Monsters of the Musarde

[cure]

The Musarde and its tributaries are home to unusual dangers. Three of these, which may be ill met together or seperately, are detailed below. The first, Old Bones, is a unique undead created in the Il-Aluk disaster and obsessed with the collection of bones. The second, Restless Ivory, is a spawn of Old Bones but may also arise spontaneously in the right conditions and possesses a wealth of unlikely, odd and disturbing facts, knowledge and lore. The third, Old Bone’s Skeletons, are, when free-willed, tragic spawns of Old Bones that would gladly welcome assistance in the destruction of their creator.

OLD BONES
Corrupted Water Necromental
Type: Large Undead (Augmented Elemental, Water, Mists)
Hit Dice: 9d12 (59 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 90 ft.
Armour Class: 22 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +11 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+15
Attack: Slam +11 melee (2d8+5 plus energy drain)
Full Attack: 2 slams +11 melee (2d8+5 plus energy drain)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Drench, Vortex, Water Mastery, Energy Drain, Animate Bone
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/--, Darkvision 60 ft., Bone Sense, Organic Decay, Elemental Traits, Undead Traits, +2 bonus to resist Turning, Fast Healing 3
Saves: Fort +6 Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 14, Con --, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 11
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +6, Hide +1, Survival +1
Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Power Attack, Ability Focus (resist Turning)
Languages: Aquan & Darkonese
Environment: Musarde River & its tributaries
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: None
Alignment: Neutral evil
Signature Possessions: Restless Ivory (see below), 5 Old Bone’s Skeletons (see below)

Appearance
Old Bones is typically identified as hundreds of ivory white bones carried along on the surface by a current and clinking together like wind chimes. Of the bones it may be noticed (DC 15 Intelligence check) that not a few are broken and that many hold together to form partial or even whole members. The ivory mass when spread out (400 square feet) provides improved cover (+10 Hide) and when packed closely provides total cover to the 2d4 skeletons that typically lurk beneath it. Though the undead elemental is not in fact bound to the bones it carries with it, it values greatly its collection and may command those members that were animated through its energy drain attack.

Background
The story of Old Bones begins in the sewers of Il-Aluk where a water elemental, with a curious habit of collecting bones, was imprisoned by Azalin Rex. The wave of negative energy that reduced the capital of Darkon to the City of the Slain on the winter solstice of 750, transformed the creature, already twisted by its entry into the Demiplane of Dread (see Corrupted Elemental Template in New Monsters by John W Mangrum), into an intelligent variant of a necromental and, directly or indirectly, set it free. In the near decade since Old Bones has put into practice its philosophy of leaving no bone behind.

Current Sketch
The Musarde and its tributaries are the haunt of Old Bones. The entity never ventures more than 180 feet on to land or into the Sea of Sorrows and is circumscribed in the tributaries by water falls or rapidly dwindling water volume. Rarely is it to be found in the Vulchar River and never near Darkon or in caves or sewers. The passions of the entity are fresh bones, strong eddies, whirlpools, swelling or surging waters and the storms that promise these. Spring lures Old Bones upriver and often into the tributaries, rushing water whetting its appetite for fresh bones. The stillness of winter induces near torpor, it being roused from its repose in the Musarde Delta chiefly by the high tides of the full and new moons, the surges of sea borne storms, and its appetite. At other times Old Bones chases after hints of gathering storms and in its haste may ignore prey not directly in its path. When fine weather is promised in all directions the entity broods in the Musarde Delta or in the eddies or whirlpools at river confluences, and is prone to attack whatever ventures by.

Human constructions impeding the flow of water such as locks, dams, mills, or even large crafts in shallow channels, risk the ire of Old Bones. Any individual within 10 feet of the water’s edge or surface is a very tempting target. Any individual within 40 feet of shore, especially if alone, is a tempting target. But any individual beyond 180 feet is safe. A boat whose occupants are out of sight and that is drifting or even sailing is likely to be ignored. Whereas a craft loaded with revelers heading for carnival in Karina or a paddle-wheeler awash with light and passengers is begging for fell attention. Swimmers and those wading in water are irresistible targets. When the Musarde or a tributary bursts its banks, Old Bones revels in the slaughter of individuals who have suddenly found themselves knee deep, or worse, in water.

