Plague-Spreaders

What — An evolved, tougher strain of the Old Halfwood undead blight, encountered as a horde on the road to the Druid's Grove (Session 46). Ordinary villagers' corpses of mismatched ages (one still wore a cobbler's tools on his belt), reanimated and bleeding green ichor. The strain grows tougher the closer one gets to the blight's source (Session 46).

Threat — Moderate. Far hardier than the Old Halfwood pushovers, but no PC was hurt; the party won by snaring the horde rather than trading blows. Dangerous mainly in numbers and on contact.

Observed abilities / stats (Session 46)

• AC ~10, ~31–34 HP — many times the 3–15 HP of the original Old Halfwood corpses.
• Spell-charge — each carries a small magical charge / spell slot. Fenric can "claw out" and destroy this charge with a hand-axe strike.
• Dangerous to touch — contact carries a burst/infection risk (Stunghelm's explicit warning; the "horse-style burst"). Lash strapped an agile longsword to Salamandine's tail so he could kill them without touching them.
• Gap: No attack bonus, save DC, or damage dice recorded; treat as unknown, do not invent.

Resistances / immunities / weaknesses — Not immune to restraint: Thalia's Entangle restrained ~13 of 15, and Plant Growth / Overgrowth (100-ft radius) snared the whole horde. Vulnerable to fire (flaming arrows and a Molotov worked). Magical charge can be stripped by Fenric.

Tactics & behavior — Mindless pursuit. Chase living targets relentlessly in a horde, arriving in waves (the running fight escalated from 3 chasers to ~15+, waves keyed to combat rounds 2/5/8/11/14). No assessment, retreat, or surrender; they follow scent/blood — Stunghelm Elkheart laid a blood-trail to walk the horde in a wide circle away from the grove.

Disposition to the party — Hostile (mindless undead, no negotiation).

Status — Active / recurring. Many individuals destroyed in the road fight, but the horde was only snared, not wiped — the party disengaged and jogged clear while Plant Growth held it. Stunghelm Elkheart's blood-trail sends the horde on a wide loop, expected to circle back within a few hours (Session 46). The strain points toward a stronger source near the corrupted Druid's Grove / the woods necromancer to the north-west.

SUMMARY: Evolved Old Halfwood undead — green-ichor villager corpses, ~31–34 HP, touch-dangerous, each carrying a strippable spell-charge; horde snared (not killed) in Session 46 and still active near the Druid's Grove.