DarkmasterN
patreon
June Rewards 1
🕑 Added 2021-06-22 21:36:45 +0000 UTC- For a more horror oriented idea: Random civilians fleeing from an ever growing sentient mass of corpses and bones (basically https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/library-of-ruina/images/b/b3/MountainPhase1EnemySprite.png from Lobotomy corp and library of ruina= rampaging around a derelict factory
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't pass up a fun monster prompt...
Here we have an undead creature known as an Unfettered Heap, a Nekrostratos, A Shambling Guardian, or more common among the public, a Dreadwalker.
These are horrific fleshwarped undead that stalk the sealed caverns and Death Factories of various dark societies and specifically of the Nekrotechnites on Earth and Urth alike The Dreadwalkers are created from masses of human flesh and piles of corpses fused through technology and dark magic to create a shambling and twisted parody of life. To create a Dreadwalker, the Nekrotechnites must first harvest corpses. These corpses can be collected in any way, so long as the bodies are relatively fresh and haven't suffered any extreme decay (It can be done but the creature tends to be much more brittle). The Nekrotechnites often collect these bodies from graveyards or from slaying their enemies, and often will recycle corpses of those they have sacrificed for other religious matters or slain zombies within their ranks to create a Dreadwalker.
They must then take a humanoid creature and place it within a pit, where they begin to drop the corpses onto the humanoid in a torturous ritual that leaves them with the festering corpses, starving and diseased as they fill with fear and hatred of their captivity. The bodies are anointed in dark rituals with various herbs and arcane mixtures before they are cast into the pit. The human will either starve or be driven to consume the dead flesh around him. In either case, the magics used by the Nekrotechnites will slowly cause the humans to begin rejecting their base form, and will break them down at their genetic level, causing ancient genetics and the dark heritage of man to shine through, calling upon their ancestors of the Nephilim and other horrid precursors to man, while also softening the flesh as it begins to adhere and recombine into a singular source, bound by the Necromancy. After 13 days, the creature will be pooled together, a mass of flesh and limbs that have yet to fully become a pseudo liquid. It is at this point that the Nekrotechnites invoke the rites of flesh, impaling it with various rods and using them as conduits to conduct lightning to reform the creature into the Dreadwalker as the humanoid form contorts and it's mouth elongates and forms amidst the corpse pile.
Dreadwalkers are all different based on the emotion the ritual sacrifice felt the most during death. If it was rage, the Dreadwalker is likely to be much more physically capable and resilient to damage, and will often be much more relentless in it's chases and can stalk creatures for far longer than a normal Dreadwalker. Those that experience great anguish, grief, or regret will often exude an aura of negativity that other undead can feed off of, and the necromantic magics around it tend to become empowered and harder to resist, or can inflict grief and morose in those around them. If they felt nothing or felt at peace when they were slain, the Dreadwalker will follow orders better and be able to comprehend more complex tasks it's given. In the rare case that a Dreadwalker experiences great joy in their final moments, the Dreadwalker will be in it's most horrifying state. Dreadwalkers of Joy will rush through battlefields laughing loudly and causing their foes to flee as they are struck with great fear. Dreadwalkers of Joy are much faster than their other counterparts and spellcasters trying to aid their allies with beneficial magics often have some of the magic effect siphoned to the Dreadwalker, empowering it instead of an ally. Regardless, the metal barbs and pikes jutting from it's back as well as the weapons left in it by enemies that try to slay it, cause electricity to arc to them and tend to just empower the Dreadwalker, allowing it to channel electricity, and it often uses the spikes as a collection method to spear creatures on it' back to bring them home.
Dreadwalkers can form naturally, though in rare circumstances, however they become much more common during times of war if there are necromancers or mages present within the conflicts as the necromantic energies, or arcane magic mingling with the chaos of the world, can effect fields of corpses and re-animate them into Dreadwalkers. These Dreadwalkers are usually full of conflicting emotions and serve no master, seeking only to kill, though powerful Necromancers may be able to usurp control over the Dreadwalker.
Dreadwalkers consume corpses to add to their mass, and tend to grow too heavy to hold all of the bodies they incorporate into themselves, and particularly long lived Dreadwalkers become masses of corpses that pull themselves along the ground on their arms and legs in a very slow motion. Often times Dreadwalkers, due to their difficulty to fully control, are left in tombs, crypts and death factories (underground labs that Nekrotechnites use to create new undead) to defend the location from intruders, or they are given simple tasks and work along with zombies as factory workers. Some may be outfitted with mechanical weaponry to make them more deadly.
Though these creatures are much more prevalent on Urth, stories have arisen of them appearing in underground locations on Earth from time to time.