The many depredations of Old Bones, most recently during flooding in Kartakass, have not been traced back to a unique source. Rather they have nourished and spawned disparate rumours and tales. The exception to this rule is in Lamordia, where the destruction of shipping in the Musarde Delta has yielded more serious questions than speculative answers, and in Richemulot, where two significant attacks upon Montigny and one minor attack upon Pont-au-Museau were widely witnessed as the cover of night is no proof against the spying eyes of rats and their more intelligent kin. The most widely circulated account in Richemulot holds that the phenomenon, which was dubbed Old Bones by a Mordentish survivor, surges violently into businesses and homes during the hour of peak flooding, that it consists of bones from Borcan peasants dumped into the Musarde for want of money for burial, that the restless spirits form and reform their bones into skeletons that avenge themselves upon the living, that the mere sight of the vengeance breaks the will and unhinges the mind, and that the attack is not so much thrown back as survived, for salvation comes with the receding of the flood or the arrival of the dawn. Certain individuals well versed in the teachings of Ezra, among them church fathers in Levkarest, connect the phenomenon to a prophesised Time of Unparalleled Darkness and shutter. A wandering and probably mad priest of the Morninglord hunts the phenomenon, proclaiming it to be the work of Count Strahd von Zarovich XI. The patrons of the Truite ivre in Montigny and the rabble of that city generally accuse a Kartakan skald dressed in black of calling the doom into existence as retribution for some terrible loss unjustly suffered.

Combat
The undead elemental has no fear of attacking in broad day light but pursues large scale efforts under the cover of fog, mist, or darkness. The entity knows when to leave a fight and will abandon its bones to save itself. It does not distinguish between classes and consequently has no preferred targets in a fight, save for any one perceived to be attempting to command it. It has never had sufficient reason to answer any attempt to communicate with it. Mercy is alien to Old Bones. It does, however, have a taste for the macabre and arguably a perverse sense of humour. When in a playful mood the entity may have a newly animated skeleton make a public display of tearing its own flesh from its bones, ending with its smiling lips. (DC 15 Horror check).

In its proper person the undead elemental is formidable. In addition, the skeletons animated by its energy drain give it both reach and means of creating diversions and striking from behind on land. Finally, the remains of those skeletons when collected and integrated into an animated swarm of bone can be even deadlier.

Against a lone individual within 15 feet of water, the undead elemental leaves its bones a short distance up river and attempts to surge up from the water either (with surprise) in a charge or (without surprise) past the target to initiate from behind a Bull Rush intended to drive the victim into the water. Against two or more individuals within 15 feet of the shore, it leaves its bones a short distance up river and attempts either (with surprise) a charge or (without surprise) a full attack divided among its opposition. Confronted with a lone individual within 40 feet of the shore, it leaves its bones a short distance up river and attempts a charge. If opposition is not quickly overwhelmed it may as a free action audibly command in Aquan (Intelligence check DC 25 to recognise the sound, which is vaguely reminiscent of whale song, as meaningful) its skeletons to quit the water and to rush to its assistance from the side or to attack from behind. The swarm, once it has drifted into place, may be likewise ordered to drag itself up out of the water and attack. The swarm is likely to cast Obscuring Mist in the round prior to entering combat. Old Bones will strike at an individual up to 180 feet from the shore if there is cover for the skeletons to get behind the target and to initiate the attack.

A lone individual in the water will be charged by the entity with its bones in tow, permitting the skeletons and the animated swarm of bone to attack too. Before unleashing its vortex attack against multiple individuals in the water, Old Bones will bring its swarm of animated bone to bear against one or more targets, attack with its Haunting Sound, do the same with its skeletons, again attack with its Haunting Sound, and make at least one successful energy drain attack.

