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The Ecology of the Grick (unpublished 3.0 version)
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 2191485" data-attributes="member: 508"><p>An hour later found several Monster Hunters gathered together in Buntleby's parlor in the Western Grove. Willowquisp the Zoophile sat on an old sofa rubbing his eyes and fighting back the occasional yawn; an elderly sage in his late 50s, he liked his sleep and didn't particularly appreciate being awakened in the middle of the night. Still, Buntleby was a good friend and had demonstrated his levelheadedness on many occasions; if he said it was important, Willowquisp was willing to give him his full attention.</p><p></p><p>Next to Willowquisp sat Rhionda the Swordmistress, the newest addition to the ranks of the mighty Monster Hunters. Their only fighter, she wore her traditional black leather armor and seemed unbothered by the late hour. She sat with her legs curled up under her, sipping a cup of strong tea provided by one of Buntleby's house-servants.</p><p></p><p>Behind Rhionda stood Buntleby's wizardly mentor, Spontayne the Studious, wearing his equally-traditional black robes, black headgear, black mustache, and black scowl. Spontayne kept odd hours and had been wide awake in study when Buntleby contacted him at his keep at the edge of town.</p><p></p><p>Above Buntleby's left shoulder hovered the little green flumph. Ozzie, Buntleby's six-legged osquip familiar, sat between his master's ankles so all but his head was hidden underneath Buntleby's blue robe. He kept a wary eye on the hovering menace he knew from hard experience to be a rodent eater. One of Ozzie's pack mates - Squinty - still bore the scars where a flumph had dropped down and impaled him with its spikes.</p><p></p><p>"So let me see if I get this straight," said Willowquisp, summing up all that Buntleby had just explained to them. "A grick has entered the flumphs' cavern temple and they need our help getting it out. We're not going to inform the others for fear that Dreelix will want to carve up our client as well as the grick. And we're not allowed to use spells to get rid of the grick because it's in the flumph's holy cavern. Is that about it?"</p><p></p><p>"In a nutshell," agreed Buntleby. "Naturally, I thought we should begin by consulting you and learning all we can about gricks."</p><p></p><p>"Hmmph! Funny that it's a grick; we were just discussing them at the sages' conference. Gricks seem to be a relatively new phenomenon; nobody recalls having ever seen them before, and now they're popping up all over the place. There's certainly nothing mentioned about them in any of the old texts.<strong>[2]</strong> Still, a couple of interesting theories were raised." Willowquisp flipped through one of the tomes he had brought with him until he found the appropriate page. Turning it around to face Buntleby, he asked, "Remember this?"</p><p></p><p>Buntleby examined the creature depicted. It looked like a flying brain with a parrot's beak in front, below which dangled ten octopus tentacles. "A grell, right?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed," confirmed Willowquisp. "Now, there are many similarities between grells and gricks, enough that we've pretty much decided at the conference that the two races must be related." He pulled out a loose sheet of parchment upon which he had sketched a grick, based on the descriptions given at the conference, and placed it next to the drawing of the grell. "First of all, notice the obvious parrot beaks.<strong>[3]</strong> A rather unusual feature on non-avian creatures, wouldn't you agree? The fact that two distinct species share such an odd characteristic seems rather suggestive.</p><p></p><p>"Next up, there are the tentacles. A grell sports ten tentacles underneath its body, each one equipped with two rows of suckers, like an octopus. The grick has four such tentacles, spaced evenly around the beak.<strong>[4]</strong> The rest of the grick's body is serpentine, but it's been observed that the double row of suckers extends along the creature's underside.<strong>[5]</strong> I'd say there's a good case to be made that the grick's body is itself adapted from an overly-developed tentacle, bringing the total count up to five, half that of a grell's ten. This isn't too outrageous a supposition, since the grick's body is only three feet long and its four tentacles are each two feet long.<strong>[6]</strong> Tentacle coloration is similar in both species: A muddy brown for gricks, while grells have a more olive tint.</p><p></p><p>"Finally, there's the interesting coincidence that neither grells nor gricks have eyes.<strong>[7]</strong> This doesn't seem to bother either race, however; they seem to get along just fine without visual organs."</p><p></p><p>"There's another link between the two that you haven't mentioned," suggested Rhionda, sipping her tea.</p><p></p><p>"Oh? What's that?"</p><p></p><p>"Their names both have five letters and start with 'G-R.'"</p><p></p><p>Willowquisp scowled. "I hardly think that's conclusive," he grumbled, unsure whether the fighter was making fun of him or not. "I'm not even sure where the name 'grick' came from, in any case."<strong>[8]</strong></p><p></p><p>"Well, now we know a little about what we're facing," said Buntleby. "Any suggestions about how we proceed?"</p><p></p><p>"Are we absolutely sure we can't use spells?" asked Spontayne. All eyes turned toward the hovering flumph.</p><p></p><p>"No spells," confirmed the flumph in its squeaky voice. "Holy temple. Standard rule. No magic."</p><p></p><p>"Well, how many of them are there?" asked Rhionda. "Just the one?" The flumph waggled its eyestalks in an up-and-down manner, simulating a nodding human head. "One's enough," it squeaked.