Labyrinth Circle Spell
The spell can be performed on someone who has died recently. If so they must start casting the spell within the same scene. If the dead became a ghost they have three days until their soul splits and enters the afterlife. The spell binds a person's soul to their body by preventing it from escaping. Each person has four Divine Virtues that make up their Essence. On death their Essence leaves the body through four gateways associated with the Virtues. If these gateways can be sealed the spirit can be kept inside the body that once lived.
Once the ritual has begun the Necromancer must concentrate on performing the spell continuously or it will fail. If preserving the body of a ghost the ritual starts at sunrise when they return to their body and ends at sunset. If someone has dies after sunset the ritual goes on until sunset the next day. If they die before sunset they have until nightfall to complete the ritual.
To perform this rite they must remove each of the organs associated with the Divine gateways: the brain (Conviction), the heart (Compassion), the liver (Valour) and the sex organs (Temperence.) These organs are placed in four sealed earthenware jars. The body is then covered in dessicants, the stomach and intestines are emptied and filled with herbs. Then the body is wrapped in layer after layer of oiled bandages containing amulets of onyx. If the ritual is completed by sunset the Necromancer and all who assisted in the rite mount a vigil until the last light has disappeared from the sky. When night falls the body comes back to life.
The newly ressurected mummy is now one of the undead although they maintain their own free will and intelligence. They are not automatically controlled by powers that exert control over the undead as their spirits are not in the Underworld and did not pass through Lethe.
Their continued state depends on two things however. Firstly their level of animation depends on how well preserved their body is. Normally this is not a problem as the preservatives, oils and amulets prevent the body from decaying. However damage from injury affects them normally and damaged body parts canot be regrown or healed. Any part ocf them that is severed can be reattached under proper ritual conditions but requires further spells to be restored to an animated state under control of the mummy.
Secondly the Virtues contained in their organs are affected by the organs being removed and their gateways being sealed shut. The mummy suffers a -1 internal penalty on all Virtue rolls and loses one channel for each Virtue which has been closed and the jar containing the organ is shut. As long as the jars remain sealed the power of the Virtues within them is contained. If a jar is broken or otherwise opened then the organ's power is released and they regain full function of that Virtue. However when all of a mummy's jars have been opened the power of it's Essence escapes and it dies.
