Organisation
Gricks are sociable creatures. They gather into small groups known as clusters, which usually contain between two and four gricks. The members of this group are all siblings, having been shed from the same parent at the same time. Outsiders are never welcomed, and since young are abandoned as soon as they fall from the body from their parent, clusters never increase in size.
Gricks operate in a manner similar to sharks. They have something of a pack mentality, although they tend to be marginally more intelligent than other pack animals. They co-operate in order to kill their prey, but mealtimes are a free-for-all. Whichever grick takes the most food does so simply because it is able to do so. They ignore each other while eating, unless more than one grick has designs on the same piece of meat. They occasionally fight over food, but no hierarchy is established unless one grick consistently wins such battles.Gricks do not compete for mating rights, and have no parental instinct, abandoning young as soon as they have hived off.
Lairs
Once gricks have settled in an area, they become very territorial, driving other gricks away with aggressive chirps and rattles. Because they are only of animal intelligence, they are not sophisticated enough to set traps, although they are wise enough to find areas with plenty of hiding-places, allowing them to ambush prey more easily. They develop an exceptional awareness of their surroundings, which, combined with their keen senses, makes a surprise attack on a grick lair an almost impossible task.
Grick lairs are generally untidy places. They are generally littered with the bodies of their previous meals, mummified, having being sucked dry. Eventually even these remains are eaten as well, snacked upon by the gricks following their sleep. Their lairs tend to have a musty, dried-out air, much of the moisture sapped from the room by the gricks in their sleep. The entrance to a grick's lair is usually confined, no more than thirty inches across.
Hoards
If gricks accumulate treasure, it is usually by accident rather than design. Any goods found are merely the items found with the remains of their prey. Much of this wealth is usually shaken loose and left behind.
Relations with Other Monsters
Unsurprisingly, Gricks do not enjoy or seek out the company or co-operation of other monsters. However, they are capable of co-existing with other species and can form part of a food web. Most of these species, however, tend to be scavengers rather than other predators. Gricks are not fond of competition.
Intelligent races have attempted to domesticate gricks, thinking their aggressive instincts could be used profitably. Thus far it has been a limited success, and not many races are willing to try. They are too wild, too unruly and on the whole too difficult to charm to be considered worth the effort. They are useless as watchdogs as they tend to eat people they are supposed to capture, and they are not easy to direct as they do not work well together. Their unpredictable reproductive cycle is also problematic; one might succeed in charming a cluster of gricks, but such charms will not extend to their offspring.
Drow
Some drow keep gricks as undomesticated pets; much in the same way that the Grand Vizier of the Dark Continent might keep pit full of crocodiles, or cages full of half-starved lions. The drow find stripping victims naked and throwing them into grick pits a source of great amusement. In the larger cities, such sadistic practices are treated as a spectator sport, with bets placed on the first or last prisoner to die.
Enemies
Being unnatural creatures, gricks have no natural enemies per se.
Gargoyles
Gargoyles are quite capable of breaching the grick’s natural defences, and their ability to fly means that a grick cannot escape a gargoyle simply by climbing. While a grick is capable of retaliating and causing some degree of aggravation to a gargoyle, the grick is less resilient. Gargoyles can launch almost as many attacks per round as gricks, but with greater precision and greater damage.
While gargoyles do not enjoy grick meat, they all delight in torturing them, tearing their hides, ripping off their tentacles and listening to their squeals of pain.
Dwarves
Dwarves treat grick infestations as a matter of the utmost urgency, closing down entire streets of their cities if gricks have been sighted. The larger settlements often keep a ranger or two trained in the fighting of gricks and other aberrations for just this purpose, responding quickly and aggressively when required. Any dwarves who are found attempting to tame a grick or keep them in their homes are subjected to severe punishments, having to make exorbitant reparations to the families of any who have suffered from a grick’s actions, and facing imprisonment for up to fifty years. If the dwarf in question brought gricks into the city with malice aforethought, they are often sentenced to death by hanging. It is harsh treatment, but they learned long ago that gricks are more trouble than they are worth. a matter of the utmost urgency, closing down entire streets of their cities if gricks have been sighted. The larger settlements often keep a ranger or two trained in the fighting of gricks and other aberrations for just this purpose, responding quickly and aggressively when required. Any dwarves who are found attempting to tame a grick or keep them in their homes are subjected to severe punishments, having to make exorbitant reparations to the families of any who have suffered from a grick’s actions, and facing imprisonment for up to fifty years. If the dwarf in question brought gricks into the city with malice aforethought, they are often sentenced to death by hanging. It is harsh treatment, but they learned long ago that gricks are more trouble than they are worth.