Dangerous Plants II

Known also as vampire thorn vine, the bloodthorn passes for ordinary brambles. A healthy adult has a yellowish-brown trunk 10 feet long sprouting four pale green tendrils about 7 feet long, each studded with slender, hollow thorns roughly an inch long. Warm-blooded prey that comes near draws one lash, attacking as a 6 HD monster. On a hit the barbs latch on and drink, costing the victim 25% of maximum hit points each round until the plant or the victim dies or the victim escapes. The pain demands a system shock roll each round to stay conscious, and tearing loose with a Strength check costs another 1d2. A tendril is cut off after 10 points of damage, separate from the stalk's Hit Dice.

It can move a little, inching toward warmth and light, though open flame makes it shrink back. Electricity adds 1 Hit Die, though it still attacks as 6 HD, and cold freezes it in place for 2 to 5 rounds. After a good meal of three or more man-sized victims, it fires seed thorns 10 to 20 feet away, harmless if they strike someone, and it kills any seedling that tries to grow close by. Wizards and alchemists find many uses for its hollow thorns.

Also called the purple blossom plant, this tall, thick-stemmed growth looks like a palm, with a scaly brown trunk, no branches and drooping, fern-like leaves at the top. Among the foliage sit purple cup-shaped flowers with silver stamens that follow the sun and close tight at night, and its roots spread as a fine mossy mat around the base. It smells delightful. When a creature's footsteps shake the ground below, it tips a blossom and lets fall a drop of syrupy poison; if the attack roll hits, the victim saves vs. poison or dies on the spot, and the rotting body nourishes the roots. It breeds like any plant. Insects are drawn by the scent and immune to the poison, which stays potent for one day if collected safely.

Its blades are spiral corkscrews that drill into anything they touch. Leather soles, heavy cloth or magical protection hold it off for one round while it tunnels through, but it cannot bore into metal. Material it has pierced no longer counts, so a human in leather armor is AC 10 by the second round. Once in contact with bare skin, it digs in for 5d4 damage each round, and its secretions paralyze unless the victim saves vs. poison; even a successful save leaves them at half speed. Either effect lasts 1d4 days or until neutralize poison is used. A successful Strength roll pulls free at a cost of 2d4 damage. Only fire, or careful digging to lift it from the soil, can effectively harm it.