Tall-biter

Summary

No one knows where tall-biters come from or how they're made, but to many explorers, adventurers, and other wild goers, it doesn't matter. These terrifying giants are experts at camouflage, blending in with any kind of tree or sufficiently large foliage. Virtually indistinguishable, they lay in wait for days and weeks for anything sufficiently large to move by them (or, underneath their 'branches'). Roused awake, the tall-biter's titular identity is made evident when its enormous, distending jaws lurch down from above, snapping up their chosen prey in mere seconds. For others, they may use their crooked, crab-claw like hands and grasp something in their crushing digits, only to shove it down their gullet. If all is well, the tall-biter rests again, digesting its meal and waiting for the next to show up.   In the rare times a tall-biter feels threatened, it can uproot itself, rising to its full and imposing height. Despite such sizes, they move fast and strike with alarming speed. However, lacking the stamina to keep going, they tire out just as quickly if one is lucky enough to survive. Unfortunately, actually harming one is a bit of a joke--the 'shell' of a tall-biter is an inordinately solid, stone-like surface. Bladed weapons are hilariously useless, while axes, pickaxes, or even explosives need a bit of force to really damage them. Fire can prove useful in burning off their foliage, revealing their horrendously misshapen, grotesque body underneath. So vile is it that some people initially believed them to be a form of undead, perhaps even a variant of the ravener.   Still, they are animals of a kind. They do express a learning mentality, with some roaming tall-biters copycatting the behavior of people. One even reportedly bore a grudge at being lit aflame, stalking its attackers across the entirety of Aerthen just to kill and eat them. That aside, they do not readily display much intelligence; in fact, their own camouflage can be a dead giveaway when the seasons change. While other trees turn orange, blue, or black in the falls and winters, tall-biters stay a lustrous green, red, or purple. An astute mind looking out across a forest can easily spot them as a consequence.