Shriving Habit

This grey habit has a low hood and a folded stole of undyed linen tucked against the breast. The linen is always faintly warm, and near the newly dead it grows warmer still, carrying a trace of breath and the barely perceptible shape of words that were never spoken.

Each charge draws the last words of one creature dead less than an hour out of its body, spoken once in its own voice, whether or not it was able to speak them at the end. The body must be present and whole enough to have a mouth. When depleted the wearer can still name on sight how long a body has been dead, to within the hour.