Skin to Win (Solo)

[Muldris Koffurn]

70th of Summer – 511 AV Muldris Koffurn was practically running when he left Killroy’s with the bleeding bag slung over his back. An onlooker may think he was stealing something or someone from the Kennels, but in truth, the kennel master terrified the Legate. The experience had been profitable but the entire interaction had left him a little unsettled. That was the past though, and now, the six animal corpses in the bag were in for a night full of fun and adventure. Unfortunately, the trek back to his home was not quite as pleasant. The wolf had apparently eaten the five ferrets before it died, and their combined weight threatened to match Koffurn’s own. By the time he had reached his small home, his feet were dragging on the ground and his entire body was slick with sweat. His clothes clung uncomfortably to his back and legs. The boy Legate ran his fingers through damp hair, causing it to stick up a bit. Drips of sweat darkened the dry soil in front of his door as Koffurn shook the same fingers vigorously. He wiped his hand on his shirt and then searched his pockets for the key to his small one room home. The right pocket yielded a few copper Mizas and some strange lint like substance. The left pocket was completely empy. In a panic, Koffurn checked his right pocket again and then his left pocket another time. His string of curses caught the attention of passing strangers who gave him disinterested glances or unfriendly glares. He knew he had the key. He had locked the door after all. The bloody sack was dropped gently on the ground and his backpack was dropped less gently next to it. Koffurn hastily dug through the contents of his pack. His frustration was about to peak when a small, dark key graced his fingertips. “YES!” He exclaimed so loudly that a nearby child went sprinting away. He held up the key to the sun and cherished it’s partially rusted surface. The door to the windowless house creaked open and sunlight flooded into the room for instant before it was slammed shut. The room looked strange when sunlight shone on it. It was not a room meant for sunlight. Odd stains covered the walls and the floors. The room’s color seemed a bit sickly, but the door was closed and the sunlight was locked out. The room was black, but Koffurn’s eyes adjusted quickly. A soft glow came from the fire pit in its center. He tossed a few logs onto it and watched as the embers slowly grew into a fire. The Legate stripped off his vest and pants. The house had no windows and tended to be pretty cool, but he could still feel the day’s heat in his bones. He tossed the clothes over by the fire so that they could dry and walked over the washbasin to splash cold water on his face. The water felt good and he washed the salty sweat from his hair. The fire had grown and was crackling pleasantly. Its warm light made the room feel sacred. To the Maledictor, it was very sacred indeed. The sack with the wolf and ferrets sat by the door. Time to look over my prizes... He could hardly wait and dumped the bag’s contents on the small table on the wall opposite the bed and washbasin. There