Elementals

Elementals have been known to be openly hostile towards those with High Magic Talents corresponding to their own element and often refer to these as "half-breeds", despite this they remain among the most popular creatures to be summoned as they are generally more reliable than creatures such as Faeries and Demons.

The Elemental Lords

These are the greatest of the Elementals, if there are any greater Elementals than these in existence, they are unknown even to the craftiest of mages. The Elemental Lords are said to be so powerful that they may even grant wishes to those who have summoned them, summoning rituals for such powerful creatures are known to elaborate and extremely taxing, often taking weeks to complete.

Marids

The rulers of Water are known as the Marids, they are towering creatures more at home in water than anywhere else. Their immense bodies are created purely from water and they can only be summoned into the oceans of Adylheim. A single Marid is said to have been the cause of the lost Maradin empire of Tlanti, his anger at being scorned causing their ships and islands to be returned to the sea.

Jinni

The Jinni are the representatives of air. They often appear to have entirely blue bodies which is only marginally opaque, they can command the greatest of winds. There are said to be only four Jinni, each chief over a specific wind, the North Wind is said to be the crueler of the four, while the South Wind is said to be balmier than the others.

Jann

The Jann are the rulers of the Earth Element, they are massive creatures, large as mountains themselves, they are rarely seen with more than their upper bodies clear of the ground. A Jann can will the Earth itself to form around them to form their bodies and there are few mages capable of keeping one under control.

Ifrit

The Ifrit are the kings and queens of Fire. They usually take the form of giant, humanoid shapes wreathed in fire. Their power over fire is extensive to the extent that they can take the very fire from a man's blood or summon up such heat as to set stone and the earth itself alight. Of all the Elemental Lords, they are perhaps the most feared.

Elementals of the Greater Order

Elementals of the Greater Order are those most often seen when summoners bring them in from their respective Planes. While they vary greatly in power and personality they are all powerful creatures not to be trifled with.

Morgens

The Morgens are said to be potent spirits of water, they may occasionally be seen in powerful streams and in the sea on the Plane of Existence but mainly keep to their own Plane. They are powerful creatures in their own right, though keeping them out of water will quickly deteriorate their health. Morgens may call on the powerful forces of cold to aid them, giving them potent weapons in ice and snow against their enemies.

Morgens may take on humanoid forms, but will always appear somewhat fishlike and drenched in water. They usually have several rows or short, sharp teeth. Morgens are given to asking for water as a reward for their services, specifically the water inside a person's body, leaving the wizard anywhere from dehydrated to dead depending on how large the favour needed is. Any rite to summon a Morgen should be done in close proximity to a river or a large body of water.

Rarog

Rarogs are powerful spirits of Air. They often take the form of a whirlwind and can literally rip the skin off a person. They are the fastest of the Elementals and also the most difficult to kill. Their power of the wind allows them to be used as anything from transport to horrifying weapons of war.

Rarogs can only be summoned in open spaces and will quickly wilt if confined. They are generally considered to be hard to deal with as their moods are as shifting as the winds themselves and they may think twice about a deal they have made very quickly.

Oread

Huge creatures of solid rock, the Oreads are the guardians of the Earth Plane. They are the strongest of the Elementals and the best builders. They are known for their extreme patience and their apparent inability to forget any slight. Oreads typically take the form of large humanoids, made entirely of stone or tightly packed earth.

Oreads are typically summoned for their brute force, they make excellent underground excavators though they have great difficulty crossing rivers and streams, often having to tunnel underground to avoid them.

Eldjotnar

Eldjotnar are the spirits of Fire. They are creatures made of pure flame, often changing shape as needed, growing and shrinking in size as they find fuel for their fire. If they run out of fuel or spend too long near water they will reduce in size and power quickly.

Eldjotnar are generally seen as greedy and capricious creatures. They may delight in destruction as much anything else and will often halt whatever they are doing to ensure that they have burnt everything of interest around them. They should usually be summoned into an already burning brazier.

Elementals of the Lesser Order

Elementals of the Lesser Order are the least powerful of the Elementals and are sometimes seen on the Plane of Existence in places where their element is strong.

