Old Gods of Appalachia
The Voices are insidious, malicious, and petty, more than willing to make lopsided bargains with people and gleefully betray their minions when a debt comes due. They are capable of animating dead bodies by filling them with their will, controlling them like a child's toys. These wretched corpses still bear the wounds that killed them; their skin is a pale ash-gray, and their eyes throb with a faint dead-orange glow. These lamp-eyed dead speak as they did in life, but the sounds are rough and dry, and their facial expressions are tainted by the inhuman glee of the Voices that move their reluctant flesh. When the Voices have no more need of these bodies, they withdraw their power and the corpses fall to the ground, inert.
Unlike blank-eyed men (such as the Six Men who serve Daughter Dooley) who mindlessly follow orders and do not speak, the lamp-eyed dead react with intelligence and can communicate.
Most animals don't have an adverse reaction to the presence of lamp-eyed dead. For example, a family's horse would calmly graze outside a house full of these things, as if unfazed by—or unable to perceive—the animated corpses.
Lamp-eyed dead might be found in places other than Barlo, but if so, they are likely called something else and created by a different set of Voices or by some other malicious creature entirely.
The lamp-eyed dead's ability to coordinate their attacks helps them deal with more dangerous foes, such as mid- or high-tier PCs who wouldn't be concerned with attacks by low-level creatures.
Belongs To: The Inner Dark (the Voices)
Motive: Punish dealbreakers for the Voices
Environment: In and near Barlo, Kentucky, alone or in groups
Health: 12
Damage Inflicted: Minor wound (3 points)
Movement: Short
Modifications: Speed defense as level 2
Combat: Lamp-eyed dead use whatever human weapons they are carrying. If unarmed, they strike with fists, nails, and teeth.
When five or more lamp-eyed dead are together, they can make a single attack roll against one target as a level 5 creature, inflicting a moderate wound (5 points).
Because they've already been killed, lamp-eyed dead are hard to finish off. If an attack would reduce their health to 0, it does so only if the number rolled in the attack was an even number; otherwise, the lamp-eyed dead is reduced to 1 point of health instead. This might result in a dismembered, gruesomely damaged corpse that is still moving.
Lamp-eyed dead can see in the dark at short range. The glow of their eyes is visible in the dark up to long range (if the thing is facing the viewer) but is easily mistaken for fireflies.
Interaction: As extensions of the will of the Voices, lamp-eyed dead might give a "lost" follower one last chance to continue serving them. Otherwise, the Voices speak from their dead mouths, imitating the words these people used when alive, either to lure their victims closer or to taunt them with the horror of this transformation.
Use: A supposed murder scene turns dangerous when the corpses awaken and speak. People spot strange lights in the dark and familiar voices of people known to be dead.
Loot: The lamp-eyed dead have whatever items they were carrying when they were killed—clothing, a tool or small weapon, and perhaps a few coins or a bit of jewelry.
Connection: The character recognizes a lamp-eyed dead as someone they used to know and care about.
GM Intrusion: The sight of a familiar lamp-eyed dead is overwhelming, causing a character to fall to their knees and take no action for a round if they fail an
Intellect defense roll.
A lamp-eyed dead's mannerisms are reminiscent of the person they were in life, hindering the character's actions against them by three steps for the remainder of the encounter.