The Unofficial Demon-Spotter's Guide

Mathcat

Author’s Note: This is complete speculation (with one notable exception) and not meant to be taken as canon. I just wanted to make a tribute to the wonderful demon art. The one exception – Drefni Narucka and the death clan are from a site event from the previous version of the site (though I may be misremembering the details) and not something I made up. However, the possible connection between the pallor fiend demon and Drefni Narucka is pure invention on my part.

Editor’s Note: Please note that this is a demon-SPOTTING guide, not a demon-battling guide. Anyone looking for battle tips would be better off consulting one of the many battle guides that can be found in the castle library. This is meant to help you develop an appreciation for the many types of demon that share our world, to potentially classify new demons, and to identify what spooked your creature before it all ends in tears and an infirmary visit.

Special thanks to Ezriaphiel for risking life and limb to create visual references for all of these demons. Your sacrifices to further the cause of knowledge are greatly appreciated.

Additional Warning: Like all creatures, individual demons vary widely, even within a specific type. Counting on a specific demon to be slow or weak just because the last dozen of that variety were is a surefire way to wind up down a battle champion or suddenly missing appendages. The careful reader may notice discrepancies between this and the official battle guides, particularly in the abilities that various demons are said to use in battle. Remember, demons vary widely and behave differently in different situations. The same demon that forgets all of its clever elemental tricks in battle against a battle champion might have a few surprises in store in a different situation.

Historical Note: There were originally just eight demons – dark, fire, leaf, life, light, stone, water, and wind. Each of these types gradually diversified into the variety of demons we know today as the original demon battle strategy – becoming a duplicate of the opposing battle creature – became increasingly less effective. Mimicry is largely unknown today, though rumor has it that if you battle during a blizzard, you may find, for example, a ghost unglios in place of a demon.

Boss Demons: Boss demons are rare – so much so that you can take a champion from rank beginner to diamond-level contestant without even seeing one. Until very recently, there were believed to be only three types of boss demons, when it is now known that there are at least four. Despite the name, they are not appreciably stronger than the average demon – just rarer.

Affiliations: Most demons have visual clues that allow them to be loosely grouped into one of eight categories, with the recently-discovered Edgelands demons as a tentative ninth. The resemblance of the eight primary groupings to the eight clans is (with the possible exception of Dark) probably coincidental. Though demons within a category often share certain similarities, knowing a demon’s affiliation is unlikely to be of help when battling them. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that anyone trying to use this guide as an actual battle guide is likely to wind up badly injured, if not dead.

Dark: Dark-affiliated demons are black with red eyes. They tend to be smaller and weaker, but make up for in numbers what they lack in strength. They are extremely persistent and extremely belligerent. Instead of brute force, they rely on annoyance. Dark-affiliated demons are among the smallest of the demons, with the buzzer demon being the size of a very large insect. They are also the most varied, with at least a dozen different types.

Fire: Fire-affiliated demons are varying shades of red. Unsurprisingly, they favor fire attacks. With the exception of the confetti demon, they are slow-moving, but make up for this with the ability to breathe fire across alarmingly long distances. They are quick to anger, but also slightly lazy. Given the choice between a fleeing human and a stationary nearby demon, they’ll gladly transfer their rage to the demon. Fire demons are often falsely accused of starting major fires. While capable of creating wildfires, they usually lack the desire to do so.

Leaf: Leaf-affiliated demons are dark green with paler green highlights. Life-affiliated demons look similar, but have a darker base color and brighter highlights. Leaf-affiliated demons are persistent and favor thorns and poison. Luckily, the poison is slow-acting and the antidote is both stable enough to travel well and readily available at the castle. The hippogriff Arelun also usually has a few doses, but will be reluctant to part with them. Some leaf demons also have limited control over plants.

