© Daniel S. Wall, April 29, 2026.

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“If you can get just get to his other side yer safe! Dern thing can’t turn around without fallin’ down the side o’ the mountain.”

– Maddoch Riwarden, Mountain Scout

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This creature has the appearance of a large puma, but this particular puma is particularly well-suited to life in the high mountains. One may not notice at first, but both legs on one side of its body are significantly smaller than those on the other. The Side-Hill Grabber is thus perfectly balanced on a steep slope, so long as it is facing one particular direction.

Sidehill Grabbers spend their lives hunting mountain goats and mountain sheep. They are particularly fond of Side-Hill Bashers. And of course, no Sidehill Grabber will hesitate to add a dwarf or a random Ligén to its diet.

A Sidehill Grabber will typically hide just above a given mountain path or game trail and pounce on the first victim to come along. Using its claws to secure a victim and hold it in place, the Sidehill Grabber will take great care to avoid letting its victim escape or fall. A falling victim may easily bounce in the wrong direction, forcing the Sidehill Grabber to walk all the way around the mountain in order to claim its meal.

As it happens all the sidehill grabbers on a given mountain-side will always face the same direction. This is due to the odd rivalries of the kindred. While a Sidehill Grabber will rarely take any violent action against one of its own kind, provided they are both facing the same direction, it will do anything in its power to kill one coming from the other direction.