RESURRECTION– II. The Mortician

 

In order for Korak's resurrection scheme to succeed, the simulacrum needed to be infused with enough magical energy to exude an aura sufficient to attract Nieman Kimmel's soul from across the realm, and to serve as a worthy host body capable of sustaining the necromancer lord. The high levels of energy required for such a task could not be generated by the wraith's small cabal of death wizards; only a black coach was capable of harvesting that much power.

Korak was more than familiar with the capabilities of a black coach, for the Von Koss vampires had used them on many occasions to rejuvenate their kin who had fallen in battle. 

 

Such a coach was summoned to the bidding of Korak's Congregation. Banshees swirled about the foul machine as its creaking wooden frame trundled out of the mist. Concealed under his heavy black cloak, Stavros the Mortician descended from the driver's station, ready to carry whatever precious cargo the Crimson Shroud required.

 

 

In life, the Mortician was tasked with chauffeuring caskets to their final resting places and interning them in vaulted crypts. His passengers never rested peacefully, however, for he always looted the corpses of wealthy citizens, relieving them of any gold and jewelry they were to buried with. Even if those he interned did not have any riches to carry into the afterlife, Stavros was able to make further coin by allowing necromancers and other foul denizens access to the crypts to steal their bodies for further desecration.

 

In death, Stavros continued to operate a funerary carriage, but instead of profiting off the misfortune of others, his entire being has been dedicated to harvesting souls for the benefit of the occupant within his black coach. It is the Mortician's penance for a lifetime of treachery– Shackled and forced to drive his team ever onward, never resting, while his undead passenger grows ever stronger. Such is Nagash's cruel sense of irony. 

 

 

The simulacrum was entrusted to the Mortician's custody, and carefully loaded aboard the black coach. Before its departure, however, Korak needed to attend to a few other matters...

 

 

To be continued...