Richard Svensson. See more at his deviantArt page here
[Inspired by the story “Lost Hearts”, which is one of M.R. James’ earliest stories and one of his most conventional. Still, “conventional” for James means that the horrors are mostly human-looking, as opposed to more bestial or abstract (there are James creatures made out of spider-webs, clots of hair, and bedsheets, after all)]
Heart Hunter
This human figure has long fingernails, glassy eyes
and sunken cheeks, and would almost appear to be alive if not for the large
ragged hole punched through its chest.
Heart hunters are a special
type of revenant created as a result of human sacrifice. Not all victims of
human sacrifice rise again as heart hunters—only those who trusted and were
betrayed by the one performing the sacrifice are thus transformed. These undead
seek to revenge themselves for the crime committed against them, killing others
and stealing their hearts in a futile attempt to make themselves whole again.
These undead frequently lurk near the sites of their own death, and are most
common in temples to dark gods or near the haunts of evil wizards. Heart
hunters will often not attack those who remind them of themselves in life,
instead warning them away, lest they share the same fate.
Young heart hunters are often
sentimental and capable of being reasoned with, although still hateful and
violent. As the heart hunter collects more and more hearts, however, they grow
jaded with killing and inured to cries for mercy. When they have consumed
enough hearts, they are transformed into morghs, their cruelty having pleased
the dark gods of undeath. Heart hunters speak whatever language they spoke in
life, most often Common. The most common heart hunters are the remains of
humans, and thus Medium size, but larger and smaller heart hunters do exist. A
heart hunter can be created with a create
undead spell cast at CL 14.
The faithful of Likvit are frequent perpetrators of human sacrifice, leading victims on by showering them with pleasures before driving in the knife. As such, heart hunters are often associated with that faith, though they are consumed by antipathy towards their murderers. They may also be created from the victims of hari-onagos, who strike against them whenever possible.
Shores of Swords 