The platworm, sometimes rendered as platwyrm, is a particularly dreaded abomination. It only inhabits and infests parcels of undeveloped land, cleared and turned but not yet sown, and is therefore a doughty foe of the lumberman, the land developer, the estate agent. Anyone who clears lands to work of sell is at risk of a platworm attack.

Burrowing under the soil, these creatures will sense vibrations as people pass by above and then, once a pattern is established, excavate a chamber that it will then collapse when the victim is overhead. The fall often kills the victim, but if it does not, the platworm finishes the job with its acidic secretions or with a flooded chamber on occaison. The victim is then drained of all vital fluids and the platworm will go dormant for a time.

Those who have successfully excavated and killed a platworm–no easy feat–report that they are similar to shipworms, perhaps related to them in the grand scheme of things. It is unknown how–or if–they reproduce, and some speculate that a limited number of these creatures actually exist.

High Inquisitor’s Note:
The easiest way to defeat a platwyrm is to never use the same path twice and to drive animals ahead of you. It cannot dig its chamber without a pattern to study, and it will refuse to eat anything but a man that is ensnared by one of its traps.

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