Spider cactus

Spider cactus was a species of carnivorous cacti that fed on creatures unlucky enough to pass close to seemingly harmless desert plants.
==Description==
Spider cacti appeared almost indistinguishable from regular bright green barrel cactus, to across and to in length. Like ordinary cacti, these plants were covered in sharp needles of green and purple and had white streaks that ran along ridges on their bodies. However, unlike other cacti, spider cacti fired their feeding needles in order to capture and feed on various creatures. The only clue of the plants' deadly nature were discarded and dissipated husks found nearby.
==Behavior==
These plants stayed motionless until prey ventured within their feeding needles' range of . Spider cacti could feel any creatures within range with liquids in their bodies. These miniature missiles were tethered to the plant. Once needles punctured the prey's hide, a slow-acting paralytic agent was released, leaving the prey unmoving as a spider cactus reeled them in, slowly feeding until the prey was nothing but a lifeless, dry husk.
Each needle spray consisted of five to eight barbed purple projectiles that carried paralytic poison and between three and eighteen bigger green tethered feeding needles. Spider cacti always concentrated their needle shots on a single creature, firing purple needles first and sending feeding needs out once the prey succumbed to paralysis. Once captured, it took up to three minutes for the cactus to reel its prey in. The plants could only launch the feeding needles out once per day, and if damaged or severed, needles regrew back slowly, only three in a single week. Feeding needle tethers were extremely strong.
==Ecology==
Spider cacti generally could be found in patches of two to eight individual plants, often grown alongside roads. These plants acted on instinct and were blindly competitive, then ensnaring prey. Several cacti could attempt to pull a victim towards themselves, and the cactus with the most feeding needles attached to the victim won the competition.
During rain seasons, spider cacti bloomed and released thousands of eight-fronded seeds. The first seed to touch soil was the only one to survive as it momentarily sprouted and quickly drained all water from the ground and air around it, leaving other seeds to die without nutrition. Each rainstorm caused one additional plant to be planted and the adolescent cats grew swiftly per month.
If an industrious traveler managed to remove all the needles from a spider cactus, they could open the plant up to collect precious liquid inside. The liquid inside of these plants was sweet and thick like honey. Each adult cactus held a full gallon of the sweet and extremely nutritious liquid.
==History==
Prior to the Spellplague, spider cacti were only found on the desert world of Athas. In The Year of Despair, Malatran calendar, late 14 century DR, a group of heroes of the Living Jungle were sent from the Malatran Plateau through an elemental gate to the far-away world of Athas. Immediately upon arrival, the group was captured by Athasian elf slavers. A young Athasian thri-kreen named Ka'cha was among creatures captured by the elves, and he lamented being separated from his clutch. Subsequently, the heroes escaped when the elven caravan was attacked by a hungry sink worm. They seized the opportunity and freed Ka'cha, fleeing from their pursuers across the desert.
After two days of travel across the hot sands, guided by Ka'cha, the group stumbled across his tribe, the Windrunners, and their leader, Ki'rik'ku. Ka'cha convinced them that the strange adventurers were friends, not food. Happy with one of their number returned, chief Ki'rik'ku gifted the aliens four large erdlu eggs (an invaluable source of nourishment in the Athasian desert) and two apples of healing. The thri-kreen then explained to the Malatran heroes how to reach their destination—the Ringing Forest—the way back to Toril. Finally, before the heroes left they were told of a patch of spider cacti that was a day's walk north of them, instructing how they could extract liquid from them and warning that their barbs were so sharp they could pierce even a thri-kreen's carapace. When the Malatran heroes finally came across the spider cacti patch at the head of a valley they wondered why it was so named, as to their eyes the plant didn't resemble a spider in any way.
With the transposition of Laerakond to Toril following the Spellplague, spider cacti could be found growing on that continent in the areas outside of its port-city Tarmalune. They were affected by creatures from the Elemental Plane of Fire brought forth by the Cult of Reborn Flame, who sought to awaken the sleeping Dawn Titan named Achazar in the 15 century DR.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===External Links===
* 
===References===
Category:Cacti
Category:Plant creatures
Category:Plants
Category:Creatures found in deserts
Category:Creatures found on Athas