Chainlink #5: The Dead Who Did Not Die

 When is a skeleton not a skeleton?

When you go dungeon delving it is an unavoidable fact of life that you are going to encounter dead bodies. Dungeons are often tombs, yes, and so you will find many remains of folk who died centuries ago and were laid to rest, their bodies now moldering as the weight of time presses them into dust. However given the danger of these places, you will also often find the bodies of those delvers less fortunate and skilled than you, who plunged too deep without an escape plan, and who fell upon the blade or claw or other suitably lethal implement of whatever lurks within this desolate tomb. You may find those who starved to death or who died of thirst, lost in the dark without food or drink, doomed to spend their days in agonizing hunger. The dungeon promises death, that promise can be granted in any number of ways, with the only certain fact being that you will die, one way or another. 

You will also often encounter those dead souls who have grown restless, who sleep walk through their death on rotting soles with a knock kneed gait. They may be filled with the semblance of life by any number of things. As you dive further into the earth, the distance to the underworld diminishes significantly, and the boundary between life and death grows weary and thin, such that wayward and restless souls may find their way back into the world, back into a body that may not be their own, back into a world that has long since left them behind. Sometimes the opposite may occur, in the darkness of the dungeon, a dead soul may become trapped within their body, unable to free themself and complete their journey downwards. They will wander, searching for a way out, lashing out at the living, whose faces and warmth they have long forgotten. Other things, fouler, stranger things, may pluck dead bodies from the ground and wear them for a time, putting on a mocking, spitting performance of sacred life. Through all of these means and more, the dead may yet walk before you in the dungeon. Typically disposing of these creatures when possible is both noble and sensible, but to deal with undead is to do more than to simply kill them and be done with it. Burying bodies is important, a buried body will rise far less frequently than one left to lie in the open. Burying any fallen humanoid friend or foe might save someone's life, if one has the time, it is a procedure which should always be performed. 

Almost always.

They're a rare thing, rare enough that most delvers only hear about them as a rumor, but they are very much real, and as you delve deeper into the dungeon, you will be more and more likely to find them: the dead things which never drew breath to begin with.

You are deep within the earth, sunlight is something you left behind days ago in pursuit of a different glow, the glorious sight of torchlight reflected back at you, shining off of so much treasure. You round a corner, and before you in a small, square room, you see a skeleton lying in the hall, unusually pristine. Skeletons this deep are usually more ragged, covered in bite marks, sporting numerous broken bones, all the telltale signs of predation, scavenging, the life cycle of the dungeon. This one though, this is something else. Bleach white, smooth, glossy sheen, it almost looks like ceramic or fine china the way it catches the light of your torch. You and your group move forward, inspecting it, wondering what could've caused this. In a hushed voice, someone supposes it might've been left behind by one of those weird jelly cubes, or stripped bare by some other acidic creature. It seems reasonable enough, but the floors here are filthy, not characteristic of these monsters. You move forward, searching the skeleton visually for any signs of damage you might've missed, any personal belongings, but it seems alone, strangely solitary. You look to the side of the room and notice the mangled body of one of the monstrous rodents of this dungeon. It looks as though it's been twisted to death, you think to yourself, pitying it only a little bit, before turning back to the skeleton. Small specks of blood dot its hands, which, now that you look at them, look more like claws, with fingers like fishhooks. You've never seen a skeleton like that before. Dread fills your stomach, you back up slightly, searching for more irregularities. Bones in its legs and pelvis seem fused together unnaturally, in a way that would indicate an inability to stand from its current position, even in life. It's teeth aren't quite right either, a bit too sharp, a bit too predatory. It has two extra sets of ribs. It's...it's smiling at you, not like that rictus grin you've seen on skeletons in the past, but a real, genuine smile. You feel compelled to turn behind you, and you do, just in time to see an impossibly tall ivory skeleton lumbering out of the darkness, bowing its head as to not scrape the ceiling, its eight fingered hands wrapping around one of your compatriots, pulling him like taffy. He screams in agony just as you you yell in surprise. You begin drawing your sword, and are slammed to the ground by the first skeleton; its legs are not capable of walking, but evidently it can leap, as now it is perched over you, mouth open, saliva dripping from its osseous cavity, claws digging into you like razors. You turn and see more creatures emerging from the darkness, wrong things, skeletons appearing as though they were sculpted without care or reference or understanding for human anatomy, gnashing their teeth and whipping their long dark tongues across their nonexistent lips. Now you're all screaming, living and dead alike.

Can you think of anything more frightening?

Surviving the Dead

Do not approach them. Do not touch them. Certainly never try to bury them. Don't treat them like dead bodies. They find the customs with which we treat our dead particularly odious, so under no means should you try and honor them as you would a fallen comrade or stranger. You can identify them by their uncanny perfection, and their even more uncanny flaws. They look like perfect model skeletons to someone who hasn't seen very many skeletons, basically. Spells that target dead bodies are a no go. No raising, no speaking with, and absolutely no resurrection. They have never been alive, this is for good reason. Just don't try it. 

They're tenacious, more so than normal undead. Skeletons are fragile, these guys are not. They can take quite a beating before they become nonfunctional, and they don't feel pain, nor do they fear any sort of end you could bring to them. Each one is unique in some way, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in particularly massive ones. Keep an eye on the weird looking ones, they tend to be the proverbial alphas of their crypts. They're all quite fast when they want to be, never take your eyes off of them. When you look back, they'll be somewhere else. Finally, remember they travel in packs. Very rarely will you only find one all on its own; there are definitely more around, you just can't see them yet.