The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Winged Echidna

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

    Fluttering around the tree branches of the Battered Jungle is the Winged Echidna, a spikey insectivore. Local folklore claims that this housecat-sized creature spends its days flying around the jungle in search of termite nests, beehives, and any other insects it can dig out of the wood with its large talons. During the day, the creature sleeps in a nest it digs out of a living tree with its claws every morning. During the night, the Winged Echidna goes about its business searching for food. When it feels threatened, the Winged Echidna is able to roll itself up into a ball in midair, falling on its attackers and covering them with its deadly spikes. This method of defense is only a last resort, however, as the Winged Echidna is rather small and timid. Given its small size, it is no wonder the creature is so poorly-known outside of the Battered Jungle.

    While other echidnas have spikes covering their backs, the Winged Echidna has particularly deadly spikes. Aided by magic, the spikes make their effect known when they break the skin of a living creature. Once they have have made a wound, the spikes propel themselves towards the heart of whatever poor creature they are inside of. The spines will only stop moving when they puncture the heart or are pulled out of the creature, making them quite dangerous. The only method I have found to nullify this effect in the spines is to soak the entry wound in alcohol. Although painful, this will stop the movement of the spine long enough to allow for extraction. Without taking this measure, it is much more difficult grab the spine, as it will be actively moving.

    One important thing about the obscurity of this creature and its magical effect is that there are very few people outside of the Battered Jungle who know how to stop the spikes from moving. If one were to collect a large number of these spines, they would have quite the arsenal of deadly weapons. Without the knowledge of how to neutralize the spines, it is only ever a matter of time before the victim of a Winged Echidna spine succumbs to their fate. In order to collect larger numbers of these spines, one could follow the creature as it travels through the forest. Every morning, it leaves it nest behind for good, allowing for someone to get in there and collect whatever spikes feel off during the night, usually at least a half dozen. I'm not sure how often most people need to use something so deadly, so hopefully one or two nights of digging through the creature's nests should yield more than enough spines.