Page 111 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

CHAPTER 6 THE EATERS

Illus. by E. Cox

The grell revealed (numbers keyed to text references)
GRELL SENSES distinguishing between two humans of similar size unless
Grell do not have eyes and are completely sightless. They they speak—its keen hearing allows it to identify individuals
have keen hearing (the entire epidermis serves as a single by their voices.
ear), and they possess a mysterious sense best described as Taken together, grell hearing and electrical sense give the
electroreception. A grell senses the faint electrical auras of creature blindsight out to 60 feet. Even in areas of magical
living creatures and inanimate objects in its immediate vicin- silence, grell electroreception keeps the creature from being
ity. While this ability is relatively short-ranged (60 feet), it is truly blinded by its lack of eyes.
quite discriminating. A grell can easily distinguish between
two humans of different sizes, a living human and a dead REPRODUCTION
human, or boulders composed of different types of stone by All grell begin life with no gender, but they can choose to
means of its electroreception. A grell has some difficulty in become males after they reach adulthood. Only about one in

five grell actually does so. Male grell mate about once every
ten years, choosing a nonmale that then develops female
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characteristics. The pair lay several dozen eggs in a safe and
BLINDING A GRELL well-hidden cavern, and then have nothing more to do with
How can you blind something that doesn’t have eyes? It’s diffi-
cult, but it can be done. A grell does not lose its blindsight until each other or their offspring. The female then reverts to its
both its hearing and its electrical sense are impaired. Hearing gender-neutral status, but the male retains its gender. Older
can easily be damaged by means of spells or effects that create and more powerful grell are more likely to become males,
deafness or silence. The electrical sense is harder to obscure. so grell leaders are referred to as patriarchs. In any event,
Powerful discharges of electricity can do it, even though grell grell give gender and reproduction much less attention than
are normally immune to electricity. If a grell would have taken
20 points or more of electricity damage, the monster must humanoids do.
make a DC 15 Fortitude save or lose its electrical sense for 1d4
rounds. If it would have taken 40 points or more, the save DC DEVELOPMENT AND AGING
is 20, and electroreception is lost for 2d4 rounds. When young grell hatch, they are only about the size of a small
110 pqqqqqqqqqrs mug or a goblet (1 Hit Die, size Tiny), and they are not sentient.