Life: Life-affiliated demons are dark green, almost black, with bright green highlights. Leaf-affiliated demons are similar, but a slightly paler green with duller highlights. It’s a subtle difference, but you can tell which one you’re facing by examining your battle champion. If it’s staggering around because of poison, you’re facing a leaf demon. If it’s staggering around out of general confusion, it’s a life demon. Life-affiliated demons disorient and confuse. The most subtle of the various types, they can even leave one doubting the evidence of their own senses. The good news is that the confusion will clear up with no lingering side effects. The bad news is that there’s usually a more lethal demon not far away.

Light: Light-affiliated demons are varying shades of yellow. They use light attacks to disorient and stun opponents. Light-affiliated demons often travel with demons of other types as an advance guard. They blind the opponent, the next demon along finishes the job, and the dark demons take care of what’s left. Light-affiliated demons tend to be small, often no larger than most dark-affiliated demons.

Stone: Stone-affiliated demons are various shades of brown. These tend to be very solid, resistant to damage and easily able to defend themselves. They are in general slightly less aggressive than other demons, as long as one doesn’t provoke them. Though they are responsible for their fair share of livestock deaths, these are often accidental. Stone-affiliated demons are among the largest demons, with crystalline and guardian demons sometimes rivaling gulper demons in size.

Water: Water-affiliated demons are dark blue with pale blue highlights. They often look like various aquatic creatures and, unsurprisingly, favor water attacks. Water-affiliated demons are strong and persistent. They lack the armor of a stone-affiliated demon, but are still good at soaking up damage. Water-affiliated demons vary widely in size, with the auknal demon being smaller than some dark demons and the gulper demon towering over even the boss demons.

Wind: Wind-affiliated demons are a very pale blue. They look insubstantial, but looks can be deceptive. They favor wind attacks and like to blow their opponent into the path of another demon. Wind-affiliated demons tend to have a mischievous streak, using their wind attacks to carry off small, unguarded items or steal clothes off clotheslines. They also love to steal battle tickets right out of your hand before they can be redeemed for prizes.

Other Affiliations/Uncategorized:

Pallor fiend demons don’t fit neatly into any of the eight categories, but both the appearance and name suggest a possible death affiliation. If there’s any truth to the rumors of the death clan, a ninth clan in opposition to the life clan and led by Drefni Narucka, they may be directly affiliated with this clan.

Writhing demons also don’t match up perfectly with one of the eight categories, but their appearance suggests a hybrid affiliation – perhaps water and dark. With luck, they will be the only such hybrid demon.

The Thirteenth Year demons are their own unique category. Given their ties to Thirteenth Year celebrations, they may even be some god’s idea of a holiday treat. Thirteenth Year demons are more annoying than dangerous and pose little threat to even a novice battler. Any trouble they cause is outweighed by the goodies they drop.

Edgeland demons have been corrupted enough to become their own category, no matter what their affiliation was before. Though most common beyond the Infinity Pillars, they can now be found anywhere that normal demons can live. They share a reddish-purple coloration and a tendency for wounds inflicted by teeth or claws to become corrupted in odd ways. Even a small scratch can be deadly. The good news is that other demons regard Edgelands demons with suspicion and frequently turn on them. This is probably the only reason why Edgelands demons don’t manage to take over what’s left of the world every time an Infinity Pillar opens.

You may encounter normal demons that have begun to be corrupted by the Edgelands. Treat these with particular caution. The changes are frequently subtle – sometimes nothing more than an Edgelands ticket in among the normal battle rewards.

Demons by Affiliation:

Dark: Armoury, Buzzer, Chaser, Crawler, Dark, Devourer (Boss), Feral Amorphous, Flier, Grabber, Hopper, Ooze, Seer, Slinker
Fire: Confetti, Fire, Stander, Wyrm
Leaf: Leaf, Snipper, Thorin, Walker
Life: Faint, Flock, Life, Solonid
Light: Cuspid, Fish, Light, Ovid
Stone: Carrion, Crystalline, Guardian, Spydeer (Boss), Stone
Water: Auknal, Gulper, Threshing, Water
Wind: Flighter, Sock, Wind, Wisp

Edgelands: Bird, Incher, Needle, Vile
Thirteenth Year: Bat, Candee, Hat, Jester, Kitty, Pumpkin
Other: Pallor Fiend (Boss), Writhing (Boss)

