Summary
Unlike
the undead, the
Relentless' arsenal is all of nature's wildlife. Further complicating this is the fact that the same type of animal can express very different mutations, so singular identification is not reliable. For the most part, sapient people have come up with threat value ranges, where the danger of a specific Relentless is approximated. These ranges are defined by a persistent set of characteristics, but they can change quickly in certain circumstances. Adaptability is ever important for those who intend to fight the Relentless.
Below is a list of 'general classifications'. They are ubiquitous enough that one can find equivalents in other civilizations. More specific territories, regions, and other locales may have additional classes or expanded details depending on their local Relentless.
Heteroclite
Nearing the end of my life, I have taken up the quill to parchment in the hopes of teaching the younger bloods. Of all things, it is the Relentless whom I shall speak the most. Unending, unceasing, always there, always after us. If we are to survive, we must rise above their unbreakable determination. It is self-evident what will happen if we do not.
The 'heteroclite' is a recently born--or made--Relentless. Much of the animal it used to be remains, but its body has begun to change horrifically. Muscles bulge, the skeleton distorts to make more space, and its almost cumbersome look makes it insidiously strong. At this stage a number of open wounds adorn the creature, spitting out blood, sinew, bone, and other refuse its new body no longer wants. In many ways, these are the most common Relentless encountered, either by themselves, or in the beginnings of a horde.
One can often find them from their terrible screeching. I am not certain if they are in pain or not; driven mad by their transformation, perhaps? What sort of creature finds pleasure in tearing itself open with claws, biting off fingers, or smashing itself against the ground? If you do find one that is still newly forming, it is the best time to kill them and stop any future problems.
At this stage, any adventurer, seasoned hunter, or otherwise is probably more than enough for a few of them. If they have begun to form even a small group, however, find more capable people and do it quickly.— An excerpt from Kilgore the Red's 'Hunting the Hunters' guidebook.
Aberrant
The next 'stage', I suppose it could be called, would be the 'aberrant'. If the heteroclite is a child, the aberrant is the adult form. There's only superficial resemblance to the animal it used to be, with much of its body changed. Fur will become thick enough to stop arrows and blades; scales will harden to the point of bouncing off a hammer; and sometimes new entire limbs may form. They are almost always larger in size and muscles than whatever they used to be before. I've seen a bloody bunny crush a man's skull in its maw, so don't stop and laugh at how stupid it might look.
In my experience, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say every heteroclite can become an aberrant. Some don't, I'm not sure why, but enough of them do. If you can't kill them when they're young, don't fight them out on their territory. Build traps, funnel them into tight spaces, and try to contain where they go. A village's pretty little stone wall ain't going to stop one of these even on its best day, so plan accordingly.
If you thought the younger ones might wince at pain, these things do not even feel it. Until you break its ENTIRE skull--I mean the WHOLE thing--or the part of its spine connecting its head to the body, it WILL NOT stop. Bleeding them dry is the second best method, but you're gonna be in a race against time and there'll be a lot of the damn things.
Poisons, gas, toxins; whatever you can get will pay for its weight in sun-gold here. For all of the insanity these things are, those are still just as effective. Even a slow acting one can go through them pretty fast, considering these things pump blood like a geyser.
A solid veltron mage or, if you can find one, lightning mage, is damn near worth any price they ask for here. Pitfall traps and heavy, rocky veltron crush them pretty well. If they don't, they'll be stuck for at least a minute. Lightning, now that stuff is fantastic. Shocks them dead, or stuns them enough to get a safe bash in.— An excerpt from Kilgore the Red's 'Hunting the Hunters' guidebook.
Hormadon
If you start seeing these things, there are two important details: the first you're fighting a relatively lively horde. It's probably been around for months to a few years, so expect numbers and coordination. The second is you're in going to be in deep in blood and body count.
I'm not sure when or where they start appearing; given how close they're to an aberrant, they might be another stage. I've not seen one form in from of my eyes, so take that as you will. The big thing with identifying any hormadons showing up is the presence of mana. Whether the thing is glowing or actual crystals are growing out of it, they ooze mana. By themselves, a hormadon is maybe a bit tougher than any other aberrant. The scary part is what they make OTHER Relentless become.
All that free mana they pump out gets sucked up by ones nearby, making them stronger, faster, and nastier. Not smarter, at the least–although some of them might appear that way. Whatever ideas you had that worked before might not work all of a sudden, especially when the horde comes bearing down.
Try to take these things out as fast as possible to start reducing the mana. I'm not kidding on that either: if you have a choice between killing one hormadon or five aberrants, kill the hormadon.
Kill the hormadon.
Things will quickly become your worst living nightmare if really small heteroclites start swarming, juiced up to the high heavens on hormadon mana.
Thankfully they're somewhat uncommon, so you don't have to work through a lot of the bastards. If you're fighting a large horde or worse, though, that'll be a struggle.— An excerpt from Kilgore the Red's 'Hunting the Hunters' guidebook.
