A Butcher on a Mission from God.

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teaches my hands to wage war, and my fingers to do battle.

-Psalms 144:1

Every now and then the police, FBI, or SWAT teams will come across one of those weird cases that nobody can figure out. Serial killers, sex offenders, and the like, who are so elusive that nobody expects to stop them barring a miracle, suddenly get a miracle dumped on their doorsteps. A grisly miracle, yes, but there’s an old saw about gift horse and their mouths.

Very similar to these ‘special deliveries’ are eyewitness accounts from victims or potential victims of the bottom rungs of the criminal ladder. The details vary on many counts, but always have a common element where the offending individual is dragged away screaming and gibbering by a pale man with dark hair, dressed not unlike a mortician. A ‘special delivery’ usually follows in two to four days.

Some people are, if not happy, then at least satisfied with the situation; whoever the man is that drags them off and presumably kills them as well, he’s doing society a favor. Others are not as willing to give the Mortician, as he’s become known, the benefit of the doubt, and are serious advocates towards catching him before he decides to start attacking innocent people as well.

Those in the Underground know a bit more about him than the law enforcement agencies do. He’s a very quiet, unassuming man. Strictly vegetarian diet. Unfailingly polite, especially to women. Speaks with a faint trace of Southern Accent. And the Sleepers want him BAD.

That’s because The Mortician — Lucas Matthews to his close associates — is a three-fold threat to the secret of the Occult Underground: Thanatomancer, Hunter Avatar, and Religious Fanatic.

History

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Lucas Matthews was raised somewhere within the state of North Carolina, in a small town that was very insular in its thinking and its customs. If the Amish used modern technology, that would be an apt description of Lucas’s hometown. Regular as clockwork, his family visited church every Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday.

Lucas was a remarkably bright youth, and quickly grasped the biblical conceptualization of right, wrong, good, evil, and especially the idea of justice, the connection between wrongdoing and its consequences. He might have made an excellent priest or minister, had something very, very wrong not happened to the town.

There is much uncertainty regarding what happened, but the most likely theory from a simple statistical point of view is that some sort of toxic metal compound found its way into the city water supply. People became physically ill, and some became mentally ill as well. There were several instances of arson, an entire family murdered each other, and a literal witchhunt began to form, searching for a scapegoat.

Lucas watched all this from inside his home, which his parents had barricaded earlier. He saw his childhood friend, Rebecca Crawford, dragged screaming to a wooden stake and set ablaze. That very night, God spoke to Lucas.

One may speculate he’d had some of the contaminated water himself at this point, but to him, the experience was totally real. God — who looked like an old man in a green dressing gown, carrying a walking stick, sporting a long white beard, and eyes glowing with the light of the sun — explained to Lucas that the town was being stricken as retribution for their hypocrisy. God pointed out to Lucas all of the instances where his parents would say one thing and then do something in total opposition to it.

Then he told Lucas to send them all to him for judgement.

The next morning, Lucas did just that.

ALL of them.

The situation went downhill from there.

Statistics and Skills

Not everyone saying to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?” And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.

-Matthew 7:21-23

Name: Lucas Matthews

Personality: A mix between the calm, grim morbidity of the stereotypical undertaker and the classic view of the Southern Gentleman.

Obssession: (Thanatomancy) Sending the scum of the world to Judgement.

Wound Points: 60

Rage Passion: Hypocrisy. Lucas doesn’t mind honest and straightforward wrongdoing, such as a thief with a dog-eat-dog mentality or a vigilante murderer out to avenge a fallen friend. But engaging in vice while extolling virtue ticks him off. Beauracrats and politicians especially annoy him.

Fear Passion: (Helplessness) Divine Wrath. Lucas is troubled by the prospect of accidentally killing an innocent man while trying to do his Work, and the ensuing lightning bolt that could very well follow.

Noble Passion: Healing Spiritual Scars. Lucas knows that punishing the evil is only half the job, and attempts to help those who have been severely traumatized. He has occasionally volunteered at crisis centers and suicide prevention hotlines.