Undines

Undines are the representatives of water, they are often portrayed as women, but may just as often be male in form. The stories surrounding them often see them in pools in forests and similar, but they are just as often found in rivers and other small outlets. While Undines are not usually malicious by nature, they may, if their ire is raised, draw people to their death by showing them great palaces beneath the water or luring them in with enchanting songs and holding them there till they drown. Undines will rarely leave their pools and will die if removed from the water for too long.

Sylphs

Sylphs are representatives of the element of Air, not much is known about them as they are usually invisible. When they appear before someone they usually take highly abstract forms, appearing as nothing more than ripples in the air.

Sylphs delight in blasts of wind and can often be detected by hearing their laughter on the winds, they are usually drawn to high places and can often be found at the tops of mountains and around tall towers. Those Dragonkin who have managed to contact them have found them to be very incoherent, prone to disappearing without a word and generally with little capability for understanding other life forms. When provoked though, Sylphs can be unforgiving opponents stealing the air from the very lungs of their enemies.

Gnomes

The lowest order of Earth Elemental is the Gnome. It is a minute creature, rarely seen by most. It can sometimes be heard, moving around beneath the dirt. While Gnomes are not as easy to rile up as Undines or Sylphs and is probably the most stable of the elementals, their tempers, once riled last for a very long time. Those who have earned the ire of the Gnomes may find their soil infertile and famine hounding their every step.

In appearance gnomes appear to be made out of the local soil, and usually take a form which vaguely resembles that of a small humanoid. Once removed from the soil in which they live though, a Gnome's body loses coherence and they fall apart and do no reconstitute themselves till the soil their body is made of is once more hidden beneath the earth.

Salamanders

The Elementals of Fire take their lowest form in the Salamanders. These creatures typically take the form of lizards and can usually be found in hot places. They can be found with great regularity in and around the volcanoes which make up the Dae'vol lands. Typically Salamanders look like normal lizards of many shapes, forms and sizes, they are set apart from other lizards in that they have a tendency to start burning whenever they are spooked or agitated.

Salamanders are generally considered to be among the dimmest of the Elementals, they seem to have few needs beyond eating and burning things. Some of them have shown a great deal of cunning though and the more powerful of the Salamanders are unmatched among the lesser Elementals in their capacity for destruction.

Fauna of Adylheim

The majority of normal animals according to biotype can be found in Adylheim. Large predators are kept down through hunting, though wolves and other similar animals are known to attack humans. Animals are hunted to add meat to the diet, but the main diet of the fiefdoms is based around wheat.

The Moonspiders

Moonspiders are delicate, silvery white creatures that come out and sing whenever the moon appears. They are given to lulling people into sleep with their song before covering them with their webs and dragging them down to their lair.

Caladrius

The Caladrius is a rare species of white birds. Their plumage, when it is burned and the resulting smoke inhaled, can cure any disease.

Gargoyles

Created through the use of magic, these creatures are cunning ambush predators made primarily of stone and magic. They are often placed on buildings as guardians.

Ghouls

Ghouls are natural, semi-sentient creatures. They live the majority of their life underground, but are known to haunt cemeteries and catacombs. In these places they live their lives dining on the remnants of those dead. Ghouls are pale and skinny humanoid creatures who can only eat decaying flesh. Fresh meat or vegetables hold no interest for these creatures.

Gnolls & Goblins

Known by various names throughout Adylheim these minute humanoids are rarely much larger than a human fist. They’re stooped creatures, faces hidden behind dirty braids of hair and equally dirty clothing. They are usually seen moving something, perhaps pulling a bag twice their size or a dead pigeon, or otherwise performing some manner of purposeful action, at least to them. They are usually only visible through the corner of the eye or when someone isn’t focusing on them. Some Magical Analysts believe they are inhabitants of one of the Shifting Realms, which explains why they are only occasionally visible as well as the lack of any known habitats for this strange race.

There are many legends and superstitions surroundings these creatures, though mentioning them is generally considered bad luck, so if people notice their presence, they usually will not mention it. Some believe they have some grand, sinister purpose which it is better not to get in the way of, others believe they are merely a pest but it’s better to stay on the safe side.

Dragons

The vastly powerful dragons of old have passed from this world and are rarely found in this day and age. They are said to rival the gods in power, but having no need for worshippers since they created their own servant race in their own image, the Dragonkin. Dragons are said to have been the size of mountains and have left many magical wonders and treasures behind as they moved on from this world.

