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[Trapezohedron]

Plus five like all of my personas.

[Cheesecake]

Take that hog of a man.

"Ew, him? Why?" Your mind feels like it is being clawed by an invisible paw. "Aw, fine."

You slither into the shadows, your experiences of having raided the orphanage pantry dozens of times paying off now. Each footfall as silent as the snow falling, you easily creep up to the boulder-man and his entourage. The noble has had a long night of drinking, according to the smell, and his men seem to have had a drink or two as well.

You wait impatiently for an opportune moment. With bated breath you survey your hunting grounds, looking for a place to ambush them. You see them begin to turn towards an alley, darker than the rest of the street. They seem to be heading towards the mansion.

You crawl atop a house, climbing the clotheslines and leaping from roof to roof. Not too hard considering how closely packed the houses are. The stench of alcohol grows stronger; the man and his guards are directly below you.

You summon your Savior. The blade materializes in an inky-black cloud. Kill them. Quickly! Quickly! Kill!

You leap from the rooftop, as if a star fell from heaven above, and impact upon an unaware guard. He crumples to the floor, dazed, but you give no respite as you sink the knife deep into his throat. His comrade is slow, and with a vicious slice to his shin the other guard falls and yells.

The noble, although drunk, is much more awake than he seemed, and moves far too quickly for his size. Not wasting any time, you sink the knife deep into the guard's stomach and leave him for your target.

The massive man dashes across the street, easily ducking and swerving where lithe and limber street rats would slip and slide. You arc your arm back, release, and in that inky-black cloud it disappears. You begin chiding yourself for thinking that would work, but a second later an inky-black cloud appears behind the man's back and thrusts the dagger deep into him.

The boulder-looking noble stops in his tracks, grasping at his ridiculous, fancy collar, gasping and wheezing. His face turns purple and grey, then he slumps to the floor. You quickly summon your knife to you, which you hide. Then with massive effort you drag the body away. On closer inspection, there is no cut where the knife hit.

If you were anyone else, the noble would have looked as if he were strangled instead of stabbed. As you finally arrive back to the other bodies, their wounds have vanished and instead looked as if choked.

Release me.... I will begin now.... Here.... Where all Above can see my sins.... And all Below will know my spite.


Your eyes open groggily, vision blurred, and the usual pain of acclimating to a new body wracks you physically and spiritually. You see the bright red of her cloak, and, faintly, her soft touch. The feeling of life will soon fade once again, and all the colors you will see will rot to grey. It happens quickly; you see a grey hand touch yours, and just that. Her cloak is a faint and pale red, like a dying rose.

Once again, Death has taken a piece of you, just as you have stolen from him.

Not wanting to dwell on such thoughts, you sit up. Your massive bulk is apparently not as detrimental as you once thought, and you feel relatively at ease in this body. You survey your room; luxurious and furnished, with a breeze blowing the curtains as if playing a wind-instrument. Your bed is piled with furs, and if you could feel, the mattress would surely be soft and comforting.

"Where am I, child?"

"At your guest's quarters, Savior. The body you took, a lesser noble called Gustavo, had a cousin. He came looking for you. I said I found you and that some thieves tried to rob you and killed your guards. She let me come with you."

You rise and look yourself in the mirror. A new body. Behind you, you see Red playing with her knife, apparently still enchanted. Deep inside, you are glad to be separate from that knife. Its nightmares were darker and crueler than yours.

"What now, Savior? Should we just leave before anyone else wakes up?"

[crazyabe]

I see three ways we can deal with this situation...

Code: (1) [Select]

Kill everyone we can and get lost ASAP.

Code: (2) [Select]

Leave immediately before anyone knows whats happening.

Code: (3) [Select]

Take Gustavo's place for a few days, perhaps kill one or two people, then leave, making things look relatively normal.

[Prophet]

Leave immediately before anyone knows whats happening.

+1
Probably be best if we got out of here before we get distracted from reaching our general by some long drawn out situation where we have to pretend to be Gustavo.