</p><p></p><p>"Well, hell then," said Rhionda, rising to her feet and strapping on her sword. "Let's go kill us a grick."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 2191485, member: 508"] An hour later found several Monster Hunters gathered together in Buntleby's parlor in the Western Grove. Willowquisp the Zoophile sat on an old sofa rubbing his eyes and fighting back the occasional yawn; an elderly sage in his late 50s, he liked his sleep and didn't particularly appreciate being awakened in the middle of the night. Still, Buntleby was a good friend and had demonstrated his levelheadedness on many occasions; if he said it was important, Willowquisp was willing to give him his full attention. Next to Willowquisp sat Rhionda the Swordmistress, the newest addition to the ranks of the mighty Monster Hunters. Their only fighter, she wore her traditional black leather armor and seemed unbothered by the late hour. She sat with her legs curled up under her, sipping a cup of strong tea provided by one of Buntleby's house-servants. Behind Rhionda stood Buntleby's wizardly mentor, Spontayne the Studious, wearing his equally-traditional black robes, black headgear, black mustache, and black scowl. Spontayne kept odd hours and had been wide awake in study when Buntleby contacted him at his keep at the edge of town. Above Buntleby's left shoulder hovered the little green flumph. Ozzie, Buntleby's six-legged osquip familiar, sat between his master's ankles so all but his head was hidden underneath Buntleby's blue robe. He kept a wary eye on the hovering menace he knew from hard experience to be a rodent eater. One of Ozzie's pack mates - Squinty - still bore the scars where a flumph had dropped down and impaled him with its spikes. "So let me see if I get this straight," said Willowquisp, summing up all that Buntleby had just explained to them. "A grick has entered the flumphs' cavern temple and they need our help getting it out. We're not going to inform the others for fear that Dreelix will want to carve up our client as well as the grick. And we're not allowed to use spells to get rid of the grick because it's in the flumph's holy cavern. Is that about it?" "In a nutshell," agreed Buntleby. "Naturally, I thought we should begin by consulting you and learning all we can about gricks." "Hmmph! Funny that it's a grick; we were just discussing them at the sages' conference. Gricks seem to be a relatively new phenomenon; nobody recalls having ever seen them before, and now they're popping up all over the place. There's certainly nothing mentioned about them in any of the old texts.[b][2][/b] Still, a couple of interesting theories were raised." Willowquisp flipped through one of the tomes he had brought with him until he found the appropriate page. Turning it around to face Buntleby, he asked, "Remember this?" Buntleby examined the creature depicted. It looked like a flying brain with a parrot's beak in front, below which dangled ten octopus tentacles. "A grell, right?" he asked. "Indeed," confirmed Willowquisp. "Now, there are many similarities between grells and gricks, enough that we've pretty much decided at the conference that the two races must be related." He pulled out a loose sheet of parchment upon which he had sketched a grick, based on the descriptions given at the conference, and placed it next to the drawing of the grell. "First of all, notice the obvious parrot beaks.[b][3][/b] A rather unusual feature on non-avian creatures, wouldn't you agree? The fact that two distinct species share such an odd characteristic seems rather suggestive. "Next up, there are the tentacles. A grell sports ten tentacles underneath its body, each one equipped with two rows of suckers, like an octopus. The grick has four such tentacles, spaced evenly around the beak.[b][4][/b] The rest of the grick's body is serpentine, but it's been observed that the double row of suckers extends along the creature's underside.[b][5][/b] I'd say there's a good case to be made that the grick's body is itself adapted from an overly-developed tentacle, bringing the total count up to five, half that of a grell's ten. This isn't too outrageous a supposition, since the grick's body is only three feet long and its four tentacles are each two feet long.[b][6][/b] Tentacle coloration is similar in both species: A muddy brown for gricks, while grells have a more olive tint. "Finally, there's the interesting coincidence that neither grells nor gricks have eyes.[b][7][/b] This doesn't seem to bother either race, however; they seem to get along just fine without visual organs." "There's another link between the two that you haven't mentioned," suggested Rhionda, sipping her tea. "Oh? What's that?" "Their names both have five letters and start with 'G-R.'" Willowquisp scowled. "I hardly think that's conclusive," he grumbled, unsure whether the fighter was making fun of him or not. "I'm not even sure where the name 'grick' came from, in any case."[b][8][/b] "Well, now we know a little about what we're facing," said Buntleby. "Any suggestions about how we proceed?" "Are we absolutely sure we can't use spells?" asked Spontayne. All eyes turned toward the hovering flumph. "No spells," confirmed the flumph in its squeaky voice. "Holy temple. Standard rule. No magic." "Well, how many of them are there?" asked Rhionda. "Just the one?" The flumph waggled its eyestalks in an up-and-down manner, simulating a nodding human head. "One's enough," it squeaked. "Well, hell then," said Rhionda, rising to her feet and strapping on her sword. "Let's go kill us a grick." [/QUOTE]
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