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Mathcat

The Demons



Armoury Demon

Affiliation: Dark

Like most dark-affiliated demons, an armoury demon relies more on persistence than on brute force. However, its claws pack a powerful punch and can break bones. With a body about the size of a large serving platter, it is among the largest of the dark-affiliated demons, with only the dark and devouring demons being larger. An armoury demon is often a bodyguard and advance scout for a swarm of othe dark-affiliated demons and so is frequently an early warning sign of an invasion. Armoury demons like to start trouble by pinching a sleeping creature and letting something else take the blame. They’ll play this trick on singularities, baenalkin, and even other demons.



Auknal Demon

Affiliation: Water

The auknal demon is the smallest of the water-affiliated demons, being about the size of the largest pond-dwelling koi. Frequently found in ponds near areas infested by demons, auknal demons can be mistaken for normal fish if the water is cloudy enough. Auknal demons are shy and skittish, so one of the two heads is always keeping watch. They prefer to avoid confrontation, but will spray scalding hot water if provoked.



Bat Demon

Affiliation: Thirteenth Year

Like other Thirteenth Year demons, bat demons are more mischievous than harmful. They like to dive-bomb humans, creatures, and other demons, but usually won’t follow up a good scare with a painful bite. Bat demons are startlingly large. The novelty blankets one can sometimes find for sale in the market are actually slightly smaller than life-size. If one wants to walk about on Thirteenth Year nights unbothered by malevolent, tattered bedsheets, bat demons can be bribed with a handful of candy.



Bird Demon

Affiliation: Edgelands

Bird demons were originally the rarest and most elusive of the Edgelands demons, but have steadily grown in numbers over the years. Now, it’s hard to go more than a few steps past an Infinity Pillar without attracting the attention of a ruby-eyed observer. Bird demons are roughly ravne-sized, with the red comb resembling a crown that might catch the attention of a valravn. They’re scavengers, not hunters, but the constant observation wears on the nerves more than an attack would.



Buzzer Demon

Affiliation: Dark

The buzzer demon is one of the smallest known demons, second only to the candee demon. It’s frequently mistaken for a mundane – if slightly oversized – insect at a casual glance. The bite of a buzzer demon leads to itchy welts, but poses no great harm to anything larger than a shink. Getting caught by a whole swarm is unpleasant, but rarely fatal. However, its incessant buzz is far worse than its bite. One buzzer demon is a mild annoyance, something like a junebug with ambitions, but buzzer demons rarely travel alone. A swarm of buzzer demons produces enough noise to make cicadas jealous. Even the most even-tempered mage will be drawing up plans for a bigger, better flyswatter after a few minutes. Most creatures leave buzzer demons alone, but toads will sometimes try to eat them. This never ends well for the toad.



Candee Demon

Affiliation: Thirteenth Year

The smallest known demon, a candee demon gives the impression of a piece of hard candy that has taken to the air in search of mischief. Like all Thirteenth Year demons, it’s more of an annoyance than a threat. It doesn’t bite, but doesn’t need to, as its erratic flight, hard body, and tendency to travel in flocks mean that most encounters end with painful bruises. Candee demons are drawn to sweet things and can sometimes be distracted by a thrown chocolate bar. Throwing the chocolate bar at another demon may be tempting, but isn’t worth the risk.



Carrion Demon

Affiliation: Stone

Carrion demons lack the heavy armor of other stone-affiliated demons, but given that they’re effectively animated skeletons, they don’t really need it. The rather ominous name likely refers either to their skeletal appearance or to their habit of scavenging their meals. Stronger than they look, they can survive damage that would kill other demons, with three-legged carrion demons being a common sight near the castle. Carrion demons are usually harmless unless provoked, but are hard to stop once they start charging. The best chance of escape is to lead the carrion demon into something that will entangle the antlers, as they are not shed annually and are the one weak point.