Drakes

Drakes are known to be great beasts, often hunted by humans to give them the appearance of valour. They are a large reptilian species said to be a lesser form of the great dragons. They are often capable scholars hoarding powerful spells in both Low and High Magic as well as more physical wealth. Drakes have no known tongue of their own, though they are highly intelligent and will usually communicate with whomever is visiting their lairs in their tongue rather than their own. Nonetheless, drakes are known to be vain and often prone to greed in collecting their treasures. While drakes and Dragonkin usually maintain a cordial but uneasy relationship, they consider each other lesser creatures. Dragonkin believe drakes are mere imitators of something grander than themselves, whereas drakes believe dragonkin should serve them now that the dragons have all left.

For the most part, drakes are solitary creatures, rarely seen together outside of when they mate. Drakes have no form of society and though they often communicate with each other through magical means, there is little love lost between individual drakes.

Hercinia

Hercinia are birds whose plumage glow in the dark. They are rare, but the brilliant glow of their plumage make them a prized catch.

The Walkers

The 13 Walkers are believed by some to be messengers from the gods. Others believe they are an extinct race with power enough to challenge the gods. Very few of them are known and less of them are seen in Adylheim. They seem to have no specific common characteristics though, beyond being known as Walkers. However, they usually take the form of creatures which are vaguely humanoid. The most prominently known of them are the Lord of Ravens and the Hunter.

The Mefici

The Mefici are a crystalloid race who live primarily underground. They do not use magic in any conventional sense. While Mefici may theoretically live forever, they create bodies for themselves when they need to move around. This process takes place in what they refer to as the Flesh Forge, where a flesh body is grafted around the crystal housing their consciousness. This is usually followed by a series of metal plates which protect the body and leave little to be seen. The Mefici communicate through a form of telepathy similar to that of the Dae’vol, though it is reputed as being painful for those who are subjected to it. This is believed to be because of the alien nature of a mind made from stone.

Mefici as a race deal in absolutes and have problems with concepts such as lies and half-truths. The heavily armoured bodies of the Mefici are generally short and squat, but powerful, to allow them passage underground. Mefici naturally exhibit talents of earth manipulation and can often reshape tunnels to be large enough to fit them. The Mefici are excellent smiths, and they are extremely well paid for their products.

Griffins

The griffins are monstrous beasts capable of flight with a man and his bow, plus a good portion of loot he may have acquired. A griffin is a large half bird half lion hybrid, with the head, beak, feet and claws, and wings of an eagle along with the body of a lion. Griffins naturally populate the northern mountains, but are in their greatest populations at the Ribs. They've hollow bones to allow for flight, but are no lesser on the predatory totem pole for it; the only truly competing predator in the Ribs are the Dragonkin, which annihilate the griffin near their cities for their own safety. They are generally utilised by the der Whurlitz Griffin Riders, and possibly barbarian tribes.

Physiology

A griffin is a creature with the body of a lion, and the head, wings, feet, and claws of an eagle. Like a bird, the griffin has hollow bones and strong shoulder muscles for sustaining flight. Your average griffin stands four feet (1.33m) high at the front shoulder and measures nine feet (3m) in length. The largest recorded griffin reached almost five feet (1.66m) in height and eleven feet (3.66m) in length. Griffin’s weigh from six hundred to seven hundred fifty pounds (270kg to 337.5kg) and can carry approximately one hundred seventy pounds of weight (76.5kg) on a thirty mile (48km) trip. Their wingspan is roughly 2.3 times their length.

Griffins are very agile and strong. Due to their weight the griffin is a gliding creature, one that reduces its flapping to a minimum to conserve energy. In the air a griffin can reach great altitude and speed while gliding, all with lethal silence. If a griffin must flap to stay aloft, they cannot flap much longer than five minutes before returning to a sustained glide to rest.

Threat Rating

Griffins, while quite agile and aggressive, aren't too resilient when it comes to taking damage. As their bones are hollow they are easier to break and sever, if you can manage to land a direct hit. Arrows are an easier way to kill the griffin, but you must hit its vitals or it is likely to survive. A griffin has been known to keep flying with its wing shot in the shoulder but it could only glide, not flap its wing.

