Grumpkins and Snarks

[KaiserKris]

The Night's Watch protects the realm. - Jon Snow
Ah yes, against grumpkins and snarks and all the other monsters your wetnurse warned you about. You're a smart boy, you don't believe that nonsense. - Tyrion Lannister

Grumpkin
The small furred creature appears to be able to speak Common, though with a very heavy Grumpkin-ish accent. While it yammers to you about some vague danger in the forests beyond, its fellows pickpocket you, stealing your valuables ...

No. Encountered: 1-2
Size: Small
HD: 1 (d6)
Move: 30 ft.
AC: 14
Attacks: Weapon (no more than d4) or Claws (1 dmg)
Special: Master Liar, Sneaky-Sneak, Spell-Like Abilities
Saves: P
Int: Average
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Type: Fey
Treasure: 2
XP: 11 + 1/hp

Master Liar: If a Grumpkin is trying to convince someone of a falsehood, they do so as a 5 HD creature. Any attempt to lie to a Grumpkin automatically fails as they are better liars than you.

Sneaky-Sneak: Grumpkins pickpocket, hide, listen and move silently as a thief would.

Spell-Like Abilities: (at will) detect snares and pits, pass without trace, speak with animals (3/day) snare

Grumpkins can be found in the great woods of the north, frequently on the edges of human settlements, where they regularly steal supplies from, having no great desire to make their sustenence. Grumpkins will rarely if ever directly attack armed tallfolk, unless driven to extremity, but they will frequently do their best to steal some of their useful supplies, as well as the shiny objects that they treasure (they also tend to ascribe magical powers to coins, as the tallfolk seem to value them greatly). Grumpkins will use their magical abilities and natural stealth to avoid combat if tallfolk are looking for them. They are not a great danger, overall, to the lands of the North, but a significant annoyance.

Snark
The hideous, mangy creature lopes towards you with surprising speed, walking about the knuckles of its oversized arms. While the whole creature is no larger than a halfling, its arms are the size of a full grown mans, ending in vicious-looking claws. It jabbers ferociously at you

No. Encountered: 1-2
Size: Small
HD: 2 (2d8+1 hp, average 9)
Move: 30 ft.
AC: 15
Attacks: Claws (1d6+1), Bite (1d4 damage, disease)
Special: Blood Frenzy, Disease, Scent
Saves: P
Int: Low
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Type: Monstrous Humanoid
Treasure: 2
XP: 22 + 2/hp

Blood Frenzy: If a snark succeeds in killing another creature, it goes into a brief frenzy in which its strength is vastly increased. Its claw attacks do double damage for the next 1d6 rounds.

Disease: The bite of a filthy snark forces a Constitution save to avoid disease. If it is failed, the target will get snark fever, which creates a terrible high fever and weakens the muscles. It lasts for 1d6 days and each day a save is failed, the target loses 1d2 Strength and Dexterity. If Strength or Dexterity ever reach 0, the subject has been permanently paralyzed (80% paraplegic, 20% quadplegic).

While the grumpkins are largely an annoyance, snarks are a genuine danger to isolated villages in northern lands. They usually avoid strong settlements, preferring to prey upon weaker individuals. They are not particularly intelligent, but skillful in creating simple tracks and tracking down lone or weak individuals. They have little use for most human artifacts except for alcoholic beverages and various shiny objects, which they hoard as prestige items. Unlike Grumpkins, Snarks do not understand the Common tongue. Snarkish tribes occasionally can be found pressed into the service of more powerful agents, such as ogres, but for the most part prefer to keep to themselves, taking prey on the edge of human settlmeents.