Ventrem Balloons
A looming presence seen floating in the air surrounding the Festerplains. Ventrem balloons (often shortened to just “ventrem”) were massive, veiny, red bulbs with a hanging basket underneath it. They strongly resembled hot air balloons, but with its main body as the “basket” which hung from the balloon portion via stringy, muscular tendons.
Ventrem balloons acted as breeding grounds/nesting sites for Carrion Retrievers. After returning from scouring carrion, these scavengers would roost on the edges of the “basket” to socialize, mate, and give birth to new young. The “basket” body of the ventrem featured an upward opening maw which was always open. It used this gaping orifice to consume small pieces of flesh and other viscera that dropped from the bodies of carrion retrievers as they roost. Hence, the symbiotic relationship was complete: ventrem fed on the scraps of flesh the carrion retrievers relinquished, and in return it provided a home.
Ventrem are born out of the fleshy “forest floor” of the Festerplains, growing as large pods before forming their massive balloons which allowed them to separate from the ground that birthed them. Their balloons were filled with bacteria that produced a gas that was lighter than air.