was a terrifying beauty to be found in the still body of the wolf. The wolf was almost fully grown and looked pregnant. The Legate’s breath caught in his throat for a moment. T-two? A wolf and her pup? No... That lump must be the ferrets. The woman said the wolf died eating them. Koffurn moved to the end of the table and looked into the wolf’s mouth. The pink tongue hung out and rested on the table. A small dark object protruded from the back of its throat. He reached back, grabbing the slimy the dark object with his right thumb and forefinger. He pulled as hard as he could, but his fingers slipped on the slick fur. He tried to reach deeper into the wolf’s throat and finally got a better grip. With a moist sliding sound, the ferret slid out onto the table. It was moist and warm. The wolf was warm too. The Sunberth sun had did a fine job warming the dead. He had one ferret and one wolf, but four ferrets still remained. The wolf must have gotten into a ferret cage. That or Killroy feeds his animals very well. He reached his hand back into the wolf’s throat. The throat was slimy and tight, but he kept pushing. He was elbow deep when he felt the second ferret. After a few attempts of trying to grab the ferret’s head, he finally managed to get his fingers on the ear and slowly pulled it out. Now he had two ferrets and a wolf with three ferrets in its stomach. The ferrets were as cute as the wolf was beautiful, but dead bodies are dead bodies and nothing more. “The wolf’s head has to come off,” Koffurn exclaimed in a very matter of fact manner. He pulled the large body to the end of the table and let the head hang over the edge. He projected his arm to the fire in order to get one of his daggers from the belt that was drying along with his other clothes. Wrist, elbow, knuckles, then finger joints. I am not sure if I like it more than elbow, wrist, knuckles, and then fingers. It’s basically the same. Whatever... The dagger dragged across the floor and Koffurn grabbed it with his right hand. Then the iron pot followed from over from over the fire and stopped under the wolf head. The sounds of metal lightly scraping on the wooden floor created an eerie break in the silence. It was a few inches off though so he moved it into place with his foot. He flexed his left arm as movement returned. The Legate held the knife to the wolf’s neck. His hand was shaking. Bodies are bodies. Bodies are bodies. Bodies are bodies! Bringing himself to actually decapitate the pretty, young wolf was much harder than he expected. “I will make something magnificent from your remains. I will give you eternal life through my work,” Koffurn whispered to the wolf. After a moment of waiting, he began to hack through neck. Everything separated pretty easily, but the spine put up a fight. By the time the head was separated from the body, the Maledictor was panting. Blood oozed from the decapitated corpse and into the metal pot. Koffurn grabbed the wolf’s leg and tied it with a hemp rope hanging from the ceiling. It was part of a pulley system and soon the wolf was dangling from the ceiling with its blood dripping into the pot.

