| Class: | Vegimal |
| Hab: | Arid wastes |
| Fre: | Uncommon |
| Num: | Saguaro: clump:1-10, forest: 10-110 Bear barrel: 1-6 |
| Lair: | Saguaro: sessile 100%, mobile 80% Bear barrel: 50% |
| Size: | Saguaro: 7-25' tall Bear barrel: 6-12' tall, 500-2,000 lbs. |
| Move: | Saguaro: sessile OR ponderous lolling Bear barrel: horse-fast for short sprints |
| Def: | Very thick, tough hide, armoring interlaced spines, deeply buried vitals |
| Att: | Spiked pummeling + crushing hug with many dagger-like spines Mobile uses allies |
| Int: | Saguaro: barely Bear barrel: basic beast |
| Spec: | Rarely |
| Posns: | Incidental, sap, vegi-leather hides |
Saguaro cacti are tall, pillar-like cacti with arm-like branches. The squeezing saguaro beckons with delicately scented flowers or fruit in season. Even its shade is beckoning to the weary traveler.
Once its prey is within arms' reach, the saguaro wraps its branches about its prey to squeeze and constrict. Further, its needles pierce the flesh and immediately begin exsanguinating its prey. As the blood is sucked out, the prey weakens and ceases to struggle. Soon, the cactus is filled with nourishing fluids.
Vermin often live near a hugging cactus, driving or luring prey within reach of the cactus. Such vermin feast upon the drained bodies left by the cactus; they may drag the corpses away so as not to leave tell-tale bones about the cactus, or bury the remains by the cactus to help fertilize it. Such vermin have even been known to plant dropped branchlets, which grow as clones of the mother plant, thus cultivating whole "saguaro forests," if one can call it a forest where the trees are so widely spaced.
| Vladpup Home RPG Home Bestiary Index Cacti Sub-Index | Last update Apr 4, 2006 |