The Catamount

for Spookyjam 2025

In the world there are things, forbidden things. Powerful things and treasures. Things that were meant to be forgotten for a reason. However, you, of course, ignored the ancient warnings and had to disturb it. The Catamount, a primal, ancient hunger, is now awakened. 

The Catamount is a mix between an ambiance and a boss mod. The Catamount goes through 3 stages (later more), starting as subtle effects, before being able to manifest, and if allowed to continue to hunt, it will grow into a boss that can only be slain using a special substance… perhaps you can consult the warnings in the petroglyphs you ignored? 

STARTING

The Catamount and its related events do not happen naturally, it will first need to be started by a player. Assuming the warnings are respected, the Catamount will not awaken, but if you do decide to disturb its remains or even linger around them too much, the Catamount will be awoken and it will “attach” to the player who disturbed it. The remains of the creature can be found rarely in forest-like biomes, surrounded by standing stones painted with petroglyphs and resting on a pile of coarse dirt and suspicious dirt that hides relics.

EVENTS

After the Catamount has been awakened and starts to lurk, it manifests in several different ways, ranging from biting cold wind to glowing eyes or screaming faces in the dark, and can even manifest in the form of a huge beast. The effects of the events range from ambiance effects, to minor harm, to outright hunting down players or animals. 

DEFEATING

The Catamount cannot be killed without the use of a special substance, which if you can decipher the petroglyphs, it details on how to get and what the substance is.  If the Catamount is killed though mundane means, it will go away as it regenerates but will then return later. Killing the Catamount in the correct will fully destroy the monster and stops its haunting.