Splumonkey

Splumonkey=

Shadow Splumonkey=

"Well then. That's a new one."

- Woodie

Splumonkeys are neutral creatures found in Ruins. They live in Splumonkey Pods and attempt to steal items by knocking an item out of a player's inventory. These items will be dropped upon the death of the Splumonkey, similar to Krampus and Lureplants, along with a Morsel.

A Splumonkey is monkey-like in appearance and movement, crawling on all fours, much like an ape does in real life. It has big white eyes, a unibrow, a tuft of hair on top of its head, and large ears, and it has a small body with long, gangly limbs.

Behaviour
Splumonkeys pick Bananas from Cave Banana Trees, berries from berry bushes, and mushrooms on sight. They will also harvest any crops from farms and will also steal items from chests. Their defense method is to run away and throw Manure, which damages their enemies. They may also howl and bite if their enemy is within melee range, but they don't appear to do any damage this way. On the death of a Splumonkey or the start of an Earthquake, all Splumonkeys will return to their Splumonkey Pods.

Splumonkeys tend to hide amongst the shadows, where they can use their ranged attacks against the player. They will run on-screen to knock an item off the player's inventory. They will then run off-screen, then return to pick up the item, which is now on the ground. Splumonkeys will take a Cave Banana as a priority, except when fleeing. If they manage to steal a hat, they will wear it.

Splumonkeys may decide to follow the player for a while. If the player has any bananas in their inventory, the Splumonkey's chance to follow is increased. Unlike other followers such as Chester or Smallbirds, Splumonkeys never follow to help, only to annoy.

When the Nightmare Cycle reaches the nightmare stage, Splumonkeys turn into transparent shadow monkeys and become hostile to the player as well as any monsters in the vicinity. When killed in this form they can drop Beard Hair. When nightmare cycle reaches back to calm state, splumonkeys revert to normal form.

Trivia

 * The name "Splumonkey" is a  portmanteau of "spelunk" and "monkey."
 * Splumonkeys used to spawn from a Barrel, a reference to either the toy "Barrel of Monkeys" or the phrase "more fun than a barrel of monkeys".
 * The name "Splumonkey" may be a reference to the indie game Spelunky.
 * They are most likely a reference to the term "Underground Monkey", which refers to the practice of video game role-playing games tending to reuse mob sprites in different areas, placing animals in strange biomes - with the common example being a subterranean monkey enemy.
 * Splumonkeys were inspired by a community suggestion.