Hollowed
Ancient Tordoran folklore describes the hollowed as men who slowly starved to death while lost in the mists of the moors. To quell their hunger, some were said to consume their companions, dooming themselves to rise after death as hollowed. There may be a grain of truth in these old legends: hollowed are most prevalent in Ord, but any sentient starving humanoid can become one after death.[1]
Driven by overwhelming hunger, hollowed constantly and blindly wander through the wilderness in search of prey. They feed exclusively on the organs of intelligent creatures. They typically travel at night, preferring darkness to light. During the day, a hollowed will crouch silently in the shadows, vigilantly watching for a potential feast.[1]
When a hollowed catches sight of prey, it will relentlessly track its prey, exhibiting enough cunning to keep hidden from sight. The hollowed will move ahead of the victim and lie inert in plain sight, lashing out at anyone foolish enough to investigate its corpse.[1]
The touch of a hollowed saps the energy of its victim, flooding a creature with the same unbearable hunger and weakness the hollowed suffered prior to its own death. Drained of strength and speed, it becomes easy prey for the hollowed, which, one after the next, consumes all the major organs of its victim.[1]
Though a hollowed becomes deadlier as it consumes more vitals, the organs it feasts upon will fester and rot instead of being digested, forcing the hollowed to constantly feed. Unless a hollowed's victim is decapitated, it will rise as a hollowed itself within a few days. When hollowed travel together, one of them is likely to have fed recently, and the others are likely its risen victims. Given enough time, a group of hollowed can number in the dozens as newly created undead are drawn onward by the activity of the flock. They fall upon prey in a manner akin to a feeding frenzy.[1]
In its wanton attempts to sate its supernatural hunger, a hollowed is often exposed to diseases carried by prey. Most diseases cannot thrive on the dead flesh of a hollowed, but the creature is occasionally exposed to a strain capable of flourishing within it. Pestilent hollowed are more dangerous than typical hollowed: even those who survive its claws run the risk of death from the pestilence it carries.[1]