The Undertaker

The Undertaker is the name given to a legendary hearse train, or more accurately its firebox. The Undertaker gives the hearse train it is housed within a life of its own, operating on its own, manned by a ghostly crew. The Undertaker is sentient and intelligent, and roams the Waste on its own, sometimes attacking those it encounters and other times ignoring them completely. Its goals and motivations are unknown, but some believe it dispenses justice to those it feels have committed a great wrong, or perhaps to those who do not properly respect the dead(or undead). Its origins are not entirely known, but of the many circulating stories, one is most commonly accepted as true.

The Undertaker, that legendary ghost train, was once a simple hearse train like any other. It traveled around the Waste, picking up the bodies of the dead and properly disposing of them wherever the families of the deceased wanted them taken to. But the train's fate took a turn away from those of other trains like it. For one night, a terrible accident occurred. No one quite knows what caused it, but the result was very clear. A whole town, reduced to nothing but corpses. The Undertaker was called to help cart away the dead.
The train's destination was Charybdis, the swirling vortex of sand that would be capable of swallowing even the choking masses of corpses the train held. But its drivers had not accounted for just how much the extra weight from the bodies would tax their engine, and fuel was close to running out not halfway through the journey.
Faced with no other options besides certain death, the captain made a call. The bodies of the deceased were to be thrown into the firebox, fueling them for the rest of the journey. But even this wasn't enough to sate the hungry flames, and the train was once again in danger of grinding to a halt. Everything that wasn't nailed down was thrown into the flames, but it was useless. The captain ordered his men to burn their clothes, but that only offered a few extra miles.
Eventually, there was only one thing left to fuel the train: the crew. Straws were drawn, and one by one the crew were forced to smell their own burning so that they could make it to safety. As their numbers dwindled, each one devoured by the greedy flames, salvation could at last be seen in the distance. But it had taken a terrible, terrible cost. As the train rolled towards Charybdis, the captain, who had managed to pull the long straw each time, stood naked and soot-stained, all alone where before a large crew had operated the train. Seeing what he had caused, he threw himself into the flames as well, and the uncontrolled train sailed into the maw of the spinning vortex, finally delivering the ashes of the bodies it had been burdened with to their final rest.
But the story of the Undertaker did not end there, no. For the wickedness of the deed mingled with the souls of those burnt to ash in the train's firebox, birthing new life from within. The captain's spirit and those of his crew were cursed to never reach their ends, and instead pilot their ghostly train for eternity. The Undertaker roams the Waste now, the fell flames of its firebox burning bright, bringing misfortune wherever it goes.

Many have stories of encounters with the Undertaker, but many are obviously false. Its existence is very much a reality, however, and there are truthful accounts of encounters with it. Some have even boarded the vessel, and at least one time a hunter crew managed to derail and wreck it. However, upon inspecting the crashed vessel, the area where the firebox should have been was blackened and destroyed. Not a week after, another sighting of the Undertaker was reported, which held up even under truth-compelling magic. If there is a way to break its curse and rid the Waste of the ghostly hearse train, it is unknown, and obviously cannot be achieved by ordinary means.

Item type

Unique Artifact

Current Location

The Sands