Feeding

Griffins eat only lightly, but they eat frequently. The griffin is also a strange combination of an omnivore with a carrion feeder, meaning that while they have no compunctions killing for food they're perfectly willing to eat it as it rots. As an omnivore they are capable of existing for some time on grain and some berries, but only for a month or two at a time. A griffin requires adequate meat for health more than any other food, and the easiest sign of a lack of meat is that the feathers will molt and be of poor quality. It is best to feed meat and grain together, if meat rations must be reduced.

Temperament

The griffin is the Rim’s most potent predator and it has the attitude of such. A wild griffin is fiercely independent and is vicious when threatened. Griffins are notoriously aggressive and territorial, known to require almost twenty square miles of territory for a single pair.

It is known that griffins are virtually impossible to tame except when raised from a hatchling state. Even then these are still half wild beasts, submissive and responsive to their handler under most situations. Unlike a dog who might wonder why it got hurt by its master, a griffin-handler would likely be slain if it ever caused its griffin pain—the only exception known being in the tending of wounds.

Intelligence

Griffin are deviously clever, for an animal, and more than capable of learning up to forty two-syllable commands. Like almost all animals they are adept at reading body language, and draw nearly as much inference from the body language of their handler and others as they do from vocal commands.

Griffin are also something different in that they cannot be transferred between handlers. A griffin learns to trust only one person and to accept training and correction from this one person, but once that person dies instinct then takes over and the griffin becomes feral.

The Senses

Griffins have amazing eyesight and are able to pinpoint a goat at one mile in altitude. If they knew the breeds of the goats they wanted they could even identify the type of goat from that height. However, griffins have absolutely no night vision and so cannot fly at night. Secondary senses are its senses of hearing and smell, the weakest being smell.

Mating

Griffins are incapable of having offspring more than once every three years; rarely are as many as two soccer ball-sized eggs laid. Incubation periods of the egg last from six to seven months.

Like some birds of prey, the griffin has its own mating dance. The griffin spar for several minutes in air, then spar during wild acrobatic maneuvers such as barrel rolls and inverse loops. The entire dance could last for as many as five minutes and is performed at absolute top speed. While showy and very risky, there is no intent behind the dance except both mates just showing off.

Lifespan

• 0-1 Years: Infancy.
• 2-8 Years: Youngster, early flight.
• 9-11 Years: Preadolescence, stabilized flight with light loads.
• 12-13 Years: Adolescence, finalizing growth and strength increases.
• 14-45 Years: Adulthood
• 46-70 Years: Old age; cannot carry more than 1 passenger after 65 years.
• 71+ Years: Dead.

Interplanar Creatures

Interplanar creatures are classed as beings which belong on no particular plane, but can be found on many different planes, or travel between them through various methods. Despite this one thing in common, they all have vastly different appearances and features, and behave in wildy different manners. Their purpose or mission is often strange and incomprehensible to the more mundane races.

Collectors

The Collectors are said to stem from the first thing the Gods threw away when making reality. Their purpose is to collect things that others have thrown away. While they are capable of travelling between planes, they typically reside in the spaces between planes which the Gods deigned not to use. Typically Collectors cannot use things that people still use or haven't thrown away. Their own language, for instance, is made up of old languages that have died out and phrases and words that have slipped out of usage. They are not only capable of collecting things, but also knowledge, emotions, souls and similar.

Collectors rarely share a common appearance as they are made up of the things they collect. Whenever a Collector decides to make a new Collector, they are made by things the previous Collector has collected and they may alter their appearance throughout their life. They carry the things in a space behind what one might consider their heads. Collectors are occasionally known as Phlogisii.

Crystalkin

The Crystalkin are a race of magically enhanced humans. According to their own tale, they are planar refugees after their crystalline home plane was destroyed, looking for a new plane on which to settle.

In appearance they are similar to humans, with small veins of crystal seen running along their body. They also tend to be taller and more slender than most other humans. Among their more common garb are cotton robes in pale blue or grey. Their magic bases itself heavily around the use of crystals, some of which they have incorporated into their own bodies, some of which they carry with them.

The Crystalkin are led, in their search, by their Queen, always the eldest female of the royal family of Dimari. Crystalkin can often be found exploring or searching for maps of inhabitable planes, their advanced magical skills allowing them to buy their passage.

Dertakers

Taking their name from an old joke saying that they are the opposite of Undertakers, the Dertakers fulfil an important task in the multiverse. The Dertakers are considered to be a particularly business minded lot, they do not speak to others except to conduct their strange business and ensure that it remains uninterrupted. Dertakers ensure that souls migrating between Realms are equipped with the proper bodies to deal with their new environments.

