The Hyena is a mid-tier Goblin formerly under the command of Blake Thorburn and Evan Matthieu. It was killed during the contest against Conquest. Its sword form is still used by Blake Thorburn as a weapon.
Description[]
The Hyena was noted to have scrawny fore and hind limbs, narrow enough to make out the bones and tendons, gaps where the flesh sucked in around the ribcage, dangling, twisted, knotted genitals, and the broken, splintered claws on each foot that would tear like the uneven end of a broken bottle and teeth that were every bit as broken and disgusting as the claws.[1]
It had two red eyes, and everything fit together wrong, like a humanoid thing that had once walked on two legs and then been twisted and wrenched into a four-legged shape, everything torn apart and rearranged and regrown.[2]
In sword form it was ornate, with an ugly face of the Hyena’s head in profile, a ragged claw at the pommel, and the blade itself was uneven, with terrible weight. The grip had spikes sticking out from it, so anyone who held it would gouge their palms and fingers.[3] After falling into Limbo, it lost most of its blade.
Chronology[]
Being several centuries old, the Hyena has traveled around and amassed a number of Spirits, Ghosts, and Others under its thrall by combat.[4] It arrived in Toronto a few years ago and then hunted down Evan Matthieu until he died of starvation an exposure, proceeding to chase his ghost as well. When Blake showed up a year later, it was sealed into a sword form.
During the contest against Conquest it would be unleashed two times, once to defeat Laird Behaim[5] and again to distract Conquest, who shot it dead.[6]
Personality[]
The Hyena was a vicious and cruel Goblin, taking delight in hunting down and torment Evan when he was alive, never allowing him a prolonged moment of rest. It revels in violence and holds grudges.
Abilities[]
- Foul Breath: It's breath is foul-smelling enough to induce vomiting[7]
- Ownership: Anything it maims or kills has a part of its soul trapped inside of it, which makes them permanently connected and the Hyena can track prey once anything it killed spots it. This also prevents those killed by it from moving on until it is dealt with.
- It can also command Lesser Goblins.
- Sword Form: The Hyena takes a sword form that allows others to wield it as a weapon. This weapon is later infused with elements from Limbo that slow or prevent healing. Crone Mara states that one killed by that blade will not return.
References[]
- ↑ I saw its limbs. Scrawny fore and hind limbs, narrow enough for me to make out the bones and tendons. I could see gaps where the flesh sucked in around the ribcage, its dangling, twisted, knotted genitals, and the broken, splintered claws on each foot.
For all that it was gaunt and broken, it was more scary, not less. Those claws wouldn’t cut me like a scalpel. They’d tear me like the uneven end of a broken bottle. - Excerpt from Collateral 4.11 - ↑ Seeing it more clearly, where I could make out any feature, I could see that it didn’t resemble a hyena. It didn’t resemble a wolf, either. Everything fit together wrong. Proportions were off, if even, muscles overlapped in odd ways. This was not a creature crafted by years of evolution. It had been made wrong, more like a humanoid thing that had once walked on two legs and then been twisted and wrenched into a four-legged shape, everything torn apart and rearranged and regrown until it was this. - Excerpt from Collateral 4.11
- ↑ The thing was ornate, but in a very odd, unpleasant way. An ugly face of the Hyena’s head in profile, a ragged claw at the pommel, and the blade itself was uneven, with terrible weight. I didn’t miss the fact that the grip had spikes sticking out from it, so anyone who held it would gouge their palms and fingers. - Excerpt from Collateral 4.12
- ↑ “It doesn’t eat all of them. By which I mean that it doesn’t finish eating anything. The park where the goblin resides is littered with elementals, spirits, ghosts, and other beings that have been maimed, left half-devoured. They’re lashing out in blind pain, and everything they touch is being twisted in turn. Their pain is causing them to attack fellow Others, which only perpetuates the problem. Dealing with the hyena would be tricky enough, but it has goblin followers, and it’s a treacherous road.” - Excerpt from Collateral 4.4
- ↑ “Good,” I said. “Add ‘fuck you sideways‘ to the insults you’re due. You’re not my biggest ally. He is.”
Laird turned.
The Hyena prowled forward. Evan was perched on one tattered ear, wings spread. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.12 - ↑ “Hyena!” Rose raised her voice. “The seventh-youngest Thorburn bound you, and the seventh-youngest Thorburn bids you to listen! Accept our order, obey Evan Matthieu, the ghost and the bird, agree to do us no harm. Do this and you may step forth, wreak havoc, strike down our enemies!”
The sword began to come undone, twisting in my grip. - Excerpt from Void 7.6 - ↑ Ainsley shielded the needle-punctured candle with her body. Successfully blocking the Hyena’s breath from the lit wick.
She, however, wasn’t prepared for the other effect of the Hyena’s breath.
I could smell it from halfway down the parking lot.
She staggered, doubled over, and vomited. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.12