Why, that's a Turkatrice!

The final comments are in from the Thanksgiving Bonus What the Heck (the current Weekly What the Heck is still taking comments for 15 more hours). The result is the turkatrice, the strange spawn of Baba Yaga's hut.

I'd like to thank rcarbol, Reverend Mike, jermwar and wyattsalazar (with special thanks to jermwar for the name) for their ideas, all of which have been mashed together to create:

Turkatrice

Turkatrices are large beasts that hatch from eggs laid by Baba Yaga's hut. Their touch softens the flesh of their victims with necrotic energy, making it easy to peck apart. This necrotic aura also attracts zombies, especially bestial ones like gravehounds and the feared undead chicken.
They eat the entire corpse of anything they kill: flesh, bones and even equipment. Cutting open a turkatrice's gizzard often exposes a treasure trove of small (and even not-so-small) items.

Level 5 Brute

Turkatrice

XP 200

Medium natural beast

Initiative +4 Senses Perception +2
HP 78; Bloodied 39
AC 17; Fortitude 19, Reflex 17, Will 17
Speed 6

mVery Painful Peck (standard; at-will) * Necrotic

+8 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 damage, and the turkatrice makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +6 vs. Fortitude; 1d6 + 4 necrotic damage, and the target gains vulnerable 5 to necrotic damage (save ends).

Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 19 (+6) Dex 15 (+4) Wis 10 (+2)
Con 18 (+6) Int 2 (-2) Cha 14 (+4)

Turkatrice Tactics

A turkatrice spreads its peck attacks around and lets its undead friends mop up enemies while they are vulnerable.

Level 4 Skirmisher

Undead Chicken

XP 175

Small natural animate (undead)

Initiative +8 Senses Perception +3; darkvision
HP 54; Bloodied 27
Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant
AC 31; Fortitude 25, Reflex 29, Will 27
Speed 4, fly 4 (clumsy)

mDeath Peck (standard; at-will) * Necrotic

+9 vs. AC; 1d10 + 1 necrotic damage.

Death Peck From Above

When flying, the undead chicken deals an extra 2d6 damage on a successful charge attack.

Zombie Weakness

Any critical hit to the undead chicken reduces it to 0 hit points instantly.

Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 12 (+3) Dex 18 (+6) Wis 12 (+3)
Con 14 (+4) Int 1 (-3) Cha 3 (-2)

Undead Chicken Tactics

An undead chicken prefers to swoop down and use death peck from above against the nearest enemy.

Turkatrice Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC 15: Turkatrices are not undead, but are often accompanied by undead that feast on skin and flesh made soft by the bird's very painful peck.
DC 20: Turkatrice flesh is savory and nourishing, but also mildly poisonous.

Level 5 Poison

Turkatrice Flesh

Deceptively savory, this poultry is actually infused with necrotic energy.

Poison 250 gp
Attack: +8 vs. Fortitude; weakened (save ends).
First Failed Save: The target is slowed and weakened (save ends both).
Second Failed Save: Target unconscious for 1d4 hours.
Special: Turkatrice flesh can be delivered only by being ingested as food. It makes its first attack 3d6 minutes after its victim consumes it. All saving throws against this poison are made with a –2 penalty.

Encounter Groups

Turkatrices are almost always found in the company of undead, especially bestial zombies.
Level 4 Encounter (XP 875)
* 1 turkatrice (level 5 brute)
* 3 undead chickens (level 4 skirmisher)
* 1 gravehound (level 3 brute)

When I asked for a picture that included undead chickens, Jen snickered and muttered something about the Sledgehammer video...