Marching Mileworm

Type

Vermin

Base HD

1

Terror

-4

Height (cm)

5 (length)

A strange caterpillar that can sometimes be found in temperate meadows. It appears to the casual eye as a single massive hairy worm that extends as far as the eye can see, but in fact the marching mileworm forms enormous queues of tens of thousands of caterpillars each no longer than a man’s thumb, and from a high vantage point it can be seen that the queue forms a closed circle miles across. Marching mileworms can be either blue or green and are covered in hairs that cause extreme itchiness in Men, but this is not their main defence.

A lone marching mileworm feeds on leaves and sometimes fruit, like most other caterpillars; however when they form into their processions the marching mileworm needs no sustenance at all. Instead they march in grand circles which are protected from predation by a magical force that repel all creatures larger than a marching mileworm, and which sustains the mileworms without the need for food. It is thought that the earliest practitioners of magecraft took inspiration from the marching mileworm when they invented circular wards. The ward is powerful enough to keep away birds and frogs, but it is not unbreakable by a creature the size of a Man; however even if the ward is broken and some worms are killed the procession will continue. If enough worms are killed or enough worms leave the procession, the circle will disperse or break up into many smaller circles. It is not know how a circle forms in the first place but it is thought that the creatures naturally gather and when enough of them come together they begin to walk in an ever-widening circle. Marching mileworms sometimes migrate to new areas in long, linear trains, but it is not known what causes this, and they are not protected from predation by their signature ward when moving in this way.

Marching mileworms pupate into glowmoths, which are unremarkable, except for their (very faint) glow at night. They are most vulnerable during pupation and when searching for a site to do so because a marching mileworm cannot pupate without leaving the procession, and sometimes birds will roost near a marching mileworm circle waiting for a group to split off in an attempt to pupate. Pupating groups of marching mileworms sometimes form very small circles of around a hundred mileworms, a foot or two across, which retain a weaker protective force, in an attempt to escape the birds, and they always attempt to pupate inside the greater circle. Because no large creatures can leave or enter the domain of a marching mileworm circle, and because the circle can last years or even decades as new worms join to replace older ones, the inside of a marching mileworm circle often develops a distinct character from the surrounding environment.

layout: Pathfinder 2e Creature Layout
name: Marching Mileworm
level: Creature -1
size: Fine