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Dwergar

Autopsy Result - Dwarfoloid

Observations by Naeko, Kiri following the mine reclamation mission.

Introduction: We came across a dead dwarf that clearly spent a significant amount of time in a state of either undeath or possession -- we can confirm that undeath was due to etabilished magical means, ather than the new Westron plague that caused so much annoyance to our priests.

General condition: Being as it was magically reanimated, there's no way to tell how long this dwarf spent as a walking corpse. By and large, it resembles a wight that somebody managed to tame and keep in good repair, to the extent that some areas have been partially embalmed.

Skin: White, leathery and tough. Again, the specimen looks like a wight more than any other type of undead. Clearly has spent a lot of time underground, but this doesn't say much about a dwarf.

Bones: The best way to tell an undead's effective age, this dwarf's bones seem to be a few centuries old. It is possible, though unlikely, that he was part of the original Boatmurdered colony or at least associated with it in some capacity.

Head: There is no evidence of trepanation, although the skull has been repaired in a few spots with the same bone paste that was used on protobolds.

Arms: Muscular and tough. However, they have been partially embalmed; this would make the creature much slower, although it would afford them great precision in movement, certainly above that of most undead and very much above that of most of the living.

Legs: Less well conserved than the arms, but not by much. Lots of stitching and the screwing of metal plate in the feet note that whoever made these undead intended them for the long haul and took time to maintain them.

Beard: One surprise here - a significant amount of facial hair came off at one point or another, which is not uncommon for even dwarven undead. The interesting thing is that it was stitched back in place with great care, in a couple of spots using adamantine strand to avoid too-visible repairs.

Chest: The ribcage has needed magical healing at least once and a number of ribs were stapled together; the lungs appear to have been in use and are not obstructed. Wights do not need to breathe, so this is unusual. The heart was taken out, embalmed, put back in, and the muscle tissue carefully acid-etched with the rune ü.

Gut: The lower body of the specimen has been carefully embalmed; organs have been taken out, subjected to some mummification process, and carefully put back in. The preparation is not dissimilar to that used in medical academies.

Tampering: This was clearly a male dwarf; although he has been gelded, it seems to have happened due to wounds and incomplete repair rather than intention. If there was intention, said wounds make impossible to detect it. Someone clearly took the time to make sure this wight would last a long time in the absence of magic by embalming, preparation, or even pre-strengthening of the body. Disturbingly, some of these preparations are scabbed over, suggesting that they were undertaken when the specimen was alive. This is consistent with some of the most extreme demonic cults.

Conclusion: We are not sure if this is an Enemy minion. It is possible that it is, and was coopted by a demon or a necromancer later; perhaps the other way around; finally, maybe a practitioner of the dark arts has stumbled upon Enemy techniques and copied them. This would date the enemy at at least the first Boatmurered settlement. The opposite option while not being contradicted by any evidence is unlikely, since the Enemy seems to be interested in using living minions. In addition, the Enemy's tampering was very utilitaristic other than the trepanation, while there is clearly a ritual element here and trepanation is absent.

Kiri's notes: Maybe we're just barking up the wrong tree on this one. What interests me the most are the hands: they'd be capable of the sort of unnatural precision we've seen applied to the other creatures so far. Maybe this is part of an Enemy medical caste? On the other hand, it's an undead warmblood rather than a living coldblood. Are we facing two threats here? Is this some sort of alien crossfire we are caught in? I'm calling this a Dwarfoloid since on the remains of its clothing was etched "Dwarfoloid drops arength" I think arength is a type of fish.

Near's musing, assuming she comes back: My thoughts on the origin of Dwergar is that they were Boatmurdered colonists taken over by the "FUN". And the current mining colony was folded into their ranks; they're unrelated to our Enemy in general, though they do share some methodologies In fact, I think our Enemy actually got their technique of making minions from this, or at least stories of it. The preference for living creatures is more for shoring up the weaknesses of undead, and they use reptilians for control purposes.