Revenant Flute

Notice from the Author

This piece is the earliest iteration of what would later become the Rave in Peace on the main wiki.
I want to archive this version for educational purposes, so aspiring authors may compare it to the final version and see that every idea can be salvaged if you put some creativity into it.

The image is CC-BY 2.5, btw: http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/bild.asp?uid=330016

Item: Revenant Flute
Size: 392 mm
Type: Musical Instrument (Aerophone)
Potential/Current Hazards None
Required Wear/Weaponry None
Location: Facility: Closet-16
Reported Anomaly: Reanimation and Remote Control
330016

The Revenant Flute, mouthpiece to the right

Usage

The Item should only be used by designated Usage Specialist trained in operating the Item. Before beginning to play it, the environment should be checked and all required dead bodies placed in stable position around the operator before they begin playing.

During the duration of the song, the Revenants may be given orders encoded as melodies of the song being played. Individual melodies can be combined to create more complex orders. For example, "Down" and "Attack" become instructions to dig, whereas "Line up", "Turn around" and "Take" order formation of a bucket brigade.

Overall mood and rhythm of the played song influence the efficiency of the works execution and also the way certain commands are interpreted by the Item; depending on the player's feeling, the same melody might be interpreted as either "Jump" or "Trample".

Elaborating the intricacies of playing the Item is beyond the scope of this File, as it requires improvising entire compositions that contain meaningful order sequences. For full coverage of known parts and compound melodies, please contact the IRUC Department of Facility: Closet-16.

Report

The Revenant Flute is a flute made of bone. Genetic sampling failed to identify the bone as belonging to any known regular or paranormal species. When blown, the flute makes a high-pitched sound comparable to a dog whistle which makes playing the instrument rather difficult.

When played, all skeletons in audible range of the flute (that are not part of any living being) will animate and become Revenants consisting of their bones and anything that happens to be attached to them, like surgical splints or dead flesh. Revenants may be of any species provided they have bones. This effect ceases once the Revenant Flute is no longer played or the skeleton is damaged in such a way that renders it incomplete.

All Revenants are idle be default, but will respond to certain melodies played on the Revenant Flute by executing certain actions, like moving to where the flute is currently pointed at or pushing and pulling objects. They posses a rudimentary intelligence that allows them to avoid hazards on their way, although their skeletal nature renders them immune to many hazards (like fire) which they will ignore. In addition, every Revenant appears to posses the same senses a life specimen of their species would have, despite their lack of sensory organs.

The Revenant Flute is rarely used on field missions, due to its distinct lack of subtlety in operation, difficulty in coordinating the Revenants and the fact any user makes themself an obvious, high-priority target for enemy attacks. Instead, the main purpose of the Revenant Flute is providing cheap, inexhaustible menial labour even in dangerous conditions, and is an invaluable defensive weapon to provide great amounts of decoys.

Addendum

The following is a non-comprehensive list of operations utilizing the Revenant Flute.

Operation Utilized Revenants Additional Notes
Tango-Mauve Unearthing approx. 50 t of dirt over the course of several days at a dig side located within an swamp inaccessible to heavy machinery. Human (12), American black bear (3), various breeds of dog (~50)
Hotel-Murmur Acting as mounts to cross a stretch of desert. Camel (5) The Revenants were equipped with sets of cataphract scale armour created by the Shifting Armoury.
Bravo-Anaconda Causing a distracting by mimicking an outbreak of SCP-████. Eurasian red squirrel (~400)
Quebec-Gossip Twiddling their thumbs… do they even have some? Placeholder text for good measure
Golf-Arrow Checking an area for anti-personnel mines. Sheep (129), Human (1) During usage, the skeleton of Agent Beckett was also animated unknowingly, and subsequently tried to claw its way out of his corpse. The entity that was Agent Beckett's skin at this time was disposed of with a flamethrower.
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