Dertakers all share a common characteristic, looking vaguely like a grey sheet draped over a body which is vaguely humanoid. Those adventurous enough to look under the sheets have reported that there is nothing under there.

Frigon

Frigon share some characteristic with dolphins, specifically their form. They chase through the planes, surviving on and having an uncanny ability to find reality gnats wherever they may occur. Frigons swim as easily through air as water, though their luminescent forms may be found most often in the Farther Realms, but may occasionally be observed elsewhere.

Mar

The Mar are often mistaken for demons, they shift between two shapes, one which is eerily reminiscent of a pale, overly chubby child, with pointy teeth and claws, the other is usually some manner of scavenging bird, usually equivalent of whatever is best suited for the environment in which they find themselves.

The Mar appear wherever there is a crisis, or a battle of large enough scope. Wherever there is enough loss of life, the Mar will eventually appear. The amount will usually vary depending on the size of the crisis in question.

Reality Gnats

Reality Gnats are usually more at home in the Farther Realms than elsewhere, they can be found on most planes though and are often mistaken for ghosts. Reality Gnats aren't so much creatures in their own right as breaches in reality, their entire being, to those who can sense them, often appears to be no more than a breath of colour on the wind.

Reality Gnats borrow intelligence from nearby creatures and may mimic them, instantly picking up languages, memories and similar but are rarely capable of putting it together in any kind of coherent way. Therefore they often mumble incoherent sentences (which are usually heard as a whisper) and generally take on almost transparent appearances from the memories of those around it.

Viators

Said to originate from some of the more peculiar planes, the Viators are explorers and occasionally traders. They find the environments in most planes hostile and travel in magical suits which protect them from the heavy air in these places. These magical suits often take an appearance similar to quicksilver and give little indication of the creatures beneath them. These suits change shape to fit the needs of the individual Viators, sometimes creating hands, feet or even mockeries of human shapes when they need to. However, no one knows what they look like beneath these suits as a rupture in the suit has always caused the living being inside them to implode.

The Viators travel the high skies of planes in their floating ships, as at home in the air as on the water. Communicating with them beyond the most basic has proved troublesome as their suits do not allow for telepathy or sound to penetrate and there is no common ground in terms of a written language.

Snerk

Snerk

The Snerk are a race of strange, semi-intelligent animals that live in the tall mountains of northern Adylheim.

Appearance

Snerks look a lot like satyrs, they stand on two backwards-bent legs and have two hands. Their legs end in hooves, whereas their hands have strong eagle-like claws. Their whole body is covered in fur, mostly brown in summers and mostly white in winters. Their head, unlike satyrs' resembles that of deer, with bright yellow eyes and large brown, black or white antlers. Unlike normal deer, snerks don't lose their antlers each year and instead grow them all their life. The loss of an antler results in the snerk going into depression, when he stops eating and therefore dies in a couple of weeks or a few months.

Habitat and behaviour

Snerks are herbivorous, they feed upon grass, leaves, moss and tree bark when food is scarce. The creatures habit the Northern lands of Adylheim and are found primarily in Starkwater, Nevros and the Ribs further away from human life. Snerks are timid and non violent creatures that take their solitude from other beings but themselves and other smaller animals. The creatures can usually be found living alone or in groups up to three and at most four in one large vicinity. Snerks mate once every three or five years, producing no more than two offsprings. Unfortunately, a lot of young snerks die due to their dangerous habitat.

An interesting part of a snerks lifestyle is its everyday labour. When a snerk isn't sleeping, eating or otherwise occupied, from morning to late evening they climb a mountain up and down carrying large boulders on their antlers to a certain high place in the mountain. They create piles of boulders which eventually crumble down the mountain destroying a few days, weeks or even months of the snerk's labour. When the rocks crumble down snerk can be found in depression for a couple of days and then they start their work all over again. Snerks change their rock piling location after the third or fifth avalanche or if they sense too much human or other being presence. Why snerk pile rocks in high places of mountains is a mysterious and unknown reason.