Old Bones will put itself and its bones in the path of a targeted boat or ship and begin its assault with its Haunting Sound. Thereafter crafts up to forty-five feet in length may be capsized. Against larger ships the entity will hurl itself and its bones aboard, will leave the skeletons and the swarm of animated bone to their vile work, and will return to the water to attack the hull or to drive the craft onto waiting rocks. In forlorn sections of the Musarde, especially in foggy conditions, and against the largest ships, a far subtler campaign may be waged. The paddle-wheel will be ‘accidentally’ broken with the assistance of a log, and then the craft will be brought to a halt mid-river on a ‘sand bar.’ With the coming of night any lone individuals setting foot on deck vanish as do any lifeboats. This will be followed by lightning raids by the skeletons against small and vulnerable groups of targets. Next the skeletons will be sent to launch a major diversion as the hull is breeched from below. Finally the skeletons, the swarm of animated bones and the undead elemental will be waiting as the rising water forces everyone onto the decks. Light sources will be extinguished, Obscuring Mist summoned, and the Haunting Sound attack employed to make the most of the moment.

When mopping up opposition Old Bones attempts energy drain attacks so as to create new undead under its control. The skeletons and the swarm of animated bones may be ordered to attempt a grapple to this same ultimate end and for the sheer wrongness of it (DC 15 Horror check).

Animate Bone (Su): Humanoids killed by the energy draining of the undead elemental must make a Will Save or rise immediately as skeletons with a slight surviving intelligence and HD equal to their levels in life. The skeletons are subject to the commands of the undead elemental. When these skeletons are defeated their remains, unless reduced to powder, are collected and spontaneously form a swarm of animated bone, again with a slight intelligence and subject to the commands of the undead elemental. A total of 32 HD of undead may be commanded. Commands are audible not mental, are free actions, and must be kept simple. Undead separated from Old Bones for six hours become free willed and hostile to their creator.

Bonesense (Su): The corrupted elemental can sense the bone marrow of creatures out to 60 feet. It can see the fresh bones and any living or recently living creature with bones, regardless of darkness, fog, invisibility, or other concealing visual effects. It readily distinguishes between living and recently living marrow. The ability can be activated or suppressed at will as a free action. Its activation is accompanied by a slight creaking of all bones within range.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by the undead elemental's natural weapon attack gain one negative level. It can use its energy drain ability only once per round. The save DC to remove the negative level 24 hours later is 14. When a negative level is bestowed on a victim, the undead elemental gains 5 temporary hit points (10 on a critical hit). These temporary hit points last for 1 hour.

Haunting Cry (Su): Old Bones can issue at will a forlorn cry, vaguely reminiscent of a cross between whale song and water booming under ice, that necessitates a DC 14 Will save from anyone within 180 feet to resist being shaken (-2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks) for 5d6 rounds. Anyone who succeeds in a DC 20 Will save is immune for 24 hours.

Organic Decay (Su): Formerly living material is rapidly drained of its remaining positive energy and decays at 100 times the normal rate within 10 feet of the undead elemental. Unless infused with negative energy, flesh rots away within hours and wood, leather, vellum, and bone become brittle and disintegrate within a year.

