Giant Bladderwort

Floating rootless just under the scummy surface of deep marshes, the giant bladderwort often knits into great mats with other plants that look like firm ground but swallow anything that steps on them. The greenish-brown stem may stretch 50 feet or more, bearing feathery branches hung with 1d10+10 sacs roughly 4 feet across. Slim stalks lift purple and white blossoms above the water.

Each submerged sac is a clear, pinch-waisted bladder holding a partial vacuum, sealed by a lightly glued flap fringed with long guide hairs and short triggers. Touch a trigger and the flap swings inward, gulping prey and water alike; it then closes, absorbs the water to expel later and restores the vacuum, all in under a second.

Inside, digestive fluid deals 1-4 damage a round, and the scant air means suffocation in 1-6 rounds unless someone helps. Anything 4 feet tall or less is swallowed whole and can fight only with daggers, claws or teeth. Bigger victims may have just one part caught; the sac seals anyway and still digests. Roll percentile: right arm 01-20, left arm 21-40, head and upper torso 41-60, right leg 61-80, left leg 81-100. Breaking out takes a bend bars roll against the seal, or destroying the sac.

Each sac has 2 HD and the main plant 8 HD, and killing sacs leaves the plant alive. Blows struck at an occupied sac split evenly between the sac and the person inside.

Pollination is its usual means of reproduction. In winter it grows green buds, known as turions, that settle on the marsh floor and float up in spring to grow into adults. A sac weighs 50 pounds on its own and pops loudly if hauled completely out of the water.