Bestiary

Sewer Ghast- by T.A. Saunders ©2010 v1.0

Stats

Description Sewer Ghasts, like zombies are walking dead, so their appearance will differ from Ghast to Ghast, but will always be an ashen, gaunt representation of the person they were in life. Skin is gray and weathered and eyes (if they still remain) are milky white and hair is either tangled and unkempt or entirely missing in spots. Their generally disheveled appearance and their unseemly visage are usually dead giveaways to the approach of a Sewer Ghast.

Lore Sewer Ghasts are a rather recent addition to the cadre of undead that roam Imarel. Much like zombies, these walking dead are created through a Rite of Reanimation; the significant difference between Zombies and Ghasts is, that Ghasts are not shuffling, clumsy shadows of their former selves. Originally created from both homeless living in the sewers of Sundown and captured Shadow Hunters by necromancers in league with Ko`rashae Ri's regime during the Sundown Civil War, these undead fiends are as fast as any person and possess a fearsome and unrelenting hunger for living flesh. Not only are they as fast as a person, but retain some memories of their past lives. Small things like how to open doors, swing an axe or even operate a firearm are all things within the capability of a Sewer Ghast's motor function. While unable to organize in any cohesive fashion without the necromancer who animated them, Sewer Ghasts have a basic understanding of pack hunting and will join with other Sewer Ghasts in an attempt to corner, cut off or otherwise trap their prey.

Since the end of the Sundown Civil War, the Sewer Ghasts that remain roam the depths of Sundown's sewers, feeding on whatever carrion they can find, including much slower and intellectually primitive zombies, though this has been observed to be a last ditch effort at a meal. During the night, they will sometimes venture out into the Old City and feed upon the homeless and unwary. Under these conditions, Sewer Zombies are most often found alone or possibly in a pair. Only when either driven by a master or in the sewers themselves, have they been found in feeding packs that can and will engage large groups of people. If prey is wounded and bleeding, the Sewer Ghasts are able to catch the blood scent and track them up to as far as a half mile.

The ritual to make these Ghasts was thought to have been lost during the civil war, though there has been much speculation as to the possibility that it fell into the hands of what remains of the shattered Cult of Khavos, given sightings of these Ghasts in places like Tashran and Kasyr where it was very likely sold off on the black market trade. The ritual requires a fleshly slain corpse, which is then corrupted by way of the ritual with a sorcerous plague, called Ivithor vin Khas, or Walk of Death in Shei. These unusually attenuate undead can also create more of their own kind by killing a humanoid with a bite that infects them with the same sorcerous plague that they themselves carry. Should a person die from the Plague Bite, they will rise again as a Sewer Ghast in no less than fifteen minutes after dying. Such corpses, once corrupted in this way, cannot be used to resurrect said person until a Blessing of Purification is cast upon it.

Unusually tough, these Ghasts are able to shrug off most damage from blunt weapons, though blunt Bane Weapons will still strike for full power. They can also be turned or destroyed by an appropriate Priest or Crusader, though it is much more difficult than one would expect from walking dead. Alternatively, dark Priests, Necromancers and Reavers can opt to subvert Sewer Ghasts and make them servants. Doing so only works with Sewer Ghasts that have no master, however as the will that creates them is always the one that will be obeyed. Ghasts created by bite or those with slain masters can be subverted with some effort on the part of the one attempting to do so.