Gibberling

Gibberlings are small, nocturnal humanoid creatures that inhabit many regions in Faerûn. Their species originates in the Far Realm, a place of madness beyond the known planes.

Appearance
The first impression of gibberlings is of a writhing mass of fur and flesh. The pandemonium is actually a mass of pale, hunchbacked humanoids, with pointed ears, black manes and grinning faces. Their eyes are black, and shine with a maniacal gleam.

Habitat and Society
It is difficult to imagine a gibberling social structure. There is no sense, no organization, and no individuality. Though they clearly have a primitive means of communicating among themselves, they have no discernable language. The only true hope of survival, should a herd of gibberlings be encountered, is to take strategic advantage of their fear of bright light. The gibberlings generally frequent only dense forests and subterranean passages, loathing bright light of all kinds, and are particularly afraid of fire. If found during the day gibberlings awake, but generally cower in fear at the bright light surrounding them.

Combat
Gibberlings attack in great numbers, uttering ghastly howls, clicks, shrieks, and insane chattering noises. The screaming mob is completely disorganized in form, and random in direction. They often carry short swords of the commonest variety in their overly long arms, with no markings or decoration they are often pitted and dull. Where they get these swords is unknown, and they may instead wield crude weapons made from bone.

The horde's forward motion slows only long enough to kill anything moving, and then continues forward, their bloodlust apparently unabated. They always fight to the death. All food in their path is devoured, including the fallen among their own number, and any unfortified building or objects are generally wrecked.

Ecology
Attempts to find the gibberlings' lairs have inevitably led back to subterranean passages, where the trail is eventually lost in the deepest rock-floored recesses of the caverns. They can easily be tracked by the path of chaos and destruction they leave, and can be quickly dispatched while they lie dormant just beneath the surface of the ground. Gibberlings traveling above-ground invariably burrow into the ground to hide during the daytime, and it is at such time that they are most vulnerable. Subterranean gibberlings may burrow into the ground, or may simply lie down in a curled, fetal posture at times of rest. They awake suddenly, as a group, and burst in unison out of the ground, howling and gibbering in a most frightful way.

Gibberlings require a prodigious amount of food to support their manic nocturnal existence, stripping to the bone anyone or anything that should fall in their path. Their fur is commonly infested with lice and other pests picked up during their burrowed slumber leaving their hides vile and worthless. Gibberlings carry no treasure or other useful items. In short, gibberlings serve no purpose and no known master, save random death in the night.