Beasts

## Alp

The **Alp** is a pale and haggard creature. It encroaches on settlements in the cover of night, invading the sleep of its helpless inhabitants with ghastly visions, and feeding on the fear and anguish of its victims like a parasite. Scholars speculate that Alps didn’t always look and behave like they do now; most Alps have eye sockets, but no eyes, and mouths with teeth, but only a rudimentary digestive system. Their pale skin peels like old parchment, their bones are frail, and their insides are dark and show signs of decay. Perhaps the Alp is the victim of an ancient curse, or perhaps it simply evolved from a different creature to the nocturnal predator it is now. Whatever it is, don’t fall asleep!

Fun-fact: In german, nightmares are called "Alptraum" = Alp-dream (Which congruents to Nightmare)

## Direwolf

**Direwolves** are a type of enemy in *Battle Brothers*. They are fast and dangerous, as they will quickly charge, flank, and overwhelm a target in numbers. Can attack 3 times if they don't move.

## Hexe

The **Hexe** is a witch inspired by Grimm’s fairy tales, a malevolent old crone living in swamps and forests outside of villages alone or in a coven with other Hexen. They’re human, but have long sacrificed their humanity for otherworldly powers. They’re feared, but also worshiped by some. They’re burned at the stake, and yet people seek them out to plead for miracles. They lure and abduct little children to make broth and concoctions out of, they strike terrible pacts with villagers to receive their firstborn, they weave curses and cast hexes. Their huts may or may not be made of candy. With her sorcery, a Hexe can enthrall wild beasts, and even warp the mind of humans, and so will often be found in the company of creatures that serve her.

## Hyena

Prowling the southern deserts and steppe is the Hyena, a carnivorous mammal that resembles a poorly groomed cross between feline and canine. Prey can be few and far between in the endless sea of sand, and so the Hyena is both scavenger and nocturnal hunter. Many a traveler lost in the desert ended up a feast for a pack of Hyenas – but whether they tore him apart as he was still alive, or he died of thirst long before the pack came upon him, is another matter.

In the barren wastes of the south, no scrap of flesh can go to waste, and the Hyena has a jaw strong enough to crush bone so that it can get to every last shred. As it turns out, a jaw that can crush bone can crush armor quite well, too, making the Hyena a threat also to men in armor that would protect them against lesser wildlife. Although a Hyena is smaller than a northern Direwolf, and not always able to kill an unarmored man in a single turn, the way it rips flesh from its victims can leave terrible bleeding wounds and inflict the ‘Bleeding’ status effect. A battle against starved Hyenas is not lost as quickly as against a pack of Direwolves, but it may well be over before you even realize it when your men live on borrowed time as they slowly bleed out while the hyenas circle you in anticipation of a feast.

Hyenas roam and attack in packs that swarm and often surround their prey, attacking from multiple angles. They’re faster in combat than most other opponents, faster even than a Direwolf. A single Hyena can attack three times a turn, often overwhelming their victims and leaving them fatigued as they try to dodge every attack. However, their morale isn’t particularly good, and like most beasts they’re especially afraid of firearms spewing smoke and fire with a loud bang, unreliable as they otherwise may be. Naturally, Hyenas drop unique loot which can either be sold or used to craft new items, including a new armor attachment, if you own the ‘Beasts & Exploration’ DLC.

## Lindwurm

**Lindwurms** are a type of enemy in *Battle Brothers*. They are very dangerous beasts. The upper body will move first, followed by the tail. The upper body and the tail share the same health and armor, but attack differently. Acidic blood courses through its veins, and any attacker wounding (beyond a certain threshold) a Lindwurm in melee combat will suffer the blood's corrosive effects, which melts down the attacker's armor.

## Nachzehrer

**Nachzehrers** (German for "eater of remains," literally "after-eater") are a type of enemy in *Battle Brothers*. They count as beasts, but because they feast on corpses, they are often seen in company with the Zombies or Ancient Dead.

The peasantry tells stories of men and women coming back to life after the sin of committing suicide as horribly shaped monstrosities, turned into a Nachzehrer. They’re said to resemble grey-skinned devils that dig up graves with their claws and devour fresh corpses, even devour parts of themselves and their funeral shrouds, and to grow in strength as they do so until they inevitably prey on the living. Others may claim that they are but wild beasts, merely scavengers drawn to fresh graves like seagulls to fishing nets. Whatever their true nature, they bring misery and disease upon any village they bedevil.

The creature known as Nachzehrer can grow up to two times as it gorges itself on a corpse, and it’s not shy of cannibalizing its own kind. Each time it does so, it increases in size and strength significantly. At its largest, when it’s become a hulking behemoth of grey flesh, it gains the ability to swallow a man whole. Anyone devoured like this isn’t dead, but in the belly of the beast and removed from the map. Slaying the Nachzehrer will free that character again, albeit covered in goo, but retreating while a character is devoured in this way will spell certain death for him.

