Quick Ben performed a ritual of soulshifting which transferred the soul of the mortally wounded Hairlock to a wooden puppet. The event was witnessed by Tattersail. He began by asking Kalam Mekhar to get ready, likely a request for the assassin to guard Quick's back and pull him out of the ritual if necessary. Quick then laid a hand on Hairlock's chest, muttered a few chaining words which to Tattersail sounded akin to, but not the same as, Denul and closed his eyes. He resumed his chaining words over an oblong, hide-bound object he had brought, which he set down beside the injured man. Quick traced his fingers along the hide’s seams and power enveloped the wrapped object. The energy which trickled from Quick with absolute control came from a Warren which Tattersail didn’t recognize. Quick then laid the object on Hairlock's ravaged chest so that it was centered lengthways along the breastbone. The webs of black energy which spun continuously over the hide’s surface spread outward when Quick passed a hand over the object. The glittering black threads traced a chaotic pattern that insinuated Hairlock’s entire body, over flesh and through it, the pattern ever changing, the changes coming faster and faster. The wounded man jerked, his eyes bulging, then fell back and did not draw another breath.[1] Tattersail was given the wrapped object to look after. Soon after returning to her tent, the wrapped bundle displayed signs of motion. Tattersail cut it open and revealed a wooden marionette with the features and persona of Hairlock.[2]
Quick Ben performed a ritual to trace the puppet Hairlock soon after he and his fellow squad members had been dropped on the northern shore of Lake Azur by the Black Moranth. He chose a secluded glade in a nearby forest where he poured white sand in a circle, then sat down in its centre. He pushed five sharpened sticks in a row, at varying depths into the loam in front of him. The centre stick rose about three foot, the ones on either side two foot and the two outer ones one foot. Quick Ben then fastened one end of a yard's length of thin gut string near the top of the center stick then looped the line over the next shaft to the left, then the one to the right, muttering some words he brought the line back to the far left, looping it twice, then to the far right where he tied a know and cut the trailing string. He then sat back and called out Hairlock's name which caused the sticks to twitch, at which point a cold wind swept over him, a rushing sound filled his head and he felt himself falling. His awareness and an illusion of physical presence were transported to the puppet's location whilst his body remained in the glade and a shielded part of his mind maintained a sense of distance and control, observing himself in that other location. Once he had dismissed the puppet, Quick Ben raised his arms and the wind returned, restoring him fully to the real world.[3]
At the Siege of Coral, all the Tiste Andii of Moon's Spawn joined in ritual magic to fully unveil Kurald Galain for the first time since coming to the Malazan world. The act cleansed the Warren of the Crippled God's poison and created a permanent manifestation of the Warren in the city. Now known as Black Coral, the city lay within the Tiste Andii Warren just as much as it did the Malazan world.[4][5]
While fighting outside Coral, the Bridgeburner mage, Shank, devised a ritual to slay the Seerdomin leader of a company of Pannion Domin infantry. The mage sat within a pebble-ringed circle with six twigs poked into the ground surrounding a water bladder before him. Quick Ben served as spotter twenty paces to his front with his own line of twigs cut from the same branch. When Quick Ben identified the Seerdomin leader in the mass of infantry he touched one of the sticks which caused one of Shank's twigs to twitch. Shank then released a spell loaned him by Bluepearl that caused the bladder to empty, filling the Seerdomin's lungs with water and drowning him.[6]
At the start of hostilities between the Letherii and the Tiste Edur, King Ezgara Diskanar hoped to stop the war before it began by launching a quick strike on the Edur villages.[8]Mage cadres and soldiers from the Cold Clay Battalion and Snakebelt Battalion led by Arahathan and Enedictal were sent to Kraig's Landing along with Nekal Bara, Trate's resident sorcereress. They performed a magic ritual in concert with CedaKuru Qan that sent an enormous curtain of killing green fire over the mountains against the villages of the Arapay, Beneda, and Hiroth, burning four to ash.[9]
Nil and Nether conducted a ritual to travel beyond Hood's Gate seeking Wickans who had died during the Chain of Dogs. The effort was similar to the magic of the TannoSpiritwalkers and involved the pair sitting facing each other within a jagged ring of stones. While the two Wickans travelled beyond their physical bodies they were only vaguely aware of the surroundings they had left behind. Bottle was able to follow them by stepping into the circle.[11]
Mogora used a healing ritual to save the life of Mappo Runt. She surrounded the Trell's body with an ellipse of gathered stones then proceeded to urinate on them. Afterwards, she stood over the Trell while casting hairs plucked from her head into the night sky. The stars seemed to disappear as she drew on the power of the moon and a rain of spider silk fell to encompass the Trell. To Iskaral Pust it appeared that his wife had pulled the moon from the sky to hang above them almost within reach.[12]
The High Priest of Burn and the other priests of the Temple of Burn in Darujhistan prepared a ritual that would allow Mappo Runt to walk Burn's Path to quickly cross the distance from Genabackis to Lether. The process involved painting the Trell with the blood of Burn so that he would survive the dangerous passage. But the ritual failed because Mappo's skin still bore signs of the ritual once used to heal him in Ardatha's name. The High Priest said the goddess had claimed Mappo for her own selfish and mysterious reasons.[14][15]
Yathengar and the other imprisoned mages of The Pit, one of the MalazanOtataral mines, performed a ritual to escape. The mages weaved their powers, with Yathengar directing, to transport their ship through the Warren of Serc from the Pit to Quon Tali.[16]
