The Shrieker

"Deep within the heart of the Weald stands a gigantic tree that towers above all other trees, and hidden within the gnarled and twisted branches of this tree is the Shrieker's Nest. Like the Noble Raven depicted on our family’s Coat of Arms, this poor creature has seen better days, for the corruption that plagues the estate has twisted this feathered bird into a feathered fiend. Despite being corrupted, this feathered fiend is still a Raven at heart and has an eye for everything that glitters and shines. The Nest of the Shrieker is decorated with all the shiny and glittering Trinkets it has stolen from our Trinkets Chest or taken from the dead bodies of our fallen heroes. Reclaiming these items will not be easy, for the Shrieker will defend its Nest from any intruders. But if Shrieker feels that it is not worth its life to protect his hoard of treasures, it will abandon its nest and escape to live another day, free to steal more of our rare and valuable Trinkets."

Behaviour
The Shrieker is an Eldritch/Beast Event Boss found in the Weald fought alongside its Nest, both of which take up two slots. The Shrieker has attacks that move it forward and backwards, meaning you're going to need to switch between attacking the front and back lines.

On the Shrieker's last turn during Round 4, it will use Shrieking Flight, dealing 50 stress damage to all heroes before flying away, ending the battle.

Appearance
The Shrieker can appear following 3 different events:


 * during A Thief in the Night event, when the Shrieker steals 8 random trinkets from the trinket inventory. This event can happen after week 42, appears only once and will be available on the map until you clear it;
 * after you lose 8 trinkets (with dead heroes or in town activities), you can fight the Shrieker to get your lost treasures back. This event will stay on the map until you clear it;
 * during the Shrieker's Prize event, where you can hunt the Shrieker in order to get one of its unique trinkets. This event can happen after week 15. It will expire if you don't clear it on the same week when it appears, but it can happen multiple times during the campaign, even if you already acquired all Shrieker trinkets (in this case the quest reward panel will be empty).

Strategy
Firstly, forget about buying most items, as any quest for the Shrieker drops right into the fight then ends afterwards. Your light is already at 100 unless you douse it yourself. There's thus no reason to buy food, torches, shovels, etc. You do however want bandages, herbs, and holy water for the fight. Secondly, you must decide if you want to kill the bird, or smash its nest. Doing both is probably not going to work since the Shrieker flees after 4 rounds of combat. Destroying the nest is much easier and will yield trinkets/gems. Killing the Shrieker is harder and forgoes the material reward in favor of increasing the chance of obtaining powerful corvid quirks. Regardless of your choice, be prepared to hit slots 1 or 2 + 3 or 4, as the Shrieker + nest both take up 2 slots, and will regularly switch sides. A class that can't always hit both sides (such as the Leper) is not ideal to bring.

The Shrieker has 3 actions per round, making any debuffs applied to it mostly worthless. It's quite vulnerable to bleeds though, while being resistant to blight. It has 0 prot, relying instead on an incredibly high dodge to avoid attacks. Since you can't rely on debuffs, consider buffing your own party's accuracy. The Man At Arms and Jester excel for this. They can buff the entire party's accuracy, making this dodgy bird easier to hit. Another good choice is the Houndmaster, which not only gets a damage bonus vs beast, but also obtains an accuracy bonus from dog treats. If you have an Occultist, he too gets a damage bonus since the Shrieker is also eldritch. The Hellion is another solid choice, bringing a bleed attack that can hit the Shrieker in either position. But these choices will struggle to hit without buffs. Another strategy to consider is riposte. It is constantly triggered by the Shrieker's numerous attacks.

With its 3 turns per round, the Shrieker will barrage your party with attacks. To keep up the pace and win under the strict time limit, use items to counter its attacks. It will bleed and debuff your party, so bandages, herbs, and holy water are highly recommended. It also inflicts stress, but the fight is bound to end before this is of any concern. If you brought the necessary items, healing is less important, and will allow more turns to attack. You could actually just bring 4 damage dealers to kill the Shrieker faster.

If your only desire is to break the nest; this goal is much easier. Simply bring heroes able to hit it, then endure the Shrieker until it flees on its own. A healer might be more ideal for this goal because the fight does not end when the nest is smashed. The Shrieker will thus continue to ravage your party until it decides to flee. If the Shrieker is not killed by its last turn on round 4, it will drop a large full party stress attack then flee the fight.

Shrieker Trinkets
Sometimes the event Shrieker's Prize will be showing. This will allow the player to hunt down The Shrieker for a chance to aquire a Shrieker Trinket.

Corvid's Quirks
Heroes who survive the battle with The Shrieker may contract one of several new quirks. Successfully killing The Shrieker increases the chance to get a positive quirk instead of a negative quirk, but all quirks are possible to contract regardless of the outcome of the fight. The following list is of the discovered quirks and their effects:

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

* Only used as its last action during round 4. Also cannot be riposted, so isn't a last chance to get the kill.

Trivia

 * While the battle itself remains unchanged for the quest you fight it in, the music for the battle does not. If the quest is Shrieker's Prize, it is the Mournweald Encounter, the normal battle music for the Weald. If the quest is A Thief in the Night or recovering lost trinkets from fallen heroes, the music is Town in Chaos, the battle music from Wolves at the Door.
 * When The Shrieker "flees" the quest condition about killing 1 Shrieker is fulfilled; the Shrieker may in reality be killing itself by using Shrieking Flight.
 * There are Apprentice and Veteran version of this boss. They are called Callous Shrieker and Cretinous Shrieker, respectively. While Shrieker's Prize will always feature the Champion Version of the Boss, A Thief in the Night may feature the Apprentice or Veteran version of the boss, depending on the highest rarity of Trinket that was lost on the battlefield.
 * This is the only encounter in the game that appears in the first room. The player can still camp in the first room in other expeditions after exploring a minimum of one room and coming back, then getting ambushed in the night.
 * The name Corvid comes from Corvidae, which wikipedia defines as the "cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers."
 * The Shrieker's attacks are programmed to move him forward and back 4 positions. This is despite only requiring to move 3 positions to always end up in the first and fourth positions after executing each move respectively.
 * Using a single Grave Robber, it was possible to spam Shadow Fade to remain Stealthed until the Shrieker flies off. The Shrieker was unable to target anyone Stealthed, and thus the Grave Robber would remain untouched throughout the fight. This exploit has been patched out in December 2018, as the Shrieker's attacks have been given the ability to ignore Stealth.