Bakhtak is the twisted result of TITAN bioengineering and Exsurgent subversion. At the end of the fall, it existed as a small sample of viral RNA in an underground TITAN research facility. When stalkers entered the facility several years ago, one was fatally injured by awakened security systems and the sample was released. Abandoned by the other members of his group, the dying stalker was slowly transformed into an async Flesh Party variant.
Over the course of three years, Bakhtak has lured other stalkers to the facility and consumed them to increase its biomass. With every additional body, its Psi powers become more powerful. Its mind, though, is consumed by the fragmented memories and terrors of the lost stalker.
GM Notes
Bakhat has few offensive tools at its disposal — it's spread over the walls and surfaces of the bunker's power core like a thick skin, and can wrap, bite, and burn victims who come into physical contact with it. Far more dangerous are the suggestive sleights and powerful scenario sleights it uses to trick potential attackers into approaching it willingly, harming each other, or avoiding it entirely if they seem too dangerous. Its anti-electronics field ensures synthmorphs and bots out of reach of its Psi sleights can't approach it easily, while diffusion and kinetic friction make it resilient against beam and kinetic weapons.
The suggestions it implants are either defensive feints ("I should leave, there's nothing worth salvaging here…") or predatory attempts to trick explorers into lowering their guard ("I should put down my rifle before going into that room..."). It does its best to wipe or cloud the memories of anyone who witnesses it using Cloud Memory. When large groups are nearby, it focuses on the most dangerous team members and uses Scenario to turn them against the rest of the group.
As terrifyingly powerful as its immersive sleights can be, and as useful as its resistance to beam and kinetic weapons are, it has a few significant weaknesses. Its sleights only have a 10m range, it can only sustain full scenario immersion for two biomorphs at a time, and it's vulnerable to extreme temperatures. Full sterilization of the facility would be necessary to prevent regrowth, but even simple weapons like a molitov cocktail or a canister of liquid nitrogen would pose a significant threat to its full consciousness.
- Skills: Control 65, , Fray 5, Investigation 10, , Perception 80, Scrounging 10, Sense 50, Unarmed Combat 40 (Bite)
- Augmentations: Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced Vision, Temperature Tolerance
- Psi Sleights: Ambience Sense, Anti-Electronics Field, Kinetic Friction, Extend Range, Ego Sense, Subliminal, Empathetic Scan, Diffusion, Cloud Memory, Scenario, Multitasking
- Melee Bite (40) DV 2d10 + 5 + SOM/10 -3AP
- Melee Acid Spit (40) DV 1d10 + 5 + SOM/10
- Melee Bone Spur (40) DV 1d10 + 4 + SOM/10 -2AP
- Bite: Medium and smaller targets are swallowed whole with an MoS of 30+. Engulfed victims suffer the effects of acid spit (below) until freed or dead and cannot see, hear, or breathe (see Asphyxiation, p. 194, EP).
- Acid Spit: DV 1d10 + 5 per turn for 3 Action Turns. Armor defends but is decreased by the damage.
- Exsurgent Infection: Unlike normal flesh parties, Bakhtak can only infect on physical contact with skin or when a wound is dealt through armor. It has an infection rating of 40.
- Wound Invulnerability: Flesh parties are immune to wound effects.
- Regeneration: Flesh parties regenerate 1d10 damage per hour.