Byakhee (SLASH'EM)
B byakhee 
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 15 |
| Attacks |
Bite 1d6 physical, Claw 2d4 physical, Claw 2d4 physical, 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 |
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A byakhee:
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| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line2093 |
A byakhee, B, is a type of monster that appears in the Lethe patch, SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM, and Hack'EM. Byakhees are strong and thick-skinned omnivorous creatures with bat- and bird-like traits: they have flight, can be see via infravision, and like other monsters in their class have a 1⁄3 chance of moving in a random direction during each turn.[1] A byakhee also possesses infravision, regeneration, unbreathing, the ability to see invisible, can follow a hero to other levels if they are adjacent, and will seek out magical items and other objects to pick up. Tame byakhees may turn traitor.
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
Randomly generated byakhees are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups.
Byakhees can appear among the random B that are part of the first quest monster class for Wizards and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Wizard quest. They can also appear among the random B that are part of the first quest monster class for Necromancers and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Necromancer quest.
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: the charm monster spell and scrolls of taming may work in your favor, since byakhees are decent options as pets for the same reasons that they present such a threat to the hero.
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.
