Scarab

Scarabs are insectoid enemies in Fear & Hunger.

Location & Behavior
They appear in the present city of Ma'habre. They crawl out from small holes, which are present all over the town. If they spot the player, they quickly give chase.

Strategy
Scarabs appears harmless at first and will attack by poking, dealing a tiny amounts of damage, with a chance of not attacking at all and only twitching its limbs. After two turns however, the scarab's shell will burst open, spraying acid on a party member, causing a moderate amount of damage, and, in addition, melting their weapon and rendering it unusable.

When fighting a scarab there isn't any real strategy involved, since its limbs are not selectable and the player can only attack them as a whole. However, its shell is very sturdy, and one should make sure to have enough high damage attacks and party members to take it out quickly enough before it has a chance to use the attack.

The skill Mastery over insects allows the player to reason with the scarab (via talking), and the scarab will agree to call it a truce and not fight.

Trivia

 * The face of a Scarab is likely a reference to Eiji Nagoshi from the horror game Siren.
 * Scarabs can be devoured, giving the player a message saying "its shell was too crunchy for your liking." They cannot be skinned.
 * When the player first meets Ser Seymor, a dead Scarab's corpse is found with blood trailed to the room right before you see him, suggesting the scarab is what had attacked and injured the heavy knight. Ser Seymour himself tells the player that he was injured by a monster that splurts acid.