Ancient Gully-maw
| Type | Fungal plant-beast (megafauna) |
|---|---|
| Height | Approx. 30 feet |
| Habitat | The Fen, beyond the Greygate |
| Lure | Circles of glowing blue mushrooms |
| Notable Diet | Panda (Sean Gardner) [citation needed] |
| Status | Actively hostile |
The Ancient Gully-maw is an enormous fungal plant-beast native to the Fen, the mist-drowned swampland that lies beyond the Greygate. Standing roughly thirty feet tall and encrusted from root to crown in mushrooms of every size, the creature is best known for the eerie circles of glowing blue mushrooms it uses as bait and for its unfortunate encounter with the Heroes of Eastport, during which it swallowed the cleric Panda (Sean Gardner) whole.
Description
The Gully-maw's body is a hulking mass of gnarled bark, root-tendrils and swollen fungal flesh, carpeted in mushrooms. The cluster crowning its shoulders and head burns with an intense electric-blue bioluminescence, the same cold light that rings the mushroom circles it leaves to draw prey. In place of a face it bears a great gully-like maw, from which it takes both its name and its preferred method of feeding.
Behaviour
The creature lies dormant beneath the swamp until disturbed, ringing itself with a circle of glowing blue mushrooms that lure the curious in through the fog. Contact with one of the mushrooms rouses the beast, which erupts from the ground already mid-attack. The Heroes of Eastport encountered exactly this in the Fen: the warlock Skaf from Yonder, "ever curious," touched one of the mushrooms, and the Gully-maw rose from the earth and set upon the party at once, seizing Panda in its maw and swallowing him.
The Will-o'-the-Wisps
The Gully-maw does not fight alone. During the battle a host of will-o'-the-wisps—ghostly, floating orbs of pale blue light—channelled crackling arcs of lightning into the creature's hide, knitting its wounds closed as quickly as the party could inflict them. The wisps' healing proved so troublesome that the druid Brogmar Mossbeard, who had summoned an army of blink dogs and sprites to the fight, ordered his sprites to break off and loose their little bows upon the wisps. The ranger Elion Ashhar-Rah'oul added his great longbow to the effort and felled one of the wisps outright—the only creature slain in the battle thus far. [citation needed]
Notable Encounters
The only documented confrontation with an Ancient Gully-maw took place in the Fen during the Heroes of Eastport's passage beyond the Greygate. It remains a rare and dangerous example of the Fen's reputation as a land "believed to be evil," and a cautionary tale about touching strange mushrooms in glowing circles. [citation needed]