Dark Crawlers

Dark Crawlers are new to the 7e Malleus Monstrorum, though besides a slightly altered description, are identical to Tunnelers Below from the previous edition. They are four-metre long cylinders with a lamprey-like mouth full of needle-like teeth. They are telepathic and live in tunnels that span the globe.

In the RPG...

Dark Crawlers are not outwardly hostile, though if provoked, will either use their tunneling abilities to collapse the tunnel upon their victim, or simply attack with their lamprey-like mouth. They only take half damage from physical attacks, and also regenerate 2 hit-points per round. They do have two very unique abilities. The first is to be able to telepathically communicate with other intelligent beings, as well as read their minds, while the other is to psychically drain POW. These are both slightly different to those of the Tunnelers Below.

    As far as stats go, however, Dark Crawlers are practically identical to Tunnelers Below. The only one that deviates is SIZ. Tunnelers Below average 50 SIZ—same as a human—wheres Dark Crawlers average 85. Their Move has also been increased considerably, with their tunneling speed jumping from 2 to 16.

    I'd be curious to know the reason for the changes. Does Chaosium no longer have a license to Fritz Leiber's work, yet want to keep the creature? Who can say? It seems to have been the only Leiber creation in the book anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

In a video game...

I think the Dark Crawlers would work quite well in a game. I do really like the idea of having creatures that don't simply attack on sight, and their tunneling could open up different paths.

In a film...

I'm envisioning a scene where the protagonist finds themselves in a tunnel, looking up in awe at the steady flow of Dark Crawlers flying past, ignoring them despite their voracious appearance. Other than that, I'm not really seeing them holding a film. Perhaps I would have to read Fritz Leiber's "The Terror from the Depths" to get a better picture of them.