Adventure Hooks
• The adventurers are in a seedy dive named the Truite ivre in Montigny early one beautiful midsummer evening when a black clad skald (see the Black Skald in Van Ritchen’s Guide to the Mists, p. 14) makes his entrance and the locals begin making their exit, with the staff and barkeep soon slipping out the backdoor. Undeterred, the skald, manifestly among the greatest of Kartakass, plays on, his repertoire being at once powerful, gripping, and tragic. Mean while pandemonium begins to sweep the poorest streets as the rabble of the city are convinced that their doom is at hand. When this fact is brought to the attention of the mist cursed skald he is pleased beyond measure, for at last one of his warnings of impending disaster has been heeded. His previous two cryptic warnings in this very venue in the springs of 751 and 755 of flood waters and the evil that they bore were not understood. Sadly, the rabble are a fatalistic lot and are never heeded themselves, so few are doing anything so practical as fleeing the city and none has succeeded in raising the general alarm. It is up to the adventurers - with the assistance of a mad priest of the Morninglord who recognizes the hand of Count Strahd von Zarovich XI and apocalyptic followers of Ezra who recognise the Time of Unparalleled Darkness - to unravel what the appearance of the Black Skald forebodes, to carry that news to the authorities, and to defend the city. The ‘association’ of the adventurers in the eyes of the rabble with the Black Skald complicates the task enormously. Should they fail to act, Old Bones is coming to their door in any case.
• The adventurers are heading upriver on the Etoile Filiante bound for Karina. The paddle-wheel is damaged by a log and the ship drifts aground midriver on a sand bar in a forlorn section of the Musarde. As twilight descends and mists gather, the sight of bones upon the water appears to drive a priest of the Morninglord mad. He raves incoherently about the doom that Count Strahd von Zarovich XI has prepared for them all. The captain has the priest locked up and all is well until darkness falls and people begin to go missing . . .
• On a midsummer evening the adventurers are camped a short distance back from and above the Luna river which they are following on foot towards a small Barovian village in the lee of Mount Baratak where a storm is clearly building. Suddenly a mass of ivory bone slashes through the water at an incredible speed, with a terrible rattle, and against the strong current. In a couple of hours the river begins to swell dangerously. An hour later the same rattle, only at a much higher pitch and headed downriver, rings out above the roar of the raging water. Subsequently, the adventurers arrive at their destination only to discover that the village has been largely washed away by flood waters and not a single body is to be found. Any inquiries in the neighbouring community that hint at supernatural forces provoke extreme xenophobia from the peasants, a day time visit from a mad priest of the Morninglord who sees the hand of the Lord of the Land behind the thing in the river, and a night time visit from Lord Vasili von Holtz who wishes to know what the adventurers witnessed and promises them great rewards from Count Strahd von Zarovich XI himself for tracking down and destroying the thing responsible for the massacre of his beloved peasantry.

RESTLESS IVORY
Tiny Undead (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 9d12 (59 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 15 ft., swim 5 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (+2 size, +2 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+10
Attack: Swarm (2d6 + Swap memory)
Full Attack: Swarm (2d6 + Swap memory)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Distraction (Ex), Mass Grapple, Swap Memory
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/bludgeoning, half damage from slashing and piercing weapons, Immunity to cold, Darkvision 60 ft., Scent of the grave, Swarm Traits, Undead Traits, Turning susceptibility, Bardic Knowledge
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +5
Abilities: Str 5, Dex 11, Con —, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 1
Feats: Improved Grapple, Misted Ability, Redhead (Obscuring Mists), Misted Courting
Skills: Heal +1, Hide +2, Listen +1, Move Silently +3, Spot +4, Survival +1
Languages: 1d6+3
Challenge Rating: 6
Alignment: Neutral evil (Chaotic evil exceptionally)

Appearance
A restless ivory is generally encountered as hundreds of ivory white humanoid bones either floating lifelessly on water or lying motionlessly on ground. The mass may be spread out (400 square feet) but is typically packed closely (100 square feet). Of the bones it may be noticed (DC 15 Intelligence check) that many hold together to form partial or even whole members. Without warning the bones can snap into a riving mass capable of not only grappling targets but of drowning them in as little as knee deep water. Victims of the entity are stripped clean of their flesh.

Background
A restless ivory is an intelligent undead swarm of animated bone with a hatred of humanoid life and a wealth of dark secrets.

