### Bestiary (Or: Lifestyles of the Big and Monstrous)

A lot of people died to bring you this information:

- Roaches
- Roach Queens
- Rock Golems
- Wraithwings
- Evil Eyes
- Serpents
- Brains
- Rock Giants

There are many other mysteries Gunthro did not encounter on his quest:

- Other Monsters and Denizens of the Beneath

You may also wish to read a more detailed description of the underlying mechanics of monster movement patterns

### Roaches

The five-foot Dungeon Roach is a common sight in infestations all over the world. It can survive all sorts of adverse conditions - extreme heat and cold, low oxygen, even weak acid. They don't like bright light, although it will survive in bright light if it has to. Although it can stand extreme heat, its carapace is not equipped to withstand explosions, and it can't survive in those areas of the Beneath that are hot enough to burn even the air. Thankfully. Dungeon roaches feed on whatever they are able to scavenge, their large, sophisticated digestive system doing most of the work. They will tend to aggressively attack any threat, if without tactics any better than 'head straight for it and bite', which on the whole probably shouldn't be called 'tactics'. On the Eighth, they are traditionally used as a source of meat, which, when the internal organs are removed and the meat cooked thoroughly, surprisingly turns out pretty good. Smitemasters often have a clause in their contracts which state they retain ownership of any roaches they slay for this reason - it makes a good supplement to the seasonal smitemastering trade.

### Roach Queens

Roach Queens give birth to roaches, fulfilling much the same role as queen bees. Unlike bees, however, all roaches that are born are considered workers - the roach queen usually carries around most, if not all, of the ingredients required to make roach eggs and is usually fed by her worker children during quiet, safe moments (and occasionally feeds on her worker children, usually when she is low on a few key roach-baby ingredients). Roach queens can be identified amongst their children by their enlarged abdomen, their glossy, silver wings (although they never fly), and, most tellingly, the fact that all the roaches are usually attacking any threat and the roach queen isn't.

When threatened, the roach queen will attempt to scurry as far away from the threat as possible, occasionally stopping to lay eggs in promising-looking areas. As these are roaches, this is almost anywhere. The larvae will hatch into mostly-developed roaches in a matter of seconds. Roach queens lay eggs at a much faster rate when they are running away from a threat in this manner, relying on their children for defense. This rate is predictable, and the alert smitemaster can count precisely how long it will be until the roach queen lays more eggs. Some roach queens are used in the roachmeat industries, but it turns out to be far more cost effective to hire smitemasters to clean out infestations and haul the carcasses back up than to breed roaches in captivity (which is costly, as the problems when a roach gets loose are much greater than with other, more docile meats.)

### Rock Golems

Rock golems were an early creation of the Empire, back in the days when they were just figuring out the basics of mineral-based life. Unfortunately, the Empire found them rather difficult to control - not because they are rebellious or willful, which they are not. But they are really, really dumb, and they just don't understand instructions very well. They don't remember them very well, either, unless they're really simple. If you tell the rock golem to go to the field, pick up some nice round rocks, and carry them to your house, you may discover later that the rock golem got confused, pulled your house up from its foundations, and carried it to the field. As a result, the empire tends to only use them as brute force defenders when possible.

While golems do have a brain, it only gets used when they are faced with something that their raw instinct can't deal with, such as dealing with obstacles in their path. While they can speak, their vocabulary is rather limited and shallow. They don't need to eat, and instead take great pleasure in crushing their prey with their large and heavy fists. They won't kill anything else that is a rock, and since their intelligence level is low, this means that someone clever could easily disguise themself as something rock-shaped and escape their clutches.

Rock golems are very difficult to kill permanently, as if you break them down, they will eventually reconstruct themselves over time. It takes much longer for them to be prepared for combat again, however. But for the practical purposes of smitemasters, the worst thing about golems is probably the piles of rocks that are left when you "kill" them. These will become an obstacle, so you will have to be careful where you choose to attack the golem. It is possible to destroy a golem completely (whether or not it is already broken down) by using a bomb, however.

Rock golems move in a very simple fashion. In order for them to move, you will have to be either in their horizontal or vertical line of sight. They aren't smart enough to move around obstacles by themselves, and will need to be "guided" around them.

### Wraithwings

Wraithwings are one of the few dungeon creatures that fly. Even then, they can't do it very well. They usually have to stick to near the ground, where the air currents won't buffet them around so much. Wraithwings resemble small winged demons, and anyone who's really studied flight can tell you that it's a wonder wraithwings can fly at all. They're heavier than most birds, with not a great amount of strength in the forelimbs. It takes constant, steady flapping to keep them afloat, but they occupy a niche that few other creatures do. Up on the surface, they usually stick to the expansive and deserted lowlands that few other creatures inhabit because of the minor problem of the extensive flooding every summer. During that time, they migrate into the dungeons because they have strong, adept legs and can cross the deep chasms that defeat every other creature who makes the attempt. Wraithwings are smart, and will usually only attack an intruder to their territory when they can surround them.

