Dire Walkers

Dire Walkers are a species of incredible power. These three-legged creatures spend most of their time immobile, and their legs are so tall that their body remains above the canopy. Their legs are also well-disguised, and look like trees when they are not moving. However, their legs act as mimics and cause creatures to adhere to them on contact, whereupon the Dire Walker can pull the leg up to its mouth and consume its prey. 
Alternatively, the Dire Walkers can move through the forest with their high dexterity, chasing prey as it moves along the ground. Dire Walkers have Blindsight due to the tremor sense that runs through their bodies, allowing them to pinpoint the location of a living creature anywhere within 45 feet of them.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Dire Walkers are composed of three 40-foot-long legs that produce an adhesive residue. Their bodies are 15 feet long and remain above the canopy most of the time. Its head is the shape of a triangle and has hundreds of tiny teeth that shred through meat and bone. It has four eyes, two set on each side of its head. Its body is a green that blends well with the canopy of its environment, and its legs are brown or reddish brown.

Genetics and Reproduction

Dire Walkers have four breeding periods per year. The first two of them occur at the beginning of the year during the dry season, while the third is about halfway through the year while the last occurs around the 15th month.

Growth Rate & Stages

Dire Walkers take 7 mating seasons to mature — almost two years' time in Thelesia. Each breeding cycle they go through a transformation:

• 1: Grow legs
• 2: Come out of cocoon
• 3: Grow teeth
• 4: Develop points
• 5: Shed exoskeleton
• 6: Leg growth
• 7: Shed exoskeleton

Ecology and Habitats

The Dire Walkers are adapted to inhabit a forest. Thus, they inhabit Siopdre and Jobara, and have for as long as anyone can remember. If they were to be introduced to Volorun, they would almost certainly overrun the jungles in the east and the Badumunzes and the plains around Tiburh would become some of the few safe places on the continent.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Dire Walkers are opportunistic predators, though they are capable of being active predators if they are hungry. To survive, they require at least one hearty meal (100 pounds of flesh) every mating cycle. However, they are capable of eating as much as 100 pounds of flesh per day, and if nourished in this way their brain will begin to grow rather than their body. That is, the more nourished a Dire Walker is and has been the smarter it is.

Additional Information

Domestication

Dire Walkers have not been domesticated, though some of them have been captured and now reside in zoos in cities in Volorun.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

If a Dire Walker is killed, it has several useful body parts. First, its teeth are small enough to be manufactured into bone needles. The adhesive serum that a Walker's legs produce can be used to bind nearly anything together and functions as a Thelesian superglue. Finally, its exoskeleton can be made into an impressive medium armor that does not impose a Dexterity cap on its wearer.

Average Intelligence

Dire Walkers have an average intelligence score of 4. However, Dire Walkers that are well-nourished for portions of their lives have been known to accrue humanoid-level intelligence, even allowing highly intelligent Dire Walkers to strategize with one another. The most intelligent known case was a Dire Walker on Jobara that hunted humanoids on the continent and learned their movement patterns as well as how to mimic the sound of their speech.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Keen Sight - Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. Blindsight - 45 feet Tremorsense - 45 feet

Lifespan

3500 years

Conservation Status

Though this species is rare, it is not under any kind of organized protection as it resides solely on the Twisted Isles and in zoos in Volorun.

Average Height

45 feet

Average Weight

500 pounds

Average Length

15 feet

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Bodies tend to be green and blend in with the canopy from above, while legs are brown or reddish brown and blend in with the tree trunks of the forest.

Geographic Distribution

• Jobara
• Siopdre