Death Walkers

Waking up before the sun, they don their safety gear. Full body suits, magically enhanced with a limited supply of oxygen, cover them from head to toe. The head piece looks similar to a bee keeper's veil, but that piece will wait.
Horse-run wagons take them a few miles from their destination. The horses take smaller steps and eventually refuse to go forward. It's time.
The death walkers places the veils on their heads, seal their suits, and begin the trudge.

Death Walkers have two major jobs to accomplish. Their first and original job is to harvest petals from devil's hope. Second, they collect honey produced by widow bees. While relatively straight-forward, the job of a Death Walker is far from easy.
Devil's hope is a particularly noxious plant and invasive species. Most flora, fungi, and fauna cannot survive in its gaseous aura. The colorless, odorless, invisible gas is nearly undetectable. Widow honeybees have developed the ability to withstand its deadly gas.

The Kiss of Death

While harvesting honey in this region is deadly enough, death walkers have the job of harvesting petals from devil's hope every 35 days or so.
The petals produce a contact toxin which becomes inert in 24 hours. On these journeys, death walkers must find other means of transportation home or stay overnight in a decontamination shack. When a death walker arrives home, they must disrobe carefully and send their clothes to the cleaners.

by Lauren Nelson (Lnphysics, self)

Image of Devil's Hope

The Golden Harvest

The new and in-demand job of death walkers is to acquire honey produced by widow honeybees. While bee keeping is not a difficult task in most parts of Tarantellia, let alone the Claw Continent, widow honeybees have chosen a dangerous place to call home.
Without any known predators, widow honeybees have built their hives in several ways: dead trees, ground patches, and the tower. With few people willing to risk their lives, there's always more than enough honey waiting to be acquired.

by Lauren Nelson (Lnphysics, self)

Image of a Death Walker

Bust view of a bee keeper

Related Species

Widow Honeybees
Devil's Hope

Alternative Names

The Widows' Celebrant, The Devil's Keeper, Golden Hands

Type

Raw Materials Gathering

Demand

High demand

Legality

As a new profession, the law is still catching up to keep Death Walkers and their families safe.