps moving.

Tampering: Again, there was no evidence of genitals. The creatures are otherwise untouched; however, we could determine that their fire is magical in nature. The arcane ability seems associated with the back half of the animal.

Conclusion: Torchworms are actually dangerous -- a small animal capable of creating magical fire can create much havoc in a country of wood and dry leather. The animal itself is not particularly dangerous even to an unmounted warrior, but they should be hunted with great thoroughness. Capturing one of these little monsters alive may be useful to see whether they are born with magic, or it has been imbued into them by our enemy.

Ardi's notes: Alchemical study tells me that the snakes we dissected, in addition to being extremely similar, answer to the same blood the way identical twins do. Is there a brood mother for them? Their ability to create fire is more akin to that of a novice sorcerer than that of a salamander, hinting at thought rather than instinct, as strange as that may sound. There are many points in common with the kobolds that were dissected earlier; can we assume a master-pet relationship?

Naeko's notes: The kobolds do not seem to exhibit sufficient organization to develop master-pet relationships, nor is that congruous with the volumes in which the Torchworms were deployed from a single 'drop vessel'. The extent of the seemingly race-wide modifications suggests such a relationship, to be sure, but it is with both protobolds and torchworms as pets to an as yet unidentified master. (Feel free to add!)