Cultist Brawler

Devoted followers of the Old Gods, drawn to your Estate either by visions or hearing rumors of the thing that sleeps within the deepest pit of the Darkest Dungeon. These heretical fanatics used to practice their dark and unholy religion in secret, hiding far away from the ever watchful eye of the Church of Light. However, now that their members have grown in strength, they dare to walk out in open daylight, performing dark rituals and human sacrifices in hopes of fully awakening the thing below the manor and joining it in glorious ascension.

Cultist Brawlers are the bodyguards of the Cultist Acolytes, cutting deep and bloody wounds into their victims and leaving their minds open for the Acolyte’s unholy incantations. They patrol the different areas of the Estate in search of new sacrifices, slay those who dare to oppose them, and offer their services to the many vile factions that plague the land.

Behavior
The Cultist Brawler is a Human type enemy that can be found in any area, usually with Cultist Acolytes and always on the first and second ranks. These mere mortals are not particularly tough nor hard-hitting, but they do have a good chance to inflict Bleed and a debuff that makes heroes more vulnerable to incoming Stress, priming the victim for the Acolytes' Stressful Incantations. They're also more dangerous to marked heroes, and the higher the difficulty, the more likely they are to take advantage of this.

Overall, these enemies are only the helping hand of their Acolyte allies and are not a major threat. Though frail compared to the more eldritch creatures, their health pool can still be quite an irritant as dispatching these foes usually requires the turns of two heroes, save for the killing blow of a critical strike.

If a quick kill isn't possible, there is merit in pushing them to the back ranks, forcing them to waste a turn on a much weaker attack getting back to the front lines, and possibly displacing a more fragile Acolyte to the front where your heroes' blades wait.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =