Exton

I do not suffer from stage fright, so I glide forward when Mortuis speaks and take my place facing the crowd.

"Good evening, gentlefolk." I smile wryly. "I see some faces I recognize in the crowd tonight, though none I have attended in my professional capacity. Hello, Jack!" I wave to the clearly uneasy mortal all but hiding in his booth and have my reward in his expression.

"My name, as has been told, is Mistress Nyx. I am a shaman and priestess of a sort that I daresay none of you have encountered before. Bear with me, please, while I explain; it has a bearing on the reason for my visit tonight.

My patron deity - or deities, as you will - is Death. Not merely national or cultural representations of Death - Hades of the Greeks, Hel of the Norse, for example - but Death all-encompassing. Death is a deity with many faces and many names, but he - and I use the pronoun as a convenience only, since Death is beyond questions of gender - is more than Hades or Hel, Ereshkigal or Mictantecutli. All these local deities are but a fraction of what Death is, filtered through the cultural vision of your people."

I smile. "Forgive me. Sometimes I sound like an evangelist, I am afraid.

As priestess and shaman, my powers are dependent upon the will of my patron deity; but with his will, I can raise the dead. I can speak with ghosts and force them to tell me anything they know. I have limited power over even the undead, though a strong-willed one may resist my power. There are other powers that I have, but these would not be germane to the topic that brings me here tonight, and I mention the others merely to establish my bona fides.

Your friend Mortuis sent for me because I may 'replay' the death of any living being, in a sort of mystical hologram, for about twenty-four hours after their death occurred. That time is not absolute; much depends on the circumstances surrounding the death, but most traces will fade to uselessness within twenty-four hours - if not sooner. Through what means I know not, he had discovered a murder site, and I consented to use this power.

We saw a young couple, walking together. They were set upon by a pair of ghouls and killed on the spot. They were then taken away, presumably to be devoured at leisure. I pledge to you by my patron deity that what I have spoken is true."