The Book of the Unquiet Dead

Right useful thing to have on hand, should you be up against anything contained within its pages. Well, at least its earlier pages. Knowledge is the most potent weapon in one's arsenal... except for dragons, or an archmagus, or...

— Jasper Cameron, Leader of The Bronze Ravens

This book, produced at the scribe village concealed behind The Iron Necropolis, is the most complete encyclopedia of the undead known to exist in print* **. Although the copies that exist out in the world are not magical (or cursed), possession of one has a tendency to end in ones death, and potential reanimation, at the hands of a monster contained within its pages. Still, its like they say, "Knowing is half the battle...." or was it "ignorance is bliss"

*Look, I can already hear you. "but what about ogre zombies, and skeletal dragons, and..." Honestly people. A zombie is a zombie, is a zombie. Sure, some are bigger, some are smaller, but they all die the same. With a few rare exceptions, such as the Gemini Liches, it is not worth noting the individual differences based on the use of one species body over another.
** Okay, okay, this is technically untrue. The Leger of Outstanding Souls is the most complete. However, as it is a magical artifact created through a colaborative effert of several gods across multiple pantheons, cursed, and non-reproduceable, we will continue to make this claim.

The Book Proper_{annotated by Hrothgar Rumrunner}

First things first, should you be a necromancer, warlock to some dark patron, cleric to an evil god, or some other manner of being looking to expand you domian into control of the undead, this book doesn't contain any spells, incantations, or ceremonies required to make undead. We would as that you consider the path that you are on.
Second, this book is edible. The paper it is printed on is made of a combination of pulverized mushroom species that, all things considered, boast exceptional nutritional value. Should you find yourself low on rations and sheltering from an unspeakable horror of fleeing from a tireless horde with no time to hunt or cook just know that one to two pages a day can sustain you for several weeks depending on your level of activity.

best if you can rehydrate with a bit of water. personal recomendation is to cut into strips, place in the bottom of a mug with just enough water to submerge the strip, and sprinkle with a touch of salt once all the water is absorbed. Bit bland, but keeps the body going.

— annotation in the margin

The rest of the page has been torn out. The illustration on the reverse side shows the top part of what is presumably a severed stump attached to the titular Reanimated Limb. two notes remain on the page. "Smash, dont chop" and "Surprisingly good torch in a pinch." The next several pages are also missing, some torn out, others cleanly cut by a blade.

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Skeletons

Skeletons are listed before zombies for the simple reason that there are more dangerous things that look like zombies, but are not, than there are non-skeleton things that look like a generic reanimated skeleton. This is not to say that skeletons are not dangerous, nor that they can't be made more dangerous by an even somewhat motivated necromancer. After all even the most novice of adventuring parties can deliver a magical blade or mace to an undead horde.
While a lone skeleton should pose little threat to even the greenest of adventurers, assuming a modicum of martial training, in a large enough group they can challenge to even seasoned parties. The best way to deal with skeletons is ████████████

smash 'em & bash 'em. Fire dont work too good, anyone thats cooked can tell ya that. course, most swords will break bones just as well as cut flesh, so no worries there. unless you were counting on a dagger or rapier or other stabby things. As I explained it to Foid, skeletons is like a net. When its full o' fish you got somethin ta stab, but when its empty aint much gonna happen.

— annotation next to blacked out paragraph

Zombies

Similar to skeletons, zombies have no thoughts of their own. Only able to carry out simple commands, they are fairly slow and can be easily avoided, and just as easily dealt with.^{obviously written by someone who has never dealth with zombies.} ██████████████████████████████

Bullshit, all of it after that is bullshit. Look, ya cant just destroy the head, no matter what some stuffy scholar says. Where do ya thing alll those animated limbs come from? are they less of a threat without their heads, sure. cant see without eyes, and they cant get new commands without magic if they aint got ears. 2 types, wet and dry:

wet zombies (Squelch when hit)

smell worse

faster moving

larger range of motion

NOT FLAMMABLE

Dry zombies (crunch when hit)

no smell

slower

burn good, especially the ones with clothes.

— angry annotation under illustration

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Ghouls

At this point is becomes clear that someone has carefully, painstakingly scraped away whatever text was on the remaining pages and written in their own text, likely being more experienced than the original writer.

Think zombies, but less rotten, a lot more hungry, and significantly faster. Important to note that they travel in packs. Hunt with similar intelligence to wolves.
Claws have magical poison that can paralyze. sets in faster for bigger wounds, but even a scratch can paralyze. can take up to 10 minutes. wears off in 1-4 hours.
Bite is not poisonous, but more infection prone than regular wounds.
unlike zombies, severed limbs do not remain animated, treat like bandits and they will go down easily enough.
Far as i can tell dont take orders after being created,