Grothlut

When considering fates worse than death, being turned into a Grothlut is surely one of them. These mindless, pitiful creatures only have a passing resemblance to their former selves as they are now coated in slime and waste, found slithering in the darkness and moaning miserably at the sight of another living being. Some vestige of their shattered psyche perhaps remains, woefully aware of its circumstance.

Other than its normal ranged and melee attack, the grothlut's main abilities are its Piteous Moan and Disgusting Demise. The former is a pretty strong crowd control ability that can be used to great effect when paired with other combatants on the abomination's side (more than likely its creator), while the latter makes the monster a good kamikaze-style enemy. This pairing turns the creature into a solid choice for the frontline of any assault en masse.

- Max

Hook 1 (Max) - Father and Son

Old Man Heimmer is desperate. Desperate enough to ask the unsavory vagabonds passing through his village for help.

Not long ago his only son, Jahn, left the village. That alone wouldn't be such a terrible thing were it not for the fact that he departed with a wandering wizard who, according to Heimmer, put some sort of charm on the young man. There was a decidedly odd and frankly unsettling feeling to the mage's countenance. Many described his presence as something that "sent a chill down your spine when you looked at him". Most of the villagers steered clear of him, save Jahn, who still had his head full of dreams of derring-do and adventure. He took the arcanist's offer to join him almost immediately.

Heimmer is worried, though. He wants his son to come back, or at least for someone to check on the young man, as he is far too old to do so himself.

Sadly, Heimmer's worries stem from a grim reality, as the wizard dabbles in rather unsavory practices. He is, in fact, actively being hunted down by many of his colleagues due to his disturbing backlog of failed experiments. Unfortunately for young Jahn, the mage is sure that this one will turn out differently and he is determined to see it through so that he may discover how far he can take the powers of transmutation.

Hook 2 (Nemanja) - The Pozica Strategem

Unless it is an absolute must, a grothlut will never touch salt.

Before abandoning the outpost of Pozica, the drow therein used this fact for a final, devilish scheme - painted on the floors of both the keep and other major facilities are lines of salt-infused paint that create lanes in which the grothluts patrol.

While the drow are long gone, the slug-men still patrol the halls, moaning pathetically as they guard the veritable trove of alchemical goods that remain unplundered within

Hook 3 (Reece) - A Pleading Letter

Dearest Brother,

I implore that you do not enlist as you so often told me you would. With great effort, I have passed this letter twelve trenches back to the main messenger's outpost where I hope it then survives long enough to reach you.

The elves have grown both bolder and crueler in their strategies to route us from the southern plains. When the war started and we enlisted, we thought it would be a grand thing; we were to defend our homeland and our kin from the savageries of the fair folk.

It is not so.

The artillery was the first sign of what was to come, I think. Alchemical fires and salvos of arcane energies rained from the heavens. We built these sheltered bunkers because of those brutal weapons, many of which have taken friends dear to me.

The creatures they deployed some weeks later have been the worst of it though. A soldier two trenches forward told me about how when one of the things rushed the bunker, it tore two men apart and then exploded when stuck with enough blades. The ones that survived will be... Scarred.

I beg you, listen to mother. Stay home. Do not seek the front.

With Love,

Lieutenant Doctor Chessa Everstone