[Trapezohedron]

Pretend to be Gustavo. Also pretend to have become amnesiac; we're not privy to the mind of the soul this body used to belong, very likely. Be told about the history of the town.

Stay at most three days. Have Red kill most of the members of the house, gradually during your stay. While doing so, lay off some of the guards and kill some yourself. The body's capabilities must be tested. Kills must be swift and unexpected; reducing the chance of retaliation.

Do a check to the extent of our powers at the moment:
- What necromantic feats can we do?
- Are we able to read the minds of the bodies we inhabit?
- Is Red's dagger still enchanted - or if not, can we still maintain its enchantment?
- Are we able to create phylacteries if in case your body fails you somehow?

[Cheesecake]

You quickly formulate a plan in your mind, and just as you are about to relay it to the child, the intricately-carved door opens, revealing a maid.

"Master Gustavo, you've come to! Are you alright? May I be of any help?"

You shake your head. "No, I think I'm fine." You look stupidly around the room, feigning ignorance. "Where am I? I don't seem to remember anything...."

The maid bites her lip in worriment. "Just as the doctor said, your humors are imbalanced. I'll call him back right away!" You stop her with a wave of your hand, instilling her conscious thoughts with a few of your nightmares.

"That won't be necessary." You release your grip, allowing her to fight her fears. Saying nothing, the confused maid leaves the room hurriedly.


For the rest of the day you either feigned amnesia or practiced the extent of your powers in Gustavo's body. The raging lies and whispered truths can still be heard, so you may still divine from the dead. From what you did earlier, you have some sorcerous potency left over. You haven't tried raising the dead, though that shouldn't be too hard.

You attempt to pry into Gustavo's mind. His death fractured it, and the manner of his death inflicted terrible damage. Almost nothing can be gleaned from Gustavo.

You ask to see Red's dagger. She shows you her wicked knife, as well as a few party tricks she's come up with. The nightmarish energy still seeps from the knife, metaphorically polluting the magic in the air. It can still be summoned and banished at will, and it seems bound to Red only; you cannot lift the dagger no matter how hard you tried, physically and magically.

Finally, you ponder about phylacteries. Though your unfathomable skill allows you to cheat death in a myriad assortment of ways, a phylactery is the go-to for necromancers. You don't feel comfortable creating one in this body, however, and would much rather get your old body back.


On your third and final day, the house is abuzz with panic and terror. The servants have all but left, and the lords and ladies soil their silken garments and pray for help. The murderers that attacked Gustavo has come for them, and the bodies of the slain are still strewn in the hallways, faces agape in anguish.

Truthfully, it was Red and her cursed knife. No stab wounds could be found on any of the victims; it would always seem as if they were choked by cold, vengeful hands.

Meanwhile, you feign the same fear among the nobles, stuttering and stammering with the rest, like a flock of bleating, cowardly sheep. You learned plenty from your time in Bright Manor, of the town of Brightstreams and the noble family running it, as well as Gustavo's past life.

Gustavo, considered quite the reject back in his native home farther north, but quite welcome and adored in Brightstreams, was here to attend the Streams Festival; a pagan ritual of Brightstreams to pray for the streams to stay forever fresh and stocked with plentiful fish.

Brightstreams was a fierce opponent of your general after your death, and caused him a great deal of trouble. Even when his body was to be returned to Brutalos, the townsfolk rallied and overran the host carrying his casket, and vandalized his corpse. His face, which they tore off, is still in the town library.


"What are we to do?" says one of the younger nobles, his screeching voice grating your ears. "God Above, what are we to do?"

"Silence boy! We'll cower here no longer. Draw your swords, gentlemen, its time we brought the fight to them, eh?" says an elderly uncle. He brandishes his rapier, to the cheers of the other men and the cowering of the children.

"Gustavo, dear cousin, come! Here, I have your sword." He extends the blade to you, hilt first, with a warm smile. You take the hilt - and thrust it straight through the puny man. With a pained look in his eyes, he slumps forward and lies limply on the floor.

