The Exploding Carpet is an unusual animal, and probably one of the more disturbing ones to boot. Considering that they live in Floran environments, this is rather telling. Although they are similar in appearance to a large patch of moss or fungus, and indeed resemble large amounts of plant matter when its life cycle is analyzed. However, this creature should not be mistaken for any kind of carpet to tred over, otherwise they may lose more than their footing (such as, perhaps, their foot). This is due to the many chemicals these creatures create in their bodies contained in weak sacks; stepping on a key point on their forms breaks these sacks, and causes a violent chemical reaction that results in a potent explosion. This, along with the arrangement of green patterns on their topside, is what gives them the name of Exploding Carpets. Usually, the smaller creatures in the worlds they live in are too light or skittish to trigger an Exploding Carpet; it takes the weight of a large child to normally detonate one, although other creatures have been known to run over one while rampaging and causing explosions in themselves. Natural Habitat: Floran homeworlds see the greatest collection of these creatures, as they prefer bright, sunny, and moist areas that plants naturally enjoy. However, they also require amino acids in order to grow, something which Florans and their naturally cannibalistic nature often provide without realizing. They are often near swamps, where the natural ecosystem can produce enough spilt blood to grant the conditions needed to create an Exploding Carpet. They can, very rarely, emerge near a habitat if the race is messy with their kills and do not clean up after themselves. Drops/Loot: Perhaps thanks to the explosions these creatures create, these creatures sometimes leave patches of plant-like matter that, when pressed, send signals to no-longer present pathways. These, with some processing, may be turned into organic switches, otherwise known as Squishy Buttons, capable of being installed anywhere that a switch is required. Due to inbuilt water and light reserves, these switches are viable for when a purely mechanical switch is not available, although due to these extra additions the switches are naturally a little wider. Not all Exploding Carpets explode in such a manner that these patches are viable to use, but they are usually created with a 40% rate. Rarely, un-detonated sacks of a Carpet's internal chemicals may fly free, granting savvy chemists raw ingredients to make powerful explosives. These sacks by themselves are viable as light grenades, exploding on contact or when shot, and have a 20% drop rate. Spawning Rate/Conditions: Exploding Carpets are dangerous creatures, but they're not capable of becoming an endemic unto themselves; requiring around seven creatures to have died in a single area to form, and having a tendency to explode if sufficiently disturbed, they're really quite rare, and require sunlight and a nearby source of water to form. However, should enough creatures be killed by an Exploding Carpet, another may form where the previous died. This can be problematic if swarms of enemies are killed in the right location, creating a literal powder keg situation with multiple Exploding Carpets spawning in. They usually do not form around trees, although this is usually from past exposure to the Carpets' attack patterns. Health/Mana/Energy/Armor: Even being unusual as they are, Exploding Carpets have an strangely high resistance firepower/Ranged weaponry when detected, capable of shrugging off intense heat when presented over short periods. Though they aren't immune to Ranged damage, explosives or physical/Melee strikes are far more reliable when used to kill them than a gun could ever be, usually requiring one to drop its health to 0, if not a jump on top of it. Whenever their health reaches 0, however, a detonation is guaranteed to occur. Movement: Thanks to a set of mobile roots, they are capable of crawling about their habitats, although they rarely stray far from a water source. Being a plant-like being, Exploding Carpets are quite slow, so chases are never an issue. Should there be a series of puddles about, however, they can travel, and become a problem if they reach civilization. Attacks/Damage: Though dangerous, an Exploding Carpet's greatest attack is also its downfall; being a mere, if large patch of vegetation, an explosion from an Exploding Carpet will destroy itself, and any carpets nearby may cause them to explode as well. The explosions are moderately damaging, and may kill those with weak armor, and shall put a small dent into any area they are in, making a perfect basin for rain water to collect and more Exploding Carpets to possibly be spawned from. Their explosions are oval shaped, very wide but not extremely high; that said, trying to jump out of their blast range is difficult, as the blasts always reach higher above them than below. (Note: unclear on whether explosions count as Ranged or Melee damage) Imagery: Exploding carpets rarely deviant from their normal size, growing on average to seven feet long, although longer and taller variants are known to have occurred. (Apologies for the poor quality of the image; writing is usually my best quality, not art.) (Note: This creature was inspired by the Mineturtle of the ASDF youtube series.)
