The palusculex are horrifying little nasties that are seldom seen by men. Most of what is known about them comes from wild tales told by travelers who inadvertently happen upon their hunting grounds. These stories are few, as most that encounter these vicious creatures don't live to tell the tale. Some believe them to be myth; nightmare creatures concocted to scare young ones off of traveling alone through dark places, or entertain those same youngsters with a good scare around a healthy fire. Though details about them are few and sketchy at best, they are very real and at least as terrifying as the tales told about them.

Don't let the thin build and short stature of the palusculex trick you into believing they aren't formidable foes. From tip to toe, the largest of them stand just a hair less than four feet tall. Add to that the fact they spend most of their time crouched, even using their hands at times while they walk about, they appear very small indeed. What they lack in size they make up for in speed, agility, and sheer wickedness. Sure they hunt for food. They'll eat anything made of meat that they can take down. Yes, men are definitely on the menu. However, they don't merely kill and eat their prey. They toy with and even torture them, apparently gaining great pleasure out of the suffering.


Take great care if you ever find yourself wandering about the swamps far to the south and east of Havenstahl for that is the region the palusculex call home. You will know one when you see one. They are short and very thin as I've stated earlier. Their eyes are long, yellow, and squinty. They sit below foreheads that jut out a bit and seem far too large, and above wide, flat noses. Their mouths are narrow with thin lips that hide needle-like teeth. At the top of all of that, sits a stringy crown of white hair that is normally streaked and dirty. If you still aren't sure if the wee monster threatening you is one of the palusculex, take a look at its trousers. Those should be plaid, tight, and expertly crafted. Though the wee beasts do not have a developed language, they are far from dumb animals. Their fine motor skills are highly developed, and they are experts when it comes to weaving fabrics.


These little monsters make an appearance in Lake of Dragons: Kallum's Fury. It is obvious they aren't working under their own directives, however. They have a purpose that is not their own. Whomever has commissioned them must be very powerful, for there is probably no man on Ouloos that could control them, save Maelich. Their mission is such that it is obviously not something the lad of the Lake would condone, so whom could it be? 

Grongs are nasty, brutish creatures, easily recognizable by squat, massive bodies covered mostly by scales. Along their backs from the tops of their heads to the tips of their short, thick tails, small, armor-like plates jut from their skin. Long, slithery tongues slip regularly between thin, dry lips that barely conceal sharp, needle-like teeth. Those tongues sense vibrations in the air, helpful when hunting amatilazo. Grongs have a taste for amatilazo and hunt them regularly.

Intelligence isn't among their strengths, but grong's do possess a simple language that is comprised of more than merely simple grunts. In fact, being mostly nomadic, several grong tribes have developed dialects of the common, grong tongue. A few of the larger tribes that have kept their wanderings to tighter regions even enjoy some level of trade with some of the more fringe communities of men, learning and adopting bits of their language to help ease transactions.

Grongs are typically not war loving. Their weapons consist of sticks sharpened by rocks for hunting, and heavy clubs carved out of tree limbs for swinging at threats. The clubs are mainly to protect themselves against warriors from the larger cities of men that will kill grongs on sight to protect the crops and livestock of their cities. Grongs, of course, will eat either of those things during the colder months when Ouloos becomes less generous with her bounty. This has caused a mutual hatred and distrust between grongs and men from the great cities. A fact that makes grong tribes easily persuaded to assist any group with a desire to bring war to the greatest cities of men. A tribe of grongs doesn't pose any real threat to a heavily armed and expertly trained army like that of Havenstahl. However, several tribes of grongs working in concert with giants or trogmortem can quickly become a force to be reckoned with.

 

Maelich met the dead-eyed men on his first trip through the Sobbing Forest in Lake of Dragons. All three appeared the same as one another. They were clad in dirty, brown cloaks with hoods covering wild mops of orange hair, menacing grins buried under nappy snarls serving as beards, and eyes that had no color at all, like hunks of coal, black and dead. During that first encounter, the trees of the forest intervened and destroyed the three. However, that did not end them. They returned further down the trail to Havenstahl and chased Maelich, Perrin, and Jom right into the heart of the greatest city of men. That is where Maelich learned of their true nature.

The dead-eyed men are the priests of Kallum - the god worshiped by most on Ouloos as supreme ruler and creator of all things. Acting as messengers of his will, they appeared wherever he wished his word be spread or his law be enforced. Ymitoth cowered before them at Havenstahl while Maelich stood tall.

The lad of the Lake did not learn until far later in his journey that the dead-eyed men were soulless corpses animated by Kallum, the great Eagle and ruler of the sky. As such, they should have fallen lifeless when Maelich scattered the god. Without his will to sustain their dead flesh, they should have quickly begun to rot as any natural corpse would. But did they?

When Maelich returns to the Sobbing Forest at the beginning of Lake of Dragons: Kallum's Fury eighteen summers after his first visit, the triumphant return is interrupted by a frantic Cialia bearing horrific news. Ymitoth had returned to Havenstahl after a hunt, beaten and murmuring about dead-eyed men whose description bore an uncanny resemblance to Maelich's recollection of the three. How could that be?