Elemental Grue, Ildriss

The ildriss, or wind terror, is a creature from the plane of elemental Air. When on the Prime Material plane, an ildriss is either as invisible as the wind or it is seen as a fog-like cloud with vaporous tentacles and three faintly gleaming red eyes. The latter is its natural form on its own plane. An ildriss travels in its invisible wind form, causing mischief and misfortune wherever it goes.

Ildriss are generally gray, pale yellow, or (rarely) white. Their eyes are pyramidal, ranging from dark orange through scarlet to maroon.

Combat: Because the ildriss can move invisibly high up or along the ground, they penalize opponents' surprise rolls by -3. They also attack first in every round. To attack, an ildriss must become substantial, forming a misty, semi-solid entity. The ildriss then twirls, small particles of solid material in its foggy arms striking with great force and causing horrible abrasive wounds, much as a storm of wind-driven sand wounds a living creature.

Because of their nebulous form and airy nature, ildriss are hard to hit, having an Armor Class of 2. They are less substantial on the Prime Material plane than other grue and thus a +2 or better weapon is required to hit them.

No air-based spell will work against an ildriss. Ineffective spells include control weather, call lightning, cloudkill, cone of cold, control winds, fog cloud, gust of wind, invisible stalker, lightning bolt, stinking cloud, wall of fog, and wind walk. The mere presence of an ildriss within 50 feet of such magic dispels the enchantment, even if the dweomer was previously permanent. Magical items are unaffected.

Habitat/Society: The ildriss make and break friendships quickly, living in ever-shifting cliques and tenuous partnerships. Though they are almost always solitary on the Prime Material plane, they are more outgoing on the plane of elemental Air, where most of them dwell in semi-stable tribes. These tribes have never been known to betray one another, though they do not always cooperate.

The ildriss follow no known chain of command; those with goals lead the others. They ally themselves with others only so long as their partners are useful to them. The ildriss are all servants or spies of Yan-C-Bin, the Elemental Prince of Evil.

Ecology: Ildriss are often outcasts on the plane of elemental Air, and are considered parasites in the communities of other air creatures. Like other grue, they use other creatures only to further their own ends. Most ildriss are very hesitant predators. They may spy on other creatures for days, invisible and unobserved, before choosing a course of action.

Ildriss eat clouds, cold breezes, high-flying birds, and small creatures of elemental air. They maintain defined territories only during mating season, when they grow more even more violent and untrustworthy than usual. Their mating grounds seem to be territories carried along on the wind; ildriss defend particular bodies of cold, dry air, not the airspace above some earthbound terrain. They often attack and kill interlopers in these territories during their midwinter mating season, but they do not eat intruders; their attacks are purely instinctual.

Fog Ildriss

There are rumors of a race of good ildriss, heretics who have abandoned the worship of Yan-C-Bin. These creatures are said to be even more timid that other ildriss, and only approach creatures of saintlike purity, such as moralist priests and paladins. In all other respects they resemble normal ildriss.