Unfinished ref on the Pale King from my AU. It shows how it used to look. Before escaping into dreams and when the ghost beat him, and he had cracks in his mask.
The Pale King did not die when the ghost got to him, but was in a coma. The blows of the ghost awakened PK, and he was able to get out of the palace and crawl to the hot springs. He was recovering while the ghost was walking through the plot.