Book 8: Chapter 58: The Undead
“The undead from the Twin Towers?” Stark asked in surprise.
According to the information the Apostles had gathered earlier, the Twin Towers on the northern and southern slopes of the Cloud Peaks and the Tower of Durlag, although belonging to the two great Forbidden Zones of Life and surrounded by numerous undead creatures, had never ventured beyond these areas.
Unlike the baseless fear ordinary people held toward the undead, the truth was that the undead had much stricter requirements for living conditions compared to sapient races. Humans, elves, dwarves, and most other sapient races could survive tenaciously in icy plains and deserts as long as they had access to water and food.
The undead, however, were different. They did not need food or water, but they were very particular about their surroundings. Most undead had no consciousness and instinctively stayed in cold, dry places where sunlight could not directly reach them.
Otherwise, their bodies would decay more easily, and even their bones would gradually become brittle due to calcification. A small impact could cause them to fall apart. Additionally, the areas they inhabited had to be rich in yin energy to nourish their undead bodies, much like lubricant for a machine.
The so-called yin energy was a type of plague-like miasma formed by the fusion of dark elements and earthly energies. From the perspective of magicians, it was also referred to as the death cloud.
The Cloud Peaks were called the Cloud Peaks precisely because the area was rich in earthly energies, filled with dark, toxic miasmas, making it the most suitable environment for the undead. The Twin Towers and the Tower of Durlag, the former being a military fortress and the latter a magic tower, were both initially filled with Magic Elements, making them the most likely places for the undead to awaken.
To this day, these two places had become Forbidden Zones of Life, teeming with wandering undead. However, the people of Faerûn, including those in Baldur’s Gate to the north of the Cloud Peaks and Amn to the south, paid little attention to these areas.
This was not because they were unaware of the dangers posed by the undead, but because they saw no need to provoke them. No matter how terrifying the undead were, as long as they stayed put, it did not matter.