Quill Fiend

the common quill fiend is a interesting creature. similar to a porcupine it has quills growing every which way from its body and uses these quills to protect itself. unlike a porcupine it has a long tail equally covered in quills

Culture

the only place not covered in quills on the quill fiend is its underbelly. a quill fiend will bury its limbs into the ground before revealing such an area. the quill fiend is a carnivore that uses its natural quills as a weapon. not in melee but from range, a quill fiends biology allows for it to fire these quills at high speeds with surprising accuracy

due to the difficulty of killing, let alone eating, a quill fiend it commonly stands near the top of the food chain, it takes advantage of this to find food by 'teaming up' with beasts that cant kill it to kill larger enemies and share the corpse, the beasts share the corpse willingly because if they dont the quill fiend will fire quills into them. these awkward alliances usually last until their collective bellies are full. the quill fiend is usually left behind after

in battle against foes that can harm it it uses its beast allies to tie up its opponent in battle while it fires quills at them from afar. if  it doesnt have beast allies or they all die the quill fiend will start to enact hit-and-run tactics accidentally. by firing at its opponent until they get close then running away until its far enough away to turn around and fire again

if the opponent of a quill fiend is fast it will start to swing its quilled tail around as a deterrent. should a quill fiend ever feel truly outmatched its true nature as a coward will shine through and it will run for the hills

the quills are made from inedible things that a quill fiend swallows. it has a second stomach with the sole purpose of processing wood, stone, bones, etc into quills rapidly. because of this the quills normally come in brown, gray, or white. but most quills are some mix of all 3

the quill fiend makes for a difficult pet. petting it hurts, it has a tendency of eating your furniture (making for some odd colored quills), its surprised easily, it wags its tail when its exited, and its terrible around children. most people who tame one use it for protecting a city as opposed to a house pet

History

the quill fiend is able to balance its entire body on its hind-legs and its front-legs are thumbless hands so when idle a quill fiend will use its fingers to scratch at the flesh that touches its various quills then rub its hands together to remove excess filth. because of this it commonly looks like its fiendishly rubbing its hands together, thats is how it got its name