Hookhound

Their bladed hands are shorter and less blade like than those of the ripper, and are almost convergent with those of the massive Hellmouth of Porpuda. Used to slash at fleeing prey, they are therefore sturdy and have some of the strongest muscles beside the legs. The other would be the thighs, which power the long and spindly legs, allowing them to move at great speed across flat terrains. Even with hillier terrain, the claws can help them dig into rock faces, allowing them to climb reasonably well in such conditions, though not as well as the rumoured predators of the mountains.   The mouth is long and full of sharp teeth to ensure a firm bite on the prey, and to pick out the softer and easier to digest parts of a carcass after making a kill. They lack the efficiency of consumption that other predators like wolves or Griffs possess and so they need to eat quickly or else they can be driven off from their kill. With a graceful build and shorter claws, they do not pose much of a threat on their own against larger predators, and so usually back down from confrontations unless their young are threatened. Their two side eyes face directly forwards instead of slightly to the side as with rippers, while the third eye faces directly upward. This is likely in order to spot crows or vultures, or perhaps scavenging griffs that may circle kills and drive them off.

Rather than open woodlands and shrub, hookhounds prefer open grasslands to live in, due to their prey and their build.

Like most of the blade handed scythebeasts like the ripper and stripescyther, the hookhound is almost exclusively carnivorous, though it avoids competition with these, just as it avoided competition with lions and sabrecats (both now believed to be extinct) by feeding on a very different type of prey. They tend to run down their prey in bursts of great speed, using their hooked hands, less long but no less deadly than a ripper's to slash at the legs of escaping deer and antelope. As the prey trips and falls, it will use its claws to hook into the belly or throat while the snout tears flesh from its prey alive. This brutal method of killing and their often bloodied mouths has given them a reputation for being quite nightmarish creatures. Indeed, while lacking the raw power of a ripper or bear, they nevertheless pose a danger to many livestock and even farmers. Their primarily solitary nature however can leave them vulnerable, as whereas they could kill a single wolf or even a couple, a pack could easily drive them off.

Found across northern, central and eastern Tzunar as well as a few of the islands such as Sula, Gurd and even Sandur. A population is even known in Altyn, the southernmost governate of the Dominion.