Gentleman Grubs

Something strange stirs beneath the rotting logs of Cruinlagh. The Gentleman Grub stands out as an oddity of evolution. While most larvae are content to be repulsive scavengers, this particular species has developed a behavior that mimics high society, or at least a confused approximation of it. They are easily identified by the bright red protrusion upon their heads, giving them the appearance of a bog-dwelling scholar wearing a funky hat.

Appearance

The Gentleman Grub is a massive larval creature, growing up to five feet in length. Its body is a segment of pale, ivory flesh that pulses rhythmically as it moves. Despite its bloated appearance, it possesses a surprising density of muscle beneath the blubber. Its most distinct feature is the "hat" sitting atop its sensory bristles. Naturalists debate whether this is a symbiotic red mushroom, a carefully scavenged flower cup, or a piece of discarded cloth the creature instinctively adheres to its skull for protection. Regardless of the origin, the result is a giant white worm wearing a jaunty red fez.

Behaviour

These creatures are surprisingly docile until provoked. They move with a sluggish, undulant gait that suggests they are never in a hurry. When they encounter another creature, they will often raise the front third of their body upright. While this looks like a polite greeting or a tip of the hat, it is actually a threat display intended to align their acid-spewing gullet with the intruder's face. They are fiercely protective of their headgear. If the "hat" is dislodged, the grub enters a frenzy of distress until it can retrieve it or find a suitable replacement.

Habitat

Gentleman Grubs thrive in the deepest, dampest hollows of Cruinlagh. While they frequent the shadowed undersides of the region's massive fungi forests and peat-heavy banks, their primary residence is subterranean. They burrow extensively beneath the hardened "shell" of the land, navigating the humid, fleshy boundary between the island's crust and its living interior. Because of this, they are rarely found in direct sunlight or open plains, usually only surfacing when the infection below runs dry or they are forced out by tremors.

Diet & Ecological Role

As decomposers, they play a vital and visceral role in the health of the living island. While they will scavenge surface carrion and rotting vegetation, their preferred food source is the necrotic tissue of Cruinlagh itself. They seek out festering wounds and pockets of rot that form just beneath the beast's shell, consuming the infection and pus that would otherwise sicken the land. Their terrifyingly strong stomach acid is capable of breaking down bone, wood, and even some metals found in these deep sores. Interestingly, they refuse to eat red flora, likely to preserve potential replacements for their headgear.

Relationship to Humanoids

Encounters with Gentleman Grubs are often recounted as humorous anecdotes in local taverns, provided the adventurer survived the acid. Locals generally leave them alone, viewing them as harmless cleaners of the forest. However, their stomach bile is highly prized by alchemists for its corrosive properties. Some bolder tailoring guilds have placed bounties on the creatures, though usually just to settle bets on whether the hats are real fabric or not.

Gentleman Grub by Lou

Basic Facts

Classification: Beast (Insectoid Scavenger)
Size: Medium (Approx. 5–6 ft. in length; distinctively bloated)
Habitat: Cruinlagh’s deep peat bogs, fungal forests, and subterranean flesh-tunnels.
Temperament: Deceptively docile; territorial regarding their "hats" and fiercely defensive of their feeding grounds.
Rarity: Uncommon (Common near festering wounds in the island's crust).
Domestication: Wild (Harvested for bile, but impossible to tame; kept only by the foolish or the aesthetically confused).