"U-Uncle? Cousin, why?"

You test your powers on this old man. Arms out, one taunting the Above, the other cursing the Below, you whisper terrible words and the man rises with glassy eyes.

The room bursts into panic, swords charging at you, women and children running and shrieking. Your raised slave parries the blows and fights his former family, all of which are too fearful to hurt their beloved uncle. You take advantage of their weakness, and soon the house is devoid of life, and a symphony of silence plays to the dying beats of their hearts.

Now the house is empty, and you and Red are free to leave (discreetly or otherwise).

[Prophet]

Well what ever we do we might want to get our generals face back if we can. He would probably like to still have a face.

[High tyrol]

Well what ever we do we might want to get our generals face back if we can. He would probably like to still have a face.

1+

[Trapezohedron]

I have a sinking feeling our General wouldn't be too happy to see us, if they valued their face a lot.

Either way find a way to steal it intact; it could make for a good leather mask over a skeletal figure wearing dolls eyes.

[Cheesecake]

"Make haste, Red. We'll head for the town library to retrieve Bokor's face." You wave Red off and she prepares to leave. You also begin chanting, saying fel words and dark poems, cursing the manor and casting it into a false world of illusion.

Together, posing as merchant and adjutant, you leave the manor jovially and wade into the sea of people bustling in town. Not many would know that it was this exact day that the horrors of Bright Manor would start.


"Excuse me, missus," squeaks Red, standing on her toes to peek over the librarian's counter. "I heard there's a creepy face here, can I see it?"

The librarian, her skin stretched and old like the leather jackets of her books, raises an eyebrow. "Heavens Above, no! A child like you shouldn't have to be scarred by that wretched face." She makes a silent prayer and a warding chant. "Wouldn't you much rather learn history in a, hmm, tamer fashion?"

The librarian waddles off, trudging through piles upon piles of books, heavily preoccupied. Red continues pestering her with inane questions, which to anyone else would bore and annoy, but to the librarian is welcome socialization.

Meanwhile, you meditate, losing yourself to the shadows, whispering to them, and listening. You find the location of the face, in an enchanted glass box, in the lowest cellar of the library.

Master... you came for me.... Flee-

You begin to reply, but you are interrupted when you are flung into the air by a maelstrom of fire. You instinctively scan the area with glassy eyes, searching for your attacker. You see Red suspended in the air, suffocated by an unseen force. The librarian, arms crossed, gives a heartless chuckle.

"It was only a matter of time, Pa told me," she says, a clarity in her eyes and voice, vitality rushing back into the librarian. "Soon, he said, soon Nalrathai would return. Thanks to the boy, I heard what happened at Redridge, so I prepared for you."

You begin mouthing a counter-curse, but a whip of flame lashes you, incinerating the books around you. "Don't interrupt." She takes off her glasses, and one look into her eyes and you see the cold nothingness of Death.


You now control Fallen.

"Yesterday it was only three coppers!" you shout, gripping the coins in your hand so hard your knuckles turn white. "How did it become ten?"

The haughty, old man gives a derisive snort. "That's 'cause I didn't see none of yer elf ears yesterday. Why don't ya scamper off, ask yer trees to feed ya?"

"I'm only half elf!" The others near the stall begin to watch.

"Fine. Half the price for half the apple." The stallkeeper crosses his arms, adamant.

You storm off, fuming. You'd heard Brightstreams was heavily against elves. Most people here proved the rumors true, and many a guard had threatened to drown you in the streams. Only the travelling noble Gustavo was kind enough to feed you his scraps, and with the amount he ate was more than enough for you.

Gustavo had been missing for the past few days. Had he left? You wish he hadn't. You make for the library, where Madam Lisabel allowed you to stay. You wonder if you could get her to buy food for you. Probably not, seeing as she's far too frail and old to leave even her counter.

Finally, you arrive at the ancient building. You open the double-doors, and in the eye of the storm of flying books and fire, you see a familiar face, and an even more familiar color. Red.