CLASS: BOTANICAL
BIOLOGY: Most of the Sightseed's botaniform biomass is both immobile and insensate, developing many bulbous, hollow crania from a central "vine" of rubbery flesh that may span over a hundred meters in ideal conditions. Devoid of its own brain, each cranium houses a pair of complex, independently ambulatory eyes possessing their own sophisticated nervous systems. Sightseed eyes achieve air travel via buoyant gas bladders and the rippling of their five muscular, retractable flagellae, the same appendages through which they feed. An eye first emits pulsing psychowaves to transfix suitable prey, then penetrates the ears, nostrils or eye sockets to drink its fill of cerebral tissues and surrounding fluids, much of which will be injected back into its home pod. In addition to its many territorial eyes, a Sightseed's vine is protected by numerous thin, brittle needles filled with an incredibly painful venom, and its pale, blue blood is discouragingly bitter to the taste. It is the eyes prized by most predators, should they evade becoming meals themselves. Despite appearances, the Sightseed possesses far less plant or fungal material than most other botaniforms, with animal cells comprising the vast majority of its tissues. BEHAVIOR: Sightseed eyes normally develop in identical pairs, which prefer to coordinate their hunts together. Should one of a pair expire, the other will simply cease to feed, allowing itself and its home cranium to wilt. Disagreements between these "siblings" still aren't unheard of, and one may sometimes force another to move in with a neighboring pair until their differences can be resolved. APPLIANCE: Sightseed are typically allowed to grow freely wherever their services may prove useful, especially as a security system in greenhouses, garbage heaps and graveyards where they easily blend in with the existing flora. For more active combat, a Sightseed may be transported in a massive spool and quickly unfurled onto the battlefield or deployed in small, scattered cuttings of one to three pods at a time. Deceased Sightseed heads eventually dry into small, hard spheres, the desiccated remains of their eyes rattling noisily within. These remains are commonly painted, strung together and sold as musical instruments or decorative chimes, which Sightseed themselves seem to find particularly amusing to toy with. WANDERING EYES: the monster may have a dozen eyes or more, each an independent monster working together as an organized colony. HYPNOSIS: creatures meeting the gaze of a Sightseed's eyes are rendered helplessly mesmerized. FLUID DRAIN: the monster's eyes can draw fluids from the brain and spine of a hypnotized victim. STING: the Sightseed's central vine is protected by many painful, stinging bristles.   Contents copyright Jonathan Wojcik
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