Thing from the Stars

"A shard of alien malignity!"

An utterly otherworldly creature, a twisted and chaotic amalgamation of flesh, bone and crystal, so hideous and malformed that it has no place in this world. Formed from hideously mutated flesh and crystal, with multiple limbs and disgusting appendages, this hulking abominable mutant is able to cross the barrier separating the Farmstead from the rest of the Estate and wreak havoc wherever it wanders. How it is able to exist within our world with such an alien physiology is so perplexing that no sane mind can possibly understand it.

Some believe this thing to be a hybrid, a unforeseen mutation born from the chaotic conflict between natural laws and forces of our world and whatever place the Comet came from. Others think that Crystalline Corruption has somehow adapted to our world by assimilating biological aspects and traits from the lifeforms native to our world. Maybe this abomination comes from the future, brought to our present time by the distortions in space and time caused by the Comet. Or it is possible that this thing is a piece of the great terror that sleeps inside the Old Mill, wanting to explore beyond the boundaries of its already conquered domain, so it has learned - by wearing all those corpses like some kind of suit - to protect itself against the natural laws and forces of our world, allowing it to leave the limited confounds of its domain.

Whatever the Thing is, it not only seeks to absorb and assimilate the flesh and bones of those it kills into its misshapen body and spread the Crystalline Corruption beyond the Farmstead, it also seeks to destroy the Servants of the Old Gods and the New God. The sounds of battle and screams of death can be heard from whatever region it is currently in, causing carnage among the ranks of the cultists. While this may greatly help our cause, it's intentions are not benevolent. Many people and beasts have been killed, assimilated and have become parts of the Thing’s anatomy, and many more will share this fate if it is not stopped. Already, dozens of people and animals have fallen prey to it, clearly shown by the remains of horses, a great elk, and scores of unlucky people already melted into its flesh. However, vanquishing this foe may prove more difficult than expected, as it's flesh is destroyed, the harder layer of stone and crystal underneath its hide is exposed, acting like armour against the attacks of your heroes.

This Thing From The Stars has no place in this World, let’s send it back to the stars where it came from!

Behaviour
The Thing From The Stars is an Eldritch Boss found in any location where it is patrolling for the week (spawn not guaranteed) - this is visible on the estate map when embarking. It can appear as a fight in any hallway.

It has 2 actions per round, and an automatic action at the start of each round that triggers the Return to the Stars, which hits all party members with Stress damage. This attack also spawns a Crystalline Aberration and deals a small amount of damage to The Thing. This attack does not trigger bleed/blight damage on The Thing From The Stars, but all other attacks do.

Strategies
The Thing From The Stars has two phases: There are two main ways to take him down:
 * During the first phase, it can be hurt by normal attacks.
 * When it reaches 45% HP, it receives a permanent buff which gives it +80% PROT, +6 SPD, +40% DMG and +15% CRIT. Therefore, normal attacks will not be very effective.
 * Blight and Bleed damage is highly effective, due to its low resistances - you'll usually trigger all your damage within 1-2 rounds at most, though ensure you have enough chance to bypass resistances to them on higher levels. Note, however, that at the start of each round The Thing will clear all damage over time effects. In order to get the most out of bleeds and blights the characters will have to have enough speed to act before The Thing's two turns. Conversely, acting after The Thing's second action means no damage will be applied from the damage-over-time effects.
 * Some heroes' abilities can bypass its protection, like Grave Robber's Pick to the Face or Shieldbreaker's Pierce.

Furthermore, each turn it will summon a Crystalline Aberration, so you'll need to deal with it in good time to prevent it from exploding - using a dedicated high-damage character, such as a Leper's Hew, is recommended to keep it cleared (or the one which doesn't deal huge damage on the boss). It is worth mentioning that upon creation of the Crystalline Aberration, he will take a small amount of damage and have a chance at causing party-wide stress. Note that Aberrations are also vulnerable to blight, but you only get one turn to kill them, so ensure you can stack enough damage to finish them if using blight. It is possible to stall out the fight until The Thing kills itself by using "Return to the Stars," but be wary, as stalling for too long may result in a hero receiving Sky Taint and/or massive stress for your party.

Take notice that Debuffs are not very effective as the individual attacks aren't the biggest danger with this boss, and they wear off too quickly for prolonged damage-dealing using them.

When The Thing uses Return to the Stars, it will move to the rear of the summoned minion(s), so ensure you can strike the furthest rows on your primary damage dealers (or clear the Aberrations first).

Apart from Return to the Stars, it will also regularly Debuff, Stun and Blight individual party members. Weakening Shard reduces all your resistances and Transfixing Shard reduces Damage and Speed.

All its attacks inflict stress damage - and so long as you can keep control of the Aberrations, you are in far greater danger from Stress than HP loss in this fight.

It is also worth noting that if the boss is stunned after using all of its actions for the turn, it will not use "Return to the Stars" at the beginning of next round, allowing bleeds and blights to stay an extra round. However, as The Thing has high base Stun resistance, this is difficult to do multiple turns in a row with increasing Stun resistance.

The Thing's Quirks
Heroes who survive the battle with The Thing From The Stars may contract one of several new quirks. These quirks are unique; they can only be linked with one hero per roster.

The following list is of the discovered quirks and their effects:

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =

* Used automatically at the start of each round. ** Lasts 4 rounds. *** Used only at the first round.

Trinkets
After killing the Thing From The Stars, in addition to shards and memories, there is a chance you might come across some of its exclusive Trinkets, such as:


 * }

Related Enemies
Farmstead
 * Farmhand
 * Foreman
 * Scarecrow
 * Plow Horse
 * Crystalline Aberration
 * Sleeper's Herald
 * Sleeper's Dream

Bosses
 * Miller
 * Frozen Farmhand
 * Fracture
 * Focus Point
 * Unfinished Aberration
 * Finished Aberration
 * The Sleeper

Trivia

 * You can easily spot the Thing on the map with scouting if you see two battles in a row
 * Quirks obtained from killing the Thing go in the order listed on the table above.
 * Trinkets only seem to drop on Veteran or above missions.
 * Seems to be greatly inspired by John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982) in that the Thing comes from outer space and it also assimilates biological aspects and traits from any lifeforms it encounters.