Joy Strifeborn Entry #1: Glowworms
"During one of the caravan stops in the Freelands I found the most amazing luminous creatures no bigger than your hand. Bringing one back to camp Violca told me they were glow worms and I spent the remainder of our stay trying to understand them. The glow worms I found varied in color but each created a soft light most noticeable during night. But their glow wasn’t infinite and most faded in the time it took the leylines to pulse.
After talking with a few caravan members I learned the glow worms were often used by adventurers to illuminate scroll incantations. The odd liquid inside them was also used in paints to gain the glowing effect. However this involved cracking open the worm and I couldn’t bring myself to hurt the largely stationary creature.
Watching them for so long I think that what people call glow worms aren’t worms at all. The outer shell of a glow worm is hard and protective of the waters inside. It reminded me of the time as a child I made the mistake of opening a butterfly’s shell before it was ready and saw the ghastly contents inside. Perhaps glow worms make some sort of cocoon and are in the process of a wonderful transformation? The thought made me all the more sad knowing they were collected for crafting.
I didn’t get to watch one hatch as Violca had me return the glow worms before we left the area. I can only wonder what sort of creature comes from them and, more curiously, what an actual glow worm looked like. Someone had to have seen them wiggling about to call them worms. Another mystery for my list."