Chaser Demon

Affiliation: Dark

Chaser demons look as though they couldn’t chase down anything faster than an arthritic snail. However, what they lack in speed, they make up for in persistence. Chaser demons don’t need to eat, sleep, or breathe, can hold a grudge for decades, and are not stopped by running water. They’re only about ankle-high, but much of their small body is made up of mouth and very sharp teeth, with a jaw strength equal to that of the devourer demon.



Confetti Demon

Affiliation: Fire

Despite looking like a swarm of individual entities, a confetti demon is actually one consciousness split into multiple pieces. A confetti demon always consists of at least two pieces, as a single piece taken too far from the rest will quickly dissipate. There doesn’t seem to be an upper limit, though confetti demons with more than a dozen pieces seem to have trouble controlling them all. The optimal number of parts seems to be about six – small enough to be easily controlled, but large enough that losing a part isn’t a death sentence. Confetti demons lack the sheer firepower of other fire-affiliated demons, but make up for that with greater maneuverability. The ever-changing dance of the individual parts can hypnotize the unwary just as well as any life-affiliated demon can.



Crawler Demon

Affiliation: Dark

The crawler demon is by necessity an ambush predator. Groups of these will sometimes bury themselves on well-used paths to trap the unwary with their sharp spines, which can even pierce through most shoes. As lurking crawler demons are surprisingly hard to see, travelers are advised to carry a walking stick along for poking at suspicious patches of disturbed earth. This is also a good way to find the far more dangerous grabber demon before it sinks its jaws into your leg.



Crystalline Demon

Affiliation: Stone

Crystalline demons are among the tallest of the demons, though most of that height is leg. They move with a curious halting motion that makes them resemble a giant’s wind-up toy or a poorly-animated construct. Much like the average wind-up toy, once they start moving, they will keep moving in a straight line until they run into an obstacle, then batter themselves against it until either it or they fall over.



Cuspid Demon

Affiliation: Light

The cuspid demon seems at first to be poorly named, as it doesn’t even have a mouth, let alone teeth to bite with. The name refers to the many fragments of the body, each of which is razor-sharp. The secondary set of eyes in one of the fragments allows the cuspid demons to coordinate the various pieces to make a “mouth” that would be the envy of any vile demon. Surprisingly, the cuspid demon prefers to use its “teeth” to eat plants, rather than meat, which just means they wipe out crops rather than livestock.

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Dark Demon

Affiliation: Dark

The dark demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. Dark demons were the first type to move beyond simply mirroring their opponent and try to selectively take on aspects of what they faced to better win battles. This explains both why there are so many types of dark-affiliated demon and, because of the inevitable learning curve, why so many of them look so strange.



Devourer Demon (Boss)

Affiliation: Dark

The devourer demon is the largest and most fearsome of the boss demons. It will eat anything it can fit either of its two mouths around, including other demons and especially Edgelands-affiliated demons. We can only hope that it is either immune to Edgelands corruption or mutates into one of the known types. The alternative is a larger and entirely more terrifying variety of boss demon lurking just beyond the Infinity Pillars. Some of the older castle residents have noticed a possible resemblance between the devourer demon and the dreaded Tathoes. This is, one hopes, either an imagined resemblance or a purely coincidental one.



Faint Demon

Affiliation: Life

Of all the life-affiliated demons, the faint demon is the best at disorienting opponents. It’s hard to look directly at it without feeling dizzy enough to pass out, and prolonged eye contact can knock a person or creature out for hours. The effect is always active and is not under the faint demon’s control. This makes the faint demon one of the most dangerous demons despite it not being particularly aggressive.



Feral Amorphous Demon

Affiliation: Dark

Careless disposal of an unwanted amorphous, especially a fully-grown one, will lead to the creation of a feral amorphous demon. Far more dangerous than the normal variety, feral amorphous demons are highly aggressive and perpetually hungry. They will attack and engulf whatever animal they come across, though luckily they can no longer take on the properties of what they consume. Feral amorphous demons cannot be rehabilitated. Attempts to do so never end well for mage or amorphous.