Nester
I damn near lost my lunch the first time I saw one of these, so don't feel bad about it. Like a hormadon, nesters show up in lively hordes, and you can probably figure out what they are from just the name. I want to say that, maybe, nesters are old or crippled Relentless, but I doubt they become that old in just a year or two.
Regardless, you can tell a nester by its bulging, cavernous body. It isn't so much an attacker as it is a porter, carrying other Relentless (especially heteroclites) INSIDE its own body. If you have any explosives or big area magic spells, absolutely use them on these things first. You'll kill a damn strong Relentless and whatever its carrying.
Yes, I said strong. Nesters are slow but you'll go down if one swings and hits you. It is all power and force, and little tact. If you're brave and quick enough, you can get them to attack other Relentless, as they don't seem to pay any attention to whats in the way. Past that, though, nesters can be a little different if you're fighting a herd or a pack, though. Herd ones are simple enough, dumb and slow, just avoid the hits.
Pack ones, though, that is. Well, my editor says I should talk about it, so blame her if you think I'm being grotesque.
If dealing with thornback wolves or worse isn't bad enough, pack nesters have a nasty surprise. They don't carry as much of the little bastards with them, but that big hole in their chests? Yeah, that's a mouth. They'll swallow a person whole and get them digesting in five snaps of your fingers. The kind death there is getting crushed by the jaws, but I've heard men scream from the inside before.
If you're good--I mean, really good--you can chuck a flask of poison or something into it, you'll kill the nester pretty quick. If you get swallowed up, well, kind regards to your goddesses.— An excerpt from Kilgore the Red's 'Hunting the Hunters' guidebook.
Tagma
Now given how unusual and rare these things are, my buddy Gorld came up with the name 'tagma'. Apparently means something about the head, which is fair–these things have weird heads. Whether or not they're related to hormadons, I don't know, but tagma stand out. Smooth, sleek, almost normal looking if their ugly ass had a sense of normalcy. All the flesh and blood seems like it was sucked right out of them, so don't be surprised if you think they're a kind of undead. Their heads, especially, look bulked up and bigger, often with new bones or scales or whatever growing over it.
These things use magic, and it's not any kind you or I will run into normally. They're kind of like mages with the worst training in the world. Vomiting up streams of flames, screaming out a lightning blast, or even tearing up the veltron under your feet. They don't pay any attention to their friends, but don't be cute trying to do anything. The other bastards will try to pin you down and be all too happy to let a tagma give them--and you--a blast.
Unlike others, they actually stay back, so chasing them is a pain. They will lead you into other Relentless, who all seem to clue in on whatever plan it has. The moment you get tied up fighting them, it starts blasting magic at you. Now, throw on them ignoring every arrow you shoot into the damn thing and it's hard to stop them. Paralysis spells or poisons help a lot here, because shutting it up is the only way you'll survive long enough to kill one.
Do not ever
EVER
Fight tagma and hormadons together. If they start buddying up, you need to retreat and trap or separate them. That fancy suit of dragon-killer metal you got? That'll melt in a few seconds; was how Helanae died, thinking that shield of hers was enough. None of us saw the hormadon nearby until she was already gone.— An excerpt from Kilgore the Red's 'Hunting the Hunters' guidebook.
Draken
Now, the dragon folk get pissy everytime I talk about these things, but fair is fair, they're deadly and you need to know about them. If the Relentless had queens, these things might be it. They're the hardiest, fastest, and strongest out of most Relentless any one alive will ever meet. There's a couple things worse than them, but I only ever seen those once, so I can't say if they'll show up for you. If they do, my advice would be to run.
Draken tend to take on the characteristics of dragons--scales, tough skin, piercing eyes, the works. It doesn't matter what they used to be, they start turning into something like them. I've never seen for myself what ever becomes of a 'mature' one, as every draken I've fought myself always looks half-finished. Like it tried transforming then failed; I've seen it with body strengthening magic before. Messy stuff, but it looks similar. Maybe a more knowledgeable soul out there will know what's going on, but for now, killing them will be your big challenge.
Lesser Relentless come in droves around Draken. On top of its insane strengths, you have to deal with the living meat shields that throw themselves in front of it. They ain't that well coordinated, but if you throw an fire blast at one, suddenly heteroclite is leaping into it, and there goes that spell. Taking into account their incredible size, most poisons tend to have a hard time circulating through them. You can make them sluggish, but the killing blow is problematic. Don't even try going for the heart; the bodies I've cut up had two to three, depending on size.
Their skulls are pretty sturdy, too. The only real weak point is through the mouth, considering their eyes are grown over and sealed shut. Don't be fooled into think they're blind, they'll see you better than you see them. Your best bet is to tear the damn thing limb-from-limb or bleed it out; use everything you can to immobilize, slow, stun, or disable it.— An excerpt from Kilgore the Red's 'Hunting the Hunters' guidebook.
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