Drowngr
RARITY: ★★★☆☆ | THREAT: ★★★☆☆ SIZE: Human-sized.
HABITAT:
Found in fresh and saltwater environments, specifically underwater, where it’s very difficult to detect them until it’s too late.
OVERVIEW:Â
Drowngr are undead, water-dwelling creatures sometimes said to be the embodiment of all things wicked and destructive. They’re known for attacking and drowning anyone who wanders too close to their watery grave. They resemble decaying humans (which is ultimately what they are, having died by drowning) with no anatomy suggestive of them being aquatic. But despite this, they can move swiftly through the water and don’t need to breathe.
It would be easy to confuse them for zombies or reanimated corpses, and while they do have similarities, drowngr don’t care for brains or flesh, and are only after body heat. They emerge from the water when they sense a nearby presence, smothering the victim and sapping the heat from their body until that poor person is as dead as they are. They don’t need to feed, and can last years without doing so if they have to, but drowngr are plagued with a constant coldness and would do anything to find relief. When they stay in the water too long, lobsters, crabs, and hungry fish may try to eat them, and barnacles and algae colonize their bodies. Many drowngr are covered in sessile marine organisms and reek of the ocean. Sometimes they fight with karkaskuttles, who try to consume drowngr, mistaking them for more typical decomposing flesh.
ABILITIES:Â
Much like zombies, any wounds inflicted on them will heal almost instantly, and can even completely regrow their head if it’s severed, which makes killing them difficult.Â
They’re strong enough to smother any normal human being, even hunters.Â
Drowngr can stay in the water indefinitely but aren’t tethered to it; they’re known for giving chase onto land and for miles if necessary.Â
While magic may be used to feign a source of body heat and draw them away from someone, they themselves are immune to magic.
WEAKNESSES:Â
Drowngr have a hard time differentiating between body heat and other sources of heat. To lure them away from someone, start a fire or find another way to create heat.Â
They can’t be killed unless they’re entirely destroyed, which is a difficult task. The best way to deal with them is to distract them, lure them into a trap, and sink it to the bottom of the ocean. Bodies are more buoyant than most people think though; you’ll need more than cinder blocks.Â
Drowngr aren’t all that intelligent, and act a lot like reanimated corpses in their mannerisms: shambling and single-minded, which makes trapping them viable.
VARIANTS
BLOATGR:Â
This less common variety had something go wrong in the process of becoming a drowngr, as they can’t seem to release their decomposition gasses. They fill with these gasses over time, and after a few days, they end up becoming walking explosives as their rotting skin bulges with pressure, causing them to swell up to three times their initial size. Should someone injure the bloatgr, the gas would come out at such a high pressure it would create a powerful explosion with a radius of about 800 feet. Bloatgr don’t stick around for very long and will explode on their own if given enough time. They’re often found near beaches and the end result of a bloatgr explosion might be mistaken for an exploded beached whale.
