Roll worm

Again on a green hell roll, I'm posting my roll worm. It's kind of a flat idea, but I built it from the ground up. Now I just need to know if they're really scary or just silly.


Roll worms are enormous, fat grubs around 180 feet in length and 30 feet in diameter. They are a pale gray, but surprisingly for worms, they're not slimy in the least. They're actually quite dry, more like paper. This bizarre predator has more similarities with paper, actually, since it's composed of a single membrane, rolled upon itself like it were a roll of paper. This membrane is actually a digestive system with several sensory organs all around.

Usually, roll worms slither along the ground until they smell prey, which can be both small creatures, and creatures their own size, or even a bit bigger. When the roll worm finds prey, it uses a bizarre mechanism to spring forward and catch it- it rolls out. By squeezing its tip and pushing it forward, it can make its mouth lurch up to 200 feet forward in a single movement, same as if you took a piece of paper, rolled it up, and then rolled it up tighter.

To eat prey its size or bigger, the roll worm unrolls in a different way. It places itself sidewards to its prey, and unrolls its membrane, enveloping the target with it. The membrane is very tough, and contains paralyzing poison which allows it to suffocate its target better before starting to digest it.

When really hungry, roll worms stop hunting and instead settle for enveloping a large tree. While digesting, they do get slimy- seeing a tree-sized slimy gray cocoon in the forest is a sight few live to report.

This is a pretty interesting creature- although maybe a little hard to visualize. Could you perhaps post up a concept sketch?

Sure.

They look kinda like swiss rolls.

Swiss Rolls trying to eat you. Nightmare reaching unfathomable levels.

Alright... aspen dryads and roll worms, but handle the roll worms with caution 'cause they're a bit silly and will break the atmosphere. Noted. I'll keep the meetings with them to only the cocoon form, and make them pulsate a little.

I reckon keep the prey size to same size or lower.

Interesting idea. I'm sure many prey are just dumbstruck.

French snack wrote:

Interesting idea. I'm sure many prey are just dumbstruck.

Some of us "prey" want to eat the giant Swiss roll!

I admit it's a bit hard for me to visualize ( how they move, spring and eat ) but the idea is certainly very original and interesting !

Thanks, guys. I guess they're not as scary as I thought they were at first. It needs work...

Hmm... well, I think I can explain the lunge clearer. And make it scarier, a little more... phallic. Worked for Silent Hill, didn't it?

A roll worm usually moves by sliding only the parts of it that are in contact with the ground. However, when it senses prey, it can mobilize its entire body simultaneously; rather than attempt to close with the target with its entire body, the parts closest to the center move over the parts around them, advancing without affecting the rest of the body. However, the part immediately over that one also does the same thing, thus allowing a roll worm to spring at double its walking speed for every fold in its roll (two doublings equal a tripling in this case). Most roll worms have around 15-20 folds, allowing them to lunge at heinous speed with the inner fold.