Buy me a coffeeThe Tunche’s Whistle — Lost in the Living Jungle
The Tunche is the whistle in the Peruvian Amazon that means the forest has begun to answer back. It hunts less by force than by fear, distance, and the slow certainty that the selva is no longer willing to let you pass.
In the Peruvian Amazon, the Tunche is feared as a night-roaming presence of the selva: a tormented soul, a wandering spirit, or a punisher that comes for those who carry guilt, cruelty, arrogance, or disrespect beneath the canopy. Its shape changes from story to story, but its warning does not. First comes the whistle, thin and human enough to chill the blood, rising through the dark forest like a call meant for one listener alone. To hear it is a bad omen. To follow it is worse.
Appearance
The Tunche is feared not because people agree on its form, but because they do not. Many never see it clearly at all. They glimpse only a figure between trunks, a silhouette beyond the fire, or someone familiar standing where no one should be. In some tales it borrows the seeming of a friend or relative to draw a victim from the trail. In others it is little more than a presence in the leaves, with the whistle as its truest face.
Behaviour
The Tunche does not rush its prey. It stalks camps, trails, riverbanks, and hunting paths after dark, letting the selva work alongside it. Wet heat, failing light, insects, mud, exhaustion, and the confusion of the forest all become part of the hunt. Its whistle shifts in distance and direction, drawing travellers onward, unsettling groups, and tempting the frightened to move when they should stay still. It wants its victims divided, doubtful, and half-lost before it comes close.
Habitat
The Tunche belongs to the Peruvian selva: deep forest trails, black river margins, flooded ground, storm-dark camps, tangled roots, and those interior reaches where the canopy kills the light early. It is strongest where human passage feels narrow, fragile, and temporary, especially in places marked by disappearance, violence, or old fear. It does not haunt the forest at random. It lingers where the land already remembers something gone wrong.
Modus Operandi
A Tunche begins at a distance. The whistle sounds once and may be doubted. It sounds again and cannot be ignored. Then the victim notices how little the fire reveals, how quickly the trail is lost, and how easily familiar ground turns strange. The Tunche isolates first. One porter falls behind. One hunter goes ahead. One traveller leaves the path to answer a known voice. Once someone is alone, panic and the forest do most of the killing. The Tunche leads its prey into darkness, water, roots, mud, and fatal mistakes, striking directly only when fear has already done its work.
Motivation
The Tunche is not random malice. In many tellings it is bound to wrongdoing, spiritual danger, or the dead who never found rest. It punishes the cruel, the reckless, the disrespectful, and those who bring guilt into the forest. But it is no noble guardian. Whatever justice clings to it has curdled into something merciless. The Tunche does not correct. It terrifies, separates, and takes.
In the World
The Tunche is strongest as an encroaching presence before it is ever seen. Boatmen refuse a channel after sunset. Guides forbid whistling at camp. A trail falls silent. Someone hears the call from the wrong side of the river. That is where the Tunche becomes most dangerous: not as just another jungle encounter, but as the moment the Peruvian forest stops feeling like wilderness and starts feeling like judgment.
Tunche 5.5
Tunche, Pathfinder
Tunche
Medium undead, chaotic evil
Armor Class 15
Hit Points 110 (13d8 + 52)
Speed 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 (+2) | 18 (+4) | 18 (+4) | 12 (+1) | 16 (+3) | 18 (+4) |
Saving Throws Dex +8, Wis +7, Cha +8
Skills Intimidation +8, Perception +7, Stealth +8, Survival +7
Damage Resistances cold, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages understands the languages it knew in life and the common tongues of its hunting grounds, but rarely speaks
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +3
Traits
Forest Stalker. In jungle, rainforest, swamp, or dense forest terrain, the Tunche can take the Hide action as a bonus action. It leaves no tracks unless it chooses to.
Uncertain Form. Opportunity attacks against the Tunche are made with disadvantage.
Whistle of Omen. While the Tunche is in jungle, forest, or swamp terrain, hostile creatures within 300 feet of it that can hear its whistle have disadvantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks made to navigate, track, or avoid becoming lost.
Mistaken Path. Roots, mud, undergrowth, shallow water, and flooded ground within 20 feet of the Tunche are difficult terrain for its enemies. The Tunche ignores this difficult terrain.
Selva Terror. A creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the Tunche and can hear its whistle must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the start of its next turn. If the frightened creature is at least 30 feet from all its allies, the Tunche can force it to move up to half its speed in a direction of the Tunche’s choice, if able. A creature that succeeds on this saving throw is immune to this Tunche’s Selva Terror for 24 hours.
Actions
Multiattack. The Tunche makes two attacks: two Spectral Claw attacks, or one Spectral Claw attack and one Whistling Curse.
Spectral Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. If the target is frightened, it takes an extra 7 (2d6) psychic damage.
Whistling Curse. One creature the Tunche can see within 60 feet of it that can hear it must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 18 (4d8) psychic damage, cannot take reactions, and treats the area within 10 feet of it as difficult terrain until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage only.