### Evil Eyes

Evil Eyes, like wubbas, don't have any discernible method of digestion. Unlike wubbas, however, evil eyes are far less subtle in their feeding habits. Evil eyes get their name from their appearance - they appear to be a giant eyeball, covered in a translucent slime that they generate and use to lubricate the floor if they have to move. Normally, evil eyes can be found in groups of ten to twenty, although more and less have been sighted often enough to confirm this is merely a tendency. Their teamwork in watching certain areas, and the observed gathering of evil eyes, suggests some sort of communal instinct, and possibly communication, although nothing as yet is evident from their behavior. They will watch for likely prey to cross their field of vision and stir into life, charging at it blindly until they reach it. They quickly cover their prey in slime to stun and prepare it, then slowly digest it. Thankfully, they're quite docile until they notice their prey, which can make a thoughtful smitemaster's job easier.

Evil eyes are sometimes used to make eyeball pudding, in nearly all cases inadvisably and against the wishes of any and all who have to eat it.

### Serpents

Serpents are huge, red reptiles that live deep in the dungeons Beneath. They are subtle creatures, attuned to the secret vibrations of the soil like only a giant Worm can be. They're normally much larger than any other creature around, some having been sighted that are hundreds of feet in length. Thousands, if using actual feet. They usually feed on smaller animals, using their long bodies to restrict their prey's movement until closing in for the kill. As they're so large, they do have trouble changing direction and can't make sharp turns. Even more concerning is that their mighty body muscles, which propel them along the ground, aren't capable of subtle correction. One of the things serpents have given up to grow to such a size, in fact, is any ability to fine-tune their movement. Their movements are chaotic and hard to predict, but not entirely random.

Don't let this sad regression fool you, however, into thinking that serpents are easily dealt with, oh no. Their muscles are strong enough to resist even the greatest of pressures. Their skin is hard as rock. Smitemasters will occasionally - if they relish the prospect of carrying a heavy roll of skin up a mile or so of stairs - roll up serpent skin and sell it aboveground, where it's used as a kind of leather. It isn't that flexible or easy to work with, but it's incredibly durable and very strong. The only problem is getting some, as it's heavy...and on serpents. A very skilled smitemaster will have cracked the code of how the heartbeats of the soil affect how serpents stalk their prey and how serpents react when they know danger hasn't passed but can't quite see it.

### Brains

The most disturbing of all the monsters in the Beneath looks altogether too much like a giant, pink brain. Monsters that resemble body parts are very, very creepy. What's even creepier is that the brain doesn't attack. At least, not directly. No, it knows all the ins and outs of the surrounding terrain like the back of its...brain...and will hijack the thought patterns of other creatures, giving them gentle suggestions on how to defend themselves when danger approaches. So when that mindless roach moves out of the trap you laid for it, navigates through a maze and heads straight for you amongst a herd of other creatures, going around your defenses one by one, you will know who is responsible. To adapt to brains, you must learn how they think. And when you do, you will learn that sometimes intellect is no match for raw instinct. Not in chess, maybe, but in other places. They do, for better or for worse, have a mouth, so presumably they eat.

### Rock Giants

Back in the days when the Empire was just beginning to figure out mineral based life, several thousand experiments were carried out. Of course, not all of these were successful, but they did lead to the creation of rock golems. This lead to thousands and thousands more experiments trying to solve the problem of golem intelligence.

But what happened to the rejects? Uncounted rock creatures were stored underground, tightly packed together. Combine this with the rock golem's ability to very slowly rebuild itself over time, and it was perhaps inevitable that the remains of these creatures did not always remain... entirely separate when reconstructing. And once bound together, the Rock Giants were not eager to fall apart again.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and these titanic creatures display far greater intelligence than their golem components (though four times a golem brain is still dumb). They understand simple commands and can carry them out reasonably well, so rather than being used as brute force defenders, rock giants are used as heavy lifters, miners and construction engineers.

Though unable to fit through the smaller passages, they are formidable in combat. Even a direct sword strike is not enough to kill one, as the giant will break apart into its component golems who will then continue the attack. Aside from the use of heavy explosives or collapsing/heating the floor on which they walk, it is very difficult to do more than break a rock giant apart into a few very angry golems.

Contents