The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: Ludwig of the Forest

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

    When wandering the woods and forests of the Greatest Fork, it is possible to catch a glimpse of a strange creature known as Ludwig of the Forest. Ludwig stands about six feet tall at the shoulder and spends his time wandering through the woods foraging for food. The creature's diet consists mostly of the soft inner bark of trees, something he is able to get by thrashing tree trunks with the spikes on his flexible trunk. This action knocks off and shreds the outer bark and makes it much easier to get at the soft tissue Ludwig prefers to eat. Ludwig is also quite fast, able to range dozens of miles from his nest and still return home to sleep each night. As a result, Ludwig is pretty much only found in his nest when it is dark out and he is sleeping. In order to survive the harsh winters of his home, Ludwig must hibernate each year, going to sleep around the time the leaves fall and waking up around the time new buds form. None of this is to say that Ludwig is peaceful. The beast is incredibly violent, but only towards those who he witnesses cutting down trees. When he sees someone cutting down a living tree, he flies into a rage, charging the offender and shredding them with his spiked trunk.

    Although it may seem odd that a beast who brutalizes trees like Ludwig would dislike those who cut them down, I believe there is a reason for it. Ludwig, as far as I can tell, has the magical ability to sense which trees are close to death. While this is a bold claim, I believe it has merit because the creature only ever seems to feed on trees that are either sick or quite old. Often, the sickliness of the trees are not evident until after they have been killed. Such an ability indicates that Ludwig must care for the overall health of the forest, speeding up the demise of unhealthy trees to keep the overall population strong. Why Ludwig performs this task is beyond me, but I appreciate his work. Other than not getting on his bad side, the best way to ward off Ludwig is to burn pretty much any kind of incense. Ludwig has a very sensitive sense of smell and does not like the strong scent of burning incense.

    If one can find Ludwig's nest, it is quite safe to look inside because Ludwig is either not there or he is asleep. This is a good thing because Ludwig actually keeps a lot of valuable material in his nest. To keep things soft, he shreds up tree bark with his trunk until it is soft and fluffy. Not only is this material excellent bedding, but it can be spun into thread and woven into incredibly soft fabrics. Or if you don't want fabrics, the unprocessed fluff is highly flammable, which is always great. Whatever you want to do with your pilfered bedding, the stuff is very valuable and can also be sold for large amounts of money while being relatively easy to collect once you know where to get it.