Mr. Trudge

Mr. Trudge

Mr. Trudge was a botanist encountered by the Quests while they were investigating a rash of disappearances in the Louisiana bayou. He was very secretive and always wore black gloves. Trudge had once worked for another botanist whose experiments had accidentally created a sentient plant monster. After his colleague was killed, Trudge was partially mutated by the plant creature which caused his hands to turn green and branchlike, necessitating the gloves.

Trudge was forced by the plant creature to assist it in mutating various persons it had captured. Trudge initially obeyed out of fear, but after the arrival of the Quests, he wound up helping them kill it when he lured the creature into the nutrient bath it often resided in, whereupon Dr. Quest activated heat lamps which melted and killed the monster. Afterward, Quest used his scientific knowledge to restore Trudge's hands to human.