Quote Originally Posted by Lemarc View Post
Are the grues in Wishbringer any different than the ones in Zork? The original grues are either killed/banished or at least repelled by light, whereas the Monster has been seen illuminated (just not by us). If they are different, and Wishbringer grues qualify as a candidate, even so it's hard to believe the reveal being something like "He's a grue! But not the famous ones, a lesser-known alternate version!".
No, he is the same. The one that appears in Wishbringer is a baby. It also is asleep at the time, so you can shine your light on it and there it is.
One of the outcomes is that you wake it up, and it eats you. Wishbringer is an item. It would then have the item. The wishes that it grants are as follows (and how I think it relates to the story).

RAIN - in Azure city, explaining the rain scene.
ADVICE - in the game, it is 4th wall breaking advice. Like, the demon cockroaches.
FLIGHT - not used yet? It is supposed to take you home.
DARKNESS - the creature is in darkness, after all.
FORESIGHT - "lifts the veil of time, and shows the future". In the game, it lets you know where people are.
LUCK - You get lucky. In the game I don't remember what it does.
FREEDOM - you just teleport to safety. It is was used again in Azure city.

So, I have not played the game in FOREVER (it came out in 1985) and finding a working copy can be a challenge. There was also a related book, but that is similarly hard to find.

Grue's in Zork are more or less plot monsters. They eat you. No challenges. They are also immune to all weapons but one, explaining his toughness against Miko.
Erug's would be a Grue with Nilbogism. Which would explain things like the "hit the lightest". He really meant to, and it would have knocked them as hard as possible. Similar thing with the earthquake - it was a light tap, that became a hard tap, and Grue's can stomp to make caverns (it is why they were underground in the first place).

It doesn't matter though, since I can't find stats anywhere. I suggested it once before, but chose to withdraw the suggestion since I can't support it at all outside of it becoming borderline original fiction.