Quotes for undead in dragon dungeon

[2BobHeroes]

Question: What would there be cool things for undead in a tomb complex to say?

Background: I'm running a dragon game, that is, the kingdoms are all controlled by dragons (with an eye towards the players eventually attempting apotheosis). Players are going to an old tomb complex, either sent there by a former adversary green dragon who has a shared enemy with them and will be trying to get them on his side, or through trying to get there first to scoop the artifact so the green dragon doesn't get it.

The tomb is that of the legendary green dragon who founded the kingdom by defeating black dragons. It is guarded by the skeletons of some of those slain enemies. Each room has an acid pit.

The first room has unintelligent draconian skeleton warriors and assassins (the warriors climb out of the acid pit and the assassins flit in from behind). The second room is a thin bridge over a chasm filled with acid containing the unintelligent giant skeleton of the black dragon king.

The third room has the intelligent undead green dragon king, who asks lore questions and fights if they are answered wrong. (He has a ring of acid resistance, handholds on the ceiling, and a lever of reverse gravity. And yes, this affects the other two rooms.)

The life cleric, as part of her god being devoured by a god of death, is able to see the souls crucified to and animating the unintelligent undead. They will be screaming things that only she can hear (by me passing notes to player). The souls can be interrogated to gain information about 1000 years ago, but that will usually require the party to let the unintelligent undeads' bodies keep whacking at them. (The souls animate, but are not in charge of, the unintelligent undead bodies.)

What I have so far: "Save us!" "He cannot bind us forever!" "Elwrath! Elwrath!" (Elwrath being the name of the old black dragon kingdom.)

What other phrases would you recommend they cry out?

[Vahnavoi]

What were the circumstances of their death or being made into undeath? Are the souls related to the bodies they're animating or taken from other beings?

Depending on answers, you can either go with more gibberish, but that's not particularly interesting in the long run. You might want to consider the souls giving tips on how to defeat their undead bodies, or other actionable information.

Some examples:

Gibberish:

it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts

"Mommy? Why are you leaving, mommy? Don't leave me! Don't leave me here in that dark!"

"Clarice? Is that you, Clarice? It's been so long..."

"Come closer, dear. I have cookies. The cookies are tasty..."

"I want a hug. Will you give me a hug? I will give you a hug. A nice, big hug."

"There are bugs. Bugs under my skin. I scratch and scratch but they keep digging deeper. There are bugs under my skin..."

"It's all in vain! All in vain! Nothing but pain after death! Save yourselves! Save yourselves while you still can!"

"P-please d-don't kill us! We d-don't want t-to go! There's only dark! Only dark awaits!"

"Death! Death to our enemies! Glory to the kingdom! We will never surrender! Never!"

"I'm sorry. They make me do this. I don't wanna. But they make me. I'm so sorry..."

"Have you thought about giving up?"

Non-gibberish

"Aim for the neck."

"Please... in my chest. The pin that holds me... in my chest... please... remove it."

"Stop! Turn around! We won't fight if you don't cross that line!"

"We're only here to keep things in, not to keep them in."

"Flee! Flee for your lives! You can't win!"

"... alcove to your left... it cannot see you... alcove to your left...."

"Stand still. Stay silent. Maybe, it will go away."

"It cannot see. Only hear."

"Only those who bear the Mark may pass unmolested."

"You're a a cleric? Use Turn Undead, stupid!"

"... cannot cross running water... cannot cross running water... cannot cross running water..."

[Asmotherion]

I always found the old Skyrim "Thank you" when they die to be very cool.

[Saintheart]

"I can feel myself rot."

"The way is shut. It was closed by those who are dead, and the dead keep it still. The way is shut."

"Warmth. Warmth. Warmth."

[Kurt Kurageous]

"The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back! Turn back!"

Who knows where that comes from...

[2BobHeroes]

Thank you to everyone for your responses.

[Tarmor]

"The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back! Turn back!"

Who knows where that comes from...

ELO, "Face the Music". I plan on using the unreversed quote (and some of the music around it) in a one-off RPG game that is a time loop. (Half my players should recognise it.)

For Zombies I'd be more inclined to look at Heavy Metal lyrics... though I have a Necromancer in my existing PF campaign who will be (mis)quoting lines from 'Neuromancer' by Billy Idol soon!

Man wallows in his insatiable greed
Seeking the answers
From desperate palms
Turn from the lies, the secrets,
Of your desolation,
And be smothered, by the dark, dark core…

It's the age of destruction
In a world of corruption
I’ll grant you oblivion