Greyfrog

Greyfrog
Greyfrog by Corporal Nobbs
Biographical information
Race	Demon
Gender	Male
Family	Mirepool (parent)

"My path is made clear. Glee. I shall eat humans this night."

―Greyfrog

Interpretation of Greyfrog by A Demon Llama

Greyfrog was a demon who was born of Mirepool’s Clutch in the Twentieth Season of Darkness. By his own admission, he had fathered thirty-one clutches of his own.

Greyfrog, dog-sized and reptilian in general appearance, had a broad face and mouth with two slitted nostrils, four arms with clawed apelike hands, and two short legs. His four murky green eyes, with vertical pupils, were arranged in a diamond pattern in his flat, hairless head. They blinked in pairs, first the two side-by-side, then the pair above and below. His head was flat and hairless, and his serrated lips concealed a long, slithering tongue. When darkened by the sun, his skin was almost olive.

He communicated telepathically with others. The demon had a voracious appetite and was driven by an endless hunger. He was virtually oblivious to stings, bites, and poisons.

In House of Chains

Greyfrog by Corporal Nobbs

L'oric and Osric discovered Greyfrog dying at the collapsing border of the warren that formed Raraku's ancient memory. Osric noted that it was common to find demons stumbling out along the memory's verge, and Greyfrog admitted he had hopped one hop too far. As L'oric had recently lost his demon familiar of many centuries, he offered to save the beast's life in return for its service. Greyfrog was impressed by L'oric's Eleint father, and promised to consider the matter after he was fed.

Ultimately, the demon struck an alliance with mage, serving more as a companion and partner than a familiar. L'oric set the demon to guarding Felisin Younger in Karsa Orlong's grove. Greyfrog took a liking to the girl, claiming it wanted to marry her despite their small chance of producing proper broods together. The demon left the girl's side only to rescue L'oric after Korbolo Dom attempted to murder the mage in his tent.

Eventually L'oric sent Greyfrog off with Heboric and Scillara to take Felisin to safety away from Raraku. They soon found their way to Tesem and the company of Iskaral Pust and Cutter.

In The Bonehunters

Interpretation of Greyfrog by Corporal Nobbs

Greyfrog accompanied Cutter, Felisin Younger, and Scillara, on their journey to return Heboric to Otataral Island. Along the way, he killed Guthrim and a group of bandits in a spectacularly violent manner when they tried to assault the two women. Whenever Felisin awoke in the night with bad dreams, he sang children's songs to her in his people's language saying he needed to practice them.

He communicated telepathically with his traveling companions with the exception of Scillara. It turned out that the reason was her pregnancy. Once she delivered the baby, he also communicated with her and displayed an amorous lust and admiration for her. Among his own kind, Sentinel Circlers bravely self-sacrificed themselves for the benefit of the community. Since Scillara would have no interest in his sexual advances, he saw himself as her Sentinel Circler protecting her from harm.

While his companions suffered from the insects and heat, Greyfrog took delight in the experience, jumping with his mouth open and tongue snapping to collect flies until his stomach could no longer hold any more. One of his more uncomfortable experiences came when swallowing an entire live goat. The creature's kicking caused him indigestion.

When the Crippled God's T'lan Imass servants, The Unbound, ambushed the party to kidnap Felisin Younger, Greyfrog appeared to be among the slain. Both his forelimb and back limb on one side of his body were cut off. L'oric, sent by the Queen of Dreams to retrieve Felisin, was too late to stop her abduction or save his familiar, although he was surprised not to feel the pain usually associated with the severing of a familiar's bond. The mystery was answered when a smaller Greyfrog with all his limbs intact emerged from the decaying corpse. With Felisin lost and Heboric dead, the demon accompanied L'oric back to Kurald Thyrllan.

Greyfrog's race

Greyfrog's people were organised into competitive warrior clans whose priority seemed to be the care and protection of the breeding pools which produced their young. The mechanics of reproduction were unclear, but the female ultimately left a clutch of fertilised hard shelled eggs in a silty pool dedicated to that purpose. Sentinel Circlers protected the pools for the greater good of the community to protect them from rival males.

Lineage appeared to be tracked by clutch with individuals capable of producing or fertilising dozens of clutches in their lifetimes. Adults were expected to sing to their children.

Centuries ago, one of the clans chose the Silent God as their representative. They declared themselves the god's representatives and wrote down laws, rites, and punishments regarding its worship. When the cult achieved domination it launched a reign of violence and fear that lasted generations. They salted and poisoned pools, crushed eggs, and dismembered mothers.

When severely injured, Greyfrog's race could moult their skins and produce a smaller, healthier version of themselves, complete with regrown limbs, if necessary.

Quotes

"The demon’s appetite was voracious, and L'oric admired its single-mindedness, if not its rather untidy approach to eating."

―L'oric's thoughts while Greyfrog ate breakfast

Notes and References

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