[Patagonian Monsters gives very little detail on the inulpamahuida, saying only that it’s a tree monster that can climb. So I went a little wild. The ability to turn people into trees in inspired by my love of body horror and transformation in general, and Over the Garden Wall in specifics.]
Inupalmahuida What at first appeared to be a tangle
of dead wood and broken branches begins to move, revealing a spiny monster with
a bestial face and thick, bark-like skin.
Known by
a variety of names such as “tree beasts”, “snag prowlers” and “wood devils”,
the bestial inulpamahuidas are gargoyle-like creatures that prowl the deepest
and most primal forests. They enjoy the company of fey and animals, but are
fiercely territorial when it comes to humanoids and any of the trappings of
civilization. Those that seek to log or hunt in the woods haunted by Inulpamahuidas
never return, instead supplementing the forest with their own bodies
transformed into plant life.
Inulpamahuidas
are sociable creatures among themselves, and form packs that dwell in the tops
of immense trees. Inulpamahuidas rarely touch the ground if they can help it,
preferring to remain in the canopy to pounce upon the heads of unsuspecting
humanoids. Their venomous claws contain a supernatural toxin that slowly
lignifies it victims, turning flesh into wood and skin into bark with alarming
speed. A creature immobilized by this toxin takes root and transforms fully
into a tree of a species native to the area and is beyond saving except with
powerful magic.
Inulpamahuidas
reproduce in a manner befitting their hybrid nature between animal and plant.
They are capable of flowering, although the flowers smell more like rotting
meat than a sweet perfume, and pollen is carried from one flowering inulpamahuida
to another by beetles or flies. The female inulpamahuida’s flower then
transforms into a leathery fruit, which the parent buries in rich soil. The
young inulpamahuida grows into a thorny bush and remains immobile for up to
five years, whereupon it uproots itself and begins its mobile life.
An inulpamahuida
stands four feet tall at the shoulder and stands about six or seven feet tall
when rearing upright.
These monstrous plants are unfortunately common on Zinnzar, being apex predators on that island. They also occur on the mother-isle of Egdwen and have been reported from jungles in mainland Gladia.
Shores of Swords 