Fire Demon

Affiliation: Fire

The fire demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. It starts fires wherever it goes without even needing to breathe fire. Supposedly, it’s possible to fry an egg on its back, though it’s a mystery how this was discovered or why anyone would want to try. To answer one enduring question, when a fire demon meets a water demon, the result is clouds of scalding steam and two very annoyed demons.



Fish Demon

Affiliation: Light

Fish demons aren’t aquatic, but do like to drift near the surface of lakes and ponds. This greatly annoys any resident auknals, who will use both heads to shoot water jets to try to knock the fish demon out of the sky. As water attacks work about as well on the fish demon as light-based attacks do on the auknal, all that results for both is annoyance and frustration.



Flier Demon

Affiliation: Dark

The flier demon’s preferred battle strategy is to dive-bomb opponents until they give up. The extra wings don’t do much for maneuverability, so not all collisions are deliberate. Even other demons find the flier demon annoying and will use their own attacks to try to knock it out of the air. Flier demons are of average size for dark-affiliated demons – large enough to startle, but not large enough to knock someone over.



Flighter Demon

Affiliation: Wind

The flighter demon is sometimes known as “windhawk” for its habit of soaring on wind currents it conjures up and swooping down on unsuspecting prey. In place of claws, it catches its quarry with thin currents of wind so concentrated as to be needle-sharp. Flighter demons particularly like to hunt Edgelands-corrupted demons and are one of the few types to venture beyond the safety of the Infinity Pillars.



Flock Demon

Affiliation: Life

A flock demon is, as the name suggests, composed of two or more separate entities. A singleton can survive as long as the head and at least one wing is intact, but will be vulnerable until it can find another collective to join with. Multiple flock demons will often join into one massive flock to defeat a common foe, then separate when the threat has passed. Whether individual entities swap flocks in the process is unknown. Flock demons defend themselves through minor illusion spells. Each individual entity distorts vision in a slightly different way, which magnifies the overall disorienting effect.



Grabber Demon

Affiliation: Dark

The grabber demon can often be found buried at the center of a colony of crawler demons. Having one close around your foot is exactly as painful as you would expect. Luckily, the jaws will close around anything they encounter and are slow to reopen, so it’s possible to escape a grabber demon by blocking the jaws with, say, a large piece of wood and escaping before it can recover.



Guardian Demon

Affiliation: Stone

The guardian demon often serves as a guard for smaller, weaker demons – usually dark-affiliated. If no other demons are around, it will adopt anything small and seemingly helpless that doesn’t bolt at the sight of it. Since most animals have the sense to flee from demons, a lonely guardian demon often adopts rocks, branches, or the occasional stray amorphous. Those near human settlements often collect lost toys. Harming a guardian demon’s charge, whether demon, amorphous, or inanimate object, will earn the demon’s immediate and terrible wrath.



Gulper Demon

Affiliation: Water

The gulper demon is the largest known demon, though, thankfully, smaller than the variety of whale it resembles. Its preferred strategy is to attempt to overwhelm its opponents by shooting jets of water, though it may also try to eat smaller, weaker battle champions. However, it’s surprisingly docile and will not attack unless severely provoked. Gulper demons are most often found near large bodies of water, with a substantial population drifting above the ocean.

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Hat Demon

Affiliation: Thirteenth Year

The hat demon hunts by crawling up to a path, retracting its legs, and waiting for someone to try on the perfectly ordinary witch’s hat. As it can’t stop grinning at the thought of fooling someone, few people are oblivious enough to fall for the rather obvious trap. The hat demon will also try to envelop potential opponents, but most battle champions are large enough to make this a less-than-viable strategy.



Hopper Demon

Affiliation: Dark

Many dark-affiliated demons look a little ridiculous, but hopper demons are perhaps the most absurd of all. They resemble an amorphous trying to imitate a crow without ever having seen one. Be warned, though, that they are less harmless than they appear. Yes, the nearly useless wings mean that the only way they can attack from the ground is to propel themselves forward with the back claw and try to lash out with the other two. However, they make up for this by being adept climbers. Having one drop on your head is no joke.



