Animate Lesser Dead

This spell creates an undead servant. Choose a skull of a Medium or Small creature and two matching skeletal feet within range. Your spell imbues the target with a playful mimicry of life, raising it as an undead creature. The lesser undead is under your control and can telepathically communicate what is in a 120 feet. radius around it in a language you understand. It can see up to 60 feet. in darkness but not magical darkness and it cannot see round corners or behind obscuring objects.

On each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to mentally command your lesser undead if the creature is within 60 feet of you. You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. It can carry a small non-fragile objects in it's jaws, such as a book or dagger, but moves at half speed while doing so. A lesser undead can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal. If you issue no commands, the creature simply stands still. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.

The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which the bones crumble to dust. To maintain the form and control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature again before the current 24-hour period ends. You cannot control more than 1 lesser undead.