Grick

The grick is a relatively standard subterranean aberration without much history (dating back only to 3.0).  As a snatch-and-retreat predator that doesn’t immediately devour its prey, the grick is a good spark for a time-sensitive rescue scenario.  (“Sure you can stop to buff.  Of course, the butcher’s son will lose his leg.”)  There’s also the question of how communities cope with a threat that is hard to harm without magic…

Ironically, subterranean societies have just as many problems with their sewers and catacombs as surface dwellers do—perhaps even more so, since the deep-dwelling predators grow so much bigger.  Down-on-their-luck adventurers can find comparatively fair wages as grick hunters in dwarf or even duergar cities.  Drow are likely to force their slaves to do such dirty work.  None are likely to offer the necessary magic weapons, though.

Where jungle gricks are common, indigenous tribes use various means to ensure their safety. Crafting magic weapon salves is a daily chore for Mowatu shamans; Mowatu men keep these salves in jars worn on thongs around their necks in case of grick attack.  The Brilliant Talon tribe breeds shocker lizards for pets and defense.  The engineering-minded Weentar prize mobility, with vine-and-bamboo cable cars and zip lines keeping them high in the canopy.

Is a grick’s fear of the sky the instinctual impulse of an ambush predator…or something more?  A sage posits that gricks are refugees from the heavens who fear starspawn like akatas and shoggoths.  Of course, he needs specimens to prove his theory…

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 146