Murrey's Leechworm

The Murrey's leechworm is a remarkable monstrosity believed to be closely related to the gargantuan purple worm. Luckily, even the most ancient of these creatures do not grow beyond the size of a small dog. The ancestral species, the glacial leechworm, is a parasitic ambush creature that lives in the frozen wilds of Purpura. However, the parasitic and aggressive tendencies have been bred out in exchange for more beneficial properties. Now they are kept and cared for by many Purpuran healers.

The glacial leechworms have a thick dark skin covered with barbed short bristles, which don't feel sharp but rough and strangely sticky. These bristles are used to cling to unsuspecting prey trying to cross their snowy hiding spot. After sticking to a creature, they strike it with their stinger, which releases a paralyzing poison. Then they use their circular mouth with rows of teeth to clamp onto a blood vessel and gorge on the prey's blood. The helpless victim needs to wait for it to be satisfied, and hope no other predator spots it in the meantime. The leechworm would make sure to leave the prey alive. After all, it's job as sustenance is not over yet. The leechworm deposits the egg of a larva in the wound. When it hatches, it uses the prey once more for its first meal, after which it burrows out of the skin and drops in the snow, growing and waiting for another creature to cross its path. Glacial leechworms can only grow to their ultimate size by feeding off of mammoths and other megafauna roaming the taiga. Most would stay the size of a handpalm.

Murrey's leechworms have a few key differences from their wild counterpart. Their bristles have turned white and soft, giving them an almost fluffy feel. And instead of laying offspring in whatever creature they are feasting on, the eggs are collected in nests to which the leechworm returns after feeding. Once the larvae hatch, the leechworm cares for them with morsels of enriched coagulated blood.

Finally, Murrey's leechworms have a substance in their stinger that is no longer poisonous to humans. It is in fact a potent painkiller and antibiotic, a highly effective medicine. This is why healers care for their flock of leechworms; they have been able to heal the most grievous of illnesses, in exchange for a little blood meal. They can even be trained to inject their stinger in a sick patient, while taking the blood of a healthy family member or benefactor.