Entity Number: 110
Habitat(s): - Majority (Most commonly levels with narrow intricate tunnels and/or many corners to hide behind)
A Carnivorous Balloon attacking a twig
Description:
Entity 110, commonly known as Carnivorous Balloons, appear as balloons with a ribbon tied around their knot. They fill a sac inside their body with food and slowly let air out through their knot to make its smell waft through the floor, luring starving wanderers and entities to them. When prey is within their range, they'll attack with their venomous ribbon.
Carnivorous Balloons prefer Levels with plenty of hiding spots or poor visibility, as it makes it easier for them to catch their prey by surprise.
Behaviors:
Carnivorous Balloons are stationary predators, in a way similar to carnivorous plants. The food they store in their cavity (which usually contains high quantities of ingredients with a strong smell like onions or garlic) is never used as food from the entity, but only as a bait. From their observation it appears that they aren't interested in any kind of food that isn't raw meat that they themselves have hunted.
Once an unsuspecting wanderer touches the surface of a Balloon, the ribbon will tightly grip whatever limb touched it and inject a paralyzing toxin that will render the victim incapable of fighting back. As soon as its prey is successfully paralyzed, the Balloon will open the sphincter in its knot and let the food contained inside of its sac fall on the ground.
It will then "bite" the victim's limb with its opening and start to digest it. The digestion process is carried out with the use of gaseous ammonia, which is highly corrosive and digests the victim in a similar way to hydrochloric acid in the human stomach. The process can last a few days and the victim will be conscious and able to feel pain until they eventually die from blood loss, dehydration or buildup of toxic substances in their body.
Carnivorous Balloons are solitary entities who are incapable of autonomous movement and rely on air currents to move through the floor they reside in. They are not only aggressive towards wanderers and other entities, but any object that moves inside of their range.
If a living being or an object is inside their range but refuses to touch them, they will start blindly flailing their ribbon, hoping to sting them.
Biology:
Carnivorous Balloons can be of any shape, color and size (in fact, it's not infrequent to find some animal shaped specimens), however they all invariably have a ribbon. Multiple specimens have been dissected in recent times, so their anatomy is generally well understood. Although they appear to be made out of common rubber or latex, their external surface is actually thin contractile tissue. The interior consists of two sacs: one larger sac making up roughly 80% of a Balloon's volume containing the highly concentrated ammonia gas that Balloons use to digest their victims and a smaller sac making up roughly 20% of a Balloon's volume containing the food they use to lure their victims. Where the food comes from is currently unknown.
The ribbon is the most sensitive part of their body. It serves both as a sensory organ and as a stinging tentacle, with a structure nearly identical to that of jellyfish. It has an average length of 120 cm.
Carnivorous Balloons typically have a lifespan of 6 to 8 weeks, after which their knot will loosen up and become incapable of keeping the ammonia gas inside them
Discovery:
It's impossible to accurately determine when this entity first appeared in the Backrooms, since experienced wanderers tend to steer clear of balloons because of The Partygoers, although, to our knowledge, The Partygoers are completely unrelated to this entity.
The first recorded encounter with a Carnivorous Balloon occurred in Level 8. A member of the M.E.G. Postal Division tasked with delivering supplies to the M.E.G. Team “Cave Raiders” failed to notice the presence of a Balloon due to the darkness of the level and accidentally touched it. While he did survive the balloon’s attack thanks to the prompt reaction of his teammates, he still suffered severe chemical burns on his right hand and forearm as well as damage to the eyes that resulted in significant vision loss.
Do's and Don'ts:
Do:
- Keep 2 meters of distance between you and the balloon (The average balloon’s ribbon is 120 cm long + 80 cm of clearance).
- Poke them with a long stick or throw something at them to keep them busy if keeping your distance is not an option.
Don't:
- Try to pop them, as it will release toxic ammonia gas into the air.
- Follow the scent of food unless you’re absolutely certain of its origin.