Between the Veil of Life and Death

We took one of the passageways out of the school and continued through the tunnels. We reached a cave where there were tunnels to the left and right of us.

Tiny summoned the Hand of Fate, which suggested that we take the passage to the right. We followed the passage until we found ourselves in a natural cave. On the other side, in the distance, we could see three humanoid, looking in our direction. They just stood there, waiting.

We decided to move closer to see who -- or what -- they were.

As we grew closer, we discovered that these creatures were no longer living. One was also missing arms. Tiny and Carlagnios decided to approach them.

One of these undead creatures walked toward Tiny and Carlagnios. He reached toward Tiny's face, and Tiny quickly backed away. The creature stopped and just stood there.

Tiny circled the creatures to see what they would do. Carlagnios picked one up and shook it.

Finally, Tiny decided to stand still and let the creature approach him. The creature reached out, touched Tiny's face, and then walked back to the other creatures. They just stood there, doing nothing.

Carlagnios pushed one of them, tipping it over. It came back up again, righting itself.

"Hey!" Garg yelled at the creatures. But they did not respond.

Tiny thought for a moment about his earlier studies of undead creatures. "When someone reanimates a corpse, they can give the corpse a job to do. Perhaps that's what they are doing. Following someone's orders."

"Well," Bran said, "the Raven Queen doesn't like things that exist between the Veil of Life and Death. They need to die."

He drew his rapier and stabbed one of the undead. The creature stood there, flailing and trying to pull the rapier out. Bran shook his head.

"This is too sad. I cannot do this."

He withdrew his rapier and sheathed it.

We continued onward. As we walked, we heard the creatures shuffling behind us. They followed us as we walked, keeping a distance of 20 feet between us.

"We can't continue like this. What if they attack us when we're not ready. We need someone to destroy them -- someone who is cold and uncaring. Someone who would not be moved if they struggled to survive."

We all turned and looked at Garg.

"What?" Garg looked surprised. "What are you pointing at me for? They're not doing any harm. I see no reason to destroy them."

"Fine," Carlagnios growled, "I will dispatch them."

He walked over to them and lifted his jagged axe. With one blow, he split the creature's head in two, and the creature collapsed on the floor. He did the same to the two other undead creatures.

Carlagnios walked back to join us, muttering under his breath.

Perhaps this needed to be done. A creature unnaturally brought back to life and made to serve another could not lead a fulfilling existence. Like all things in nature, there is a time for a living creature to pass on and leave this world. Perhaps the time of these undead creatures had passed long ago.