Gryllo

       Gryllo are gigantic burrowing insects that invade  fertile lands such as farmlands, old forests, and plains chasing down  and devouring other creatures as well as eating their way through soil.   They are related to termites and giant cockroaches.  

      Gryllo  have long bodies, large triangular shaped heads with numerous eyes on  either side. They have very hard chitinous shells which covers their  entire bodies, leaving them with no vulnerable sides where protruding  stone or other sharp objects that might cause severe damage to them when  they are burrowing through the earth.  They tend to be brown-gray to  deep red or even black.  It has two large, heavy set digging fore-legs  that that it uses to crack through the earth and soil.  These are also  used for combat.  Below these are another set of four raptorial arms  that it uses to grab a hold of targets when it attempts to bite or eat  them. It has a total of eight other legs attached to its lower body.

     Gryllo  tend to live for 10 to 15 years.  They take up residence below the  earth where they have dug out a communal hive nest where females have  laid anywhere from 4 to 12 eggs, of which only 50% will survive to  hatch.  Once they hatch they grow incredibly fast and leave the hive by  burrowing through the earth, creating small 2' diameter tunnels until  they have exited the territory of its "parents." 

      Gryllo's  eat rich soil and decaying plants, especially giant trees that have  fallen.  They also supplement their diets with the occasional fresh meat  including livestock, herds of animals and other earth dwelling beings. They are able to tear through flesh with ease with their strong  chitinous beaks and mandibles.

       They are ambush  predators and are able to seismically detect beings moving on the  surface above their tunnels that they dug out.  These tunnels can expand  nearly a mile in diameter around their favorite hunting grounds.  When  they detect a potential target above they explode out of the earth and  attack. 

Gyrllo

(MP: 1,830) (Uncommon)                        7th Rank - Neutral (Huge, 10 to 30 ft long)                                                                                      (6-8th Rank Challenge) 

Health Points: 75 

Attack Skill: 90/80/70                                           Initiative: 16 

Attacks: Claw (8; a10), Bite (7; a15); +16 Str Dmg 

Armor: Hard Chitinous Armor (20) ; +10  Armor Absorb vs. Slashing/Piercing Weapon type 

Physical Defense: 86                  Magical Defense: 72 

Divine Defense:67                       Jinhu Defense: 66 

Move: 40’                                       Luck: 2                    Vision: Perfect Nightvision 

Attributes: Str: 130(16), Sta: 131 (17), Agi: 66 (4), Per: 60 (2)

                      Int: 45 (-1), Wits: 50 (0), Will: 77 (6), Cha: 45 (-1) 

Skills

Alertness 70, Search 71, Skepticism 67, Tracking 100 

Creature Type: Insect

 Treasure: Personal No; Lair Yes

 Environment: forests, hills, mountains, plains 

Organization: solitary, or pair 

Special Abilities 

Acid Glob     The  creature is able spit a large (5' diameter) glob of sticky burning acid  at a single target once every 3 turns.  Targets are granted an Agility  check at a TS of 4 to avoid this glob.  Those that are hit are unable to  move until they are able to cut themselves free.  This glob deals only  d10 of damage when it first hits, but will continue to burn through  objects for 3d10 turns dealing 10 points of damage per turn. This is an  acid energy type. 

Augmented Critical      Anytime that a creature is critically successful with a skill check, they gain an additional +2 successes to critical determination roll. 

Burrow      As  a Move Action the creature can move through stone, dirt, or almost any  other sort of earth except metal as easily as walking normally.  This  burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole.  If the creature is within  (3’ per size category beginning with small) of the surface it causes a  mound of dirt to rise showing the passage of the creature.   

Bury       The  creature is able to attempt to drag a target that it successfully  attacked below ground as a Move Action.  Those that are targeted gain a  Strength check at a TS of 4 to avoid being dragged underground.  The  target may attempt to dig itself out of the ground, the target may also  attempt to hold their breath while they are digging themselves out.  The  creature can bury the target up to 3d10+10 feet underground. 

Critical, Increased      The creature causes a critical hit on a 01-10, instead of the normal 01-05. 

Seismic Sense       The  creature cannot be effected by sound (sonic) attacks to deafen it as  they “hear” through the movement of the earth.  They can hear and  understand all movement within 90’.  So long as a character or opponent  is on the ground the creature can pin point its exact location.   It  does not suffer any penalties to attack things that are invisible  (including any darkness, hidden creatures, etc.) so long as the  invisible being or creature is moving.   

Spit Acid     Three times per day as a Simple Action the creature can spit acid up to  30 feet.  Targets are allowed an Agility check at a TS of 4.  Those  that fail this check are hit with  acid that deals 3d10 points of acid  damage, half of this damage always ignores armor absorption.  The acid  will continue to burn for d10 turns causing an additional d10+3 damage.