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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 7832774" data-attributes="member: 57383">Worry-Wart <table style='width: 100%'><tr><td>CLIMATE/TERRAIN:</td><td>Any</td></tr><tr><td>FREQUENCY:</td><td>Very rare</td></tr><tr><td>ORGANIZATION:</td><td>Solitary</td></tr><tr><td>ACTIVITY CYCLE:</td><td>Any</td></tr><tr><td>DIET:</td><td>Nil</td></tr><tr><td>INTELLIGENCE:</td><td>Very (11–12)</td></tr><tr><td>TREASURE:</td><td>Nil</td></tr><tr><td>ALIGNMENT:</td><td>Neutral</td></tr><tr><td>NO. APPEARING:</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>ARMOR CLASS:</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>MOVEMENT:</td><td>Fly 6 (A) until merging with host, as per host thereafter</td></tr><tr><td>HIT DICE:</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>THAC0:</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>NO. OF ATTACKS:</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>DAMAGE/ATTACK:</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>SPECIAL ATTACKS:</td><td>Nil</td></tr><tr><td>SPECIAL DEFENSES:</td><td>Constant vigilance</td></tr><tr><td>MAGIC RESISTANCE:</td><td>Nil</td></tr><tr><td>SIZE:</td><td>T</td></tr><tr><td>MORALE:</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>XP VALUE:</td><td>420</td></tr></table>The strange creature often called a worry-wart is in fact a tiny part of a vast, amorphous, extra-dimensional creature called a nibish-riule. The portion of the creature’s body visible in the Prime Material Plane initially appears as a quarter-inch beauty mark or mole, flying by no apparent visible means. The nibish-riule sees through this piece of itself, with infravision to a range of 60 feet. Projecting such a piece of itself into the Prime is tiring; the nibish-riule can maintain it for only an hour before it must retract to its own plane and rest for a month.Combat: Combat with a worry-wart is usually unintentional and unnoticed, for the host is seldom aware of the creature’s existence at that point. The “flying beauty mark” lands on the potential host, and a saving throw vs. poison is made. If successful, the host’s anatomy is incompatible with that of the nibish-riule, and it seeks another host. If the saving throw fails, the beauty mark bonds to the host’s skin. From that point, the nibish-riule’s link to the Prime Material Plane is made permanent by successful merging with the host’s skin.Habitat/Society: Once the nibish-riule “plants” its beauty mark on a host, it begins setting up an internal network. The beauty mark grows roots that burrow into the host’s body, connecting with blood vessels and nerve ganglia, and occasionally popping up to the surface of the skin to grow another beauty mark. When the network is complete about a month after infestation, the host has 1d4 +2 such beauty marks.Once the network is complete, the nibish-riule can establish contact with its host telepathically, though only the host can “hear” the disembodied voice. Nibish-riuli are inquisitive and want above all else to learn about life on the Prime Material Plane. Typical greetings are, “What’s it like to be a human?” “Why do you move around on those two long things?” or “Doesn’t your race find it confusing having two genders?”Assuming the host doesn’t immediately go into a screaming fit, the nibish-riule explains itself and its presence. Unfortunately for the host, by this point it’s usually too late to do anything about the worry-wart’s merging into the host’s body, as the process is irreversible without the use of wish-level magic. Smart hosts learn to make the best of the situation.Ecology: A worry-wart’s two concerns are learning about life on the Prime Material Plane and keeping its host safe so it can learn more. Because the nibish-riule never sleeps, it keeps constant vigilance on the area around its host, peeking out of its multiple beauty mark eyes. Once it’s established its internal network in the host’s body, it can even “pop” these beauty marks out of the host’s skin on flexible eyestalks to get a better look around. The worry-wart makes an excellent lookout, telepathically warning its host of approaching danger.Of course, there’s a price to be paid for such benefits. The worry-wart, as its common nomenclature suggests, can be a nag, becoming almost motherly in its concern for the host’s safety (If the host is killed, the nibish-riale loses its fascinating window into the Prime Material Plane.) In addition, its curiosity is insatiable, leading it to ask questions about everything it sees. (Reliable sources insist it’s worse than a two-year-old.) Finally, if the worry-wart disagrees with the host, it has the irritating habit of stretching an eyestalk around to stare the host in the face and telepathically inquiring, “Are you crazy?”if a host perishes while linked to a worry-wart, the nibish riule loses its window to the Prime Material Plane but is otherwise unharmed. After a month’s rest, it casts another piece of itself through the planes in search of another host.Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #259 (“Symbiotes and Parasites” by Johnathan M. Richards, May 1999).</blockquote>

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