Mongolian Death Worms

It’s a 5-foot-long, sausage-like red worm.  It spits acidic poison that kills instantly.  As if that weren’t enough, it can also kill things from a distance with an electrical discharge.

It sounds like a monster from the depths of the Fiend Folio, but it’s purportedly real.  This bizarre beast is said to exist in Mongolia, where it can be seen only in the depths of summer, spending the rest of its time buried in the sands of the Gobi desert.  This intriguing cryptid is called the Mongolian Death Worm — known by the local name Olgoi-Khorkhoi, “blood filled intestine worm,” because that’s what it resembles.

Truth (for a certain value of “truth”) is stranger than fiction, and all that.  Of course, it’s been used in fiction, too.  William Gibson used it in his 2007 novel Spook Country.

Naturally, after reading about it, I decided that the Mongolian Death Worm needed to be a part of my game.

(Nicer-looking statblock)

Desert Death Worm

These deadly creatures inhabit the desert waste.  They are sometimes solitary; other times, they gather in small packs of up to half a dozen.  Though these fearsome predators generally prefer smaller prey, they have been known to attack man-sized targets and even the occasional ogre.

Mongolian Death Worm interpretation by Pieter Dirkx

Death Worm Tactics

Death worms generally strike first by burrowing out of the ground and spitting poison at their chosen target.  They then attempt to stay at range, using their electrical jolt to wear down the opponent, and spitting poison whenever possible.  They will typically use their deadly aura as soon as they are engaged in melee combat, though there are stories of the creatures waiting until two or more of their enemies are within range, and trained death worms are usually taught to use it only upon command.

Unless it is starving or controlled by another creature, a death worm will attempt to retreat by burrowing after it is bloodied.  A cornered or starving death worm will fight to the death.  A controlled death worm in such a situation may turn on its controller if not allowed to flee.

Death Worm Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.

DC 20: A death worm can burrow beneath the desert sand, emerging to surprise its prey by spitting acidic venom.  The death worm relies on its blindsight and tremorsense to detect prey.

DC 25: A death worm can generate a powerful electric charge, similar to, but more intense than, that of an electric eel.  Upon nearing its death, the death worm will generate a particularly intense charge in a final effort to best its attacker.

Encounter Groups

Death worms are occasionally trained by desert dwellers, though they are never completely tamed.  More than one would-be master has fallen to his new pet’s electrical abilities.

Level 12 Encounter (XP 3,700)

• 2 desert death worms (level 12 artillery)
• 1 stone-eye basilisk (level 12 soldier)
• 2 dragonborn raiders (level 13 skirmisher)

Design philosophy:  More creepy artillery is always good.  For a cryptid, this thing has a very old-school D&D feel to it, so I basically just translated it.  I chose low paragon tier because that’s where I picture the PCs travelling through the trackless desert wastes to investigate the lost tombs and visit the cities of the ancients.  With appropriate reductions, it could easily be heroic tier instead.

The sample encounter group represents a couple of dragonborn bandits, bounty hunters, or tomb raiders and their pets.  This could be quite a challenging encounter, between the area-effect powers and the status effects the enemies wield.

Related posts:

1. Ten Monsters I Love (But Rarely Use)