D&D General How long does a body take to decompose in a bag of holding? (Asking for a friend...)

[aco175]

@Thavus Welcome to the boards, hope you stay and find some things interesting. Click the Community button at the top to see the newest topics.

 

[Guest 7034872]

"A strictly hypothetical question, and maybe how much it cost
'somebody' to, you know--remove the evidence."

 

[Charlaquin]

One day after stashing them, he'll come back and find them gnawed. Two days later, and only bones are left. And three days later, and the bag will be empty.

What you've described is exactly how a bag of devouring is born...

This post was made before Van Richten’s Guide came out, but kind of anticipated The Bag Man.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

This thread spent two years preserved in a Forum of Holding and seems to be in pretty good shape.

 

[Baron Opal II]

did you by chance see the Breaking Bad episode where they tried to get rid of a body by dissolving it with strong acid in the bathtub upstairs while the potential new homeowner came in on floor level to inspect the house?

Never watched Breaking bad at all.

I don't think I got past the first season, but that episode was hilarious! As a former chemist I was hoping that someone was paying attention when they wrote that scene, and they were.

When you have an acid that eats through almost literally anything, you get a container that is the one thing that it doesn't eat through. And, you explain things to your partner so that they understand that this is a vitally important detail.

 

[Thavus]

@Thavus Welcome to the boards, hope you stay and find some things interesting. Click the Community button at the top to see the newest topics.

I found this question from a Google search because I had the same question

 

[Celebrim]

Basically, about as long as they would in a dungeon or dry basement. Assuming the non-existence of 'bag world' which is a very good idea, the atmosphere in a bag of holding is the same as the atmosphere in the real world when the bag was last opened. Assuming nothing internal to the bag happens, the temperature and humidity and oxygen content won't change, and the bag will not be sterile unless the bag was opened in a sterile environment and the things but into the bag were sterile. If you are putting body parts into the bag, the interior is definitely not sterile even if it ever was. Most of what decomposes a body is the bacteria and fungus already on or in a body at the time it dies. Gut bacteria in particular are ferocious decomposers, but you'll still have plenty of bacteria on even a carefully washed body.

Because this is a sealed environment, the whole bag will putrefy. Moisture and decay results will not be carried away, but will accumulate in the bag, turning the environment moist even if it wasn't. Decay is likely to spread to other organic things in the bag - paper, cloth, etc. I'd guess 3-6 days would be enough for serious putrification. Normally, after 11 days or so the body wind and the like would remove enough humidity from the body that putrification stops, but in the sealed environment of the bag this is basically a compost heap and you'll end up with muck and bones.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Because this is a sealed environment, the whole bag will putrefy.

I'm reminded of a Mythbusters episode where they placed a hog's carcass in a used car and locked it in a storage container for a week or two. They could smell the decay at the hatch, IIRC.

 

[Celebrim]

I'm reminded of a Mythbusters episode where they placed a hog's carcass in a used car and locked it in a storage container for a week or two. They could smell the decay at the hatch, IIRC.

Yeah, you open that bag up and it's going to be significantly warmer and under higher pressure than when you closed it, and so it's just going to vent a hot toxic stinking gas that probably provokes a saving throw aka 'stinking cloud' on anyone within 5 feet of the bag.

 

[Umbran]

Basically, about as long as they would in a dungeon or dry basement. Assuming the non-existence of 'bag world' which is a very good idea, the atmosphere in a bag of holding is the same as the atmosphere in the real world when the bag was last opened. Assuming nothing internal to the bag happens, the temperature and humidity and oxygen content won't change, and the bag will not be sterile unless the bag was opened in a sterile environment and the things but into the bag were sterile. If you are putting body parts into the bag, the interior is definitely not sterile even if it ever was. Most of what decomposes a body is the bacteria and fungus already on or in a body at the time it dies. Gut bacteria in particular are ferocious decomposers, but you'll still have plenty of bacteria on even a carefully washed body.

And that's fine... if your fictional fantasy world operates by real-world biology. If, however, there's less germ theory and more humours and spontaneous generation and such, things could get interesting.