What was once a pure being is now a demonic abomination that does the dirty work of greater fiends. Corrupted and malformed through a twisted and torturous ritual, skrzaks roam in packs, spreading chaos, murder, and destruction. Their maniacal laughter echoes the contagious corruption that fills their wicked minds.

Minions of Corruption. These terrifying creatures are the murderous machinations of those in service to the Lord of Darkness, who abduct creatures and torture them physically and mentally. Calling upon the corrupted force of the plane of Tiarn, they cut and carve the innocent bodies, reforming the physicality of the still-conscious being. This insufferable pain shatters the soul and mind. The victim is then beheaded, all remnants of itself completely destroyed, leaving only the seeping corruption of Tiarn in its stead. The ritual is finished by branding the neck stump with Chernobog’s runic symbol, both to denote its servitude and to reinforce it. Thus, a fiend is created. Devoid of consciousness, a skrzak is the laughing remains of what was once a living soul. The hundreds of cuts across their bodies open up like toothy maws, ceaselessly cackling with the dark echoes of the Void of Tiarn, a place of impenetrable darkness and incomprehensible evil.

Twisted Predators. Skrzaks are creatures of instinct. Their behavior resembles that of a merciless apex predator, but twisted and malicious to the point where their sole drive has become violence, death, and destruction. A skrzak’s fiendish physicality has been crudely adapted to serve its new purposes, turning it into a dangerous predator with extraordinary strength. Its flayed skin has been made into rudimentary wings, which give it airborne aptitude. Devoid of a head, it has no eyes or ears, so instead, it uses its leathery wings to sense the vibrations around it and recognize sound and movement. As it effectively can’t see while mid-flight, it prefers to move in giant hops. Skrzaks usually rely on attacking as a pack, ambushing, or surprising their prey by pouncing from unexpected locations, often with the advantage of height. They also rely on the cover of darkness, using their echolocation to detect their victims. They can also be used as frontline soldiers for more intelligent fiends, in which case they opt for a full frontal assault. Their ceaseless, torturous cackling breaks the resolve of the weak-willed, leaving them vulnerable to this terrifying fiend.