Café de Nuit

One thing I do not find on the Gaz, what is the reaction of most Necropolitan undead crossing path with alive beings (that were able to enter the Shroud somehow)? Curiosity? The usual attack behavior undead have toward live beings? Other?

I think it would depend largely on undead type.

Vampire
--Mortals are prey, first and foremost. Vamps only have one another to feed on in Necropolis. Mortals are too valuable to kill straightway, if that can be prevented. Vamps use any means, be it trickery or force, to capture mortals and imprison them in dungeon larders.

Ghoul
--fresh, bloody meat! But might parley with meat if it offers something the ghouls want.

Zombie--

Unnnhhhhhhh..... (ignore unless attacked first or ordered to attack)

Skeletons

Rattle rattle (as above)


Ghost-- varies a lot. Does the ghost seek an end to its undeath? To accomplish some goal from its living days? To avenge itself on Azalin, Death, or whomever drove its former, living self into Necropolis
Just to terrify mortals? To kill mortals?

I'm not sure! These are not ordinary undead, they kept their intelligence and they are doing "life as usual". One zombie is a well known merchant. There is a strange city life going on.

Sure the undead with a craving could see them as food, but would they attack on sight?

Joël of the FoS wrote:I'm not sure! These are not ordinary undead, they kept their intelligence and they are doing "life as usual". One zombie is a well known merchant. There is a strange city life going on.

Sure the undead with a craving could see them as food, but would they attack on sight?

I think ghouls would prefer to attack from ambush. As I noted, they might parley. But mortals remain potential meals. Meat!


Vampires might try to use trickery or mental domination, before resorting to brute force.

Maybe Necropolitan skeletons get spooked by mortals? "Gaaaaah!Fresh fleshies!"


Zombies are gross enough, but at least they are quiet, boring guys who mind their own business and don't make more noise than the occasional groan. Not like those living humans, who are always breaiking into tombs, smashing up innocent skeletons, stealing grave goods, splashing burning fluids all over people, and generally acting like maniacs.

This might be too silly for some DMs.

Are skeletons senior citizens?

A zombie gets old and his flesh rots off.

I imagine at the minimum there would be some disquiet as to how the living got there. I forget how widespread knowledge of the Necropolitan Amaranth is, but it's a tightly controlled commodity. Therefore, I imagine any Unholy Order of the Grave undead around might assume the living might be carrying the amaranth and move to subjugate and arrest the offenders before taking them to Death. On the other hand, the living might be presumed to be just merely particularly well preserved undead, depending on the circumstances.

You might also get away with the lower-level undead being scared of the living. After all, anyone powerful enough to apparently shrug off the Shroud must be a force to be reckoned with. (even if they just have the amaranth, the undead don't need to know that. They might just assume powerful magic is at work, and it's best to stay clear.)

Don't forget the potential to curry favour with Death by bringing living in for questioning and whatever else the Order of the Grave would want to do to them -- provided Death leaves them anything to play with. Having intelligence probably means wanting to keep going as long as possible, and not being molested by the head honcho for hiding the presence of living fleshies from him.

You know, unless the Necropolitan undead who meet living interlopers are brave enough to fight Death's will and have the motivation to do so.

I dunno. Not all undead LOOK dead. Vampires, certain zombies, some mummies, even materialized ghosts can look as if they are alive. If I were an undead creature wandering through Necropolis, my first assumption would be that I had sighted a creature that can masquerade as a living being, not that I was seeing a living being who had defeated the Shroud.

nothri wrote:I dunno. Not all undead LOOK dead. Vampires, certain zombies, some mummies, even materialized ghosts can look as if they are alive. If I were an undead creature wandering through Necropolis, my first assumption would be that I had sighted a creature that can masquerade as a living being, not that I was seeing a living being who had defeated the Shroud.

The vast majority do look dead (even from those you mentioned) but the point remains. By sight I would also be like "Hmm, that person would certainly pass for the living". A little disguise could also help.
That is:
- If I remember how the living look like and they don't all look the same to me
- If I don't have another sense that informs me that creature has the spark of the living; there are spells that mask the "presence of the living" so that the undead assume you are one and it has a save for the undead if I recall correctly.