"Good morning," the Thing in the Well calls, "And how are we doing this morning Mrs. Westmen?" -- "Just wonderfully. How have you been keeping, Thing?" -- "Fine, fine. A little peckish, a bit in the mood for, you know, a nibble, a bite to eat. But don't worry yourself, perfectly fine." -- "It's quite alright Thing, I was just thinking I should bring by some lunch. How does a ham sound?" -- "You are too kind Mrs. Westmen, just too kind..." -- The Thing in the Well has lived in the village for longer than anyone can remember. It is traditional to fix regular meals for the Thing, and to present it with a sheep or pig on special occasions. Years ago a boy went down the well on a dare. He never returned. The subject has not been broached in the presence of the Thing. Instinct: To devour

• Politely collect tribute
• Leverage townspeople through secrets
• Purify water
• Hide in darkened waters

"The Old Ones, they knew much. Not the alchemy of man nor the sorcery of warlocks and the like. No, this is the magic of gears and pulleys, the sorcery of science. Watch your every step in the tower: be wary or you may call to life the ancient defense systems. You'll know the Defenders have awoken long before you face them, that's for sure; they're louder than a stomping giant and their hulls scrape the stone walls. You'll hear them coming, I'm sure you can avoid them, go on in the tower. Me? I... I'll stay out here. Got to have a lookout post, right?"

Instinct: Destroy all Intruders! *click* Defend the domain!

• Display immense and uncaring strength
• Soldier on, ignoring all damage until the last
• Reveal a hidden function from the depths of its gearworks

Each individual shadow is actually a swarm of tiny, dust-sized demons. No one is quite sure where they come from, or how to kill them, but it is known that children of every species on every plane of existence know to fear the darkness . . . Instinct: To spread

• Devour flesh
• Impersonate voices
• Absorb knowledge from those it kills

Scarabaeus pyractomena! What a delightful creature—see how its carapace glitters in the light of our torches? Not too close now, they’re temperamental, you see. The fire in their belly isn’t just metaphorical, no. Watch as I goad the beast. Aha! A spout of flame! Unexpected, isn’t it? One of these creatures alone, if it comes up from below, can be a hellish nuisance to a farmstead or village. A whole swarm? There’s a reason they call it a conflagration of fire beetles. Instinct: To enflame

• Undermine the ground
• Burst from the earth
• Spray forth flames

Some are wont to lump these little, rat-like dragon-men in with goblins and orcs, bugbears and hobgoblins. They are smarter and wiser than their kin, however. The kobolds are beholden slaves to dragons and were, in ancient times, their lorekeepers and sorcerer-servants. Their clans, with names like Ironscale and Whitewing, form around a dragon master and live to serve and do its bidding. Spotting a kobold means more are near—and if more are near then a mighty dragon cannot be far, either. Instinct: To serve dragons

• Lay a trap
• Call on dragons or draconic allies
• Retreat and regroup

When the Kaorti see it necessary to guard themselves more directly than merely secure prisoners for their own means, they are known to more carefully pick their thralls, drilling and shaping them using more advanced magics in order to make a more suitable fighting force. They then outfit them with mystically-enhanced weapons - since these guards are usually sequestered in the Kaortis cysts, they take advantage of the peculiar energies and geometries held therein to cut corners and grant them weapons that only function inside the cyst, but when used there they can be very effective - stunning or withering their foes to great effect. If the Kaorti were more interested in more straightforward tactics, these thralls show what they could be capable of, thankfully they hide in the shadows and plot in the depths, for now. Instinct: To protect

• Mystically subdue an opponent
• Mutate to gain a supernatural ability
• Ring a bell to summon reinforcements

Animate stone titans can be grandiose to behold that much is true. But how they are made can differ. Suppose that a stone statue exists of perhaps a hero or a villain, and for one reason or another it becomes cursed, it weeps blood or is heard to scream to itself in the night and suchlike. People would tend to throw such a statue away rather than deal with it or even cleanse it - unless it is of such paramount importance and even then they are more than likely to just commission another. But what becomes of such cursed detritus? If the curse is amplified or multiplied, twisted and woven around the statue like a mesh, and its power driven and focused to grant it animation, a great and terrible thing can be created indeed. Especially if whoever does this not only grants it power but enhances it in other ways, granting it greater size and etching runes of power upon it. Cults live in curses, and these colossi make prime candidates for guarding their lairs, and squashing any unfortunates who would stumble into such places. Instinct: To obey/corrupt

• Vomit forth cursed blood
• Activate the runes upon its surface through touch
• Crumble and shatter its surroundings

A flock of undead crows, they fly with magic as their fleshy wings have long since rotted away. They attack anyone who strays to close to the nest they protected in life. Instinct: Protect its nest

• Swoop and claw
• Make a noise
• Distract with boney wings

The insidious Kaorti are a cancerous growth upon the world, for they seek to taint it with their presence and their resin, corrupting life into eldritch mockeries. When a cyst (that is the rather flattering name scholars refer to their lairs as) grows large enough, inevitably the Kaorti and their servants require more and more focused direction Instinct: To corrupt and rule

• Secrete and mould unearthly resin
• Wield frighteningly powerful alien magic
• Beckon forth unnatural horrors from beyond with ease
• Corrupt into another Kaorti, or a Thrall over a matter of hours

A blood fiend is to demons what a vampire is to humans; even to other fiends they are terrifying, twisted abominations. They hunt other demons for their blood, tearing open even resilient demon-hide with vicious claws to get at the fresh, burning-hot blood within. They stink of days-old blood and their skin is red, raw and flayed. You'll want a strong stomach as well as a strong heart if you have to fight one. Beware, even if you shed much of its blood rather than the reverse, you're not out of the woods yet--a puddle of its blood can trip you up, or even strike you. Unless you have good reason, best to run, or try some kind of magic to stop them. Instinct: To drink deep the living wine.

• Slices flesh to feast on blood.
• Blood it takes grants it strength.
• Blood it sheds remains dangerous.