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Decapitator Slug — Description

Though belonging to a group of animals known for their slow speed, Decapitator Slugs are actually a serious danger and are capable of racking a substantial body count over their lifetime. They dwell in dark and forgotten places, like tunnels, caves and abandoned buildings. Their sluggish nature makes the pursuit of prey impossible, so they rely on ambush to take down their food. Their typical tactic is to slither up onto ceilings and wait for a target to pass below them. Once prey is detected beneath them, they will peel their front half free and stretch their heads down to reach their food. What used to be simple tentacles and eye stalks have now developed additional grasping tendrils and hooked barbs. They are quick to reach down and snare prey, digging in their claws and holding on tight. Their strength and sticky mucus make this grip quite difficult to break, no matter how much the prey struggles. It is then the maw of the Decapitator Slug descends, yawning open to reveal horrible blades and a slicing radula. The slug will latch onto the victim's head and use its highly flexible mouth to slowly swallow the entire skull until its cutting jaws are positioned round the neck. It is then they begin slicing and sawing through skin, flesh and bone, eventually shearing through the spine. The head is cut off and swallowed whole, while the body is left to drop like a useless sack of meat. With prize in gut, the Decapitator Slug latches back onto the ceiling and then slithers to its lair to digest its new meal.
It appears that these slugs feed primarily on the brain organa, which many find fitting due to slugs' association with Phlegm. All soft parts of the head are digested, and eventually the skull is excreted as waste. However, it does not discard these bones, rather it scoops them up and holds onto them with its muscly foot. Decapitator Slugs carry a morbid collection of skulls, all taken from previous victims. Studies found that they store their eggs in these skulls, using them as a protective shell for their young. Some suggest that these slugs even leave some digested brain matter inside these things to help feed their children as well. When the young are ready to live on their own, they slither out from their bony homes and venture out to new feeding grounds.
The diet of the Decapitator Slug makes it a menace to all, but what makes it more horrific is the slow excruciating manner of death. Those snared by its tendrils are forced to struggle in vain, all while the deadly maw creeps closer to their heads. And if they cannot cut themselves free, the mouth begins the lazy journey of swallowing your head. The entire time this happens, you are alive and aware, watching in horror as its gullet creeps over your eyes, nose and then mouth. Your screams are muffled in its throat, and your only hope remaining is that you asphyxiate before the teeth begin sawing through your neck. This is why they are despised and slain wherever they are found.
Their populations were once kept in check, and they were little more than scary stories for children, but now that the war has dragged on, they have found their opening. Less hunters and more places to call home. The menace spreads, and not always on their own. Some unsavory types have found these slugs to make good guards and living traps, placing them where intruders and easy targets may wander. The slugs will eat those who don't belong, and the bandits get the spoils from the corpse. Plus, the slugs provide a fine source of skulls and bone for those who need forging materials or intimidating trophies. However, it should be warned that these slugs know no loyalty. They simply eat whatever passes below them. Thus many drunken bandits have met their end to their own guard dogs when blindly wandering into the wrong places.
A creature drawn before my FOI redoing and then slapped into that setting once I saw the fit. Thus why its design and colors are a bit different then one would expect for a FOI slug.