The Bestiary of HHB

Undeath is certainly a pain in the ass, and everyone knows that. However, it's certainly not the only thing capable of wreaking havoc and uprooting lives around here, and it is for that reason we will be forced to speak of monsters.
To most people, a "monster" is pretty loosely defined as "something living that I don't understand, but fear all the same". A bull is big and strong and ferocious, but humanity very much understands cattle and the like. Monsters are what you get when you begin to cast your line just outside of your comfort zone.

Monsters were quite the topic before the current state of the world happened. All the natural mysteries of the world were being peeled back and inspected in order, magic as well as the sometimes bizarre fauna of the lands. of course, studying magic a little too hard led to all of this, so maybe restraint is a virtue.
The following is a list with quick descriptors of various monstrous creatures, as well as their current role in a heavily necromantic world. Some of these creatures become more dangerous as the necromancy sets in, and some become less dangerous. some take after the classic zombie, becoming mindlessly aggressive and violent for violence's sake, but others simply exist, barely moving and not even registering the world around them. the biggest herbivores are more of the second version, since they don't need to eat anymore, and they lack fear of anything living. people can see them just standing there, slowly rotting away.

Cracklewings are smallish lizard-like creatures who's most notable feature is their dragonfly-like wings. These wings carry the small lizards very swiftly as they beat so quickly they blur before the naked eye. The name Cracklewing comes from the very special ability these creatures have; their wings generate electrical energy as they beat to the point where they glow a vivid green. The cracklewings utilize this electrical energy in a variety of ways, most notably as a defensive mechanism. A charged up cracklewing delivers a painful shock when touched, and depending on the energy levels and the age of the cracklewing, this shock can actually kill a grown human. Unless approached, the cracklewings aren't dangerous to people as they are peaceful and skittish insectivores. Just don't pick them up.

Dinwalkers are believed to be the some of the largest, if not the largest creatures in existence. They are towering rhinocerid behemoths, covered in coarse, incredibly thick fur with an immense horn growing from the top of their snouts. For a long time, the lifestyle of the dinwalker was a mystery to humans. They were just never observed to behave like people thought they might. People looked at them and said "oh, they look like those other creatures from back in the old lands", and they figured they'd behave as such. Not so. Dinwalkers do not feed on plants; in fact, they don't "feed" on anything at all. Dinwalkers live on pure electricity, and the way they go about this is quite something. Dinwalkers follow thunderstorms around the world, and this is where the name comes from. The whole herd (which admittedly only amounts to max 5-6 individuals) then basks in the ensuing lightning storm, their horns acting like enormous lightning rods. This energy then sustains them, sometimes seen arcing off of their shaggy coats, until the next storm. Dinwalkers have also been observed having a bit of a relationship with families of cracklewings. Both creatures enjoy an electrically charged environment, dinwalkers guarantee safety and the cracklewings eat annoying insects, so it's a win win.  Undead Dinwalkers are interesting; they are basically immovable until a freak storm passes by that happens to charge them, and when that happens they jerk back to life for a bit and go about their business as if nothing had happened. they eventually run out of power, and then they resume their static un-living state.

Dozermaws are best described as the unfortunate combination of a hippopotamus and a naked mole rat. These large, tubby creatures are all about dirt; they live in it, they use it for protection, and they even eat it. The dozermaw throat is built like a car wash, and it's capable of washing everything edible off of a big mouthful of dirt. The dozermaw gets its name, no surprise, from it's gigantic mouth and how it uses it. While it was theorized that dozermaws could actually dig tunnels using their prodigious mouths, this has been proven to not be true. They do however dig muddy pits to wallow in, protecting their naked skin from the harshest sunlight as well as bothersome insects. It gets interesting when the dozermaw feels threatened. It can store a surprising amount of dirt in its mouth and throat, and if something bothers it or gets too close, they will spit projectiles of mud and saliva at their enemies. This, along with their intimidating size and pervasive stink, make them very unlikeable and unapproachable.

