Yellow musk creeper

Yellow musk creepers were unholy vines whose flowers resembled orchids. These flowers were able to expel a musk that attracted prey.
==Description==
Yellow musk creepers resembled light-green vines with ivylike leaves and dark-green buds. Their flowers were orchid-like, bright-yellow with splashes of purple, filling the air with a heavy scent of musk. Bones could be found under their roots, the remains of their victims.
Some varieties, particularly those in Thay, had dark red sap flowing inside their pulpy tendrils.
==Abilities==
The yellow musk creepers would cling to walls, pillars and graveyards, remaining motionless until striking. The plant would destroy the minds of humanoids, burrowing into the brains of its victims and implanting its bulbs. Twenty-four hours after being implanted, the bulbs sprouted a creeper vine that animated the host corpse, turning it into a yellow musk zombie under its control. The corpse acted as fertilizer for the sprout, which grew to full size in a week. Once it was fully grown, the plant became mobile, reducing the zombie to a pile of dead offal. Sometimes this period was extended, making the zombies serve the parent plant for a few months before wandering off and sprouting a new creeper.
The victims lucky to survive a failed brain burrowing attack were feebleminded, slowly regaining their intelligence with the passing of days. Even after becoming a yellow musk zombie, some victims were still alive. Restoring them to their former selves was a difficult task which required potent healing magic and weeks of recovery.
The flowers of yellow musk creepers could spray purple puffs of pollen, charming the humanoids with their musky fragrance and inviting to come closer. Carried by the wind, the odor could influence victims even far away from the plant.
The fully grown creeper fed not only on the soil, but also on the corpses of creatures brought to it by the zombies. The creeper could quickly regrow itself, and only damage to its bulbous root under the soil could inflict serious wounds to the plant.
==History==
In 1362 DR yellow musk creepers and their zombies were a part of Szass Tam's undead army tasked in aiding the Harper agents foiling Maligor's planned takeover of the Thay's gold production.
==Ecology==
===Habitats===
By the late 14 century DR, yellow musk creepers filled the Nemessor Tunnel, an ancient highway in the Underdark that was once part of Shanatar.
In the land of Kara-Tur these plants could be found growing in its tropical and sub-tropical mountains.
They were also abundant in Chult.
Yellow musk creeper petals had a pleasant, alluring, musky aroma. They could be gathered to produce salts of musk creeper, a valuable alchemical ingredient that could be mixed with certain types of suspension to create potions of superior healing.
==Appendix==
===See Also===
* Red musk creeper
* Uluu Thalongh
* Yellow musk extract
===Gallery===
Salts of Musk Creeper.png|Salts of musk creeper.
===Appearances===
===References===