They give blackout, too, and that really scares the novices so they panic and stuff.

I died not once, but twice to gravediggers as a novice. It made me sad.

I've died many times to gravediggers, until finally, I just avoided that area altogether I guess I should try to kill them now since I'm not circle 20 anymore

Don't try as a con 10 Merian until circle 60 *peer* you need a good 2.4k health to be safe, I find

Luciden hunts merrian with her husband all the time I don't remember what circle he is, (stronger than me, obviously), but, they're quite easy between the two of us. so... find a bashing buddy?

do they break shields?

I can't remember

IIRC, Yes. I'm lucky, I have Kundalini so if I fall there I can usually invoke it if I'm lucky and then teleport home.

The hell is a Kundalini?

Lowmagic Trans Skill, Serpent. The one that gives a prismatic barrier.

Yeah, Soll beat me to it. The word is mentioned in the LM skillset.

And for further study

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini

Estarra's not just dropping this stuff from whole cloth ya know.