Byakhee (SLASH'EM)
B byakhee 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 15 |
| Attacks |
Bite 1d6, Claw 2d4, Claw 2d4, Sting 1d3 stun |
| Base level | 11 |
| Base experience | 252 |
| Speed | 20 |
| Base AC | 1 |
| Base MR | 25 |
| Alignment | −4 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1600 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | sleep, poison, cold |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A byakhee:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line2093 |
The byakhee is a type of monster introduced in the Lethe patch and SLASH'EM. It also appears in dNetHack and SlashTHEM. Byakhees are much stronger members of the B bat or bird monster class, and have a tendency to wander like the other monsters of its class - they possess regeneration, flight, are breathless, and can follow a hero to other levels if they are adjacent.
Byakhees have a bite attack, two claw attacks, and a sting attack that can stun targets and is unaffected by magic cancellation. They possess sleep resistance, poison resistance and cold resistance.
A byakhee corpse is poisonous to eat.
Generation
Byakhees are always generated hostile, and may appear in small groups.
Strategy
From the mid-game on, byakhees represent a troubling threat due to their 20 speed and stun-inducing melee sting, making it possible for them to wear you down while you either whiff attacks from being stunned or spend turns trying to cure it. Additionally, their regeneration makes killing them difficult if you cannot deal enough damage consistently, even when using Elbereth, and they can remain nuisances well into the late game.
Strong and consistent forms of offense such as well-enchanted weapons are best for dealing with byakhees, and funneling them down halls is ideal as well due to their scattered movement and tendency to appear in groups. Their MR score of 25 also leaves them fairly vulnerable to magic and other effects - in particular, charming or taming them may work in your favor, as byakhees are decent options for pets due to the speed, regeneration and stun attacks that make them such a danger.
Origin
The byakhees (or byakhee birds) originate from the H.P. Lovecraft short story "The Festival", and were later featured in August Derleth's tale "The House on Curwen Street". They are servants of the Great Old One Hastur, and their description in "The Festival" paints them as four-limbed eldritch monsters with bat-like wings, possessing visual traits of various animals such as vampire bats, crows and buzzards, as well as somewhat resembling human corpses. The text specifically describes them as "not altogether crows, nor" any of the other descriptors used, with their otherworldly and eldritch nature emphasized by the speaker's difficulty in fully recalling their appearance.
Encyclopedia entry
A creature of the stars, this bat like being can be summoned
across the vast interstellar gulfs to serve magicians and
dark powers. It is said that they will seize those who
summon them and cannot best them and carry them off to whatever
terrible fate awaits them on other worlds.
