The insect clings to a large rock and drips saliva on it. A puff of steam rises from the rock, and the creature licks at the liquid remains, leaving a pockmark in the stone._ **Rock Eaters.** The rock roach is a giant cousin to the roach, and it feeds on rocks deep beneath the ground. It uses its proboscis to deposit acidic saliva onto the rock, breaking it down and lapping up the liquefied minerals. A rock roach’s metabolism is slow to match its tedious eating process. Even still, a group of rock roaches can make quick work of a rocky wall, opening up routes between caverns. The roaches aren’t concerned for structural integrity and their eating habits, if left unimpeded, often lead to cave-ins. **Naturally Hostile.** Rock roaches are instinctually hostile to anything that wanders near them, including each other. The roaches mate annually, and the parents abandon the eggs shortly after laying them. Young rock roaches band together for the first few months of life, protecting each other as they devour the rock where they hatched, then dispersing once they are large enough to defend themselves. **Valuable Carapace.** The carapace of a rock roach is sought after by some groups of underground humanoids. Naturally resilient and hard, craftsman harvest the carapace and slowly sculpt it into a suit of armor in a month-long process that requires regular boiling of the tough carapace.