Incher Demon

Affiliation: Edgelands

The incher demon has been compared to a demonic bunch of grapes. Though the individual components are closer in size to a decent-sized squash, with some being more the size of the one zucchini that escaped the gardener’s notice all summer, it’s not a bad comparison. Incher demons can only move at a slow crawl across the ground – hence the name – and must rely on unwary travelers being too dazzled by the other strange sights beyond the Pillars to notice what is creeping up on them. They will also sometimes hitch rides on more mobile demons. Though it’s impossible to tell for certain, it’s likely that incher demons are a result of the Edgelands corrupting confetti demons, ovid demons, or other demons with a similar body plan.



Jester Demon

Affiliation: Thirteenth Year

The jester demon likes to jump out at people like a possessed jack-in-the-box, snatch something out of their hands, and then bound away before they’ve recovered enough to retaliate. If the target is empty-handed, the jester demon will wrap its arms around the person instead and tangle them up so that they will fall over when they try to move. The best way to discourage a jester demon is to wear something with deep pockets and carry around a pyro raptoria.



Kitty Demon

Affiliation: Thirteenth Year

The kitty demon lurks in the shadows to ambush passers-by. It will fade from view if spotted, with the telltale grin being the last to vanish. Though far larger than the average cat, it’s mostly dangerous as a tripping hazard. Kitty demons are not overly aggressive and can be pacified with whatever would appeal to a normal cat. This includes toys as well as food. A surprising number of mages owe their lives to a convenient catnip mouse.



Leaf Demon

Affiliation: Leaf

The leaf demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. Many leaf demons keep gardens of poison ivy so that they can rub the leaves on their skin to discourage attackers from biting them. Some leaf demons also decorate themselves with flowers, which could be as camouflage or out of vanity.



Life Demon

Affiliation: Life

The life demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. Life demons writhe around and flare out their frill in an attempt to appear larger than they are. This is aided by their ability to disorient their opponents. They also have another trick – one that thankfully has not been passed on to any of the variants. Life demons can draw life from nearby plants and animals to heal themselves, though this is inefficient and requires a good amount of concentration.



Light Demon

Affiliation: Light

The light demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. Incredibly vain, it drives off anything that might mar its shine. It has a particular vendetta against ooze demons and amorphouses. Light demons are drawn to glass, mirrors, and shiny objects. They will, unfortunately, destroy settlements to gain new prizes for their hoard.



Needle Demon

Affiliation: Edgelands

The needle demon lurks beyond the Infinity Pillars, stitching together separate paths and severing others so that even experienced travelers will become hopelessly lost. Those that stray out of the Edgelands become frustrated when their best efforts at manipulating paths only fill their mandibles with dirt.



Ooze Demon

Affiliation: Dark

Ooze demons like to lurk in puddles. Luckily, the red eyes are usually a dead giveaway. Ooze demons grow as they age, though rumors of lake-sized ooze demons that can engulf even a devourer demon are probable exaggerations. Much like the amorphous they resemble, ooze demons are a menace to clothing. Any garment they touch will be permanently stained.



Ovid Demon

Affiliation: Light

An ovid demon’s constantly-spinning disks produce an irritating low-level hum. This would be a good early-warning sign of an ovid demon attack, but it’s impossible to pinpoint the source of the aggravating hum. It attacks by shooting its disks at opponents, which is both more and less dangerous than it sounds. The edges of the disks are razor-sharp, but an ovid demon has very poor aim. The glowing orbs are the primary eyes, with the secondary eyes on the disks mainly being used to guide thrown disks back to the rest of the body.



Pallor Fiend Demon (Boss)

Affiliation: Unknown (Death?)

The pallor fiend demon is the most intimidating of the boss demons. Though it shows no clear elemental affiliation, its skeletal appearance and eerie green glow suggest a connection with the rumored death clan. Its favored attack is to breath a poisonous fog at an opponent. The fog isn’t immediately fatal, though prompt medical attention will be needed, but can bring down even a charging quasar.

