Mortigan

The Eldwich Hollow Cemetery is a quiet place on most nights. The fog rolls through the dense brush at the edge of the treeline bordering the crumbling rock wall. It slips through the corroded gates, slithers around the weeping angels and other concrete mourners decorating the gravesites. It's almost peaceful.

On most nights.

Mortigan is the cemetery caretaker. As was his father before him, and his grandfather before him. No one is quite sure how many of Mortigan's ancestors have watched over the dead, but they do know they are thankful not to belong to the family line. There' isn't a man or woman who would want Mortigan's responsibilities.

For beyond the usual grounds keeping and grave digging, Mortigan provides a more vital role to the well-being of the villagers. 

Once every few months, when the stars are aligned, and the air is chilled and thick, one or two beings who were put to their eternal rest will rise from slumber. They claw through the earth and begin a shambling course toward the village to satisfy their hunger or seek revenge on those who may have wronged them while they were alive. 

They aren't difficult to capture. Slow moving and slow witted, one need only be mindful of their bite (a lesson Mortigan learned as an overconfident youth, his arrogance and sloppiness causing the loss of his left hand, replaced with a rusted hook which serves as a reminder to remain diligent when casting his net). 

Mortigan accepts his role but does not concern himself with continuing the family tradition by producing a child (not that any of the women in Eldwich are keen to volunteer to help in this matter). A drafty cottage - more like a shack - with a tattered mattress and leaky roof is no way to show appreciation for performance of his duties. He will continue to make his ancestors proud in his tasks, and as for the villagers with their stinginess and silent distaste of him? Well, they'll have to nominate a new family to carry on as the Dead Catcher.

And they best do so before Mortigan's passing, and his inevitable death stroll to seek his revenge on them.

The figure is 12" tall.