Twiyck

"You've fucking done it now, you idiot boy! There's a reason we can't leave the dead outside before a burial! Every twiyck for miles will be on their bloody way now, if this guy isn't in the ground before then we're shagged!"

— An angry undertaker

Horrors Overhead

Twiycks are easily described as "scrawny nightmare birds" with a penchant for eating human flesh. They look similar to ravens and crows, however their feathers have a blood red edging to them, and their eyes are similarly coloured. Their cries sound like the arrival of death, and in some cases they are. Their incredible sense of smell allows them to find dead flesh in an approximate twenty mile radius of them, and when they arrive at their food they make quick work of it. Even just a dozen twiycks can devour an entire corpse in a matter of a few hours.
The name "Twiyck" is a corruption of the word "twitch", which aptly describes their tendency to appear like they are vibrating while eating.

Bloody Feathers

Twiycks have been known to lay eggs that hatch into small twiycklings, which are even more dangerous than the adults since they're small enough to shoot themselves from wherever they happen to be and bury their beak into your eyes. The only way to kill a twiyck is through beheading it with any kind of bladed weapon, though one must exercise great care when approaching since they move very quickly, and then burning its corpse. An exception to this rule is the twiyckling eggs which can be killed by just throwing them into fire.
Twiycks keep great care for their eggs, and from hatching, twiycklings cause death. Those who don't hatch at the same time as the others in a nest have their shells broken prematurely and are thrown out of the nest. The corpse of a twiyckling is the only flesh that a twiyck will never eat, as it sees them as nothing more than a rotten false existence of their kind.

Lifespan

Approx. 30 years

Average Weight

3 to 4 lbs

Average Length

Approx. 20 to 25 inches

Wingspan

3 to 4 feet