Purple worm

The purple worm was akin to an enormous and bizarre earthworm.

Appearance
As its name implied, the purple worm was deep purple in color, with a pale yellow underbelly. Separating its yellow part from its purple part were hard crests going down its sides. It was well-armored and segmented. One end of the purple worm terminated in a large, toothed mouth, with slit-like eyes set above the mouth and dragon's ear-like limbs at the sides of the "head". While many that encountered the purple worm worried about falling into the worm’s mouth, they commonly forgot about the creature’s tail, which was capped by a poisonous paralytic stinger. The purple worm was often depicted as bursting out of the ground and arching itself in a distinctive pose. Purple worms were not able to speak.

Combat
Purple worms spent their time burrowing through the underground and sought to consume any organic matter they found. Their favored and most feared method of attack was swallowing their prey whole. Many groups of adventures succumbed to such a fate, disappearing down a Purple Worm's gullet one after the other. Purple worms could also attack with their tail stinger, and by grabbing and grappling with prey.

Lair
Purple worms existed deep within the earth. They laired in vast underground caverns when they have consumed too much, allowing them to digest while they rested.

Nursery
Purple worms laid eggs in areas sometimes called nurseries. Sometimes these areas were the home of other creatures that formed a symbiotic relationship with the worms. The other creatures used the area to hunt for prey that were searching for the valuable eggs, thus protecting the eggs themselves. Giant spiders and other creatures which have no direct interest in the eggs often served this purpose. Fomorian giants sometimes developed a relationship with the purple worms as well and became caretakers of the clusters of eggs. Purple worm eggs were approximately three-foot diameter, silvery spheres with extremely hard shells. The eggs were often clustered together in groups of six and were suspended from their chamber walls by strands of sticky saliva. They were highly valued by wizards for various arcane rituals.

After successfully hatching, these young creatures were known as purple wormlings. To be classed as wormlings, the creatures had to be less than 6 weeks old. At this point, the wormlings were about long and weighed.

Society
Purple worms were regarded as neutral in alignment, since their aggressive nature was the result of instinct rather than evil maliciousness.

Subraces
Varieties of purple worms were known to live in lakes or desert plains. These creatures possessed color variations that allowed them to blend in with their respective environments.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Dungeon #38: "A Blight on the Land" • Storm King's Thunder
 * Novels:
 * Streams of Silver
 * Comics:
 * TSR Worlds Annual 1
 * Video Games:
 * Secret of the Silver Blades • Treasures of the Savage Frontier
 * Card Games
 * Dragonfire ( Sword Mountains Crypt )