Oyster Mushrooms!!!

Behold, birds who have lost the ability to can!

Just kidding, guys.  These birds are just trolling the hell out of ants.  I really, really wanted to show you this clip of a Galapagos finch or something harassing the shit out of formica ants and then being all “Yes, yes, bathe me in your fury!  Your chemical defenses are now my own!  Mwahahahaha!”, but the closest thing I could find is this video of David Attenborough pissing off some wood ants.  It was basically like that, only instead of an Englishman with a stick, it was a bird stomping around with its wings spread just being an absolute asshole about everything.

This behavior is actually called anting, and there are two types of anting that birds can engage in.  One is just anting, where birds will rub ants all over themselves to get that precious, precious formic acid all up in their feathers.  They’ll also do it with mothballs, cigarette butts, and certain sorts of beetles and millipedes.  The other one is passive anting, where a particularly lazy bird will find an anthill and just flop down on it with all their feathers spread and puffed and annoy the ants until they hop to and try to make them leave, at which point the bird rubs its wings together and goes “Yeeeeeess.”

They do this to get rid of external parasites, because external parasites are annoying.  Ant-eating birds who do this are getting a two-for deal out of it, because they get the ants to empty their acid sacs in a beneficial location (the bird’s feathers) and then get to eat them without having to deal with the acid in their crops, so it’s basically like if your bug-spray or deoderant came in a bacon bottle.

Formica ants get the brunt of this, because they’re super-common and quite frequently spray the acid instead of trying to inject it, so the bird can get itself doused and then preen it into its feathers.  Considering the spraying of acid is like the ant way of saying “Oh my god go away you dickhead I hate you we all hate you why are you still here jesus christ what is wrong with you,” we can be reasonably sure that they’re not super-thrilled by this bird behavior.  Since the birds keep doing it, we can be reasonably sure that they don’t care about the ants’ feelings.

apples trees in winter snow

I'm sick in bed, someone rub my head and read me a story

YE!!!!

Super proud of this one!!! ^w^ The eye crowns especially I really loved working on :D

last of the animal terrarium series~ I had to take a long break due to being super sick for a while but I’m so glad have to finished the 6 part series~ Thank you all who suggested which animals I should draw :D

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

Lacencu

Something a little different, I tried to make a monster inspired by an art! Here it is!

The illustration below is by one of my favorite artists, Abigail Larson. Enjoy, please!

~

Lacencu

Lacencu (la-SEN-koo) combine traits of centaurs, succubi, and lamia, but their origins are murky. Lacencu might be related to all three of these species, or none. To date, investigations have proved inconclusive; it doesn’t seem like the lacencu remember their ancestors well, nor do they care. Rumors abound, but their most popular origin story involves a tribe of centaurs trapped underground, never to see the sun again. Ill-suited to the endless caves, these centaurs made pacts with various eldritch powers for survival. Over time, fiendish influence and the Underdark’s unusual conditions molded the centaurs into lacencu, charming but paranoid masters of enchantment.

Observers are shocked at the lacencu’s agility; their ponderous centaur-like physiology doesn’t look suited to climbing or flying, yet the lacencu do both with elegance. The lacencu seem to dance about the rocks, switching between hopping like mountain goats, climbing with their arms, clawed wings, and prehensile tails, and flapping short distances with fluid ease.

The lacencu are typically friendly, and they love to hear stories of the surface world. But the lacencu know their numbers are small compared to other Underdark races; lending some credence to the “lost centaurs” theory, they fear extinction, and know danger lurks around every corner in the Underdark. So the moment a visitor displays any violent, duplicitous, or otherwise untoward behavior, the lacencu employ their innate magic to turn these visitors away, back into the darkness of the underground. If magic manipulation fails, or if the lacencu fear this enemy will come back with a vengeance, they’ll take up arms as a tribe and slay the interloper.

Despite their embedded fear of extinction, most sentient residents of the Underdark have no quarrel with the lacencu – except the drow. Lancencu raid drow outposts and city outskirts for supplies, artifacts, weapons, and fashions. The lacencu pick on the drow partly out of necessity; out of all their Underdark neighbors, drow are the closest in body type (from the waist up) compared to the stout duergar, the diminutive svirfneblin, or hulking quaggoths. Most items made with drow in mind, the lacencu can use too.

Lacencu

Large monstrosity (sapient), typically neutral good

Armor Class 13

Hit Points 78 (12d10 + 12)

Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft., fly 50 ft.

STR 14(+2) DEX 16(+3) CON 13(+1) INT 15(+2) WIS 16(+3) CHA 17(+3)

Saving Throws WIS +5, CHA +5

Skills Acrobatics +5, Athletics +4, Nature +4, Insight +5, Perception +5, Survival +5, Persuasion +5

Damage Resistances psychic

Senses Alignment Sense, Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 15

Languages Infernal, Sylvan, telepathy 100 ft. (only works with other lacencu), Undercommon

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Proficiency Bonus +2

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Innate Spellcasting. The lacencu’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components.

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts

3/day each: scrying, suggestion

1/day each: geas, sleep

Flyby. The lacencu doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.

Actions

Multiattack. The lacencu can make multiple attacks: either 1 each with hooves and spear, or 1 hooves and 2 wings.

Clawed Wings. Melee Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., 1 target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage.

Hooves. Melee Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., 1 target. Hit: 11 (2d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage. Lacencu can also attack backwards with their hooves by bucking.

Poisoned Spear. Melee or Ranged Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., thrown 20/60 ft., 1 target. Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) piercing damage plus 6 (2d6) poison damage.

Charm. One humanoid the lacencu can see within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be magically charmed for 1 day. The charmed target obeys the lacencu’s verbal or telepathic commands. If the target suffers any harm or receives a suicidal command, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success. If the target successfully saves against the effect, or if the effect on it ends, the target is immune to this particular lacencu’s Charm for the next 24 hours.

The lacencu can have only one target charmed at a time. If it charms another, the effect on the previous target ends.

Bonus Actions

Aura Reading. Detect magic and detect thoughts are bonus actions for lacencu.

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DESIGN NOTES

Yes, I came up with the name by remixing the syllables of centaur, succubus, and lamia.

Took me way too long to realize I should give these folks darkvision and a climbing speed, since they live in the Underdark, and there’s stuff in the flavor text about how they climb good.

Mooshroom and Mooblooms 🍄🌻

Art by Nekro

Hey. I have a message for aspiring authors (or already published ones) out there. It’s a little story I wanted to share~

When I was a kid, I spent at least half of my free time in the local library. I was that one kid who basically refused to go anywhere near the “popular” book racks, unless I was given a good recommendation for something. So you know what I did instead?

I went to the furthest back shelves, the depths of the young adult section, chose whatever I thought had a cool cover or an interesting synopsis, and sat down and read it. Many of those books were by lesser known authors, maybe they’d been out for a few years, but most hadn’t ever had time to shine.

If the story was terrible, I stopped after the first few pages and put it back to pick out another. And I was picky. But I found so many gems. I found so many books that I fell in love with, that I still remember. I was inspired by so much of that wonderful writing.

So. If you’re planning on publishing your work, either by traditional or other means, but you’re feeling discouraged because you don’t think it will ever get that much attention?

Put it out there, anyways. Put it out there for kids like me. Put it out there for adults like me. Put it out there because there will always be someone who reads your book and loves it, who adds it to their favourites list, and who goes on a search for all of your other writing.

If you love your story, put it out there for those who are bound to love it, too.