The air grows silent and still. A rhythmic rumbling courses through the ground. The sound of giant footfalls draw close and soon, the whispers and growls of a hundred feral mouths grows in volume. Standing as tall as the largest of pine trees, a creature of bone, of branch, of stone, and horrid writhing flesh looms. Cloth drapes over its profane form and upon its shoulders sits a horrifying parody of a head enshrined in a crown.

• Armor Class: As Scale

• Hit Dice: 20HD

• Hit Points:400

• Move: Standard

• Damage: Crushing Blows and

Nightmare Maws 1d10/1d10/1d10

• Quantity: Solo

• XP:2000

• Consume: A creature rendered unconcious near a Grimmking must save vesus Poison. Failure means the victum is pulled in and added to its form, immedeatly killing it and healing the Grimmking a number of hit points equal to the HD of the creature consumed

• Master of the Wyrd and Wild: Grimmkings are the will of the Wyrd and Wild made flesh. Creatures, items, and spells that originate from the Wyrd or Wilds cannot willingly attack or impede the Grimmking.

• Unbroken March: The Grimmking’s movement is unaffected by terrain or magic, its stride remains unbroken.

• Wyrd Aura: The Wyrd power embodied within the Grimmking causes bodies and minds to twist and warp. Every minute spent within eyesight of the Grimmking causes one random mutation.

• Spells: 1d12 random spells from level 1 to 9.

There are things no mortal should ever do. Unspoken rules of nature that are keenly understood by all druids and fey spellcasters, the “Rules of the Wyrd,” as a few scholars call it. This natural order of things is bound firmly in place with a deep and ancient power, as old as creation itself. Those corrupt and greedy few who glimpse of this seemingly limitless supply of energy grow sick and delusional, thinking they can tap into and harness it for their own selfish gain. They are fools.

A Grimmking is born when someone tries to take power from the Wilds. The power of the Wyrd and Wild does not take kindly to being disturbed and punishes those foolish few by twisting them into massive nightmarish monstrosities. Every facet of their their psyche and being is abolished, and their new forms become vessels for the will of the Wilds, and a grim warning of what happens to those who trespass on power that is not their own.

They are devoid of emotion and anything resembling a conscious, instead directly driven by the metaphysical will of the Wilds to consume and destroy. Stalking the darkest parts of the wilderness, marching down trails older than any written word, they move endlessly to sow fear and destruction in their wake. This path of travel is unbroken, anything that dares to cross it is broken and devoured, merely adding to its abominable form.

Grimmkings are fortunately mythically rare, centuries go by without any substantial reports of seeing them. First-hand accounts are rarer than platinum, and are always by maddened lone survivors. Despite this, some come to the frightening conclusion that they are not incredibly rare, but in fact, incredibly good at destroying any witnesses. These proclaimers tend to be maddened with terror, preparing for the inevitable day the Grimmkings all march on the bastions civilization. “The Grimmkings’ path goes unbroken by all. Woe to the world when it leads to our walls.”

One of the “boss monsters” of Into the Wyrd and Wild. A primal and distorted counterpart to the lich.