Brechwell Beast

The trump card of Brechwell.

Usually kept in a state of hibernation to conserve resources and ensure it wouldn't cause undo damage

When the Lambs first hear about it they learn that is in a light state of it's hibernation, needing only a couple chemicals to awaken.

Appearance

Described as having the most brutish features of a toad, mammoth, bull, and rhino. It is quadrupedal, with it's shoulders being the biggest part of the entire creature, standing at roughly three and half stories. It's build is wide and muscular, with little to no neck. <ref name=":0">"Had someone taken a toad, a mammoth, a bull and a rhino and kept the most brutish features of each, they would have been in the right ballpark for the Brechwell Beast.  It was wide, muscular, and built to plow forward, with no sign that it was built to stop.  Its chest was triangular and deep enough to scrape the ground, even as powerful limbs carried it forward.  Tusks extending from the corner of its mouth scraped against the road and the sides of buildings, the curve of them keeping them from catching on anything, and horns extended around the top, doing much the same.  At the shoulder -the shoulders and upper parts of its forelimbs were perhaps its largest feature, I noted- it stood three and a half stories tall.

It was armored, something grown rather than hewn from metal, the plates white-gray in color, edges sharpened, layered over one another.  The plates at the chest scraped the ground like the horns and tusks did, and the plates across its back gave it a serrated appearance.  What I could see between and beneath armor plates suggested that the Beast had no lack of protection – it alternated from layers of heavy scale that was probably armor unto itself and skin that looked like it was nothing but callus and scar tissue." - Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.5</ref> And it's face is covered in a sort of psuedo-mask made of the same armored plates as the rest of it's body.<ref>The Beast appeared, fumes trailing from the corner of its mouth, eyes hidden by the armored mask it had been fitted with. -Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.6</ref>

It's massive horns and tusks are big enough that they are scraping against the ground, but they curl in a way that prevents them from catching anything when it's running through the streets of Brechwell.<ref name=":0" /> The tusks are retractable.<ref>"

The Beast’s tusks retracted.  Horns didn’t, but it lowered its head so the points of the horns were aimed almost straight down.  It didn’t have a neck, only muscle and shoulder, and thus served as a massive battering ram, nearly as tall and far stronger than the building it assaulted.

We had a fair distance, but I still lowered myself, pulling off the pack, and braced for impact.

The crack of it made my thoughts skip, and the impact resounded, distorting the regular rhythm of bells.  My vision jolted, and the fact that people manning nearby lights at the towers were jarred as well made the entire scene seem to wobble.  The stone could have taken cannon fire and withstood it.  The Beast didn’t care.  It slammed through a foot of stone blocks with as much ease as Dog might a wooden door, plunging head and shoulders into the building.

Forelimbs reached up, scrabbling for purchase, and its shoulders heaved upwards against yet-unbroken stone, splitting it and sending it sliding down either side of the Beast’s back.  The feet were reaching up to the first floor, straining to reach the second, and tore the floors down and away instead.

Huffing, puffing, the superweapon bucked, horns spearing up, striking at the floor above and the exterior wall, bringing more debris down." -Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.5</ref>

In addition, it is covered in sharp grey-white plates that overlap each other, providing armor strong enough that Exorcist rifles don't pose a threat to it.<ref name=":1">"Rifles fired from windows, and I suspected they might have been exorcists.  The Beast was too far away, and the rifles, as powerful as they were, were far too little to stop the Beast, even if they got past the armor.

But the noise and the patter of bullets against armor did get the creature’s attention.  It turned, focused on the source, and then charged from across the plaza.

I imagined the people inside the building were doing much what we were.  Though we weren’t the target, we scrambled to put distance between ourselves and the impact site.

The Beast’s tusks retracted.  Horns didn’t, but it lowered its head so the points of the horns were aimed almost straight down.  It didn’t have a neck, only muscle and shoulder, and thus served as a massive battering ram, nearly as tall and far stronger than the building it assaulted." -Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.5</ref> In between the plates is thick, calloused skin. <ref name=":0" /> There is also a bit of beauty to the beast's armor, with a series of decorative etchings and old battle marks that look like a maze.<ref>"Objectively, it was beautiful.  Now that it wasn’t charging right for me, I could see the patterns on the armor, a mingling of old damage that had been left alone rather than repaired, and decorative etchings.  Rainwater ran down the armor, pausing and helping catch the light amid the etchings.  It looked like the lines of a maze." -Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.5</ref>

Psychology

This creature acts like a battering ram, it will focus on something and then charge.<ref name=":1" /> It seems to prefer light, which the city uses in conjunction with it's series of gates to control where the beast goes when they let it lose.<ref>"“They open and close the gates, to control which routes the Beast can and will travel. It prefers lit area, I guess?” I asked." -Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.5</ref>

Suspected to create a lot of noise and damage as a form of psychological warfare.<ref>"On the rooftop, we had the benefit of being able to see over the other rooftops and locate the Brechwell Beast.  The people on the ground didn’t- for them, there wasn’t a good way of distinguishing how far away the Beast was.  It was as large as a wealthy man’s house and I very much suspected it was designed to create noise and make things rattle to batter at the enemy’s psyche."- Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.6</ref>

Abilities

According to Lillian, the beast is about 20 years old, making it part of the Wynn generation of War Beasts. She figures this because of the Brechwell Beast's ability to spew a dark, flammable gas from it's mouth.<ref>"The Beast was letting a dark fog creep out of its mouth, filling the cavity of the ruined building in front of it.

The fog wasn’t reaching us.

I started to lower my arm.  Lillian reached over and jerked it back up into place.

Something flickered.  Like tentacles snaking through the dark fog, fire reached out.  I brought my other arm up to protect my eyes as the fire expanded to find other pockets that would ignite, then others, swelling-"

-Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.5</ref> The gas is a nerve agent made from the Beast's internal waste and byproducts, which the beast will then ignite, causing an explosion. Lillian warns inhaling the gas could cause your throat to stop working, lose of function in the eyes, sphincter control issues, and for women, bladder control issues.<ref>"“Probably a nerve gas,” Lillian said.  “If he’s about twenty years old, then he’s part of the Wynn generation of warbeasts.  A lot of them made their own from internal waste and byproducts.  I’ve read up on it, a little extra because Ibott said he was thinking about giving Helen a reserve.”

“That was a no,” Helen said.

“You’re probably immune, by the way.”

“Neat.”

“What would happen if we breathed it in?” Gordon asked.

“At this distance, that concentration, carried by the explosion?  Probably nothing.”

“Then-”

“Only probably.  But if you were unlucky, your throat might stop working, or it wouldn’t work as well, or you’d lose some function in your eyes.  If we weren’t wearing clothes, we might lose sphincter control.  Maybe bladder control, for the girls.”" -Excerpt from Tooth and Nail 7.5</ref>