Dreadjaws are yet another monster that is aptly named if anything. This monster resembles a theropod in nature, walking on two stout legs with clawed, three toed feet. A long, stiff tail helps it keep balance, but the only thing anybody ever thinks about in regards to the dreadjaw is, well, the jaw. The dreadjaw head is about 90% mouth and the rest is nostrils. The dreadjaw is completely blind as well as deaf, and tracks its surroundings by scent alone. It's damned good at doing that though, so it's not so bad. The dreadjaw sense of smell is so good that it is believed that if it has ever smelled your blood, it will never not know where you are, no matter how far you travel. The other noteworthy thing about the dreadjaw is that it is an eerily quiet creature. They project a magical aura of silence that extends just barely beyond their physical forms, rendering them perfectly quiet to anybody who isn't standing immediately next to them. Dreadjaws are active only at night, and with their silent movements and the lack of being impaired by lack of light, they make terrifying hunters. One of the many good reasons to not ever travel at night.

Landsharks are what it says on the tin, really. Humans have known about sharks for a long time as there were plenty of them in the warm waters of the old lands, so when they saw these creatures that look like sharks with legs, they called it as they saw it. Landsharks are squat with four legs sticking out from the sides of their body like on a lizard. These legs are four toed and clawed, giving them good grip on most surfaces. As they are still very much connected to the shark, they require a moist environment to not dry out. Ironically, they seem to be incapable of swimming and they certainly can't breathe underwater. This has led them to make their homes in swamps and other very wet places. And while they can't swim, they can plow through wet mud and sand while mostly submerged like nobody's business. A classic horror story for travelers and coachmen all over is the very idea of seeing a handful of curved dorsal fins cutting through the sands approaching you. Landsharks are pack hunters and appear to be willing to throw themselves at almost anything that they could feasibly bring down. They are durable creatures too, and can shrug off quite a bit of punishment. This, coupled with the very shark-like ability to quickly replace lost teeth make them very unafraid of injury.

Liarbirds are ratites, that is to say big flightless birds. They have an impressive coat of feathers that shifts in many different colors like black, blue, red, and orange depending on where the light hits. The other notable feature they possess are some big feet. Big and limber with four clawed toes on each foot, and the liarbird is very proficient in using its feet very much like a human uses its hands. The reason for the name liarbird, or even "fakebird" to some, is that they have a real talent for playing dead. Liarbirds can plop to the ground on a moments notice and play dead very convincingly. They will emit a stench like that of a fresh corpse, and they even seem capable of slowing their own hearts down. The reason for this playacting is twofold. Some predators are not interested in carcasses, and so playing dead offers some protection. The major idea behind playing dead however is that the liarbird is a hunter of scavengers. It will fake its death, wait for one of the numerous scavengers that prowls the world, and when it's close enough, the bird strikes with it's powerful legs. A liarbird kick is deceptively powerful, and a few human casualties are even confirmed. One swift kick is all the bird needs to bring down something like a coyote or a vulture which it then devours. If the faking doesn't work, the liarbird is unsurprisingly very fast on its feet.

Powderjacks are arguably the critter that has impacted humanity the most since they showed up in the new lands . They are small and resemble both bats and corvids, with gleaming black feathers, but upon closer inspection they have faces that resemble some kind of humanoid-insectoid creature, with big black compound eyes and wide, wicked grins full of tiny needle-like teeth. The powderjack gets its name from its part in creating that most marvelous of substances: Gunpowder. These little critters build massive hives together, and what appears to be their sheddings can when blended properly with a few other ingredients creates gunpowder. Powderjacks are currently being researched quite heavily, and there are sizable powderjack farms all over the new lands at this point. Powderfarmers have quickly become a very important and very popular profession, and they make quite a bit of money too.