Call from the Wrong Direction (Recharge 5–6). The Tunche releases a wavering whistle that seems to come from every side at once. Each creature of the Tunche’s choice within 60 feet of it that can hear it must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 22 (4d10) psychic damage and is frightened for 1 minute. While frightened in this way, the creature cannot willingly move closer to any ally. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage only.
Bonus Actions
Fade Between Trees. If the Tunche is in dim light, darkness, foliage, heavy rain, mist, or natural undergrowth, it teleports up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see that is also in dim light, darkness, foliage, heavy rain, mist, or natural undergrowth.
Reactions
Turn You Aside. When a creature the Tunche can see moves within 10 feet of it, the Tunche forces that creature to make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the area within 10 feet of the Tunche is difficult terrain for that creature until the end of the turn, and that creature cannot make opportunity attacks against the Tunche this turn.
Treasure
A Tunche rarely carries treasure openly, but the remains of its victims and the contents of abandoned camps often lie scattered through its hunting grounds. A Tunche’s lair-site, kill-ground, or forsaken riverside camp typically contains 75–180 gp in mixed coinage, 1d4 valuables such as silver jewelry, trade beads, ritual pendants, ivory carvings, signet rings, or fine knives worth 25–100 gp each, and 1 useful expedition item such as a waterproof map case, compass, spyglass, healer’s kit, antitoxin, climber’s kit, or potion of healing.
There is also a 25% chance of a minor magic item tied to travel, concealment, or protection, such as a cloak of elvenkind, boots of elvenkind, driftglobe, or amulet of proof against detection and location. In a story-driven hoard, the Tunche’s ground may also hold a named personal relic from a missing guide, trader, courier, missionary, or explorer.
Encounter Role
The Tunche is a fear-controller and separator. It is strongest on flooded trails, black river margins, storm-dark camps, dense canopy paths, and root-tangled ground where visibility is poor and the party can be split.
Tunche
Standing on three legs, this creature is a mix of dangerous jungle animals and plants fused into one deadly predator.
Tunche CR 17
XP 102,400
CN Huge fey
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +33
DEFENSE
AC 31, touch 13, flat-footed 26 (+5 Dex, +18 natural, –2 size)
hp 262 (25d6+175)
Fort +15, Ref +19, Will +19
DR 15/cold iron and slashing
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft.; feather step
Melee bite +22 (2d8+11/19–20 plus poison), 4 claws +22 (3d6+11)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks poison, rend (2 claws, 3d6+16)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +27)
- Constant—speak with plants, tongues
- At will—burst of nettles (DC 20), entangle (DC 18), tree shape, tree stride, ventriloquism, warp wood (DC 19)
- 7/day—diminish plants, plant growth, wall of thorns
- 3/day—control plants (DC 25), move earth, true seeing
STATISTICS
Str 33, Dex 21, Con 24, Int 12, Wis 20, Cha 25
Base Atk +12; CMB +25 (+27 bull rush); CMD 40 (42 vs. bull rush, 42 vs. trip)
Feats Awesome Blow, Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bite), Weapon Focus (claw)
Skills Acrobatics +21 (+29 when jumping), Bluff +22, Climb +19, Intimidate +32, Knowledge (geography) +29, Knowledge (nature) +29, Perception +33, Sense Motive +33, Stealth +25 (+33 in forests), Swim +19; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics when jumping, +8 Stealth in forests
Languages Aklo, Sylvan; speak with plants, tongues
SQ change shape (Small or Medium humanoid; alter self), sound mimicry (sounds and voices)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Feather Step (Su)
A tunche in a forest ignores the adverse movement effects of difficult terrain, and can even take 5-foot steps in difficult terrain.
Poison (Ex)
Bite—injury; save Fort DC 29; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Con and 1d4 Wis plus nauseated for 1 round; cure 2 consecutive saves.
ECOLOGY
Environment warm forests
Organization solitary
Treasure standard
A tunche is a bizarre forest creature with twisted feline legs, a dense body resembling jungle undergrowth, clawed arms like those of a praying mantis, and a head resembling a cross between a monstrous spider’s head and a jungle orchid. Although it has plant and animal features, a tunche is neither plant nor animal and is immune to effects that specifically target such creatures. Considering itself the ultimate protector of the jungle, a tunche prowls its domain in search of any who might despoil this vibrant and lush environment. If a tunche encounters travelers who treat the jungle with proper respect, it might simply observe them or demand an offering in exchange for allowing them to pass through its territory.
A tunche especially enjoys toying with its victims, using its magic to confuse and mislead its opponents. A tunche rarely kills a foe without toying with it first, unless the target is actively harming plants or animals.
A tunche stands 20 feet tall and weighs 4,000 pounds.
Section 15: Copyright Notice
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 4 © 2013, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Dennis Baker, Jesse Benner, Savannah Broadway, Ross Byers, Adam Daigle, Tim Hitchcock, Tracy Hurley, James Jacobs, Matt James, Rob McCreary, Jason Nelson, Tom Phillips, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Sean K Reynolds, F. Wesley Schneider, Tork Shaw, and Russ Taylor.