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From "Magical Pets and Mystical Pests" by Ephrem Bendlecutt, Wizard
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Created more than likely by accident by some hapless unsupervised wizard's apprentice, the Glurrnough* appears to be a sad, moist mixture of insect, dragon, and snail. Hatched in a pile of moisturizing slime generally inserted via ovipositor into a hole in a tree with approximately fifteen hundred eggs per clutch, the Glurrnough appears as a small pea-green and gold-flecked slug with perhaps a more pronounced snout and quite a few teeth.

The soft-bodied Glurrnough will hover around its familial dwelling sliming and devouring woodlice and other mealy creatures until just before it becomes too large to slip out of the wood burrow. That is to say, this is what the smarter ones do. The less fortuitous Glarrnough offspring will continue to consume foodstuffs until their hard shell begins to form on their slimy backs, making them too large to pass from the tree. This means that often, hundreds of Glurrnoughs realize too late that their growth has come upon them, and spend the rest of their lives at home leeching sustenance off of their family members.

The Glurrnoughs which descend from their familial trees eventually develop a shiny snail-like shell (the color and patterning seem to vary by area), and eventually three pairs of short legs that serve to allow the Glurrnough to put on fairly notable bursts of speed for short distances.

Adult Glurrnoughs, should you be unfortunate to come upon one, are approximately 3 to 4 inches in length, with blunt copper spikes along the dorsum and patches of golden scales. The knees eventually grow shell-like caps for protection. The face of the adult is unique from many other magical beasts in that it bears no fewer than four sets of eyes - two set directly into the head, and six on eyestalks near the mouth and at the top of the head.

The Glurrnough appears to have a great desire for companionship with magic-wielders, and will go very far out of its way to make its home in wizards' hats. While they can generally be used as a paperweight safely if turned upside-down (they have great difficulty righting themselves), their slime production hinders more than helps.

The Glurrnough: Classified as Pest


*the way this word is pronounced makes no difference, as nobody would ever call one anyway.