When certain catalysts are present bones with trace amounts of residual life and of negative energy animate spontaneously as a restless ivory. Should the presence of a powerful undead creature be the decisive factor the swarm is subject to its commands. When separated from its master for six hours or when arising in the absence of such a being, animated bone swarms become free-willed. They desire to destroy what brought them into existence, but as this is rarely possible or evident, they generally turn to the annihilation of humanoid life. Exceptionally, a dark goal may be adopted from the past life of a constituent member. Typically restless ivories understand many languages (perhaps even secret or dead) depending upon the backgrounds of their constituent bones. They are incapable of audible communication, but they can physically gesture or even write if given good reason to do so.

From specimen to specimen powers differ significantly. Each restless ivory begins with the feats Misted Ability (sometimes replaced with Jack of All Trades), Misted Memory, Scent of the Grave (sometimes replaced with Misted Memory), and Improved Grapple and with a minimum of one rank in Heal, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival, 6 additional skill points to be assigned immediately, and 9 extra skill points to be assigned at apt moments. Feats and Skills connected with Misted Memory and Misted Ability manifest themselves as revealed latencies of the entity’s bones. Feats especially worthy of consideration are Mist Courting and Redhead. Other potentially interesting feats include: Ability Focus (Resist Turning), Alertness, Dabbler, Darkness Within, Godless, Indomitable, Jack of All Trades, Lunatic, Reincarnated, Second Sight, Self-Sufficient, Sharp Eyes, Skill Focus, Stealthy, Sworn Enemy, Temporal Fugue, Track, University Education, and Unseen. Any ancestral requirements are met by presuming a bone of the relevant line is present. A restless ivory with influence or control over animals through the Animal Handling skill or spells granted by the Redhead feat will not have the Scent of the Grave feat. Powers are typically used creatively to achieve as many of the following ends as possible: hide, distract, lure, defend, and attack.

A restless ivory is a repository of unlikely, odd, and disturbing facts, knowledge and lore thanks to memories attached to its bones and to its memory swapping attack. The entity has the equivalent of Bardic Knowledge. Extracting useful information from a restless ivory, even if it is willing, is not easy however. The most promising means, a Speak with dead spell, affords some clarity, but with a +4 penalty to the requisite Madness check. Half of any information gained should be mistaken or mixed up in some important detail as a consequence of the entity’s limited intelligence.

Current Sketch
Restless Ivories are poor swimmers, but the shallows suit them well, and, to the extent that they are known, they are associated with rivers. In particular they have only been found in or near the Arden and its tributaries, the Vulchar below Il-Aluk, and the lower reaches of the Musarde and its delta. Rumours from time to time place them further up the Musarde too. Their appearance is often tied to swollen waters resulting from a great storm or exceptional spring run off. It is speculated in Mordant that they arise when a cemetery is swept away. The Falkovnian military deems them to be a recent invention of Azalin Rex intended to spy and harass. Lamordians in the Musarde Delta encounter them occasionally but rare is the individual who survives and whose macabre tale is believed.

Combat
Restless ivories have a great preference for locations facilitating surprising against a target, hindering the escape of that target, aiding in the quiet dispatch of the target through drowning, and affording protection from fire. Shallows, marshes, swamps, bogs, and mud holes are all promising locations. Although restless ivories have the patience of the dead, they will try to draw victims to them and will move on to other locations if no victims are forthcoming. Ideally the entity snaps to life all around a target, tears into it, grapples it, pins it, and drowns it, all within a few rounds. When a victim escapes or when an attack is witnessed, the restless ivory departs, a river current being the perfect means of quietly slipping away.

Distraction (Ex): Any living creature vulnerable to a swarm's damage that begins its turn with the swarm in its square is nauseated for 1 round; a DC 14 Fortitude save negates the effect. Spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a Concentration check (DC 20 + spell level). Using skills that involve patience and concentration requires a DC 20 Concentration check.

Hive Mind (Ex): A restless ivory has a hive mind with an Intelligence of 6, but the swarm becomes mindless should it be reduced below 8 hp.

