The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Fruit Gobbler

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    Some creatures have no ill intent towards others despite being relatively dangerous. This is not the case for the Fruit Gobbler, a nuisance of a creature that stands about five feet tall and which likes to spend her time stealing the fruit that other people picked. The Fruit Gobbler is quick, an excellent climber, and can teleport up to ten feet at a time. These three factors make the Fruit Gobbler a menace of the only area in the Damp Plains that can support large numbers of fruit trees. The beast has long, sharp claws that are useful for climbing, spearing fruits, and slashing anyone trying to stop her. Although others believe the Fruit Gobbler is something the locals made up to explain why they export so little fruit despite the size of the orchards, there is not a single orchard worker who doesn't have stories of her.

    The Fruit Gobbler seems to eat nothing but fruit, so the best way to avoid her is to not carry fruit with you. On a more serious note, the orchard workers have several superstitions about how to ward her off. Many of them believe that she hate garlic and will not come close to your fruit if you throw a few garlic cloves in your pocket. I cannot say how accurate this is, but it is the most popular method of warding off the Fruit Gobbler. It is said that she has made her nest in the very center of the orchard, in a secret location that only the Fruit Gobbler can access through the use of her teleportation power. I was unable to find her lair, so these stories may be true.

    Something odd I noticed about the Fruit Gobbler is that her claws glow for a brief moment before she teleports, leading me to believe that the claws are somehow responsible for the ability. The Fruit Gobbler regularly has the tips of her claws break off, and I was able to collect a few. Each claw tip seems to have enough magical power left in it to replicate the Fruit Gobbler's teleportation power exactly once, which I think could be useful.