Realms of the Dead

"Not Even the mightiest mage, working spells that remain utterly reliable, can hope to prevail against dozens of tireless, ruthless UNDEAD who suffer no pain and can be distracted by nothing.

Every creature on Faerûn has its dark mirror in the undead - from the ghosts of ancient warriors to the rune-scribed skeletons of dragons. And in a world with as rich and bloody a history as the Forgotten Realms, they are legion - outshining the living in variety and number.

Here are a dozen of the most terrifying tales of the haunted Realms."

Pieces
By Richard Lee Byers

This story follows Bareris Anskuld and Mirror as they try to rejoin the resistance movement against Szass Tam. In the city of Amruthar, they discover the body of Urmas Sethdem, whom they question with the aid of Bareris's bardic necromancy magic. From him, they learn that he answered to Chon Vrael, an influential Kossuthan priest in the city who detests undead for the pain they've caused his family.

When they approach Vrael after one of his sermons and tell him about the death of his subordinate, he doesn't believe them; not only are Bareris and Mirror both undead, but Urmas Sethdem is alive and has been advising him! During the course of a conversation between Vrael and Sethdem, Bareris learns that the impostor is psychically dominating the priest and that it is using that influence to have Vrael call a meeting of his closest allies.

During the course of the meeting, a necromancer under Vrael's command magically questions Bareris, forcing him to answer truthfully. When the council discovers he has been telling the truth and that someone was indeed impersonating Sethdem, they discover he is missing. Seconds later, a small group of skeletons and an ulgurstasta - a huge, worm-like undead thing - burst in to the chamber, killing three council members and mortally wounding Chon Vrael.

Though Bareris manages to escape his imprisonment and defeat the impostor (who turned out to be a visage) and his summoned ulgurstasta, it is too late for the resistance leader. With his dying breath, he asks Bareris and his necromancer to raise him as a free-willed undead. Though they do their best, Mirror and Bareris agree that they did something terrible.

Soul Steel
By Lisa Smedman

An Elf takes justice into her own hands with a terrible weapon.

The Resurrection Agent
By Erin M. Evans

The Harlot crosses into the Night Barony.

Wandering Stones
By Bruce R. Cordell

Set in Returned Abeir, it is the story of a Dragonheir.

The Bone Bird
By Jaleigh Johnson

A cleric of the Earth Mother has to destroy a powerful undead.

Feast of the Moon
By Christopher Rowe

A cleric of Malar is tasked by his dark god to destroy a powerful undead through his ritual vision.

A Prayer for Brother Robert
By Philip Athans

Brother Robert, Cleric of the Amaunator has to enter the areas' haunted house, by he has his hands full with its strange denizens.

The King in Copper
By Richard Baker

Before the Spellplague the Harmach made a deal with Aesperus.

Dusty Bones
By Rosemary Jones

A Carver and his cousin release a powerful undead being into Waterdeep.

The Many Murders of Manshoon
By Ed Greenwood

One of Manshoon's cloners sets out to cleanse the Zhentarim.

A Body in a Bag
By Erik Scott de Bie

After a lordling is turned into a Wight while in an exploration with his fellows, those two friends, the Necromancer and the Tiefling face troubles in their lives.

Iruladoon
By R.A. Salvatore

Set in Icewind Dale, after the Spellplague, "a place without time" tries to claim the crew and passengers traveling across the Lac Dinneshere. Two of the crew stumble across a duo long lost to the world.