The Bound Ones

Few necromancers dare to raise the walking dead within the ancient forests of the Sidhe, for the forgotten magic of that mysterious people can overwhelm the necromancer's planned result. Rare are the masters of both natural and death magic, able to deliberately draw on the power of the forest to create a form of undead more potent and fierce than any mere revenant could be.

The undead thing lurched forward on eight bloated human legs, covered with dead vines and drooping brown leaves. Sir Palomar tried to run, but burdened by the body of his squire, Richelm, he couldn't escape the thing. Dropping the body, he drew his blade and turned to fight the bizarre undead horror.

Then just as Palomar thought victory would be his, the abomination stepped over toward Richelm's body. As he frantically struck at the thing, it drew the battered corpse into itself. To his horror, he saw his squire's head emerge from the dead vines that covered the thing, as his fallen squire's arms grasped a fallen spear, the battle began anew.

These shambling horrors appear to be several dead bodies, bloated with rot, bound together with clinging sheets of dead vine and ivy. They aggressively stagger forward on their numerous legs, swinging clumsily with the weapons clutched by their numerous arms. Those adjacent to these revolting things will discover that their undead flesh has melded together; rather than several of the walking dead bound together, they are actually one creature.

If damaged, these things can meld new bodies into their undead forms, casting out the torn flesh of the most damaged corpses. In minutes, a Bound One with access to fresh bodies can rebuild itself into a new and terrifyingly intact nightmare. The dead vines that bind it together will eerily creep around the new corpses as the old, damaged bodies fall to the ground.