Lifeforms · Flora · Forest/ Jungle
Corpse Flower
Deep in the Ankorillian jungles grows the Corpse Flower. A dreaded plant that can entangle and poison you silently. Hours later your companions notice your absence, turn and search for you. As they backtrack they unknowingly pass your last resting place. A rather smelly, orange plant.
Full Description
The jungle seems a tangle of vines and stalks and leaves. The only way you move through the impenetrable wall of green is with a machete. Hacking with the knife, you can slowly make some progress, but the work is exhausting. Finally, you seem to be reaching the jungle's edge. Only a few heavy vines block your way.
You swing your machete and it strikes the three-inch-thick vine, slicing it neatly in two. Suddenly the jungle around you comes alive. The vines in the nearby trees start moving. You step back, but it's too late. One wraps around your ankle. You raise your knife to cut through it, but before you can swing, another vine twists around your arm, stopping it. A third vine, as thick as a fire hose, curls around your waist and you are knocked off your feet. It drags you into the thick underbrush. Suddenly the jungle parts up ahead and you see an orange pod as tall as a man. It opens and you are thrust into its dark interior. You find yourself waist deep in a sticky liquid that burns your skin. As the leaves close up behind you, trapping you, your fellow adventurers voices can be heard...
When it blooms, the Corpse Flower can reach at height over nine feet in height and smells like a mixture of rotting flesh and excrement. And that is exactly what it is, it can take up to three weeks to fully digest a mature human being. The pungent odor also attracts bees which are trapped in the flower until they are covered with pollen. Then they are released to fertilize other plants.
A blooming Corpse flower's "flower" (it is technically a leaf or spathe) can be three feet across. It can move slowly around, to slow to catch up with a prey that has already noticed it. But slow enough to avoid being discovered. It is found in deep woods with heavy underbrush. The main body of the plant is orange and about the size of a man, this is where the mouth used for meat eating is located. It has ten vines which it can use to catch it's prey. These vines have small poisonous needles. The vines can also knock out or strangle opponents. There are no teeth in the plants main body, but hundreds of small needles with poison. There is also much liquid inside the pod used to both intoxicate and digest the victims.
Additional Information
*It is notoriously difficult to kill one of these plants. The only way to permanently kill one is to set it on fire. If slashed and damaged greatly the Corpse flower may retreat into the underbrush again.
*It's name, Corpse Flower is a direct translation from the natives language;Pla-Liki. Amongst the Island inhabitants it is quite legendary. They usually avoid the places where it grows. But when someone is eaten by the flower; It's considered a gift from the pagan Ankorill gods. They believe that the spirit of the consumed man becomes one with the forest and lives forever.
*The corpse flower could easily be used in any jungle with some minor modifications by the Game Master.
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Also in
Codex hubs that gather this piece with similar work.
- Raid on Tantalus IV dark_dragon
- Ankorill Michael Jotne Slayer
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Links to this article 4
- 30 Legendary Antidotes/Cures valadaar linked by valadaar
- Adventurous Plants Michael Jotne Slayer linked by Michael Jotne Slayer
- Ankorill Michael Jotne Slayer linked by Michael Jotne Slayer
- Raid on Tantalus IV Alongside dark_dragon linked by Strolen
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A truely nasty and deadly plant.
A very good post. I like the writing style. By telling a story you make it more interesting to read, and it describes the behavior very well (by showing not telling). Bravo sir.
It sure beats the 'Giant Sundew' plant I was going to use in an upcoming game.
Plus, what Zylithan said!
Updated: Used block quote on the introduction.
An excellent, nasty plant. There are a few typos which could be straightened out -
"They usually avoid the deep groves where it grows, but if someone is taken by it. It is thought of "
This sounds like it should be one sentence with a comma in place of the period.
That said, I do quite like it!
thank you for commenting, I think I managed to iron out the strange sentence.
apart from the It's is capitalized :)
"Argh, thou hast too keen an eyesight ye seer of errors." :D
Fixed.
stupid double post...
Creepy... very lurker in the dark feel. One question however. What happens to all he non-organic material that the humanoid entree is wearing? Such as metal armor, weapons, and other tidbits commonly found on an unknowing adventurer?
The way it stalks its' prey makes it seem as if the absorbing of its human meal, seems to gain intelligence, or perhaps not. Just seems it would be interesting if it were to get smarter the more humanoid creatures it ate. Or perhaps less intelligent if it ate the wrong creature perhaps.