Rumbletusks are another contender for biggest creature on this good earth. Named after their very imposing set of tusks, these creatures are luckily herbivorous. Or, unluckily depending on how you see it. You see, rumbletusks feed in a very particular way. The ends of their tusks are broad and flat, very much like enormous shovels, and they use these shovels to plow through the earth in search of nutritious underground vegetables and roots and such. Much like other pachyderms, they have trunks, but the rumbletusk trunk is rather short and stubby, and adept at little else than shoveling food into its mouth. The problem with these herbivorous giants appears when they feel like there isn't enough food to go around, because that's when they decide to level large swaths of forests in order to eat the bounties of the trees. And god help you if one of them decides to check out your cornfield.

Splinterfangs do in many ways look like the answer to the question "what if snakes were wolves?" These beasts are about a meter at the shoulder and are very much shaped like wolves, but with the head and tail of a serpent. They are sinewy and strong, and tend to be various mottled browns and greens and other good hiding colors. They hunt in small packs of maximum of four individuals, and if you thought they hunted like wolves too, you'd be somewhat wrong. The splinterfang gets its name from its horrible mouth and the tricks that it has. In fact, it has two mouths. The "outer" mouth is the only one you'd think it has, and it is lined with thin, needle like teeth. These teeth look menacing but are very fragile and break off easily. That is however the entire point. These teeth are like bee stingers in the way that they stick and continuously pump additional venom into the victim. These teeth grow back at a ridiculous rate, I'm talking less than a day for every single one to come back. Once you get past that first row of teeth, the splinterfang has a second set. These are sturdy and sharp, great for tearing and cutting through flesh. These teeth are not designed to fall out, and they most often don't, but the creature can replace them too should the need arise. Takes longer though. Splinterfangs hunt by ambushing prey, biting it once or twice, and then following it until it succumbs to the venom in its system. Sometimes they don't have to do all that, like when hunting smaller creatures, and at this point they can open their mouths so wide that their fragile first set of teeth never come in contact with the prey item, letting the second set do all the work.

Tarhounds are still a very mysterious and almost mythical sort of creature, more likely to feature in scary stories than research papers. What is confirmed, more or less, is that they are vaguely canid in appearance, and covered from tip to tail in a thick layer of some kind of black goop, hence the name. This goop is very sticky and very, very flammable, which is why it is so strange that the tarhound seems incredibly attracted to fire. This is one of the reasons so little is known about them; they only show up when its dark, aided by their inky black coating, and they seem to throw themselves recklessly at any source of fire. This tends to be either a torch or lantern carried by a traveler, or the smoldering remains of a nighttime campfire. The tarhounds, at this point baying and howling up a storm, will just recklessly launch themselves at the source of the heat and light. Anything nearby will be coated in the black goop, and before long it all goes up in flames. The reason why tarhounds are so mystical is because very few people who see one actually survive to talk about it. They always seem to come out of nowhere just when you're at your most vulnerable, and since the choice for the person in question is to either drop their light source and be confined to darkness, or hold on and hope for the best, it's a very difficult situation to come out of alive. What might be even stranger is that even when someone has made it out of a tarhound encounter alive, any attempt to track the creatures in daylight has failed. It's like they cease to exist once the sun rises. Some people like to claim that tarhounds are some kind of mystical natural backlash to the advancement of the human race, with the idea being that these beasts lash out against that most basic of technological advancements: fire.

Water Devils look a lot like large crabs, and maybe they are. Water devils are so named because they make any murky stretch of water very dangerous. These creatures are born very small and spend a lot of time at the bottom of whatever body of water they hatched in, catching tiny food particles that drift by. Eventually they molt into their adult form, that very much looks like a large crab with a flat upper part. This part attracts algae and other plants for some reason, and so the water devil grows a thick layer of natural camouflage. Now their life is spent not at the bottom of the water, but near the surface, blending in with the water plants and pond scum, and when something gets too close, they reach out with their surprisingly long claws and snatch it up.