Creeping Vines

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Deep within the Savage Lands, the Dryads are said to work with ancient and powerful magic, shaping life itself into new and wondrous forms. The fruits of their labor can be beautiful and exotic, but in the blood-red flowers of these horrors, there is no beauty to be found.

Creeping Vines inhabit the nightmares of adventurers everywhere. They are omnivorous, fast-growing, and resilient. The vines are as tough as cured leather, their thorns are razor-sharp, their grip is capable of snapping bone. They grow far faster than any plant in the wilderness, and are always hungry.

They survive by consuming everything unfortunate enough to get in their way, while leaving behind a trail of dead shoots and discarded bones. Because they grow and die off so quickly, the living vines appear to move across surfaces, at a rate of a few feet per second. Under the care of Dryads, they help keep the forest free of unwanted plants and "failed endeavors," and bring balance to the ecosystem, all while keeping the forest floor fertile with their nutrient-rich remains.

Their symbiotic relationship with the Dryads is puzzling; it is rumored that they were created as servile guardians to the tree-spirits by the most powerful among them. A Dryad will die before letting one fall into the wrong hands, and for good reason. The vines have no will of their own except to grow and feed, and if they do possess any kind of intelligence, it is animalistic, driven by predatory instinct.

In direct combat, the vines grow furiously around their target, surrounding and ensnaring it from all sides and angles. Any armor or clothing the vines can not immediately pierce will be explored by countless "feelers" for even the slightest gap. Once the armor is circumvented, the thorny vines will lacerate the skin and extend roots deep into the body, sucking it dry of all fluids and nutrients, leaving only dust and dry bones.

A natural chemical coating makes them resistant to heat, yet magical fire and lightning are still effective ways of dealing with them, should it heat the vines sufficiently to burn them away. A man with a lit torch can not hope to achieve the same success. When searching for other vulnerabilities, it is important to remember that at their core they are still plants, and require plenty of sunlight, fresh air, water, and nutrients to survive, especially with their greatly accelerated metabolism. Magic also plays a large role in sustaining them.

Severing the vines with a sharp blade is a mistake that will do little more than buy time, as any cut vines will quickly be reabsorbed into the main cluster, or even grow into a second. If not for the guidance of Dryads, it is theorized that all of the vines would eventually meet, lumping together into a single massive growth that would spell disaster for the whole of the Savage Lands, and possibly the world beyond.

I really like it, you've captured the sheer brutality of the Savage Lands and what we want to do with it well with this post. I'm going to go ahead and move it. :)