|Flashback| A New Wardrobe [Solo]

[Zaniss Coilbone]

30 Fall 510 AV For it is of old rumour that the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws; till out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl. H.P. Lovecraft, January 1925 By the black of night Zaniss set about his work. Seven hours earlier the Nuit had encountered a middle-aged man of seemingly good health doubled over in the street. The man was clutching his chest and pulling at the collar of his shirt. Ever the opportunist, Zaniss assumed a medical role - reassuring concerned bystanders that he was qualified to diagnose and treat the man for whatever ailment he might have. "Sir, you are not well," Zaniss said, wrapping an arm around the small of the man's back. The man began to gasp and grabbed his left upper arm, "Please, take me to a doctor." "Of course," the Nuit responded. Zaniss began to lead the man slowly through the city streets. "Thank you. Thank you ..." the man breathed heavily as they walked. All expression was absent from Zaniss' face as the pair hobbled along the streets and avenues. He knew where they were headed and to what end even if his victim did not. After approximately a quarter of a mile, Zaniss turned a corner into an alley. The sun was beginning to set on the streets of Ravok and on the man's life. As they made their way through the shacks and shanties of the low-income section of town Zaniss reassured the ailing man, "We're almost there, friend. Hold on a little longer." The man's face had paled significantly and he was nodding off periodically. At last they reached an indiscreet, wrought-iron barred doorway. Zaniss propped the man against an adjacent wall and stripped the lock. He opened the gate and dragged the man, who was now nearly unconscious, inside. Darkness permeated the entrance way and Zaniss led him through a series of corridors to an eventual dead end. The man collapsed upon the filthy floor of what appeared to be a dead end corridor. Zaniss stepped over him and pressed a section of the end wall, revealing a hidden entrance. He turned, squaring his back against the newly opened entrance, and seized the man's wrists. In his wake, the ailing man's body left a clear path of dust through the floor as he was dragged forward. Zaniss carefully deposited the unconscious man into an empty tub behind a curtain, then turned and exited the apartment, carefully closing the wall behind him. For the remainder of the night Zaniss set about gathering ritual items. He made his way first to the roof of the building by way of a barricaded escape ladder. A non-descript tarp covered a cage of birds and Zaniss gathered three of them into a rucksack. He then pulled a small handful of roots from a nearby planter and made his way back down to the city streets. By now they were abandoned save the typical vagrants and riff-raff that populated the area. Zaniss moved effortlessly among them, drawing a hood over his head. At dawn Zaniss returned to the apartment. Once inside, he barricaded the door with a steel angle. The windows and openings to the apartment had long since been covered by sheets of wood and cloth. Zaniss lit a candelabra returned to the empty tub. His victim had long since deceased. The man's lips were blue, his features contorted into a final expression of impending death. Zaniss dragged the man from the tub and into the main area of the apartment. He removed various decorative items from a gurney and wheeled the cart to the center of the room. By candle light he set about his work, first cutting the throats of the birds and draining the blood into a clay cup. Into this mixture he placed the roots, dirt and all, and added a few other unrecognizable components. With the large end of a pestle he began to grind the ingredients together until a neon paste formed. The paste emitted a foul odor and began to smoke briefly. Zaniss began to paint intricate design on the now naked corpse of the man: along his forehead, eyelides, across the chest and navel, and on the soles of his feet. Zaniss then stripped himself of all clothing and extinguished the candelabra. The scent of the mixture and candle smoke laced the pitch-black room. Zaniss propped the man's mouth open and then climbed atop him. In the darkness he leaned forward, placing their foreheads together, closed his eyes and opened his mouth. A thick, white liquid poured forth presently into the dead man's mouth. Zaniss lay motionless throughout the ritual, his mind clear of all thought and emotion. He felt his life force draining and memories of his childhood flooded his mind. As the last bit of life-giving ichor dripped into the corpse, Zaniss' thoughts faded away into oblivion. The pair lay motionless, embraced in the darkness. After some time, Zaniss awoke with a gasp. He lay motionless in the darkness with a great weight upon his body. When he had regained some semblance of strength the Nuit rolled to his right and forced the body off of him and onto the floor. His former body landed with a dull thud. Zaniss lay in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, for the better part of a day before his resolve returned. With great difficulty he sat upright and swung his legs off of the gurney. "Good morning," he sang aloud, greeting no one.

[Verilian]

Zaniss Coilbone +1 Acting You Question My Logic? : Any questions, PM here Lores: Kidnapping a dying Man, Taking a New Body, Performing the Daek-Nuit Notes: There wasn't a whole lot I could award here since the ritual doesn't actually correspond to any specific skill, but good job on your first thread!