Death Echo

Basic Information

Alternative name(s) Spirit, Ghost, Wraith Threat Low - Medium Tactics Subspecies Locations Everywhere during the Eclipse

Physical description

Size Distinctive features

Out-of-character information

Image source https://www.artstation.com/artwork/o6nP4

"During my studies of the Spiritual and Acolyte, I have never come across a more pitiful creature than that of the Echo. Forced to live the last few moments of their death - often, horrific - over and over again is surely the worst of fates we as mortals can face."

Death Echoes appear as they were in life to different extents. Those who are recently dead will appear as they were in life in full colour, right down to the smallest detail. The only difference between the spirit and a real person is their slight transparency. The longer the Echo has been dead the more transparent and ethereal they will appear until they are almost only a flicker of shadow.

Echoes can be found anywhere in Arethil. It takes the power of an Eclipse to make them visible to the naked eye. An Echo can only stay in the spot where they died and do not travel unless their body is moved or the object which they have attached themselves to is.

Death Echoes differ from normal spirits in that they are forced to relive the last minute of their life over and over again until they can pass over. Objects may also be seen if it was an object that filled them - for example an arrow piercing a soldier through the heart would appear to kill the spirit again - but not other living people. You can hear what their last words were and the noises the Echo was able to hear before their death but not the words of any other people who were present when the person died.

Being near one of these spirits it will feel incredibly cold, growing colder the closer to the spirit you get. If you were to touch the spirit it would be akin to getting frost bite.

Spirits, sub section - Echoes:

If the Ghosthunter wishes to vanquish an Echo the first piece of advice I would give is to have compassion. Once must remember that these spirits do not have any awareness at all to our reality, only their impending doom. They will be scared, angry, distressed. If their death is long it will also be painful for the Spirit who, though dead, will be in the throws of all of this and more.

They do not yet know they are actually dead.

Echoes often tend to linger in our realm because of similar reasons to other spirits - unfinished business. However, what stops them from moving on to other forms of ghost such as the Poltergeist (Chapter Thirteen) or the Common Spirit (Chapter Two) is that their deaths are usually so traumatising they are stuck in the horror.

If the Powers that Be are doing their job correctly, it is usually best to leave the removal of Echoes to them. Reapers can be summoned and often persuaded to act after (see p.563 for spells on the matter). However, sometimes it is possible for you, the Ghosthunter, to dispel them yourselves.

If you are close to the Spirit e.g. they are a loved one of yours, sometimes an Echo can be talked out of their loop and brought to see the reality of the situation - that is that they are dead and need to move on. You can then guide them with words and gentle encouragement to move on to the Other Side.

If you are not close to the Spirit, then this is harder. You must snap them out of their loop by altering it in some way. There are methods of which to do this via magic or items (such as the Ghost Net or Life Magic), but it is also possible if you step into the loop they may be able to see you as a part of the scene and thus will be able to hear you. You will only have the length of the cycle to try to accomplish this and then discover what it is that traps them here, before the cycle resets and they once again forget you exist.