This pallid worm clatters upon dozens of small legs. Writhing bristles twitch on its back, and its shadow seems strangely mobile.The caterpillar-like tenebrous worm is a voracious predator that hungers for mortal flesh. The tenebrous worm is the larval stage of the gloomwing—but in a strange reversal, these younger creatures are more dangerous than the adults they grow into. A tenebrous worm hatches from the corpse of an unfortunate creature that has been implanted with an egg by a gloomwing. The tenebrous worm is fully grown upon hatching, and immediately begins to scour its environs for flesh to consume.Although the tenebrous worm tends to be relatively pale-colored, its internal organs seethe and roil with shadowy energies and dark fluids. As the creature feeds, these shadowy innards begin to grow out of its body, forming strange bristle-like filaments of semisolid shadowstuff not only capable of piercing the flesh of those who would attack the worm, but also possessing a deadly paralytic poison. Additional shadowy fluids constantly seep from the worm's mandibles—when it bites prey, these fluids melt flesh into shadows that the creature can then consume. When a tenebrous worm feeds on enough of this shadowy flesh, the creature seeks out a secluded, shady area (typically just within a cave entrance or in a ruined building) and spins a shadowy cocoon around itself. A tenebrous worm's cocoon exudes the effects of a darkness spell, muting the surrounding light. After a period of several days, the cocoon tears open and a fully grown gloomwing emerges, ready to seek a host for its eggs. *Custom Rule: When first hit by a Tenebrous worm the player must Defy Danger+CON or become paralyzed until the party next makes camp. Instinct: Consume