Urdark

Ghost stories... that's all they were... the people at the tavern were fools in believing that there is a ghost of some insane lunatic roaming up and down Porter's Lane. But, as Luxil and Tebs made their way down the alley, they couldn't help but get spooked by the constant sound of giggling and babbling laughter that came from the far end. As they progressed, the giggling got louder and louder, as if coming not from one voice but many. By the time they got to the end of the alley, they both thought their ears were going to explode. Hands to his ears, Tebs looked back down to the mouth of alley... and floating in mid-air was an empty vest and trousers, moving as if they were being worn... a dim grey light emanating from the sleeves and neck.

When the guards found the bodies of two young boys at the end of Porter's Lane the following morning, the city watch wrote it off as vagrants and tossed their corpses on wagon. By the old tavern keep could see, even from this distance, the peeled smiles on those boys' faces. And he knew that Porter's Lane had two more residents.

Urdarks were originally ghosts of the criminal insane that died long after their sanity was completely gone. However, in the span of years and centuries without contact or conversation, the minds of those ghosts went to someplace beyond madness. Fortunately, this complete dissociation from reality means that urdarks do not propagate nearly as fast they otherwise would; nor do they coordinate their effects like other, more lucid undead. Those that encounter an urdark always hear their maniacal giggling first. Urdarks are known to hide inside floors, walls and other large structures, laughing, and wait to see their prey respond before attacking. Visually, they appear as roughly humanoid-blobs of grey light, clothed in whatever clothing that they died wearing.

Urdarks do not plan or prepare. In fact, with the exception of hunting, it is rare for urdarks to respond to any other kind of threat seriously. However, given how easily and quickly urdarks do repopulate themselves, most are wise to strike from afar, if at all.