Network - Text post backdated to August 15

[easilyamused]

Who: Methos
Username: pierson
Warnings: discussion of death, necromancy, desecration of corpses, mind control

I'm sure we're all aware by now of the shambling corpses down on the beach. And probably aware that pulling the hooks out will make them settle down again.

If you are planning to go down and play with the dead things, whatever you do, don't stick yourself with the hooks. They won't just make corpses get up and start wandering around trying to drown people, they'll compel any living thing they get lodged in to do the same. As far as I can tell, the effect doesn't linger in the living any more than in the dead, but it would still be damned inconvenient to go mad and start trying to drown your partner.

To say nothing of the infection risk.

Comments

[failedpromise]

Destroying the head works too.

Personally, I think it's time to test if the hooks retain their zombifying properties once they're melted down.

[easilyamused]

That works for most things. They're simple enough to put down individually, it's the numbers that make them a real threat.

Even if they do, it's harder to impale someone with a shapeless glob of metal, and it does need to be lodged inside the body to work.

[failedpromise]

If it retains the properties, it could be melted back into a more usable shape.

...Or you could fire it as a projectile and lodge it in the body that way.

Still, might be worth a try.

[easilyamused]

You'd need the right sort of projectile to make sure it would stick and not pass through. Possible, but requires a little bit of skill.

Of course, if it retains the properties in a much smaller quantity, things could get very nasty if anyone involved in this gets clever.

text; un: username

[canofmanji]

Let me guess? Learned this the hard way, did ya?

[easilyamused]

Ooh, a swing and a miss.

[canofmanji]

Seen someone learn it the hard way?

[easilyamused]

Thankfully, no.

[Which is in no small part down to his partner in accidental zombie encounters not have any flesh for the hooks to get stuck in, which is its own special blend of deeply disturbing.]

As far as I know, no one's succumbed aside from our friends on the beach. If we're careful about disposal, we might still be able to stay ahead of the undead apocalypse.

[text] un: cupkate

[bossyboiler]

Gross. How did you find all of this out?

[easilyamused]

I did a bit of research after Frederick and I encountered a few of the poor dead bastards. Didn't seem smart to assume the threat was gone once they'd stopped moving.

[bossyboiler]

Thoughtful and yet still gross. Neither one of you got hurt right?

un: mercyme; text

[graveyounglady]

I have been meaning to ask after this. Do we know how the bodies are being tended after they are freed from the hooks? It is a cruel and vile thing to pervert death in such a manner. But to leave the bodies without a proper burial is a deep offense to the Earth, as well.

[easilyamused]

The local authorities seem to be collecting them. Which typically means an autopsy, an attempt to identify the body, and notifying their next of kin, if they have any. Either their families will have them buried according to their wishes, or the city will do it if they're not claimed.

[graveyounglady]

I am glad they will find their proper rest, then. I do not understand the purpose of this, though. Are the dead rising from the grave another manifestation of the Extinction? That is what Jon thought may be going on with all of the garbage. I should think the dead rising may instill more fear that the end is not actually an end.

[the_archivist]

Hm, fascinating.

How exactly did you discover this?

[easilyamused]

I checked. Better some temporarily inconvenienced wildlife than something large enough to pose a threat.

[the_archivist]

Makes sense, I suppose.

Hmmm, fishing hooks I'd normally say extinction, but drowning... walking corpses... interesting.

[abrightboy]

Are you talking about zombies?

[easilyamused]

I suppose you could call them that.

[abrightboy]

What would you call them?

text; un: mkblackwood

[lowficharm]

So wait, how many of these hooks are there, exactly? Because that sounds like a lot of really, really dangerous artifacts just sort of lying around?

[easilyamused]

At least one per corpse. I haven't been back down to the beach since my first encounter, but apparently they keep washing up. Taking inventory is going to be a moving target until someone figures out exactly where they're coming from and puts an end to it.

[lowficharm]

Well that's not good. Is only one needed for it to... wake up? Or is it just consequential that some have more?

un: Aberration

[aelwyn_aberration]

Have you dealt with necromancy before?

[easilyamused]

It doesn't exist where I come from, outside of fiction. Magic in general is very thin on the ground.

But hand me a walking corpse, and I'm apparently compelled to see what made it start walking.