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Description
The vile wormhound is a truly horrible hybrid that defies accurate description. This predatory monstrosity has a distinctly canine cast to its physique while its sickly, mottled skin is decidedly amphibian in nature. The creature's "head" (if it can be called that) is where earthly comparisons fail.
Its shoulder girdle is ringed with sickening gelatinous eyes the color and texture of rotting blackberries, while the writhing anemone-like frontal mass of tentacles end in vicious poison spikes. Depending on which subspecies of wormhound is encountered, these tentacle spikes may either be projectiles or toxic barbs reminiscent of wasp stingers. In either case, the spikes are poisonous.
Ecology & Tactics
Wormhounds roam damp subterranean caverns and hunt in packs, never straying far from a water source. As a result, they tend to favor caves that are regularly fed by ground and rain water. They prefer to set up ambushes and attack from concealment. If they feel they are outmatched, then they will flee if at all possible, but if cornered, they will fight ferociously.
Wormhound young are kept in well-protected nurseries and are stationary through the first several weeks of life, as the legs take time to develop. They are no less deadly in larval form, however, as wormhounds implant their eggs in walls and ceilings of caverns, and the hatchlings will use their tentacles to grasp, paralyze and devour the unwary.
Notes
Wormhounds are vicious combat machines, plain and simple. Given the two variants, they make good ranged artillery or melee combatants. If you want to make things particularly difficult for adventurers, combine the two!
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