Sulfurhast

A Sulfurhast is a merciless beast commonly used as hunters and puppets. Their main purpose is to track down, kill, and take the appearance of their prey. Useful in kings games or when a target becomes unreachable...

They are generally tall, and easily can reach 2m / 6'6" to 2,50m / 8'2" (approx.) Although smaller ones already have been witnessed, and they're not less deadly or dangerous. They all have a skull face covered with a thin layer of skin, and it's most often the face of a psychopomp animal (guide of souls.) Their skin looks like it's been flayed, yet it's a tough layer of hide.

They can evolve in any universe having magic, and especially black magic. They can be created by powerful necromancers, witches, dark mages, or black magic users in general, implying a lot of sacrifices and a dangerous ritual. They are made with fresh flesh, black magic, and sulfur.

Since they're based on humanoid remains, they can have various body types and sizes, as well as various animal parts.

They are sometimes seen with orbits, and a faint light illuminating it from the inside.

Their tongue is always thick with a square-shaped tip.

They're mostly unknown in folklores and cultures. "Sulfurhaste" never or rarely ring a bell, the name means nothing to most of all. However, some powerful magic users might have heard that name once; and it has been described as a knife to the jugular, as something impossible to stop once it's created, as a terrific fate. They say that once you are chased by a Sulfurhast, your life is at the mercy of the gods.

Rare are the souls aware of what's a Sulfurhast, and even rarer are those who knows how to create one.

Ingredients to Summon a Sulfurhast
- A lot of sulfur powder. Be careful, you'll have to manipulate it with a mask on your face not to breathe it. A high dose could kill you, and a small dose is enough to be disoriented.
- Warm human blood.
- A human's fresh corpse.
- Chosen animal's fresh body parts, including the skull, tail and legs. Other bits such as ears or horns can be added.
- A possession from the prey you chose. Make sure it belongs to your prey, and that it has been stolen, not gifted to you. The more the prey is attached to this object, the stronger the bound. It can only be an object or a part of the prey's body (such as blood or hair, for example.) The object should be free of magic, or should contains the prey's magic only.
- And a bit of your own life essence.

The best way to set up the ritual is to have two humans and the chosen animal(s) in nearby cages. Gather the warm blood of the first human, and mix it with the sulfur power. You should get a sticky and awful mixture. Use it to trace the Sulfurhast symbol on a clean ground. It should be large enough so the circle can hold entirely the Sulfurhast's lying body. Alternatively you can use the blood of the body you'll use afterwards and only have one victim instead of two, but it's less efficient.

The symbol to make your Sulfurhast real is important, and full of meaning. By a simple look, it reveals the triadic and complex relationship between the necromancer, the Sulfurhast, and the prey. The symbol at its center is the symbol for sulfur, your most important component when making your beast. The triangle is here to represent the three involved parts in this terrible spell. The circle is here to contains the magic inside. On top of the symbol is the necromancy symbol, it represents you and your actions. At right, another sulfur symbol, but also the symbol of a hunt that will never cease even if there are obstacles on the way. It represent the Sulfurhast and how impossible it is to stop it. At left, the symbol of sacrifice. It represent the chosen prey, the goal, the sole obsession, and he consequences of your actions.

When you traced the symbol, kill the second human and the animal(s) and dispose their body parts in a way to form the Sulfurhast's body. The head of the beast should be where the hunt symbol stands (the right one.) And the arms of the future beast should point towards the two other symbols (the necromancer and the prey,) but make sure that none of the body parts get across the circle. A servant can do it for you, if you have willing servants... but I think it's more important for the bound between the beast and you to do it yourself. Then, place the future prey's possession where the prey symbol stands (the left one.) Try to restrain your nausea when you'll start smelling the blood and sulfur's awful smells, and when you'll manipulate corpses. There is no place for sudden guilt or disgust in your action in this ritual.
You may take bodyparts of people died from a natural death or from a disease, so you don't have to kill them yourself, but make sure that the body parts remain fresh, and didn't start to rot.

