Ferric Blob [Labyrinth Lord] (+Paper Mini)

Ferric Blob
No. Enc.:  1 (1d4 at reduced HD possible)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 30' (10')
Armor Class: 1
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1 (Consume Iron, Globule, Crush)
Damage: 3d4, see below
Save: F9 (Special Effect/Electrical Attacks)
Morale: 11

Ponderous and noticeably warm, Ferric Blobs are noisy brutes who clatter and clank as they roll and scrape their huge gelatinous bulks through passages and tunnels. The slime-trail produced by a Ferric Blob quickly dries and flakes away, resembling a streak of rust. The entire body of a Ferric Blob is super-saturated with flakes and particles of iron. They hunger for iron and will pursue it with all the considerable vigor that they can exert--including the iron contained within human blood, which they can sense (possibly some sort of olfactory process?) up to 120' away.

Ferric Blobs are surprisingly malleable and able to squeeze through apertures as small as 1' in diameter, but at drastically reduced speed, of course (1/3 normal movement). They also have a disconcerting tendency to go berserk for 1d4 turns when struck by electrical attacks such as a Lightning Bolt. Any electrical attack that manages to do more than one-half of the Ferric Blob's remaining hit points in damage will also cause the creature to emit a terrible scream followed by it erupting into a cascade of blue-white sparks causing 5d4 damage to everything within a 30' radius, after which the entire Ferric Blob will be reduced to a single, massive piece of slightly magnetic iron welded to the spot.

Consume Iron
A Ferric Blob will generally just roll over on top of some loose bit of iron, lump of ore, stray sword or piece of armor and simply let nature take its course as the powerful digestive process of the creature reduces and assimilates the iron into its body. This process takes 1d6 minutes per square inch of the metal affected.

In combat situations, any iron weapons that successfully strike a Ferric Blob have a percent chance of being corroded into rust equal to the amount of damage the weapon inflicts, i.e. a short sword is used to inflict 4 points of damage on a Ferric Blob, that weapon has a 4% chance to corrode into rust. This effect could be cumulative for non-magical weapons and all enchanted weapons would gain a Save.

Globule
Ferric Blobs can extrude and shoot a tightly packed globule of itself at targets as a missile weapon. They get one such globule per HD per day. A 10 HD Ferric Blob thus has 10 such missiles. Each Globule strikes as a +1 weapon, does 4d4 damage (Save to take only half damage), and can be used to break down doors and barricades. There are rumors of Ferric Blobs being used as living siege weapons, but that is probably a lot of stuff and nonsense. One hopes...

Crush
On average, Ferric Blobs weigh 1d6X100 lbs per HD. When they roll over an opponent, they get a free attack for as long as they care to hold their position and let their massive weight simply crush their foe for 3d4 each attack.

Trivia and Notes

• Aside from the vulnerability to electrical attacks/spells, all magnetized weapons automatically score a hit on Ferric Blobs, and the Eldritch Song of Corrosion spell does triple damage. Too bad that particular spell is only available in Andrew's Album of Arcanery, a very rare grimoire reputed to be locked away upon an endoplanar sepulchre known to be haunted by the tremulous shadow of a lichified tumor-lord.
• It is conjectured by several theoretical sorcerers that it might be possible to somehow fragment and re-shape a Ferric Blob into weapons, armor or some sort of automaton or golem by skillful application of electricity...but so far no one has made this work out quite as theorized...
• There are alleged to be a number of sub-types or variant forms of Ferric Blobs that have either developed electromagnetic abilities, or that have shifted their digestion to handle other metals such as copper or zinc.
• The Scrapmongers tell tales of an ancient Ferric Blob that wallows deep down in the smoking Pits of Katuum, where it works as a blacksmith, hammering out various pieces and parts from its own gargantuan body. Only a Scrapmonger would be stupid enough to actually believe such a wild tale...