Forest Stalker

Forest stalkers are huge, even by Dark Forest standards. Standing at between 70 and 80 meters tall, they tower over almost every other creature in the Forest. There body can easily be divided into a central body section and a trio of legs that hold it up.   The legs are extremely thick and barely mobile. Forest Stalkers frequently allow them to become covered in moss and lichens, which grow into the bark-like scales that cover the bottom of the legs. The legs end in many sensory whiskers, which mimic the appearance and function of roots. As they can be easily regrown, Forest Stalkers rarely care if these feet-roots get damaged. Further up the legs, the scales give way to a shiny exoskeleton with spikes protruding at regular intervals. These spikes grow leaves that sense wind direction and smell. Several more of these branches protrude towards the central body, allowing the stalker to cover its mouth when at rest. The legs are jointed towards the top to allow the beast a very limited degree of mobility.   The legs all join to the central body, which is covered in more of the same short spines. Dark brown and speckled green in color, the central body blends in well with its surroundings. The body is round and has a circular mouth on the bottom and a bulbous stomach on top, above the treeline.   Stalkers main feature is the last thing that most people will ever see -- Its mouth, located on its central body. The creature has 6 eyes that are pointed straight down and positioned around the mouth. These eyes are completely black and usually closed. They assist the mouth in locking onto a target and pulling it in, which the creature does by vomiting out a substance that quickly solidifies into viney tentacles that constrict around anything they touch. The creature then begins to swallow the mess and drag anything caught in it into its gaping maw. The mouth itself has 6 plates which alternate in and out to crush anything caught inside it.   Food is stored in an efficient stomach, which is usually only visible from above the tree line. They hold food in this stomach for as much as a month before vomiting excess back out in large pellets.

It's unknown if the Forest Stalkers were originally native to the Dark Forest or are simply strange creatures that wandered in such as dragons. As they're rarely sighted, it's difficult to study behavior, but their requirement for food and a natural biological life cycle implies they're not a guardian generated by the Salamander's storytelling.

Forest Stalkers have two behaviors, and act almost more like plants than animals. Most of the time they simply sit and wait for something to come close enough before snapping it up. In very rare cases, such as when extremely hungry, they will unearth themselves to chase after potential food. This happened in the case when Bjorn, Howie and Karen found one. However, in most cases they will allow prey to escape if they get far enough away.   More frequently, Forest Stalkers will uproot themselves to move to a new area if they have caught too much food recently. This is due to the presence of food pellets frequently giving away the animal. They will do this once or twice a month, depending on how successful they have been.

Forest stalkers have an excellent sense of smell, due to the leafy sensors all over their body. They can also hear very well through their feet, though this depends on how long it's been since they moved. The longer a forest stalker remains in one place, the better its sense of hearing becomes.   Most things can't harm a stalker, but poison and attacks to their eyes do seem to be noticed. Additionally, fire spreads as one might expect along its legs, though this can have mixed results depending on the creature in question.