When it's done, sit down where the necromancer symbol stands (the top one.) But do NOT cross the circle, not even with the tip of your toes: you would loose them.
It's no wonder why the necromancer symbol stands on the top: if you manage well, you'll be in control of the two other parts soon enough. 
When you feel prepared, pronounce the ritual's words while infusing the symbol and the body parts with your black magic and life essence: 

Kmetz kha dvash stom zmutzam abakh kmetz peshbo' tzu dvash matosh tzovkha dash
Ish kebo'an okhney shad kme'ekim bnar kvi'ek stot kmeya mamhim sikhumtze yoba zmukh
bomked kofo khagugmo imha'nomuye iyat'an nug o'em pehumni bnush dvashe ped
Kmetz kha dvash stom zmutzam abakh kmetz peshbo' tzu dvash matosh tzovkha dash

It is Dvalmay words, a language lost a long time ago. The first person to create a Sulfurhast talked this language. The spell probably could work if we pronouced the correct sentences in any language, but we lost the translation over the eras. You'd better learn these sentence by heart because you will be too focused on maintaining the spell to read scrappy notes on a sketchbook. While you do this, make sure that nothing can interrupt you. The Sulfurhast won't be alive until the end, but that'd be a serious waste to be interrupted after already so many sacrifices. 
When you said every sentences, then say them again and again, until soemthing changes.

If you did everything well, you should see soon enough a black smoke filling the inside of the circle. It will not reach you, to the condition you made a circle with no hole. Keep repeating the Dvalmay sentences. To this point, you'll be in a state of trance. You might even start to ignore what's around you, so make sure that no one's gonna stab you in the back. 
When the smoke will slowly disappear, and if your eyes are open, you'll see the Sulfurhast rising. If the spell succeeded, you'll feel the Sulfurhast becoming alive and rising as if it was you. Then, you'll know you succeeded.

The Sulfurhast will be stuck inside the circle as long as you'll be pronouncing the sentences. It might feel like a comfortable situation, but you should not make it wait, for the bound with its prey must be made at most a few minutes after its birth. Otherwise, you'll automatically become its prey...
Stop saying the sentence as soon as the beast awoke. The magic barrier will cease and the beast will be able to walk past it. Stop infusing your magic and life essence as well, or it will consume you whole: the beast will take what you give to it. 

Most of time, the monster will feel the object's presence on the prey's symbol, and will reach it to eat and consume it. Then the track will start, the beast will leave to find its prey, and you can take a break. But sometimes, the beast will remain inside the circle and not make a move, or worse: it'll seem to be more interested in YOU. If it happens, quickly grab the object and give it to your monster. 

When the Sulfurhast started its hunt, you'll need to rest. You'll feel exhausted. Try not to cast any other spell for a week if you can; you'll be drained. Eat and drink as much as you can, and sleep as much as you need to. You'll maybe experience visions or dreams, where you'll see what your beast sees or feel what it feels. It's normal. 

If you survived this far, congratulations! You'll now be the proud owner of an identity-theft monster, and you'll soon be able to take control of it and its powers. You'll have to take care of your monster and to make sure it never wants its freedom, aka your death. 

And if you ever feel like you could create a second monster, then a third, then many others and never cease, then remember this: it'll take a part of your soul every time. 

These creatures do not reproduce, as they are summoned/created. How they are created and their origins are seen here

The triangle is an excellent representation of a Sulfurhast's life. It is no hazard if its invocation symbols represents the three possible stages of its life and in the same time, its complex relationship with the two other parts. Let's have a closer look at it:

Gene Seskrit explains:

"The symbol to make your Sulfurhast real is important, and full of meaning. By a simple look, it reveals the triadic and complex relationship between the necromancer, the Sulfurhast, and the prey. The symbol at its center is the symbol for sulfur, your most important component when making your beast. The triangle is here to represent the three involved parts in this terrible spell. The circle is here to contains the magic inside. On top of the symbol is the necromancy symbol, it represents you and your actions. At right, another sulfur symbol, but also the symbol of a hunt that will never cease even if there are obstacles on the way. It represent the Sulfurhast and how impossible it is to stop it. At left, the symbol of sacrifice. It represent the chosen prey, the goal, the sole obsession, and he consequences of your actions."

Sulfurhastes can live accross three phases in their life. Only two of them are useful for you.

The first phase is called the Hunter Phase.

When the beast will rise from its sulfur and blood symbol that you traced on the groud, you'll have a few minutes only to give it a purpose. Give it something that belonged to the person you want to see dead. It can be anything, but the more the object was important to the prey, the stronger the link; and if it's blood of the prey, it's even better. The Sulfurhast will eat this possession, then it'll immediately locate its prey, and start running in their direction. It'll be a magic link, and the Sulfurhast will know where is its prey even if it's at the other side of the world.

During this phase, the Sulfurhast is nothing more than an empty shell of flesh. They have no soul and no feelings. All they have is the bit of black magic you gave them and... and a bit of your own essence. And deep inside their guts, they have an insatiable hunger. But nothing could calm the hunger; the food will turn into ashes, the flesh will be unsaviory and useless, black magic and people's life essence will be only temporary. No, only the flesh, the possessions and the soul of their designated prey will be able to satisfy their hunger, and they know it. They'll never cease to track down their prey until they're satisfied. The target you gave them will be their sole obsession.

