Shadow

probably the most underhanded method of combat a necromancer has access to, the shadow is exactly as its name suggests. a creature of darkness that lives hidden in your shadow

Culture

the dungeon parasite known as the shadow is a malevolent creature, it will take advantage of the darkness to attach itself to you without your knowledge. once it is attached to you it will slowly sap your vitality making you prone to injury and unable to properly use your strength. every hour the victim will stealthily lose 1 point of constitution. should the victim reach 0 constitution he has about a half an hour during which all life will leave him. when the target dies in this way unless they are a dwarf they will be converted into a shadow themselves. if they are a dwarf flip a coin, if you call correctly the dwarf simply dies. if you call incorrectly you are converted into a shadow

seeing a shadow in a dungeon is no simple feat, any passing glance can easily be attributed to the poor lighting underground. but above ground where there is plenty of light a shadow black as coal in the middle of day will stand out like a sore thumb. they love to suck the life from sentient creatures so have no interest in attacking common animals or other undead.

shadows have a moderate level of intelligence despite being undead they use this to target those who have weak constitutions already and avoid being discovered or killed. should a shadow be discovered it will try to escape, should this succeed it will return and target the enemy with the highest constitution. then, in the next fight the victim ends up in, the shadow will join the fight against the victim

the effects of a shadow are very gradual making it very hard to tell if somone is indeed suffering from a shadow, simple illness, or a curse. as the targets constitution drops their bones will become brittle, their muscles weak, and their skin thin. once their constitution drains to about 8 every additional point of constitution lost will also cut strength and dexterity in half

shadows are a unique form of undead. no amount of necromatic power will allow you to tell a shadow what to do. the only order it listens too is the order to not attack you

History

The creation of a shadow is pretty simple all you need is freshly killed creatures enough to perfectly fill a cylinder 3ft in diameter and 1ft tall light the corpses on fire and as they burn pump it with magic. if you had enough corpses the ashes will sink into the ground up a nearby wall and form into a vaguely humanoid figure

the shadow is an odd form of undeath, neither metaphysical like a ghost nor physical a zombie. some people think that when your alive your soul and body work together as 'you' but when you die only your soul goes to the afterlife. the shadow is the 'you' left behind and resentful of what its been left with. this argument is backed up by the fact that shadows that were once adventurers hate treasure chests and loot and will do everything they can to place such things somwhere they dont have to see. like the bottom of a well or tossed in a river so it cant remind them of the lives they no longer have