The whole “how the hell does this predatory creature get enough sustenance” thing that plagues fantasy and sci-fi occasionally gets so absurd it loops around into being funny, like the scene in Star Wars when the Millenium Falcon is flying through an asteroid field and gets swallowed by a worm.
I could complain about that, but I could also conclude that the supply of reckless space pilots flying into asteroid fields has been consistent enough for the past few million years for animals to evolve to prey upon them.
Who knows. Maybe there are enough adventuring parties roaming about the Forest of Doom to increase the available biomass at their trophic level in order to sustain tertiary consumers like giant spiderwolves...
“You’re going into the Catacombs? No one survives the Catacombs! Many an adventurer has tried!”
“Uh, how many have tried?”
“Enough to form an entire ecological niche for species specialized to prey upon them!”
“Oh. That, uhh, that is a lot.”
“Right? It’s pretty fascinating actually. I’m writing my thesis on it right now.”
