Flatwoods Monster

Flatwoods monsters are cryptids found in Appalachia.

Background
Described as a hovering creature with glowing purple eyes, capable of abducting wastelanders. The wandering storyteller shares details about the creature, warning that its "mere presence can warp the mind of all but the most iron-willed."

In pre-War West Virginia, near the town of Flatwoods, many claimed to see a dark, mysterious figure with glowing eyes. A Flatwoods monster purportedly took Colton Pickins onto its spaceship and performed experiments on him, however, that account was disbelieved by the responding police force. Post-War, however, these accounts are becoming more and more real, with accounts of wastelanders being taken away and subjected to vile experimentation; a blinding light their only memory of the ordeal.

Biology
Flatwoods monsters are humanoid creatures of extraterrestrial origin. A Flatwoods monster's head is encased in a purple helmet, which obscures its face save for its glowing white eyes. The rest of the body is sealed in a protective suit, with an armored breathing apparatus and a large spade-shaped frill on its back. Flatwoods monsters have no visible legs, the suit instead terminating to a bullet-shaped point at its bottom, with what appear to be small hover-jets around the waist, allowing the creatures to float above the ground. The Flatwood monster's long arms are tipped with large, three-fingered hands clad in large black gloves. Its blood is green, which can be seen when fighting them.

Gameplay attributes
A Flatwoods monster can be encountered at night in a random encounter. If approached or shot at, it will engage the player character using teleportation to move around. If a player character exits combat or remains hidden for too long, the Flatwoods monster will suddenly disappear along with a flash of light.

During combat, a Flatwoods monster will teleport around. It regenerates lost health when nearly dead multiple times and can also take control of other creatures and robots around it and use them to defend itself, indicated by the purple glow around the creatures under its control. The Tales from the West Virginia Hills magazine issue #5 will provide an additional 15% damage against the Flatwoods monster.

Locations

 * The Flatwoods monster has no fixed spawn locations.
 * Possible encounter during Daily: Queen of the Hunt.
 * Possible encounter during Daily: Making Sacrifices.
 * Approaching any of the markers on this map at night will have a 2.5% chance to spawn the Flatwoods monster. Note that they do not despawn and can be encountered during daytime.

Bugs

 * The Flatwoods monster may never spawn as a Legendary enemy.
 * Similar to burrowing creatures, if the Flatwoods monster is killed with VATS while it is teleporting, its body may fall beneath the game floor and be unlootable.
 * The Flatwoods monster laser beam attack does not count as an energy weapon, and will not proc Electric Absorption. It still deals energy damage.

Appearances
The Flatwoods monster appears only

Behind the scenes

 * The Flatwoods monster was to appear as a boss for a cut variation of Campfire Tales as well as the cut Vault raid for Vault 96.
 * The Flatwoods monster is based on West Virginia folklore. The Flatwoods monster was encountered by a group of six boys of various ages and one Kathleen May, who claimed to have encountered an alien creature after investigating a mysterious light that flew across the sky and appeared to have landed in the woods. The hovering monster was described as being ten feet tall with a green body and clawed hands, as well as a red face, glowing yellow eyes and a head shaped like an "ace of spades."
 * An unidentified man from the nearby community of Frametown would later report that the creature was humanoid, with a reptilian torso and a metal cylinder instead of legs, leading to the widespread belief that the Flatwoods monster had been an alien wearing a metal suit.