Adventure:Undead

Description

The D'hennexian undead are largely unfortunate ex-citizens of the various countries of D'hennex, who have fallen prey to death in one fashion or another, only to be snatched away from its eternal grasp to be unliving servants under the dark Kalars. Because of their lack of need for sustenance, slumber, shelter, or comfort, few actual undead settlements are known to exist. It makes them a particularly deadly foe to aggress, or predict. Undead minions exist almost exclusively for no other reason than to serve the desires of the Kalars, and for that reason, and because of several decisive historic battles, the undead are largely confined to the Drovinian Reaches, in the frozen, marshy south of the continent, where few men would ever want to live, much less die.

Zombies, skeletons, and wraiths can be terrifying in their own right, but in recent times, the lands of the living have seen the undead begin to develop a truly blood-curdling evolution in their ranks. Frequently, a corpse will be fitted with some manner of steam-powered mechanism in place of an arm or a leg, or more. These devices have wildly changed the traditional swarm-and-overwhelm tactics that undead tend to incorporate, by introducing elements into a battle that a simply armed corpse could never do. Zombies have been seen with enormously powerful, razor-clawed forearms. Some have been transformed into unliving suicide bombers. Tales even speak of great, horrific, shambling monstrosities twice the girth of a man and four times as thick, entirely made of armor and death, dragging itself through the dreary morning fogs.

Purpose of Conflict

While their numbers are staggering, and while they are generally united towards a particular purpose as a whole, the undead rarely form large armies to assault their targets. This is due to the fact that the standard undead warrior is exceptionally fragile, held together and in motion only by the distant magical whims of their masters. While they can sometimes command surprising strength and speed, anti-undead magics are not uncommon amongst the living, and a properly trained D'hennexian could tear through a dozen zombies and survive, if he caught them by surprise. Thus, the undead tend to trek out from their lands in small, easily concealed raiding parties. These parties usually target the exceptionally weak, like children, the elderly, and the sick, as any corpse is as good as the next. They strike, kill, and drag their victims underground with them, to be gathered in one spot before being carted away to proper necromagicking rituals in the South.

Very recently, however, rumors have spoken of power-wielders being specifically caught off guard and alone by the undead, to be kidnapped and likely killed for some unknown reason. It is traditionally believed that power wielders become decaying corpses like any other when they die. Whatever the cause of this strategy may be, it is apparently worth losing dozens of undead warriors for every power wielder, to the Kalars.

Battle Strategies

In combat, the undead tend to be either highly specialized, or not specialized at all. Grunts often have naught but their bodies and an old, rusty weapon to fight with, and have no exceptional skills, but come in overwhelming numbers. The specialists are often either mystically tainted spectres that command nether magic and are all but impossible to physically strike, or physically mutilated zombies, given some kind of steam-and-arcana-powered mechanism that makes them exceptionally deadly in one particular area, such as binding victims in place while the rest of the group carves them to pieces.

Sometimes, when a necromancer is present to immediately raise fallen bodies, suicide bombers are used. Rather than strapping explosives to their bodies, their bodies are the explosives. They sprint at a reckless speed headlong into a swarm of the enemy, caring little if it is shredded to pieces, for as soon as the creatures relax, or if the volatile liquids inside them are disturbed, they explode in a gory, noxious, deadly shockwave that hits an army's morale almost as hard as it does its numbers.

This sort of utter nonchalance toward the loss of their own numbers is an important characteristic of their strategy that frequently disrupts their enemies' plans. They posess no fear, or self-preservation. An army of skeletons will charge their enemy even if only one is left standing against a vastly superior foe. Only the elite betray this rule, as they are often the ones who micromanage the undead forces, and their talents are far harder to come by than a common warrior, or even a necrotech warrior. Thus, they tend to support their forces and use them as great meat shields for their own purposes, and are very easy to send fleeing, if their frequently reclusive positions are discovered.

Statistics

Grunts

Low Grunts - 50% - 100% target PhysPL
Common zombies and skeletons
Strength: 15% PhysPL
Speed: 50% PhysPL
Durability: 50-100% PhysPL
- Armed with some kind of simple weapon
- ABILITY - Mob: When more than one low grunt engages a target, all low grunts engaging the target get 10% bonuses (of normal) to damage and speed.
- ABILITY - Dig: All grunts may spend a post to bury themselves underground, where they may either hide indefinitely or flee. Grunts move as quickly underground as on the surface. - Immune to poisons, mental effects, and effects that only affect the living. - Weak by themselves, use several for best effect

High Grunts 100% - 125% target PhysPL
More skillful versions of low grunts
Strength: 30-60% PhysPL
Speed: 50% PhysPL
Durability: 100% PhysPL
- Armed with some kind of medium weapon (large swords, morning stars, etc), or two simple weapons.
- Weapon Proficiency in their weapon of choice, level 1 or 2
- ABILITY - Dig
- Immune to poisons, mental effects, and effects that only affect the living.