Submission (#7272) Approved

Pricklerews are small desert fauna with bright green fur and longer white guard hairs that become stiff and sharp when they are startled. They resemble closely what elseworlder's call shrews but with some hedgehog aspects mixed in. Their noses are wiggly and slightly prehensile, allowing them to reach for foliage and pull it into their mouths. Found in the deserts of Azha these small creatures forage near oases and have diets consisting mostly of tender new sprigs of growth at the water's edge. They'll also drink from the water's edge where it's not that deep as they are not strong swimmers.

Their best defense mechanism when spooked is to roll up a bit and bury themselves slightly in sand all while pretending to be some small type of cactus. They aren't the most delightful critter to make into a meal because of how prickly their fur can get but most desert predators seem to lose sight of them when they scatter. Something about the sand kicked up and occasional bones found in the desert can throw off smells.

These little Pricklerews tend to form little family groups where during the cooler dusty desert nights they huddle together for warmth in dens dug amongst the sand, usually around desert rocks. During dryer spells sometimes the occasional family of these critters will wander towards the stormlands when they can't find an oasis but usually they don't go too deeply into the stormland area. Too much water makes the soil a bit harder to dig in and the risk of dens being flooded out increases greatly.

Very rarely will one of these small creatures be found close to larger towns or villages as they are quite timid. Also kittoms tend to give them quite a bit of grief because these critters are smaller than most kittoms, only coming to stand about as tall as a kittom's foreleg if fully stretched out. So most larger creatures are avoided for good measure.