Chulapa
In the deep forest of Ulaï, many strange plants, animals and fungi can be found.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the cave of Mungmok, underneath the forest. Small tubers, known as Muriks, grow from the root system of tress in the forest, the specific trees are known as Grassym. Where a terminating root system bursts out into open air, past the ceiling of the cave, a tuber known as a mungmok forms, and grows over months, sometimes even years. They are dull brown, utterly unremarkable to anyone who has seen a pocato. In the forest litter, under the trees, many a fungi grows, and this is where the Chulapa enters our story. The chulapa is mycelium, a fungal body most closely associated with edible mushrooms. In the ceiling of the cave, it absorbs carbon dioxide and emits oxygen, while generating energy compounds for the rest of the fungal body. It is the same dull brown as a Murik, or indeed a pocato, but its flesh is pink to purple, not beige.
The few bats known to gnaw on the odd Murik soon learn to leave Chulapas alone, for they harbor two dangerous compounds, one is powerful hallucinogen the other is Delta-Batrachotoxin-C, a paralyzing agent. Many a would be speleologist was scared out of their wits, when:
out of the blue, a bat that had just roosted itself with its claws in the ceiling of the cave, had started singing or otherwise vocalizing, due to the hallucinations, and seemed to get ready for flight. Then the paralysis set in, stopping its wings mid-stride.
Even more surprising to a zoologist with knowledge of the animal, who thought nothing could loosen its claw hold on its perch, when the paralysis took form of a tremor that unlocked said claws, and the bat fell to the ground, not yet dead, but condemned to, as it had not been able to breathe the entire time, and would soon asphyxiate.
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