Blood Bush

This creature appears as a 3-foot tall flowering bush with a thick trunk and small whip-like branches. Each branch is topped with a blood-red flower and deep, rich green leaves.

Blood Bush CR 4

XP 1,200
N Small plant
Init +0; Senses blindsight 30 ft., low-light vision; Perception +1

AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+7 natural, +1 size)
hp 57 (6d8+30)
Fort +10; Ref +2; Will +3
Immune electricity; Resist cold 10, fire 10
Weaknesses vulnerable to sonic

Speed 0 ft.
Melee tendril +7 (1d4+2)
Ranged flower dart +5 (1d2+2)
Special Attacks flower dart, implant

Str 15, Dex 10, Con 20, Int â, Wis 12, Cha 9
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 15

Flower Dart (Ex)

As a standard action, a blood bush can launch a barrage of six flower darts (make an attack roll for each dart). This attack has a range of 40 feet with no range increment. All targets must be within 30 feet of each other. The creature can launch only 30 such darts in one day.

Implant (Ex)

A creature hit by one of the blood bushâs flower darts is implanted with one of its seeds. A seed quickly germinates as follows:

Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary, cluster (2â4)
Treasure none

The blood bush is a fell plant creature cursed by a wizard in times past. It is named for its blood-red flowers and its thorny blood-red seeds. A blood bush is sometimes referred to as a âgrave marker plantâ because a creature that encounters it, and fails to see the danger this sinister plant presents, rarely lives to tell about it.

A blood bush can only be grown from a seed that has germinated inside the warm body of a Small or larger animal. Roots from the germinating seed kill the host and use the nutrients provided to grow rapidly into a deadly plant. A number of nobles use this horrid plant as a deterrent against thieves and robbers, sometimes creating entire hedges of these plants.

A blood bush appears as a flowering bush about 3 feet tall. Its thick trunk quickly splits off into many smaller, whip-like branches, each topped with a blood-red flower surrounded by deep green leaves. Blood bush seeds can be sold for about 20 gp each on the open market; collecting them and living to earn the money they bring is not the easiest of tasks.

When a blood bush detects a warm-blooded creature within 20 feet, it fires a volley of flower darts at the creature, attempting to implant it with its seeds. A creature that dies from the blood bushâs seed implantation rapidly decomposes, and a new blood bush springs up in the area within four days. Living creatures within 5 feet of a blood bush are slashed and cut with its four whip-like tendrils.