Truffles, The Guardian Of The Grove

Truffles began his life as any other ordinary shambling mound. He was wild, amorphous, and driven by nothing more than a primal need to feed. Yet, his life changed when he met Muricia, the First Sovereign. Young and in need of a guardian for her fledgling grove, Muricia seeded Truffles with her spores, and after a fortnight, the mushrooms atop his head sprouted. Giving him an unnaturally long life span, a hearty constitution, and a level of awakened intelligence, the gift of the Sovereign also gave Truffles a purpose. No longer did he just eat people to survive. No, he devoured the living and turned them to compost to protect his queen and her inner sanctum. Tireless and devoted to a fault, Truffles would suffer none enter the deepest part of the forest unless they had the gift of his master's spores, and even then, if he were hungry enough, he would still feast.

After millennia of service to Muricia, Truffles would eventually come into contact with a young druid named Rayla, who sought to teach her newfound friend to speak. While it took well over a century for him to learn, his awakened mind filling to the brim with words, Truffles eventually could string three to four-word sentences together, albeit with agonizing slowness and much difficulty. Now, he still stands guard over the grove, despite the death of Muricia, enchanted in his duty to her and an unyielding sense of love for the now ancient Rayla.