Their prey can be anyone, but keep in mind that the victim you choose will have a terrible death. During this phase, the beast will not sleep, nor eat, nor rest. It'll keep running towards the victim until it finds it. Its level of intelligence is minor, but it might eventually learn how to open door handles and such things. It doesn't have thoughts, but it's not completely a beast. It's more like... a ghost.

The second phase is called the Puppet Phase.

It occurs when the Sulfurhast finally found and ingested its prey. It will have consumed everything about its target: flesh, bones, spiritual essence, bits of memory, languages, clothes, and current possessions.

The hunger is calmed. The Sulfurhast will still need to ingest life essence and black magic from time to time, but it'll be a minor annoyance.

The beast ingested everything about its prey. Everything. So much that it became its prey. And the person it killed and ate now became the Sulfurhast. And the Sulfurhast may now shapeshit into its prey's appearance in a flash of black smoke. No matter the species of its prey and how different it was from the Sulfurhast's original body, it'll be able to shapeshift in a few seconds.

The beast might try to imitate the dead prey at first, but it'll be clumsly and won't be able to fool the victim's relatives. This is where your job continues.

The "Puppet" Phase is named that way because once the prey is ingested, you are able to take control of your beast. With a simple ritual of possession, which will be eased by the fact that the Sulfurhast has a bit of your essence, you'll be able to take control of your monster at will. You'll see through its eyes, you'll shape shift in its stead, you'll feel what it feels, and you'll act through the beast as you wish. When people will see their friend, they'll in fact see a monster who ate it, controlled by a necromancer. That's wild, isn't it?

It is useful to steal an identity, a throne, etc. You'll be the prince of a foreign country, your worst enemy's wife, you'll be a child again or an old person. You'll steal every power, status, title, and anything the victim had.

Be careful about powerful magic users however, for they might feel the black magic link inside the beast. When you possess the beast, a good mage might be able to feel you and to locate you.

During this phase, the Sulfurhast has gained life essence. It is now completed by a full soul, and by the bits of you that you gave earlier. It technically became alive. And it will learn. And it will learn fast. And it will start feeling. And it'll start living, and experiencing. And it'll become as intelligent as you, sometimes more. It'll take some time to happen, but it always happens faster than you expected. And the beast will start to realise that someone is controlling it in its stead.

The third phase is called the Freedom phase.

Although it may be called by other names such as the Free Phase, the Frightening phase, the Dangerous phase, or the Pacified Phase.

The third phase occurs when the link between the necromancer and the Sulfurhast is broken.

How can it break, you wonder?

When the Sulfurhast realizes its connection with you, and the fact that you're controlling it, it'll want its freedom. And also probably more than its freedom. Several events can provoke it:

- The Sulfurhast will need to frequently ingest life essence. Understand by this: bits of soul and magic. If it doesn't have it, it will die. But a Sulfurhast is resourceful, and if you don't give it the option to feed on its surroundings, or if it's locked somewhere, then the magic bound between you and it will start to turn against you. The Sulfurhast will start to absorb your life essence instead of dying. You'll feel it, don't worry. But if you do nothing to stop it, it'll feed on your soul until you have nothing left and die, no matter the distance between you and it. In short, be careful about feeding properly your beast, or it'll feed on you like any other animal would.

- You won't be able to possess your beast all the time. You'll have to get back to your body to eat, wash, and live a bit not to loose your muscles. And when you'll not be possessing your monster, it might feel the need to meet its creator a second time. If it finds you before you can realize it, it'll try to kill you, and to consume you. That way, it'll gain its freedom, and it'll consume your soul to increase greatly its lifespan. How convenient.

- You can also break the bound between your Sulfurhast and you at any time. It'll cost you a lot of black magic, but you can do it. You might ask: why would you want to break such a bound, after all the sacrifices you made to create it? If you feel like the bound between the Sulfurhast and you becomes dangerous, you will want to break it, trust me. A mage located you? The beast's hunting you? Someone understood that their friend isn't really a person but is a beast instead? You might want to break it for your safety.

You'll loose your control over the beast. But sometimes, it's for the best. This is why I told you that creating a Sulfurhast should be your last resort.

- Finally, if you die for any reason, the beast will be free nonetheless. It'll feel your death and will probably try to find your body to ingest it, but you won't be here anymore to prevent it.

In the Freedom Phase, the Sulfurhast has gained intelligence and any skills its prey had. And it'll live its life as it wishes to, with its knowledge on the world. It'll choose its own purpose on life, and it'll live as long as it can find some life source from time to time, like a vampire.