Griveling

Grivelings seem to hail from the elemental plane of Earth, though not even they know whether they strayed through a portal or were brought by wizards. Unable to travel the planes, they are stranded, and have been seen only in one remote mountain range and the hidden wizard's valley beside it. They come in pairs or clans of 2d12, range from 4 to 6 feet in height and from about half a ton to well over a ton and a half (1,000-3,500 lbs.).

A griveling is a rough humanoid shape lacking fingers, muscles, eyes, ears or mouth. Those that watch people use a limited natural stone shape to sculpt faces, digits and even clothing in imitation, often copying the valley's well-known residents and its archmage master. The copies are often off, with mouths above eyes or ears in strange places. Males and females look alike.

They prefer peace, but once forced to fight they pound foes with heavy stone fists and do not stop, going for the kill only if their lives look threatened. They see through earth and stone as through air, lurk inside walls and push out to strike from behind or below, then sink back and emerge elsewhere next round to surprise again. Merged with a stone wall they are AC -1; free of it, or merged with earth, AC 2.

Each has four once-a-day powers, used as an 8th-level wizard would: dig, stoneskin, and both transmute rock to mud and its reverse. Normal cold and fire and cold-based spells do not affect them, but magical fire and heat do. Only +1 or better weapons harm them.

They live inside cavern walls and mountains and can survive in caves, woods or other terrain, though they like being enclosed by rock or soil; climate means nothing to them. Friendly and inquisitive, they watch travelers along the mountains' edge and question them about events deeper in the valley, and so have learned to speak common slowly and gravelly, along with some mountain dwarf and their own tongue. Curiosity occasionally draws them on brief trips into the wild. Clan members consult each other before acting, guard one another closely, and share all their wealth. A mated pair produces one child every 6 to 12 years, choosing its sex.

Their metabolism is so slow they barely eat, living on iron, lead, magnesium, silica and other minerals, which makes them a menace to miners. They live about 1,500 years.