Dark Priests

Dark Priests are potentially hostile characters that can be encountered in Fear & Hunger.

Location & behavior
Dark Priests can be found on the first floor in the area immediately past the first outdoor area. Two can be found right next to a statue with a man on it, and one may be found close by depending on which map is being used. Dark Priests will not move, and will only attack if spoken to or walked into. If one is equipped with the Priest's Robe, Dark Priests will not be hostile, providing the player with information instead: one of them can share his knowledge about the gods, while another will explain the use of Empty Scrolls.

Dark Priests have two means of attacking: A soul stone can be used on a Dark Priest to get a Lesser soul. They can be consumed, but not skinned.
 * They have a 33% chance of using the Lantern attack (24-36 damage, 60% burning).
 * The Dark Priest on the left (or the only Dark Priest) will initiate a guard-proof coin-flip attack on the 3rd turn and every 5th turn thereafter to kill the player.

Each Dark Priest gives drops from the same item pool, but some always drop set items. Each Dark Priest drops either a Priest's robe, Priest's lantern, or Cloth fragment. The Dark Priests by the statue will always provide a Purifying talisman and a Soul stone, while the third Priest will only have a drop from the item pool.

Strategy
Dark Priests are very fragile enemies, and are easy to under-estimate because of the infrequency of their attacks. Some players may defeat them without even realizing their damage potential, then die or take heavy damage from them on another play-through.

There are some simple tips that will prevent a player from suffering this fate:
 * Remove the arms of the Dark Priests first. This is the only limb they can use to attack, and you will be able to talk to avoid their coin-flip attack without sacrificing health to their burning attack.
 * Aim for the body-a Dark Priest will perish if 175 damage is dealt to their torso. They have no targetable legs, so their heads will always be difficult to hit with melee.
 * Stop them from using the coin-flip attack on your third turn. They'll telegraph this attack with the flavor text "Dark Priest is chanting...". You can cancel this by talking to them, using Counter-magic, or severing the head of the leftmost/only Dark Priest. Using Guard does NOT prevent this. Note that they will try again sooner if they're interrupted.