Body 50 (Rugged)
General Athletics 35%, Smite (Struggle) 45%,

Speed 60 (Precise)
Dodge 20%, Drive 30%, Initiative 35%, Firearms 35%

Mind 50 (Quick Study)
Biblical Education 35%, Notice 45%, Conceal 15%

Soul 80 (Fanatical)
Charm 35%, Lie 20%, Magick: Thanatomancy 45%, Avatar: The Hunter 58%

Madness Meters

Violence: 8 Hardened, 1 Failed
Unnatural: 6 Hardened, 2 Failed
Helplessness: 2 Hardened, 3 Failed
Isolation: 2 Hardened, 2 Failed
Self: 4 Hardened, 3 Failed

Possessions: Tazer, Air Rifle with Tranquilizer darts, King James Bible, Duct Tape, Hunting Knife, Pliers

Thanatomancy Ritual

Anyone inexperienced puts faith in every word, but the shrewd one considers his steps.

Proverbs 14:15

After acquiring the target sinner, Lucas usually takes him or her somewhere isolated, or at least heavily soundproofed.

Lucas first removes his standard clothing and dons a simple black robe (Preperation of Self).

He then takes his hunting knife and cuts three ‘X’ marks on the forehead of the target (Preparation of Sacrifice).

A small pin is used to poke a hole in the palm of each of his own hands, symbolic of the crucifixion and reminding Lucas who he’s working for and why (Reverence).

The target is then blindfolded (Subjugation), and finally killed with a stab to the heart (Execution). A tooth is removed from the body to store the charge, usually one of the molars.

Lucas’s obssession with death is intrinsic with his religious upbringing and personal idea of God, meaning that he has a few self-imposed limitations on his own magick. First of all, no animal sacrifices; only man can sin. Secondly, only the most foul people of all, who are capable of causing great misery without remorse, are the people God wants sent to Him for judgement. Thirdly, they must be those sinners that have eluded all other attempts to capture them. Lucas feels on some level that the mystic charges he gains are a gift of sorts from God, in exchange for doing His will, and that helps him put his ability to use them to call up demons for information in the right context.

Usually, the offender he intends to sacrifice is also his quarry for the purposes of his Avatar: The Hunter channels.

In order to prevent accidentally sacrificing an innocent man or woman, Lucas will study all details of his target he can acquire, and either track suspects until they make a move, or wait near a likely spot for them to strike. The key element is to catch them in the act, or at least immediately prior to the act, to remove any possible doubt as to their guilt or innocence.

If at all possible, Lucas will try to take the target out in a non-lethal manner; his preffered method is to use the spell ‘The Face of Death’ on the target, forcing a major Helplessness check, then either chasing the target down or just dragging the terrified subject off. If the target can handle the spell, or Lucas is running low on charges, then he breaks out the tranquilizer darts. If there is a victim in mortal peril nearby, Lucas will go for broke and use ‘Borrowed Death’ to kill or at least render unconscious the subject.

At any given time, Lucas usually has two significant charges and between three and six minor charges acquired through breaking up significant ones.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.

Proverbs 29:23

Lucas, in contrast to the equally fanatical Order of St. Cecil, takes a more laid-back stance on the subject of magick; not only because he has to, being a mage of sorts himself, but because of his own personal vendetta against hypocrisy. In his view, hypocrisy requires a direct dichotomy between what is said and what is done by a human being. Magick is more of a contradiction between what is done and what is done, a “this sentence is false” situation. Additionally, the viewpoints of the ‘adepts’ as they style themselves, are driven and direct; a little paradoxical and confusing, but not hypocritical in and of themselves. There is no ‘lip service’ to magick. Similarly, Avatarhood and hypocrisy don’t work together very well.

Not to say that he hasn’t messed with other dukes. He’s seen his share of action in the Underground, sometimes resulting in him using all of his stored charges trying to keep a cocky bodybag or boozehound from spreading his body parts around town.

Alex Abel has heard of the mysterious Mortician, and while interested, doesn’t see him as worth investigating or contacting — yet. The Sleepers know a lot more about him and have dispatched around seven agents to try to put him down before he wakes the tiger up. None of them have been successful — yet. And his alleged present quarry, another Thanatomancer who goes by the unlikely name of Jim Transition, knows that he’s being hunted down but doesn’t know what to do about it.

Yet.

Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves.

Angels & Demons- Dan Brown