Bloodthorn Vine

Description:

These thorny plants with dark red flowers grow in small patches in a range of different climates - often alongside roads. When their thorns prick the skin and taste blood, they grow rapidly - quickly becoming more dangerous. When encountered near villages, these vines must be immediately attended to - usually by burning the entire area and then salting the earth, just in case. If a bloodthorn vine creeps into a populated area, it can grow out of control and potentially kill hundreds.

Special:

Bloodthorn vines normally grow in small groups of 2-6 plants, each about 1 hex in diameter, spread out over an area of about a dozen hexes in radius. Often they will grow on the sides of roads, or along footpaths through the woods.

Moving through or beside a Bloodthorn vine allows it to attempt an attack for every hex passed beside or through it - if it is not noticed beforehand this attack is also a surprise attack. As with other Constrict attacks, the first attack must be an attempt to Entangle using the Effect Attack, after which, each turn that the victim does not escape, the Bloodthorn Vine can roll a 21 Challenge against a helpless target to apply either Fast or Strong Constrict damage.

Any time the plant draws blood, it grows rapidly, essentially creating another plant in an adjacent hex which also has 10 Health, and is also able to attack anything that moves beside or through it. For each plant so connected, the Bloodthorn Vine gets +1 to damage - so if it covers an area of 3x3 hexes, each hex has 10 Health, and anyone Entangled will take 1d10+9 Damage each turn the bloodthorn vine succeeds its 21 Challenge, until they escape. If Entangled in the middle, anyone escaping the central plant would have to move through each adjacent plant while each attempts to re-entangle the victim.

As immobile creatures, bloodthorn vines cannot defend themselves from physical attack, and are considered defenseless targets. They are immune to poison and disease, but take double damage from fire.