The Story Hunter is the oldest of the Great Old Monsters. And it is the only one without a permanent form. The Free Peoples are very cautious of mushroom circles. Because when the Story Hunter appears, it manifests through fungus and mold, moss and lichen. The Story Hunter uses the mycelium from the fungus to take control of plant material and use the wood and leaves to form a body. The body that the Story Hunter forms looks vaguely bipedal, but more like a mountain gorilla than a human. It forms a stone mask where a head should sit. The Story Hunter varies its size based on the material it has used to create its body. But given enough plant matter, the Story Hunter can build a towering body that can crush anything in its wake.
Despite its ability to create such a destructive form, the Story Hunter does not typically cause physical damage. The Story Hunter steals a person’s connection to the story. It does so by wrapping the victim into a cocoon made of plant matter. Trapped inside the cocoon, the victim is left helpless as the mycelium invades the victim and mushrooms fruit in the victim’s brain.
Assuming the victim survives the fruiting process, they will be left with physical brain damage and a complete loss of motivation. The victim will have forgotten why they do anything. The Story Hunter takes motivation and ambition and the reason for anything. The Story Hunter supposedly uses the stories it has stolen to grow new forests. Stories say that the victim can be restored if the tree containing the victim’s story is found and offerings are left at the tree in question.
Professor Harbinger's School for Villains 