Torble

Torble

(Creature)

Type

Vermin
(none or swarm)

CR

1/8 or 2

Environment

Ruins

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: The Bastards of Erebus, pg(s). 84-85

Torbles are a variety of weird, gelatinous vermin that dwell in the sewers of Westcrown. Local wizards sometimes take them as familiars. Also known as "chordoplasms" by scholars or "ooze bugs" by common folk, torbles are a hybrid of ooze and insect. As hybrids, they are vulnerable to tactics or strategies that combat either oozes or vermin.

Appearance

A torble's body resembles a translucent, amorphous blob of jelly the shape of a beetle or grape about seven inches high and five inches wide. A torble may be any color; younger ones are often green, gray, or pink, while older ones often resemble more dangerous oozes, and the remains of the torble's last meal is usually visible inside the creature as it is digested. The creatures have six legs and two eyestalks with primitive sensory organs. A torble weighs about one pound.

Habitat and ecology

Torbles typically hunt small creatures or carrion in damp environments such as sewers, caves, or rotting logs. Torbles reproduce by budding; the buds mature and migrate as inch-long slug-beetles that can feast on the corpse of the parent for days. They can digest any sort of flesh, wood, or bone, although hard items such as stone, metal, and glass pass unharmed through their digestive system. The creatures typically congregate into large swarms of up to hundreds of individuals. En masse, torbles can form a hivemind, allowing them to act as intelligent creatures rather than vermin. However, their innate telepathic ability makes them vulnerable to telepathic creatures, who can briefly mentally command a number of the creatures.

Lone torbles are scavengers who may bond with individuals who offer them food. Easily "domesticated," they are sometimes the pets of children or swamp dwellers who enjoy their varied colors, or the servants of telepathic creatures. Wizards sometimes take the creatures as familiars, gaining insight into alchemy in the process. Torble familiars lose their telepathy and ability to form a hivemind, but become more intelligent that others of their species.