Stone Golem

Appearance

The stone golems of Grizburg are colossal guardians carved from basalt, obsidian, and rust-stained granite dredged from the depths beneath the city. Their bodies are fissured with glowing runes, etched in languages older than empires, each line thrumming with Zothra-Khaar’s residue. Chains often dangle from their arms and necks, remnants of futile attempts to bind them, clinking like funeral bells when they move.   ---

Origins

Unlike traditional golems, raised to guard temples or tombs, Grizburg’s stone sentinels were chiseled from the very bones of the Whispering Depths. Goblin artificers of the Rust Barons claim they were first sculpted during the First Black Fire War, animated by essence siphoned from the fallen god’s corpse. Others whisper that some rise without creator at all, birthed when certain carvings in the Depths awaken to the rhythm of hammer and forge.   ---  

Habitat

They dwell in catacombs, foundries, and hidden vaults, often sealed for centuries beside the relics they were sworn to protect. Some wander abandoned workshops, dragging crumbling walls with them as they pass, the magic that bound them still tethering their purpose to stone. Their presence is unmistakable: halls echo with deep tremors, dust shakes loose, and the air tastes of crushed granite.   ---  

Ecology

Stone golems require neither food nor rest, yet their existence feeds on memory. Each absorbs fragments of purpose from the place it guards, whether to protect a crest, shatter intruders, or seal a cursed relic. Their forms erode over centuries, yet never fall; cracks simply become mouths for more runes, and moss grows across shoulders like sacred robes.   ---  

Behavior

They do not act unless compelled by their orders. When roused, their movements are deliberate and unstoppable, crushing foes with titanic fists or hurling shards of force across great distances. Some golems employ the ancient magic of Slow, dragging entire mobs into sluggish motion while their fists strike unyielding. They obey without hesitation, and once commanded, they pursue with patience that can outlast dynasties.   ---  

Use by Factions

The Rust Barons revere them as ultimate weapons, but few can control them for long. Some families maintain ancestral golems bound to tokens of office—a medallion, a crest, a whispered phrase. Others wage shadow wars attempting to steal these relics, knowing a single golem can shift the balance of power in Rustwater. Smugglers whisper of hidden golems buried beneath the Greendocks, waiting to be awakened to collapse entire districts in vengeance.   ---  

Cultural Role

Among Grizburg’s underclass, stone golems are both curse and idol. Children etch crude runes on rubble and pretend to summon them, daring one another to speak the “words that wake the stones.” Street prophets warn that the golems do not guard treasure, but memory—that to awaken one is to stir the wrath of centuries of betrayal, murder, and greed.   ---  

Legends

One tale speaks of the Colossus of Rustwater, a golem whose chest once bore the final words of a goblin queen. When her empire collapsed, the Colossus buried itself in the riverbank, only to rise when forges burn too brightly. Entire riverfronts have vanished in floods blamed on its fists breaking dams, its runes burning through the fog like dying suns.   ---  

The Whispering Depths Connection

In the Depths, explorers report carvings that shift when unobserved, taking on forms like golems mid-motion. Some insist the constructs are merely fragments of the catacombs themselves, sculpted by Zothra-Khaar’s lingering essence into avatars of ruin. To see a golem there is to risk becoming part of the wall—stone freezing over flesh until body and tomb are indistinguishable.   ---  

Threats to the City

When uncontrolled, golems flatten entire neighborhoods. Grizburg’s archives record collapses where whole tiers fell silent overnight, the only survivors reporting a booming sound like a heartbeat in stone. The Rust Barons hush such stories, but workers know the truth: sometimes the guardians no longer guard—they judge.   ---  

Behavioral Oddities

Some golems recognize prayers, bowing to certain chants though their creators are long dead. Others stand immobile for centuries, only to crush intruders who touch a single brick in the wrong sequence. The strangest are those that wander the streets at night, patrolling routes that no longer exist, following commands from rulers erased by history.   ---  

Adventuring Hooks

• A Baron’s golem has broken free, guarding not the vault but the slums above it. • Explorers in the Depths discover a golem whose orders are written in a language none can decipher. • An ancient crest resurfaces on the black market, sought by all who hope to awaken the Colossus of Rustwater. • Rumors spread of a golem that no longer obeys tokens, but whispers secrets directly to those who dream.   ---  

Closing Words

Stone golems are the city’s bones given motion, protectors turned executioners, monuments to power and folly alike. They are memory sculpted in granite, patience carved into fists. To see one stir is to feel the weight of centuries fall upon you—and to learn that in Grizburg, even stone remembers. See full stats on D&D Beyond