Thoqqua

The Bestiary 2 says, “Thoqquas are cantankerous creatures of fire and slag.”  (Then again, is there a single inhabitant of the Plane of Fire that’s not cantankerous?*)  Perhaps their giant ancestors really did inhabit planet cores, but in their current state these horned worms are merely the servants of mephits and the bane of miners and low-level PCs.

The black volcanic sand of the Plain of Ash seems to attract thoqquas, drawing them by some mysterious means from the Elemental Plane of Fire.  The relative cold drives them to anger, though, and they take out their ire on any nearby wooden structures, burning through wagon wheels, tent poles, and yurts.  In their hunger for ore, they happily devour any metal they encounter—including armor and weapons.

Impregnus needs no suffix like “Castle” or “Keep”—the mighty citadel has earned its singular moniker, remaining unbowed against hordes of orcs, armies of hobgoblins, two forest dragons, and the Nightshade Messiah.  But when faced with an army employing well-fed siege thoqquas, Impregnus may yet fall—unless a group of new recruits can mount a clever defense.

The fire and magma mephits of Hollowhome are not exactly trustworthy.  But since the bottomless caverns of Hollowhome truly are bottomless—the post-cataclysm planet having been so riddled by purple worms and meteor strikes that a misstep can send an explorer hurtling into a lava pool or nothingness—hiring one of these mercurial outsiders is a necessity for navigating the pockmarked mantle.  The mephits use thoqquas to scout ahead with their tremorsense…and sometimes also as muscle, should the mephits decide their adventurer employers are too weak to defend their booty.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 262

*I guess they’re all…hot…under the collar! Amirite?  Thanks, folks, I’m here all night.

Wow, people seem to be digging yesterday’s Thin Man post.  Thanks especially to Strange Door for the kind words.

Regular reader filbypott writes:

A point of interest: James Jacobs has noted that the thin men were originally inspired by the Internet bogeyman, the Slender Man… though they turned out quite different in the end.

I’m actually glad I was too Internet-illiterate to make the Slender Man connection; my ignorance made me work harder.

And dmfiat took it even farther:

I imagine the Thin Man has a narrow, angular head to better fit in with his cane field home. His feet end in strange, almost spike-like foot-nubs. […]

There’s more; check out the whole thing on his page.  Thanks again, everyone!