Mass Grapple (Ex): Unlike most swarm creatures, a Restless Ivory can grapple opponents, though it cannot be grappled. For the purposes of grappling, the entity is considered to be a Large creature. In order to grapple an opponent, it has to be in the same space as that opponent, provoking an attack of opportunity if it moved into that space. A successful attack of opportunity against the swarm does not prevent it from proceeding with the grapple. When grappling an opponent, whether successful or not, a Restless Ivory does its swarm damage. In water a pinned victim begins drowning.

Swap Memory (Sp): Restless ivories upon doing its swarm damage also steals a memory significant to its victim of up to one hour in length and substitutes in its place a traumatic phantom memory taken from one of its bones. In game terms, a significant event deemed to be consistent with the victim’s past and to have been observed by someone else is cited (sooner or later) whether directly by the witness or indirectly by other means. The citation rather than calling up the memory of the event, which has been stolen, causes the traumatic phantom memory to well up and to be experienced as though lived for the first time. This memory is often of death or even worse and may be grounds for terror, horror, and madness checks. This is also a game mechanism for planting information that the players would not normally have access to. A Will save DC 14 foils the attempted swap. A separate save is necessary each time swarm damage is taken.

Swarm Attack: A restless ivory doesn’t make standard melee attacks. Instead, it deals automatic damage to any creature whose space it occupies at the end of their move, with no attack roll needed. Its attacks are not subject to a miss chance for concealment or cover. It does not threaten creatures in its square, and does not make attacks of opportunity with its swarm attack.

Swarm Traits: Unlike other creatures with a 10-foot space, a restless ivory is shapeable. It can occupy any 4 contiguous squares, and it can squeeze through any space large enough for a skeletal arm or leg. The entity has no clear front or back and no discernable anatomy, so it is not subject to critical hits or flanking. It takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons.

Reducing the entity to 0 hit points or lower causes it to break up and cease all activity, though damage taken until that point does not degrade its ability to attack or resist attack. It is never staggered or reduced to a dying state by damage. Also, it cannot be tripped, grappled, or bull rushed.

The entity is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate). It takes a -10 penalty on saving throws against spells or abilities that effect an area, such as many evocation spells. If the area attack does not allow a saving throw the swarm takes double damage instead.

Only on land a lit torch swung as an improvised weapon would deal 1d3 points of fire damage per hit; a weapon with a special ability deals its full energy damage (excluding cold) with each hit; and a lit lantern can be used as a thrown weapon, dealing 1d4 points of fire damage in squares adjacent to where it breaks.

Turning Susceptibility: Turned as a 4HD creature.

Skills: With a successful DC 15 Heal check and the remains of an animated skeleton, a restless ivory can heal itself of 1d2 hp. This is possible, however, only so long as its hive mind is still intact.

Adventure Hooks
• A party seeking obscure knowledge from the Vistani is directed by the raunie to the nearest restless ivory.
• A message in a bottle of recent vintage was found on the edge of the Musarde Delta in Larmordia at a place called Leidenheim and is addressed to the party from an old acquaintance presumed drowned when the Etoile filiante out of Dementlieu went missing on the way to Karina. The sender does not seem to be quite himself and the missive is scribbled on the back of a page that appears to be torn from the log of a ship that was lost in the Musarde Delta. The letter contains only the request that adventurers seek out the common source of the terrible loss of life in four seemingly unrelated disasters: the sinking of the Etoile filiante in Verbrek, the wreck of the Lady Blue in the Musarde Delta, and the flooding in Kartakass last October and of Montigny recently. The sender is now part of a restless ivory that became free-willed when Old Bones was driven from Montigny by adventurers. The restless ivory ended up in the Musarde Delta where it plots the destruction of its creator.

