Yet more crawling obscenities from the foetid bowels of the cursed subterranean Down Below...

DOURMA (#2/30, #93/365) [OOTP IV]

SKILL: 7

STAMINA: 10

ATTACKS: 4

WEAPON: See below

ARMOUR: Medium

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: Caves, Dungeons, Ruins

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1

TYPE: Monster

REACTION:Unfriendly

INTELLIGENCE: Low

Thought to be related to other hideous Chaos-warped beasts, such as the Groundhog (see Beyond the Pit, pp. 63-64) and the Glaciator (Return to the Pit, p. 92), and, like them, a denizen of Khul the Dark Continent, the DOURMA is a dangerous underground scavenger. Looking for all the world like a large and ragged mat or piece of extensive carpet, this rare subterranean creature is nothing more than a flat expanse of living flesh, covered in hundreds of twitching tendrils on both sides of its body. Those on the underside serve as legs and feelers, propelling the creature through dank caverns and dusty tunnels. While those on the upper side have evolved into borers, cutters, suckers and other weaponry with which the Dourma kills, dissects and ingests its prey, via a mouth on the underside of the creature. It is attracted to the heat of a victim's body and will scuttle forward to attack prey, using a variety of weaponry. To see what a victim has been assaulted with in any given Attack Round, roll on the following table following a successful hit:

Dice Roll Weapon Type

1 Borer: Tendril ends in a long thin spike that does damage as per a Needleknife.

2 Cutter: Tendril ends in a razor sharp pincer that will snip off a random limb (Roll: 1-2 Left Leg, 3-4 Right Leg, 5 Left Arm, 6 Right Arm: all cause -4 STAMINA and -2 SKILL damage) if the Dourma rolls a Critical Hit for their Attack Strength. Otherwise does Large Claw damage.

3 Sucker: Tendril ends in a clump of clinging suckers that do no damage but temporarily reduce the victims SKILL score by -1, until they win an Attack Round and tear themselves free.

4 Slicer: Tendril ends in a large blade-like extension that does damage as per a Scimitar.

5 Stinger: Tendril ends in a poison sting that causes 4 STAMINA points of damage per hit with no Armour Roll allowed.

6 Thumper: Tendril ends in a bony ball that does damage as per a Blackjack (including the ability to knock its victim unconscious). 

While conventional thinking among scholars and bestiarists considers the Dourma to be yet another weird Chaos mutant lurking in the dark places of the world, others are not so sure. Some loremasters claim the Dourma and similar creatures represent evidence that Brain Slayers practice marrangha in their underground cities, transforming vat-grown flesh into living servitors to do their dirty work - in the Dourma's case, to collect, consume and digest refuse from Brain Slayer settlements. Others, such as the Skorn, have found different uses for the creature, employing the Dourma to help mine and excavate tunnels, and to harvest and collect different fungi crops.