Rootlyss

Rootlyss is an ancient, predatory tree-mimic that resembles a beautiful, almost erotic tree with pinkish-lavender bark, long tendril-like vines, and an intoxicating sweet scent. It is not a plant in the ordinary sense - it is a single, massive muscle-organ disguised as a tree. It hunts by luring humanoids with pheromones that cause relaxation, arousal, and an overwhelming desire to undress and press against its trunk.

Its vines (tendrils) are prehensile, warm, slightly sticky, and covered in sensitive bulbs that vibrate to induce involuntary spasms and pleasure. The tree can braid 2-4 vines together to form a thick, warm, pulsing pseudo-phallus (3-7 cm in diameter) for penetration. It can also braid 3-5 vines into an extremely long (up to 4 meters), flexible, yet firm cable for all-the-way-through penetration: entering through the mouth and exiting through the anus, or vice versa, passing through the esophagus, stomach, and entire intestinal tract. This cable can narrow to pass sphincters and expand again inside hollow organs.

At the base of the trunk, where normal trees have root collar, Rootlyss hides a vertical, fleshy slit that opens into a hot, wet, ribbed chamber. This is its main mouth/stomach. The tree uses this chamber to slowly swallow victims whole (vore), often after prolonged stimulation. Inside, the victim is dissolved over hours in sweet, paralytic, aphrodisiac digestive slime while experiencing multiple orgasms.

Pseudo-Fruits (Eggs/Apple Gags): Rootlyss grows large, red or golden apple-like fruits. These are actually eggs containing a tiny seedling. When a victim is immobilized, the tree forces one of these apples deep into the victim's mouth as a gag. The apple is too large to spit out. Warmth and saliva cause the skin to rupture, releasing a thick, sweet, paralytic-and-aphrodisiac sap that the victim must swallow. The apple prevents screaming and slowly begins to sprout fine roots into the victim's gums and tongue if left for days. The tree often penetrates the victim orally around or over the apple gag using a thin vine or the all-the-way-through cable.

Rootlyss does not kill quickly. It prefers to stretch the process over hours or even days, using its victim as a living incubator, feeding tube, or simple toy. Victims who survive (if released) are often permanently changed - physically and mentally broken, addicted to the tree's sap, or pregnant with its seedlings.

Variants:

• Kissing Willow: Focuses on oral penetration, inserting a long stylus-like vine down the throat to feed on saliva and throat fluids.
• Milking Oak: Does not digest victims. Instead, it stimulates them for hours or days, collecting milk, semen, and other secretions as food.
• Nesting Rose: Implants seeds inside the victim's body. Small vines sprout from the chest/stomach and seek new victims.
• Mother Root: A huge underground organism with multiple trunk-mouths. Can swallow 2-3 victims at once and tangle them together inside a common chamber.

The tree can also stop time for exactly three seconds (inherited from the original Formidable card as a joke/optional power). During those three seconds, Rootlyss can reposition vines, force an apple gag deeper, or adjust an all-the-way-through cable without the victim's knowledge. When time resumes, only the consequences remain.

Rootlyss is not inherently malicious - it is a predator following its instincts. It does not hate its prey; it simply hungers for the warmth, fluids, and eventual dissolution of living bodies. Some ancient forests worship Rootlyss as a deity of fertility and decay.

Appearance (as a creature, not a tree): When not disguised as a tree, Rootlyss resembles a massive, fleshy bulb covered in pinkish wrinkled skin, anchored by thick roots. From the top sprout dozens of vines of varying thickness (1-7 cm). One central trunk-like organ ends in the vertical mouth-slit. The apple-fruits hang from thin vine-stems. The creature has no eyes, no face, no obvious intelligence - only pure, patient hunger and an alien, almost loving patience. Its flesh is warm to the touch (slightly above human body temperature), and it constantly exudes a sweet, cloying scent that causes mild euphoria and muscle relaxation.

Voice and Mannerisms: Rootlyss does not speak. It may produce wet, sucking sounds, the creak of vines tightening, or the soft pop of an apple being forced into a mouth. Some ancient specimens learn to mimic human speech using a throat-like organ, but the voice is always wrong - too wet, too slow, with words slurring together. It might whisper, "Rest now," or, "You wanted this," in the voice of a previous victim.

Abilities:

• Pheromone emission (Charisma save or become relaxed, aroused, and willing to approach)
• Vine grappling (multiple vines, escape DC 15 Strength or Dexterity)
• Pseudo-phallus formation (2-4 vines braided)
• All-the-way-through cable (3-5 vines braided, up to 4 meters long)
• Apple gag (forces apple into mouth, silences victim, requires action to remove)
• Swallow whole (victim must be grappled and restrained, enters stomach chamber)
• Digestive slime (inside stomach, deals slow acid damage + paralytic + aphrodisiac)
• Time stop (3 seconds, once per hour, optional)
• Root movement (can slowly pull itself through soil at 5 ft per round)