Mimic, Ecology of The

The Ecology of the Mimic
by Ed Greenwood

From the Journals of Maerlun the scholar:

The mimic is a curious (and dangerous)
creature to most minds -- but few
know, or care to know, that there are
actually several related species of mimic,
divided into two groups: a larger, "killer"
variety that is of lesser intelligence,
attacking all nearby prey, and does not
speak; and the more intelligent, eloquent
species which will often bargain for food,
has a curious (as yet unfathomed by me)
language of its own, and often speaks
orcish, the common tongue, dwarvish, or
other tongues used in the vicinity of the
individual creature's hunting ground.

The mimic gains its name from its
ability to alter not only its body shape but
the color and texture of the outer surface
as well. The color and texture changes are
accomplished by the shifting of pigmented
liquid between interior and exterior
body cells, so that the creature resembles
wood or stone in color and texture
depending on whether this pigmented
liquid is brought to the outer surface of
the creature?s body or stored internally.

A mimic is naturally gray in hue, with
a smooth, very hard outer skin that gives
it the stone-like appearance. The pigmented
liquid, brownish in color (often
revealed to adventurers when a mimic is
wounded in battle), is held within the
body in large, muscular organs that serve
as both bags and pumps. When these
organs are squeezed by the contraction of
the cavity wall muscles, they squirt their
contents rapidly (within 1 round) into the
outer skin layer, filling many capillaries
that lie just beneath the skin surface.
These capillaries then stand out, brownish
and wrinkled, in a pattern resembling
wood grain.

Reversing the process, from the woodgrain
appearance to the natural state,
requires a sort of external contortion; a
mimic appears to wriggle and twist all
over as it empties its capillaries of the
liquid. (The creature can, as we all know,
alter the external configuration of its
form at will, within the limits imposed
by the actual volume of its form.) The
mimic grows replacement layers of skin
beneath the outer one, which is constantly
being worn away by the ravages of
movement, battle, and feeding.

The mimic is amorphous, and moves
in the same way it attacks: by extending
strong pseudopods, which exude a sticky
?glue,? and pulling themselves along. A
mimic can ?unstick? its own glue at any
time, and it never sticks to itself.

Reputedly, this glue is sticky enough
that only the strongest of adventurers has
a good chance of breaking the mimic?s
hold without killing the creature first.
Some adventurers claim to have pulled
themselves free from a mimic?s glue, but
such tales are rare and often their veracity
is doubtful: (To simulate the possibility
of breaking free in game terms, held
characters may be allowed to attempt an
?open doors? roll based on their strength.
Repeated attempts to break free may be
made, but no other action ? attack or
defense ? is possible by the victim during
the round of attempted escape.)
Mimics are interested only in personal
safety and an endless quest for food.
?Killer? mimics will attack any living
creature, regardless of the number of
adversaries or their powers. The more
intelligent variety often prefers to bargain
with an enemy initially ? but the creatures
have no moral standards as we
know them: If an enemy is sufficiently
weakened after a bargain has been struck,
a mimic will ?change its mind,? always
seeking a meal first and foremost.

Mimics have very sensitive ?eyespots?
(patches of pigment that are sensitive to
heat; light, and vibration) all over their
skin. Bright sunlight overwhelms these
sensory spots, effectively blinding the
mimic; thus, the creatures are almost
always found below ground or in other
areas where the sun never reaches. Mimics
of all sorts are immune to the deleterious
effects of alcohol (but will absorb it if
offered, to make use of the inherent nutrients
and sugar), and are also unaffected
by slime (including green slime), molds
(including the brown and yellow varieties),
and the corrosive secretions of creatures
such as the black pudding, gray
ooze, ochre jelly, stunjelly, and gelatinous
cube.

It should be remembered that mimics
can travel on walls and ceilings as easily
as they can on floors. Those of the more
intelligent sort are most adept at ?hiding
? by assuming the shape of a partition
wall, overhanging arch, or rough rock
wall if they feel threatened. One famous,
if somewhat extreme, example: A mimic
somehow came into one of the busiest
market squares of Waterdeep and
assumed the shape of a statue. It
remained undetected for two winters,
until the chronic disappearance of street
derelicts in the square on every dark night
prompted an investigation. A sewer
beside this strangely unfamiliar (to the
sculptor who had ?done? the square)
statue was discovered to be filled to a
depth of more than 60 feet with human
and animal bones. (Even after this fact
was discovered, the "statue" ate two
members of the City Watch who prodded
it carelessly with their spears, not expecting
to find anything.)

Although the details of the concoction
are not known by this scribe, it is generally
said that the skin of the mimic is useful
in the making of a polymorph (self)
potion. Also, further investigation is
needed to determine the range of travel of
an individual mimic over a lifetime, and
the precise efficacy of the creature?s detection
organs, which, based on casual
observation, appear to ?see? up to 90 feet
in subterranean (not total) darkness, and
up to 30 feet in the gloom of night, or in
darkened areas above ground.