[center][h2]Death Rattle[/h2]

[i]Themerlinhawk[/i] 

Crow, Ralrisk

Day 1, Morning[/center]
 
The dark of the morgue didn’t bother its two sole occupants, one of which sat perched on a free standing coat pole which was home to several unused lab coats. They were for anyone who was foolish enough to visit the sub basement home of Zachary. It wasn’t actually the half breeds necromancer’s home it just happened to be where he spent the vast majority of his time. Zachary officially lived in one of the rooms within the Tower’s barracks but it was incredibly rare for him to spend time there other than to sleep which only happened a few times a week. 
 
Vulture shifted on its perch as it waited patiently for its pupil to finish with that the autopsy it was performing. The constant companion to Zachary, the large ungainly bird had far too much intelligence in its beady eyes to be mistaken for normal. No one really asked about Vultures presence mostly because the few who had walked away with the distinct impression that the bird was in fact the God of Death himself. At Least Zachary seemed to think so and it was an unsettling thought that think that the man living in the Towers sub basement capable of calling the dead from across the Veil might be incredibly unhinged. That or he wasn’t crazy and Vulture was the God of Death itself.
 
Zachary himself sat on his haunched on the very right corner of the autopsy table balanced unnaturally in the semi darkness of the morgue. With his head cocked to the left the tower’s medical examiner peered at his own handy work. The corpse had been flayed open in a Y incision and then he’d removed its ribs to get at the squishy bits underneath. Rolling a scalpel over his fingers in much the same way that one rolls a pen in class when one is bored Zachary continued to peer at the corpse. 
 
Lady Silver seemed to think that it was of the utmost importance. Zachary wasn’t one hundred percent sure why but given that the organs were neatly cooked and the skin had sloughed off easily as it was the color of charcoal Zachary had a pretty good idea of what had killed the bastard but Calrisa had been insistent. Reaching out into the air above the corpse Zachary plucked one of the shadowy silk thin threads attached to the body and part of the autopsy began to reverse itself. It was really too bad that the Tower wasn’t home to a Darkwarden, their expertise could reverse the corpse state to that of when it had been fully intact.
 
With a slow sigh Crow climbed down off the table, “Archive. Scan him. I need a full facial reconstruction. Open my dictations for me. Also turn the lights back on.” As the lighting in the morgue snapped up Zachary squinted slightly as he shrugged back into his lab coat which he’d left draped over his rolling chair. Hopping onto it and crossing his legs under himself, Zachary settled in, in front of his computer to dictate the report. It was clear what had killed the sorry bastard, electricity, the kind that turned people to a crisp before your eyes. There were many things that could produce such an effect but given Lady Silver’s interest in this particular charred corpse Crow could only think of one thing that she could possibly have on her mind. Maybe if he was through enough this might take them a step closer to being back to normal. 
 
Archive pinged in his ear and Crow turned back around to see a man standing in front of him. Looking the individual up and down Zachary shuddered and went back to his dictations. 
 
[i]Stygian Blade[/i]
 
[hr]
 
Ralrisk’s steps carried her out of the Mistress of Star’s office in an absolute huff. The Mistress of Shadow’s calf length skirt swished ominously as she cut through the few other Knights in the hall which had business in the top most levels of the Tower. Irritation rolled off the notoriously sweet and quick to anger woman. The Knights that knew her were quick to leap aside as she moved towards the elevator. What was Calrisa thinking? She’d dispatched a team to recover a corpse from Stygian Blade territory without a thought to the potential fall out. Without consulting Ris which really if she thought about it was what pissed her off. There were Knight Captains that Lady SIlver relied on more than the capricious Mistress of Shadow, even though Ris was the last of the remaining Mistresses and Masters. The others had slowly faded away over the years and the last three had left shortly after the disappearance of Christian. Urthar had claimed he had to take care of something, Ris had decent enough intel that said Kordus, the master of Steel had been murdered by a Talon of the Covenant of Shadow but Ris couldn’t prove the money had come from the remains of the Stygian High Command. Then there was Moory she’d simply up and left in the middle of the Knight, no doubt fleeing back to the Courts of Winter no doubt finding it safer that trying to occupy the massive boots left behind by Lady Akime and before her Thomas Pavaine. Ris almost wished that Christian had instituted a Master or Mistress of Fist before he’d left. That would have curtailed the rampant politicking and cowardice that the Tower was facing right now. 
 
As if that were not enough now Ris had to collect up an inconspicuous enough group of Knights for her to send back into Stygian Blade held territory in Angel’s Landing to see if they could scrounge up evidence of what the hell had happened to the corpse the previous team had recovered. Ris was tempted to just go herself but she knew that it was not only not her place but that more than just her own talents were required. Best to start with Lilac, the woman’s nickname always made Ris giggle internally considering that she’d personally seen Adela bench press more than any human should be able to. Stepping into the elevator Ris hit the button for the training fields. “Senechal, locate Captain Laska for me. I need to speak with her.” The Tower’s second AI updated the Mistress of Shadow’s PDA as Ris flicked through the other on staff Knights. “Kirane, Crimson, Mal, Markus, Crow...Hmm” She continued to flick. Not lots of options which was becoming a theme for the Tower lately. Probably have to put Sirus on this detail too because of Kirane’s condition. That meant they could probably use a blade….her thumb hovered over his picture for a long moment before she tapped on Megelis profile. That ought to round the team out. Hopefully the fucker caught a bullet while he was out there. The thought made Ris grin like an angry teenager imagining the downfall of one of her school yard rivals.