[Muldris Koffurn]

“Well I am enjoying this! I mean... all this is so... groovy,” he lied in an attempt to fool himself. Koffurn gagged a little bit when he was done. The work was grisly and the sounds were disturbing. The semi-sharp dagger in his hand wasn’t the ideal tool for such work, but it was all he really had. A loud thud filled the room when the Legate slammed his knife into the table. The wolf’s blood needed to drain before further work was done. At least that’s what he assumed. The Maledictor knew the basics of harvesting the materials and prepping the leather, but he didn’t have much experience, which made the work was slow and messy. Fortunately, the two ferrets he had pulled out seemed to be fairly pristine. They were practically swallowed whole after all. He wasn’t quite sure about the ones the wolf had eaten earlier though. They may be in a less... complete... state. Blood, blood, and blood! I hate blood... He was adjusting to the smell slowly, but the pit in his stomach was growing. He washed the blood off of his hand and dagger. All there was to do was wait. He wanted the wolf drained before he started working on retrieving the other three ferrets, but waiting wasn’t easy. Patience wasn’t exactly a strength of his, but he wanted to do things right. He sat on his bed and stared at the wolf head staring back at him. Koffurn stretched and let his eyes relax. The room was poorly ventilated and smoke began to fill the darkness. The small logs he had put on were almost completely reduced to embers though, and he decided that he wouldn’t asphyxiate during his nap. The Legate slipped into sleep and then out of sleep as if he were blinking. He jumped off of his bed and tossed a log on the snapping embers. Koffurn went to the door and cracked it open. Smoke gushed out as the brisk night air came in. I was out for a bit longer than intended. Oh well! Time to chop chop ‘til I drop. He shut the door and walked over to the table. The fire was still growing when Koffurn stepped into a puddle causing him to yelp, “Ah! What th-...” He let his eyes adjust and realized the pot collecting the wolf’s blood had over flown, but the wolf wasn’t dripping anymore meaning it was probably ready for the next step. He sighed and dumped some of the blood into the center of the street. It was deep into the night and he couldn’t see anyone on the streets, but that didn’t mean that wasn’t anyone there. People in Sunberth had a knack for blending with the shadows. Koffurn returned to his house and set the partially filled pot on the table. He didn’t bother cleaning the blood on the floor. It would dry or soak into the wood or something like that. Koffurn didn’t really know and he really didn’t care. It was time to retrieve the others. He removed the dagger and flipped the wolf on its back. He found the entire thing repulsive and disgusting, but it was necessary. It was important. I didn’t kill the animals. They were already dead after all. I am just giving them a new sort of life... He ran the knife lightly over the wolf’s stomach. It hardly pierced the skin. He was being too timid, but the second time he cut a little deeper and little deeper after that. He continued lightly running the knife over the stomach until it broke through the fur, skin, muscle, and, finally, stomach. It took him a moment to look into the stomach. The excitement and terror were overwhelming. Koffurn held his breath as he removed the three little gems from the wolf’s stomach. These three were more damaged than other two, but only a few broken bones and small punctures in the skin. The very first one had its leg torn off, but that wasn’t too much of a problem. He planned on cutting some of the skin in strips and using some whole. He would simply use the more damaged pelts to cut into strips. The Legate removed all of the ferret heads, tied their tales together, and then tied the tales to the rope. He let the blood drain onto the floor. It’s not like it could get much dirtier. He bit his lip as he tried to remember how exactly to skin the animals. Circle around the wrists, cut neck to tail, link wrists to the center cut, and peel away the skin. Koffurn vomited into the blood pot. It was too disgusting for him to handle. The smells and the sight of the wolf made him retreat to his bed. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this. This was a mistake!” He muttered furiously. The Maledictor was only half way done with the wolf, but he wasn’t sure if he could continue. The room’s smoke had become suffocating. He ran to the door and threw it open. The night was still dark and the smoke once again gushed out the door. The dark bloodstain in the street’s center almost made him vomit again. He had seen people do it before. He had helped his dead master do it with humans, but there was something different about holding the knife and doing it with your own hands. Koffurn sat at the open door and looked at the stars. “I’m stronger than this. I can do this. I can be great,” he whispered. Koffurn slammed the door and stormed over to the table. The cuts he had made were rough and sloppy, but that didn’t matter. At some parts, the dagger had dug too deep and cut into the muscle, revealing the bone beneath. After a while longer, Koffurn had the pelt off and was scraping the last pink bits from he white flesh. It was beautiful and the fur was comfortable. He cried a bit as he held it against his face. “Mmmmmmm so soft,” he whispered, but it still felt wrong... He rested the pelt by the fire and went to work on the ferrets. He cut off their heads and then did the same thing that he did with the wolf. Wrist, chest, connect, remove, and clean. Wrist, chest, connect, remove, and clean over and over again. The ferrets weren’t as traumatizing as the wolf had been. They were smaller and Koffurn was becoming a bit desensitized to the whole process. Their fur wasn’t as soft either. It was all slimy and some were a bit bloody.

[Muldris Koffurn]

