Slimy Grubbers are small fae, most of them reaching no less than 3 feet high. They have slimy, cold, amphibian skin, long spindly fingers, ugly faces that have 'beards' consisting of loose skin, large vertically flattened tails, and beady eyes. They live in the depths of pools, fountains, and other bodies of water where things are frequently lost -- they have a fascination with things that mortals loose. They often snatch such objects up and carry them away to their nests -- where the rightful owner is quite unlikely to ever see them again.
Grubber nests are a maze of gates, pocket dimensions, and water holes both at surface level and underground. The connections commonly up to 30 miles apart, common features include water logged dens dug completely underground, the inside of beaver lodges, pocket dimensions filled with either water or air and with multiple exits, public fountains and the undersides of bridges. Grubbers can create new gates, given time, and their most public entrances and innermost lairs can be sealed. A grubber will have anywhere between two and six public places it can collect lost items from, three to seven ground level wild lairs, one to three deep lairs, and at least three pocket dimensions. They will have at least two lairs where their loot is hidden, and at least two lairs they can sleep in. Not all of these lairs will be directly connected to each other.
Grubbers hate the sun: it burns their skin and makes them feel exposed. They venture out at night under the cover of darkness to find lost items, or they stay under the cool water. Most take both approaches, hiding in an underground water logged den during the day.
Grubbers are not dangerous physical combatants: If threatened they try to get to the safety of their maze. If someone is foolish enough to enter the maze, they will use the 'home court advantage'. An intruder will ideally be shunted out of the maze and locked out. A persistent caller able to make it past the basic gates will be forced to go through spaces too tight to get through and in extreme cases, isolated in a pocket dimension. When two Grubbers fight over territory, they do so via collapsing each others gates and building alternate routes to each the lair pieces that they want. Eventually the two mazes will be unconnected.
Grubbers in an adventure are unlikely to be direct opponents. They often have items that adventures need, have gates to places the adventurers need to go, or simply interfere with the local gate magic (detect gate is just turning up a bunch of grubber warrens!).
ST 9 HP 8 speed: 6
DX 13 Will 13 Move: 6
IQ 13 Per 15 SM: -2
HT 11 FP 11 DR: 1(tough skin)
Bite (15) 1d-3 cu
Traits: Spirit Creature MetaTrait, Obsession (Collect lost mortal objects), Appearance (Monstrous),Amphibious, Doesn't breathe, Weakness (sunlight, 1d/30 min), Gate building
Skills: Stealth-15, Scrounging -15, Brawling - 15, Gate Building 14
Gate Building
Grubbers can build various types of gates:Open: Any one can use the gate -- though you have to know its there. A Grubber can build a new open gate in 8 hours (though farther gates can take up to twice as long). Destroying an open gate completely take 1 hour.
Secured: The gate is obstructed, but only just. The Grubber can go strait in, and those with the right know how (spells, abilities, or even the right hidden lore) can use the gate. Securing an open gate takes the grubber 4 weeks of work.
Closed: The gate is closed off. Its still present, but it takes the ability to make a new gate to open it up. Grubbers can close gates in 1 minute, or open closed gates in 5.
Pocket Dimension: A pocket dimension takes a Grubber 4 weeks of work at the least. Further weeks of work can expand and shape it.
Grubbers can use other grubber gates with ease, except for secured gates, which take 1 hour of work to make work for the new grubber. They cannot work with gates and dimensions other than their own.
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