Necrophages

Necrophages are the corpse eaters of the witcher world. They are drawn to graveyards, battlefields and any place where bodies are left to rot. Ghouls, Alghouls, Grave Hags, Rotfiends and Drowners all belong to this species. Many of them turn on the living whenever there are enough of them.

Ghouls walk on all fours, with strangely familiar faces, and feed in small groups. A smarter Alghoul sometimes leads them. Grave Hags suck rotten marrow from bones with long tongues. Once the corpses run out, they start killing men and burying them to rot. Rotfiends stink of decay and are so full of gas that a dying one explodes. Their larger cousins, the Scurvers, throw out bone spines when they burst.

Other Necrophages live in the water and the mist. Folk believe Drowners rise from people who drowned in shallow water, but their gills and scaly skin show they are a different species. Water Hags build dens of sludge and carrion in the wetlands. Foglets hide in the fog and drive their prey mad or lead it into a bog. Wights are the odd ones out. They live alone and care far more about their cauldrons than about a fight.

Ghouls, Alghouls, Drowners and Rotfiends are most dangerous at dusk and through the night. They hunt in packs that try to surround their prey. Witchers coat their silver swords with Necrophage Oil, a formula known from the very start. Igni burns Drowners and Rotfiends, and Quen and Yrden help against hags. Moon Dust forces Foglets out of hiding.