Xtabay

Xtabay

(Creature)

Type

Plant

CR

½

Environment

Any land

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 289

Xtabays are a kind of small but deadly plant that put their victims to sleep with their scent, then drains the life from them.

Appearance

Xtabays resemble flowering ivy vines in terms of size and appearance. Their flowers distinguish them from more mundane plants: petals are either crimson or violet in colour and each has a small face-like pattern on them. Adventurers have reported encountering far larger xtabays that are much more threatening, their ivy-like tendrils growing as thick as tree trunks.

Habitant & Ecology

Xtabays' unique feature is its deadly scent that puts those who succumb to it into a slumber. When put to sleep by its pollen the xtabay then devours its victim, using its tendrils to painlessly devour the sleeping creature without ever causing it to awaken. Xtabays can spread as quickly as ivy does and can be found anywhere where invasive plant species thrive, from the depths of remote woodlands to the gardens of civilised creatures. Xtabays can even be found underground where they tend to favour wetter caves with reports of entire caverns covered floor to ceiling in the deadly plant.

Xtabays are actually mobile: they are able to move very slowly to seek out new prey. Able to sense movement, these plant will migrate until they find somewhere with new living victims. Once they arrive, they stop moving to disguise themselves as more mundane plants. Once they have subdued a creature, they completely devour it, eventually using acid to strip it of all nutrients, dissolving even bone and removing any evidence of its predation. Xtabays completely ignore any creatures that prove to be resistant to its sleeping poison. Unlike many other carnivorous plants, xtabays never live near patches of bramblelash, this is because these violent plants wake up any victims of the xtabay's poison with their bloodthirsty lashings.

On Golarion

Hermits and other forest-dwelling recluses are known to sometimes deliberately plant patches of xtabays near their homes to keep others out. On the continent of Arcadia, xtabays can be found in the nation of Xopatl, although they are far from common. In Tian Xia, xtabays can be found on some of the Wandering Isles of Minata and are used on Majapahit Island to help guard the sovereign dragon Tuan Huy's lair.