5 OLD BONE’S SKELETONS
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 2d12 (6 hp) / 3d12 (14 hp) / 4d12 (25hp) / 5d12 (30 hp) / 7d12 (38 hp)
Initiative: +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+2 / +1/+6 / +2/+7 / +2/+7 / +3/+8
Attack: Claw +2 melee (1d4+1) / Claw +2 melee (1d4+1) / Claw +3 melee (1d4+1) / Claw +3 melee (1d4+1) / Claw +5 melee (1d4+1)
Full Attack: 2 Claws +2 melee (1d4+1) / 2Claws +2 melee (1d4+1) / 2 Claws +3 melee (1d4+1) / 2 Claws +3 melee (1d4+1) / 2 Claws +5 melee (1d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/bludgeoning, Darkvision 60 ft., Immunity to Cold, Undead Traits
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +3 / Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +3 / Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4 / Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4 / Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +5
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 13, Con —, Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: Hide +2, Listen +1, Move Silently +2, Spot +1, Swim -2 / Hide +2, Listen +1, Move Silently +3, Spot +1, Swim -2 / Hide +3, Listen +1, Move Silently +3, Spot +1, Swim -2 / Hide +3, Listen +1, Move Silently +4, Spot +1, Swim -2 / Climb +1, Hide +3, Listen +1, Move Silently +4, Spot +2, Swim -2
Feats: Improved Initiative / Improved Initiative, Improved Grapple/ Improved Initiative, Improved Grapple/ Improved Initiative, Improved Grapple / Improved Initiative, Improved Grapple, Weapon Focus
Languages: Aquan, Darkonese, Mordentish
Challenge Rating: 1 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 3
Alignment: Neutral evil

Appearance
The bones of Old Bone’s skeletons are never covered by clothing, are picked clean of all flesh within days of their creation, and are generally a near gleaming ivory white, although mud camouflage may be applied when attempting to remain unseen on land. Attacks are made not with weapons but rather with claws.

Background
Old Bone’s Skeletons are notable for the lingering intelligence that in theory makes them dangerous but that in practice makes them tragic.

These skeletons are created as a consequence of the energy drain attack of Old Bones and they answer to its audible commands. When separated from the undead elemental for six hours, they become free-willed. Thereafter they accept gladly any offered assistance in avenging themselves upon their creator, but they do not have plans or strategies of their own to offer. Careful questioning might reveal something useful however. No deed is too black for them to contemplate or to accept to this end.

They understand Aquan, Darkonese, and any languages they knew in life. They cannot speak but can write for the most part. Freed of their creator, they spend their time out of sight, near the shore or just beneath the surface of the Musarde, always watching for the return of their nemesis. An air of tragedy hangs about them. They are usually not long for this world. And their freedom to begin with is a rare gift.

Current Sketch
The five skeletons under Old Bone’s command can be deemed to have passed out of its control and be placed anywhere along the Musarde and its tributaries. The plight of these individuals and of those who preceded them has gone unnoticed save for in a little known song titled The Watchers by a band of bards from Mordant (see the Morts-qui-dancent in the Book of Sacrifices, p. 73) who began touring the Core for as long as anyone living can remember.

Combat
When under the command of Old Bone’s, the actions of these skeletons are under its strict control. When free-willed, they do not seek out the living. They do, however, defend themselves if attacked and fight intelligently, if minimally so, as a group. If they do not feel seriously threatened, they may grapple rather than kill, disarming opponents before slipping away beneath the waters of the Musarde.

Adventure Hooks
• A neophyte party is set on the trail of 5 free-willed Old Bone’s skeletons. If the adventurers are careful and intelligent, they should realise that all is not as it seems with these supposed mindless murderers. With effort the party may learn from the skeletons themselves their tale, which would be excellent material for a bard. Should the skeletons be attacked, the party will be badly overmatched but inexplicably will be left alive by the skeletons who will shake their heads, walk away, and disappear into the Musarde.
• A powerful party has come to a mysterious band of travelling bards seeking critical information. The price of that information turns out to be bringing peace to 5 free-willed Old Bone’s skeletons by locating these creatures and assisting them in their otherwise hopeless quest to destroy their creator.