Plant Dossier: Hissing Vines
Type: Tubular vine
Where to Find: Jungles, rainforests, wetlands, temples. Comfortable range: 32° - 120° F
Distinguishing Features: Diamond, striped, or zigzagging patterns of dark green and amber.
Harmless Scares
Believed to be a result of dozens of specialized breeding experiments conducted by Yuan-Ti botanists, hissing vines are a semi-invasive species that has come to dominate many of the jungles and rainforests of the world.
Hissing vines are known for their wide varieties of patterns and colors, ranging from deep forest green to brilliant ambers. These vines grow in erratic patterns, often looping themselves twice or thrice around a single branch or coiling near the base of the forest floor. Their appearance combined with their origin and growing mannerisms often betray the vine’s true nature. At a distance, many hissing vines are indistinguishable from snakes.
This mimicry extends to the vine’s namesake trait. The hissing vine is highly sensitive to touch and changes in temperature. When either occur the water stored within is squeezed from the inside and sent to the tip of the vine. The rushing flow of water creates the telltale hissing noise these vines are known for while the sudden shifting of water makes them shake and whip about.
In the wild, these vines are harmless. Hissing vines are actually a phenomenal source of fresh water. Adult hissing vines store up to 15 gallons of water. This poses a bit of a problem for other flora, as the vine may very well soak up all the water after a rainfall before other plants can take it in.
These vines are also famously used to adorn Yuan-Ti temples and cities. In these circumstances, the vines act as a biological security system. Anyone careless enough to touch a hissing vine in a Yuan-TI temple will often trigger a chain reaction where dozens of vines begin to let out a cacophony of watery hisses.
Gameplay Effects
Hiss. Whenever a creature moves within 5 ft. of the hissing vine it emits a loud snake-like hiss audible within 100 ft. of it. If any other hissing vines are located within 30 ft. of the vine they also begin to hiss. For each vine that begins to hiss after the first, the audible range increases by 100 ft.