Soon, five ferret heads and a matching number of skins rested on the table by the wolf skin and head. The skinned bodies were in a pile on the ground. The Maledictor couldn’t really figure out much to do with the organs so he took a select few from each. He removed the tongues, hearts, and ears. The anatomy of the wolf and ferrets were remarkably similar. That must be the liver and those are the intestines and those look like the lungs and... Koffurn went on naming parts that he saw. Admittedly, he didn’t know most of the parts, but many were quite obvious. The ears, tongues, and hearts he had were tossed back into the sack and followed by a pound of salt to dry them out. He hoped that would preserve them so he could turn them into nifty little trinkets and talismans later. All the other organs were pulled out and scattered in a nearby alley. It was an unfortunate waste of materials, but Koffurn wasn’t skilled enough to make use of the animal’s every part. The bones and pieces taken were more than enough for him to work with. He returned to his home hastily. Staying in the dark streets of Sunberth wasn’t exactly safe. The night had been productive, but it was far from over. There were still so many things to do before he could sleep. The room was emptied of smoke again and Koffurn went back to work. The water of his washbasin was now more red than pink as the blood from the work was erased time and time again. He sighed and sat down. The room smelled like smoke but the scent of death lurked beneath. The leather needed to be tanned and prevented from rotting. The process was less than pleasant though. It was one of the parts he had been dreading since he acquired the corpses. Boiled brains were a popular and effect way to tan leather, but the smell was supposed to be tremendously bad. Business must be done though. Koffurn went over to the heads and made sure the spine was completely separated. He tossed the water from the basin into the pot of blood and put it over the fire. The flames were very, very hot and soon the thick mixture was simmering. He skinned the heads gently. Skinning the faces made him incredibly uncomfortable, but he tried to blur his eyes and look past what he was doing. When he had gotten all the skin off, he tossed the heads into the pot that was boiling heavily by then. Koffurn waited as patiently as he could and decided to occupy himself with removing the paws. 24 paws, 12 ears, 6 tongues, 6 hearts... and a whole lot of bones! The air started to stink worse than he could ever imagine. It smells awful. It’s amazing! Who knew something could smell this badly? So awesome! He laughed quietly. The brains must be done if they smelled that badly. He detached he projected his arms into the pot. Still debating the best method, he disconnected each one differently. Right arm: elbow, wrist, knuckles, and then finger joints. Left arm: wrist, elbow, knuckles, etc. etc. He decided he liked the right arm method, but Koffurn was fickle. He would probably like the other method the next day. The astral arms reached into the pot and fished out the small ferret skulls two at a time. He shook them as vigorously as he could with his unseen arms and the brains oozed from where the spine had joined the skull. He then turned and rested the bloody skulls on the table. Some of the flesh had boiled off, but most of it remained. The wolf skull was next. He had to use both of his projected arms to deal with it, and, by the time he was done draining it, the first ferret skulls had stopped steaming. The blood and brains mixture smelled like pure death, but he had to continue. “My gods... I wonder how it tastes...” He joked, but then curiosity began to seep into his reason. He dipped one of the daggers’ tips into the pot, this time with his physical hand, and then brought it to his mouth. His tongue stuck out timidly and licked the knife’s broad side. He vomited almost immediately back into the pot and then remembered he had done so earlier. Koffurn laughed despite the horror he had just experienced. He went over to the table and dumped the furs into the steaming mixture. The oily brains would preserve the skins... or so he was told. He had never done this much to this many hides. He set aside the bloody, brainy cauldron full of furs over in an empty corner. He retrieved his second iron pot, this one full of water, and placed it in the fire. He poured vinegar in it. The boiling water and vinegar would take of any of the extra meat that clung to the bones. It would also soften the bones a little, making it easier to carve. As the vinegar and water boiled, he scraped off the bits of meat he could and tossed the chunks and pieces of the ferrets into the water. Soon the dirty bones had displaced enough water that it threatened to over flow. Koffurn wouldn’t let them boil for long because he didn’t want the bones to be brittle or weak. He watched as the water darkened slightly, and the boiling water caused the bones to jump and roll. The room started to smell like a watery stew. It was pleasant but less interesting than the stench coming from the corner. The old smell wasn’t boring at least. The sun was breaking over the horizon when he pulled the pot off the fire. The boiling stopped and then the simmering did as well. He projected his fingers into the pot and dragged out the steaming bones in small clumps. He placed the pot back on the fire and chucked in the wolf’s bones. He passed the time by scraping the ferret bones clean. Soon, the wolf was read and he repeated the process. The pile of damp bones rested on the table. Soon, the fur would be ready to be soaked in the murky water that the bones had been in. He would wait a day, and then the hides would be dried and ready for work. Then, the real fun would begin...

[Archelon]

Thread Award "No turtles were harmed in the grading of this thread... Yay!" And the Results!!!!: Muldris : SkillName 1-5 How/why? Tanning 2 Butchery 4 Projection 3 Organization 1 Lores: Malediction Technique: Bone Selection(basic) Sickened by the sight of blood, and viscerae Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? : Interesting thread, I like how the brains were used :3. Anyways I didn't award any malediction because you actually didn't do much there, but you did earn a bit of a technique lore.