Value

Snerk fur in quality and use is as valuable as that of a normal deer. Even so some people like hanging it on walls or demonstrating the fur in other ways. Snerk meat is edible, however tasteless, therefore most of the time it is not used. The antlers on the other hand have a high value, not only for their beauty, but also for their strength. Snerk antlers are larger and more beautiful, even though similar to deer antlers. The antlers do not break under big weight and are hard to damage or remove from the body in general. Due to the hard to get to habitat that snerks live in and their scarce population they are not a popular hunting animal.

Trolls

Trolls are one of the largest races known, they are typically almost twice as tall as a human and normally have the strength to back their size up. Their skin is rougher than human skin, and have about the same toughness as leather. Their skins usually range from pale pink to darkish brown with the occasional grey. For the most part they appear to be cast in the image of humans, their bodies are very similar. However, trolls are usually hairier than humans, their noses, eyes and ears are larger in proportion to their heads and their mouth is often filled with terrible fangs. Some trolls have been known to let moss, and other small plants, grow in the crevasses of their leathery skins, typically it appears to be the equivalent of wearing jewellery in a human.

Trolls are typically nocturnal creatures and rarely come out during the day, their eyes allowing them to see in all but total darkness. During the day, trolls typically sleep in a state where they barely seem to breathe at all. Which has lead to many myths that they turn to stone if they see the sun. The sun is likely to blind a troll though.

While trolls are born much like humans, with two arms, two legs and one head with all the proper attachments, this form may change as they age. Unique among the creatures that inhabit Adylheim the trolls possess the ability to appropriate extremities and other body parts from each other, as long as these body parts are in a fairly useable condition. Trolls will therefore sometimes be seen as having three or more heads supported on their shoulders, or sharing an eye between themselves or with more arms than the normal complement. Such grafts are not always successful and these extra body parts may be as much of a nuisance as anything else, it is not unknown, for instance, for a two headed troll to be arguing with itself.

Environs

Trolls are typically found within the confines of the Ribs. They rarely live in the lowlands beneath the hills and prefer the plentiful caves found here for shelter. While trolls are occasionally found in the northern Ribs, typically they live in the eastern Ribs, east of the ogre lands.

Their rampant territoriality often leads to them having altercations with the Dragonkin and Drakes who also inhabit these mountains, although the reason for this is not always as simple as other creatures infringing on their territory, sometimes it is to enrich themselves of the treasures which these other creatures hold.

In the few cases that trolls have made it to the relative civilization of the fiefdoms they have been known to trade their caves for the shady comforts of bridges, where they can hide from the sun they so despise. They have shown little interest in using human buildings as shelter.

Organization

Trolls are not the brightest of creatures and do not really have much by way of organization. Typically they have simple families living together in caves, these families rarely numbering more than four or five individuals, once they are of age the children will move out and form families of their own.

They may occasionally form larger bands to raid settlements, on these occasions the question of leadership will often come up and rarely be resolved. Unless there is someone who is clearly larger and stronger than the others, this position will often be shared between several who deem themselves the boss, this is rarely a position which goes by without violence.

Culture and Technology

Trolls do not have much by way of a culture. They are capable of rough buildings, primarily by piling rocks and logs on top of each other but advanced architecture escapes them. They have also been known to occasionally pursue agriculture and the raising of livestock with some success but they have shown little interest in these things beyond their ability to produce food for them.

Trolls have not discovered the secrets of making alcoholic beverages, though they will gladly raid nearby tribes for such drinks. Despite their love for alcohol, trolls are notorious lightweights and are incapable of drinking anyone under the table. When they do have alcohol on their hands though, they will usually arrange great feasts wherein these liquors are consumed.

Religious rites and similar are pretty much unheard of in troll culture, however they have been known to swear at the sun frequently and they consider it an enemy of their people. By the same token, they often greet the rising moon with enthusiasm, claiming it as their protector from the sun.

Their language is said to be related to that of Ogran, but even less complex than this. Though the two languages are somewhat mutually intelligible, the two races rarely get on and frequent violent clashes between the two at the borders of their respective domains are a common occurrence. While trading with trolls appears to be all but impossible given that they have little interest in such things as maintaining relationships, why trade something next year when you can keep your wares and steal his now? Despite this, trolls seem to have an interest in procuring valuable gems and metals and adding them to their hoard. While they have no particular need for these beyond a magpiesque drawing to shiny items, they seem to put much stock by them and often gather as much of it to their caves and homes as they can get their hands on.