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Pumpkin Demon

Affiliation: Thirteenth Year

The pumpkin demon is, like most Thirteenth Year demons, more of a nuisance than an actual threat. Its favorite trick is to hide in pumpkin patches and ambush the unwary, but it prefers to scare people rather than attack them. Pumpkin demons are competitive and not overly bright. They often start staring contests with carved pumpkins and grow frustrated when they don’t win.



Seer Demon

Affiliation: Dark

The seer demon can hypnotize anything that stares for too long into its single, unblinking eye. Luckily, the effect is weak and easily broken. The seer demon is sometimes called Eye of Tathoes, as some believe that entity uses them to spy on the world. However, despite not quite fitting the standard dark-affiliated color scheme, seer demons appear to be perfectly ordinary demons. Seer demons can’t predict any part of the future, even their own defeat.



Slinker Demon

Affiliation: Dark

The slinker demon likes to chase anything that will run from it. Anything that stands its ground will soon find that the slinker demon is mostly harmless. Its main means of defense is to stretch itself up to appear larger and fiercer. As this barely even works with other slinker demons, the slinker demon usually must rely on its backup defense of melting into shadow and fleeing.



Snipper Demon

Affiliation: Leaf

The snipper demon resembles demonic gardening shears. Its jaws can cut through just about anything, given enough time and patience, though it prefers to chew through plants. Fields that a snipper demon have passed through look like they were harvested by a particularly inept farmer.



Sock Demon

Affiliation: Wind

Sock demons are actually named for their resemblance to windsocks and not for any particular fondness for a certain article of footwear. They will steal socks from an unguarded clothesline, but will also take along the rest of the clothes, the clothesline, and all the clothespins as well. Sock demons are extremely distractible and will happily leave a battle to chase something that blows around well in the wind. Socks work, but so do a handful of paper scraps. Just be sure to avoid anything that the sock demon can turn against you, like glitter.



Solonid Demon

Affiliation: Life

The solonid demon devours crops, houses, and walls in tiny, careful bites. An individual solonid demon is the size of a small dog and reasonably harmless, but solonid demons rarely travel alone. Where there’s one, there are usually a dozen more within easy summoning range. They can cast illusions to make themselves appear more numerous, so that it’s not always immediately clear whether you are fighting the genuine article or an illusion until it bites you.



Spydeer Demon (Boss)

Affiliation: Stone

The spydeer’s name refers both to its appearance (though individuals can have anywhere from six to ten legs, depending on age and relative luck in battle) and to the belief that they are spies for some unknown entity. They are often found near the edge of settlements, watching what goes on, but may just prefer observation to action. Spydeer demons bear a strong resemblance to carrion demons, though they’re more of a moose to a carrion demon’s deer. With luck, this resemblance is coincidental and not a sign that demons can ascend into stronger forms.



Stander Demon

Affiliation: Fire

The stander demon is the unlikely rival of the walker demon. It will burn the walker demon’s conjured plants and scorch the ground with its feet so that no new plants can grow. For anything except walker demons, the stander demon prefers to remain still and let the opponent exhaust itself, then go to the effort of throwing fireballs.



Stone Demon

Affiliation: Stone

The stone demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. The most aggressive of the stone-affiliated demons, it uses strong earthquakes to topple structures, opponents, and bystanders. Many stone demons collect rocks, usually of one specific type. Rocks that have been part of a stone demon’s hoard can be used as spell ingredients, but they are extremely risky to collect and look identical to normal rocks.



Thorin Demon

Affiliation: Leaf

The thorin demon likes to lie in wait among plants to jab anything that walks over it. It can change color to match its surroundings, but the mimicry is rarely perfect. Plants growing near a thorin demon’s hiding place will eventually grow oversized thorns, no matter what type of plant they are.