A Nachzehrer has long claws that they use to dig through the earth in search of food, and which can tear grievous wounds in combat. The larger the Nachzehrer, the more dangerous the claws become. On the bright side, a Nachzehrer doesn’t have any armor, which favors swords and cleavers, and it gets easier to hit with ranged weapons, the larger and less nimble it becomes.

## Schrat

The Waldschrat, or **Schrat** for short, is a fabled living tree found in the most remote forests of the world. A creature of bark and wood, it resembles no other, and its mind is truly alien. It blends between trees and shambles slowly, its roots digging through the soil. A frightening night time story tells of how trees watered with the blood of the unjustly killed turn into twisted living trees, out to strangle and choke the life out of children that don’t behave.

**Skills**

**Strengths**

* Immune to bleeding, poison, knockback, grabbing, stun, root, disarm and injuries
* Unaffected by  Nighttime debuffs

**Tactics**

* To prevent Saplings from spawning, surround a Schrat before dealing high damage
* Kill spawned Saplings to prevent more incoming damage and to cause morale checks on opponents
* Ranged weapons deal decent damage to them

## Serpent

While much of the south is made up of barren wasteland, the seas of sand are dotted with green islands that promise a treasure most sparse in these parts: water. Water means life in the great deserts, and so any caravans seeking to travel them will hop from one oasis to the next. They are lush refuges teeming with life, but also with danger, for they are home to a slithery predator: The Serpent.

The Serpent is a large non-venomous snake that preys on animals and humans alike in and around oases. Well-camouflaged on the ground, they are not always easily spotted from afar, but they are also slower on the world map than other beasts. Using their forked tongue to sample the air, they have a directional sense of smell and can hunt equally well in the darkness of night as they can in the bright of day.

In battle, a Serpent will seek to wind itself around their prey, to constrict their movement and breath, and to drag them away from allies where they can be more easily killed in isolation. Similar to human opponents using the ‘Hook’ skill of Billhooks, Serpents can pull apart a formation, drag your men into being surrounded by several opponents, and expose your backline. Although Serpents are not venomous, they will attack using their fangs until their victim is either dead or limp enough to be devoured whole.

Serpents can be dangerous for anyone traveling the south, but they also offer an opportunity for earning crowns. The body of a Serpent is covered with overlapping scales of different colors, and some serpent skin, particularly rainbow colored scales, is worth a lot to the upper class of the city states that seek to flaunt their wealth. A mercenary captain will often find contracts to hunt down Serpents, whether to turn them into expensive-looking slippers or simply because too many a caravan hand lost their live along a trade route so that business begins to suffer. The shimmering scales are quite resistant to heat and fire, and a taxidermist can also craft an armor attachment out of these for use with your own men.

## Unhold

The **Unhold** is a lumbering giant, easily the size of three men, and dwarfing even the tallest orc. It eats whole sheep for a snack and empties a pond to wash it down. There’s tales of enraged Unholds leveling remote farms and plucking the limbs off of unlucky farmers like wings from insects, but closer examination will reveal that Unholds aren’t malicious creatures. They’re fiercely territorial, but may often be content to persuade with ear-deafening bellowing and threatening gestures any invaders to run for their lives. The Unhold is a somewhat solitary creature and can be found either alone or in small groups only.

There are 3 variants of Unholds. The most common variant is found in the hills and tundra. Another variant is said to be found in swamps and sometimes forests, where they inhabit caves. The fiercest is the northern variant found in the snowy wastes, with white fur that protects equally against cold and steel. Then there are also armored Unholds that are tamed by barbarians.

## Webknecht

The **Webknecht** is a large arachnid that lives in sizable colonies in the dark areas of forests throughout the world of Battle Brothers. It’s there that they spin their webs between trees to trap anything from bird to deer and between. Unlike most other beasts, Webknechts don’t usually roam a lot, preferring instead to sit in their territory and wait until something unfortunate gets itself caught in one of their nets. Still, they’re known to choose the vicinity of settlements for their home on occasion and threaten the lives of villagers and their livestock.

**Skills**

**Strengths**

* Is immune to stun, bleed, poison and knockback
* Unaffected by  Nighttime debuffs
* Mindless (has no resolve checks)
* Can be destroyed by 1-2 shots from Heavy Crossbow
* Can spawn up to 3 webknechts (every 1 to 2 turns)
* The spawned webknechts look tiny, don't drop any loot and only grant 50% of their usual

## Ijirok

The ijirok is the boss you encounter at the Hunting Ground legendary location.

## Kraken

The kraken is the boss you encounter at the Stone Pillars legendary location. At first its name will be "Beast of Beasts". After you killed it, you can encounter more krakens (with other names) in the wild.