Crown Creeper

Hanging Joe from Blue Planet: Recontact as placeholder for Crown Creeper

Crown Creeper is a semi-mobile carnivorous vine that was once believed to have grown down from the crown layer of the Green Maw but is now known to live mostly in the canopy.

The main body of the Crown Creeper resides in the canopy and sometimes the crown. In its stationary (i.e. hunting) form the Crown Creeper's body is spread out along the trunk and limbs of a tree. In this configuration, the Crown Creeper is able to spread it's prodigious weight across a larger bearing area. In this sense the body is somewhat amoeba-like. It has anywhere from 6 to 24 thick tentacle-like vines that hang down to the twilight layer. The vines have long, sharp, and gently curved thorns that are normally embedded in its flesh. For the final several meters of each vine, the surface is covered with stiff bristles like Velcro. When stimulated as from the passing of a creature up to the size of a halfling, the bristles grab on to the prey, with the thorns unsheathing for additional grip and the vine immediately begins to roll the prey up. In this way the prey is immobilized, constricted, and brought up to the main body for ingestion. If the prey is large enough the Creeper will use several vines to secure the prey. Once it has secured it's prey it will pull up the remaining vines and reconfigure its body to cocoon it's prey against the trunk and digest it.

The Crown Creeper is also able to assume a mobile form to relocate to another hunting location. In this configuration the main body becomes a tight, stringy, mass. The vines are utilized for locomotion and brachiation to relocate the main body to another suitable trunk. The Crown Creeper has no higher or even reptilian level cognitive abilities but the sensory ganglion at the tips of the vines are sensitive and independently sophisticated. Each vine functions independently but in a hive-like manner enabling the Crown Creeper to move through the canopy efficiently, albeit slowly.

Harvested vines are valued for making Creeper Rope. This rope is made by carefully extracting the long, extremely strong, fibers embedded in the vines and weaving them into very fine but strong rope able to support in excess of 1,000kg.

Powered by the Apocalypse (Dungeon World)

Questions:

What is it known to do? Lay passively in wait with tentacle-vines suspended into the twilight layer until prey brushes past and triggering a capture response.
What does it want that causes problems for others? It mindlessly captures any passing creature larger than a terran rat up to the size of a halfling.
How big is it? The main body is between 100kg and 200kg and capable of capturing prey up to 300kg.
What is its most important defense? Its greatest defense are the embedded thorns along the length of the vines.
What is it known for? Lightning fast capture reflex. Prey is captured before being aware of the threat.
What is its most common form of attack? Grapple and enfold very quickly
Description: Main body placed dozens of meters above with tentacle-vines suspended down to the twilight. Vines detect prey, latch on, and bring it up to the main body, constricting it the whole time.

DW Stat Block:

Attack: Grapple; Constriction (D4 damage increasing by 1 every round while grappled)
HP: 10 HP
Armor: 3 Armor (vines)/0 Armor (body)
Tags: Tags
Special Qualities:

• Quality: Description.
  
• Treasure: 25% of the time: 2d8-2 on table pg 226. Undigestible items (i.e. bones) are typically ejected but valuable items tend to get stuck in the twisting vines of the body.

Details from DW Game:

Item: Description.