Hi. It's OneHope01 again.
Not long after I set out, driven by the magick-born intimacy that came from my use of the ancient spell known as the Charge of the First Ancestor, to find out as much as I could about the strange man-sized vermin named the "diell beead", I came across quite a strange sight.
I had spent several days searching for a diell beead colony that I knew was hidden among a particular set of ruins not overly far from where the Babylon Five thought we might start a colony. We needed to know if the diell beead would be a barrier to said colony's success. Creeping through the tumbled stones, haunted by memories that weren't mine of a time when they stood tall and pink, veined in gold, against Nibiru's petal-blue sky, I turned the corner of a long-overgrown street and saw a huddled cluster of four diell beead. Thankfully, their attention was focused away from me on some as-yet-unseen beast, giving me the freedom to pop back and protect myself from sight and blow by means of the gargantuan stone block whose corner I had just rounded.
Driven by the insatiable curiosity of our species -- more demanding and lethal than the storied weakness of cats worldwide by far -- I peeked back around and saw something I hadn't before. Between the diell beead and whatever foe they fought was a line of creatures similar to the diell beead in most ways, only a mite bit smaller and with a few key significant differences. For example, it appeared that in this smaller species (I later learned that it wasn't a separate species, but rather a sort of neuter worker caste that makes up 50-85% of all births among the diell species), the strong leaping legs tucked up under the rear of the diell beead sat a little further forward and underneath the great red-and-black carapace, having become great feathered wings protected by chitin like a beetle's diaphanous wings. Several long feathers trailed from where I thought those legs should have been. What skin was visible among these smaller diell was also feathered, rather than warty as in the beead. And finally, their mouths did not gape wide like their larger siblings, but pinched itself small with a bonily protruding hooked beak
The name "diell beewk" floated to the top of my jumbled brain, feeling like a simple extension of the name I already carried, that of the diell beead. This was my first hint that I was looking not at two related species, but at a single, united type of Nibiruan beast. I never did see what they were fighting, unfortunately, as the battle began to press the diell back and I -- wisely, I still assert! -- fled before becoming engulfed in it. Later study revealed that the diell beewk serve the diell species by scavenging for food, building and expanding the nest, and serving as frontline defenders if the colony is attacked. Although not nearly as potent as the diell beead, in groups the diell beewk can be just as deadly.
I also discovered that the ruins belonged to a race known as the loorged scoxo, who had fielded great warrior legions of diell-borne cavalry in the long-ago days of their Shkaan Empire. It is evidently quite common for their former mounts to have taken the wreckage of their pink-and-gold towns as their rightfully-inherited home. Then again, my informants on this matter are all descended from the ancient slave-races of the loorged scoxo, making sense of their description of the diell as having the intelligence to know, interpret, and utilize inheritance law in such a manner. Diell also lurk in the lightless depths of the underground realm known as Khyrdark, where their ominous sonic chimes echo off the walls to be heard, sometimes miles away. The effect can be terrifying as the echoing makes them sound as if they come from all around.
Medium-size Vermin
Hit Dice 6d8+18 (45 hp)
Initiative +3
Speed 25 feet, burrow 5 feet, fly 40 feet (poor)
Armor Class 19 (+3 Dex, +6 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 16, CMD 20
Base Attack Bonus/Combat Maneuver Bonus +4/+7
Attack Claw +7 melee (1d8+3)
Full Attack 2 claws +7 melee (1d8+3) and bite +5 melee (1d6+1)
Space/Reach 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks Rend (2 claws, 1d6+4), screech, shake the earth, trample (1d8+4, DC 16)
Special Qualities Darkvision 60 feet, immunity to sonic, low-light vision, scent, sonic healing, vermin traits
Saves Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +5
Abilities Str 16, Dex 17, Con 17, Int --, Wis 13, Cha 11
Skills Acrobatics +5, Fly -1, Perception +3 (+7 in daylight)
Feats Improved Natural Attack (claw) x2 (B), Multiattack (B)
Environment Any mountains, hills, or underground
Organization Solitary or colony (7-13 plus 2-6 diell beead)
Challenge Rating 3
Treasure None
Alignment Always neutral
Advancement 7-9 HD (Medium-size), 10 HD (Large)
Combat
Like their larger brethren, diell beewk seek to attack in groups, using their shake the earth ability abd sonic screeches to both deal damage on their foes and heal each other. A key difference in strategy when diell beewk and diell beead fight together seems to be an instinctual tactic. The diell beewk attack in a line as a unit, while the diell beead gather together behind their smaller brethren. In this way, a diell beead's sonic chime attack catches many diell beewk in its blast. Due to their sonic healing ability, which is more potent than that possessed by the larger specimens, the diell beewk are able to fight much longer than expected. Combined with their own screeches, diell beewk often seem as durable, if not more so, than their heftier kin.
Screech (Su): Once per day, a diell beewk can emit a cone of sonic energy from the chitinous bell above its head, just as a diell beead. However, the diell beewk's cone is 10 feet long, and creatures within take 1d12+3 points of sonic damage (Reflex DC 16 half). The save DC is Strength-based.
Sonic Healing (Su): This ability functions as the diell beead's sonic healing ability, except diell beewk heal 1 point of damage per 3 points of sonic damage a sonic attack would normally deal.
Skills: Diell beewk have a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics and Perception checks, with an additional +4 on Perception checks in daylight.