Threshing Demon

Affiliation: Water

Despite the strong resemblance to a shark, the threshing demon is less aggressive than, say, an auknal demon. Unless controlled by an outside force, the threshing demon prefers to keep to the water and will even ignore boats. It hunts by using its control over water to create strong currents to disorient prey. The whirlpools it creates can sink ships, but ships are rarely the intended target. Threshing demons are not picky about their prey and will clean out entire lakes, then float to the next food source.



Vile Demon

Affiliation: Edgelands

The vile demon is extremely hard to surprise, as it has enough eyes to keep one on you and one of your battle champion, with at least one or two left over to watch for sneak attacks. It is the most formidable of the known Edgelands demons, as it has size, strength, and speed in its favor, as well as a mouth full of very sharp teeth. However, it’s not quite large enough or strong enough (or rare enough) to be classified as a boss demon. It may be a work in progress or there may be an even stronger Edgelands demon lurking out beyond the pillars. Neither possibility is particularly encouraging.

Need site currency? Playing with my hundreds of companions here can earn you a decent amount of both blue stones and reactor stones. Companions may be played with once per hour (total, not per user). If nothing shows up, check back later.

Still on AO3 here - Forest of Mirrors, Dragon Cave, MagiStream, Jelle's Marble Runs, and original fiction.

Mathcat

Walker Demon

Affiliation: Leaf

The walker demon grows plants wherever it walks. This would be welcome if the plants weren’t corrupted and often malevolent. The plants will stop trying to attack anything in sight within a few minutes, but the corruption takes longer to fade. A walker demon has a venomous bite and poisonous skin. Between that and the plant army, it should be approached with caution.



Water Demon

Affiliation: Water

The water demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. Unlike other water-affiliated demons, it is not tied to any particular body of water and doesn’t even need a particularly moist environment. It’s just as happy in a dry environment trying to drown fire-affiliated demons as it is in a bog trying to shoot wind-affiliated demons out of the sky with geysers of water.



Wind Demon

Affiliation: Wind

The wind demon is one of the original eight types to infest the world. A skilled aerial predator, it also has a warped sense of humor. It likes to levitate things that shouldn’t be levitated, drop them a few inches, catch them, and repeat the process until everything is back on the ground. Wind demons are also known for watching for items that seem important to humans and then using gusts of wind to blow the items somewhere inaccessible once everyone’s back is turned. Carts and carriages are favored targets.



Wisp Demon

Affiliation: Wind

The wisp demon should not be confused with the small demon of the same name. While the small demon will run if it thinks it’s being observed, the full-sized variety will tear battle tickets right out of your hand. Unlike larger wind-affiliated demons, the wisp demon can’t create wind gusts strong enough to knock humans off their feet, but can sweep away smaller battle champions.



Writhing Demon (Boss)

Affiliation: ?? (Hybrid?)

The writhing demon is of moderate size for a boss demon and doesn’t possess any particularly alarming attacks, but it’s still in some ways the most worrisome boss demon. It is, at least of the time of this writing, the only demon with no clear affiliation, whether elemental or otherwise. Even the pallor fiend demon has tentative clan ties, though to a possibly mythical clan. The writhing demon could be a hybrid affiliation or it could be a harbinger of some as-yet-unknown threat. With luck, it’s a singleton. Luckily, the writhing demon itself is easily defeated. All you need is to find a way to immobilize all of the body segments, after which the head will drop to the ground and be about as agile as a crawler demon.



Wyrm Demon

Affiliation: Fire

The wyrm demon combines the firepower of a dragon with the burrowing ability of an earthworm. It’s usually possible to spot wyrm demon tunnels by the charred plants that follow the tunnel’s path, but sometimes the only sign of a wyrm demon’s presence is abnormally warm soil. The average wyrm demon is about the length of an arcane demon, but as wyrm demons never stop growing, there may be older individuals out there that rival the devourer demon in size.

Need site currency? Playing with my hundreds of companions here can earn you a decent amount of both blue stones and reactor stones. Companions may be played with once per hour (total, not per user). If nothing shows up, check back later.

Still on AO3 here - Forest of Mirrors, Dragon Cave, MagiStream, Jelle's Marble Runs, and original fiction.