The house sits at the edge of town, silent and lonely. Shingles hang from the roof like loose teeth, and moss creeps up the walls. You have two choices, to enter, or to stay out.
You can sense that the house is heavily warded, but you do not trigger the defences. It seems no one is home as you pass through the threshold. The interior of the house is brightly lit and clean, a contrast to the sullen exterior. Upstairs, in the office, reports cover a small table. They speak of the necromancer, once that can raise the dead at will. You begin reading.
The necromancer's powers are immense. From duels with her, we have discovered that she is able to raise at maximum ten dead at a time. They appear incorporeal, until they reach their intended target. Cold steel does not work against these foes, but her sword does. Runes slide over the metal, forming and reforming. A linguist examined a drawing that was taken by a corporeal, shortly before he died. They appear to be spells of binding and unraveling, but we are unsure. Further data needed...
You sift through the documents, looking for more. An old yellowing one catches your attention, the ashes covering it stain your fingertips as you pull it from the pile.
She wears daggers across her chest on a strap, these seem to be the source of her power. Each one is a different colour, each one has runes covering the blade. Lieutenant Alexander managed to read them and take note. His fate we are unsure of, bruises ringed his neck. I have included a copy of the list here, there appear to be eight daggers.
Akai (赤い)- red, the silencer. This dagger incapacitates the dead, stopping them from moving.
Daidaiiro (橙色)- orange, the speaker. This dagger allows the dead the use of their tongues, or allows the necromancer to speak through them.
Kiiro (黄色)- yellow, the drainer. This dagger briefly pulls the spirit from the dead one, or from a living creature. The wielder must not be interrupted or it will pull their spirit as well.
Midori (緑)- green, the binder. This dagger binds the spirit of the dead to the will of the necromancer.
Ao (青)- blue, the walker. This dagger forces the dead being to walk back into death.
Komurasaki (濃紫) - indigo, the sleeper. This dagger puts all in range to sleep, including the wielder if she is not careful.
Murasaki (紫)- violet, the waker. This dagger brings the dead alive. If the wielder is not careful or is interrupted, it can send them to their deaths.
Shiro (白)- white, the rememberer. This dagger gives the dead their memories, as well as independent thought. It can also erase that from the wielder if they are not careful.
A note is added to the bottom, the writing is far messier, as though the writer was fleeing some unseen danger.
Weapons specialist with us. Not eight dagger, nine. The ninth has never been used, and I pray to God that it never has to be. I have included the capabilities here, I hope someone is able to read this.
Kuro (黒)- black, the sorrowful. This dagger sends everyone within range, even the wielder, into their deaths. It is to be used as a last resort.
The writing trails off at the end, scribbling into nothing. Snatches of notes have been carefully clipped out and are placed into a folder labeled Abilities. You open it.
Originally we thought it was the blood. It's not. Our mentalist noticed something about her aura. When the daggers cut it, she bleeds, yes, but it also creates a hole in her aura that energy travels through. The signal is very strong with blood, but it is equally strong when the wounds are healed. We believe her control is simply weaker when there is no blood magic. More alarming, however, is her ability to sense and manipulate the auras of other people. It is strange, yet she can control what they perceive and do although it seems to cause her loss of energy. We also noted magical control, particularity over earth magic, however an easy attack disrupted her focus.
Here there was a note in the margin, in red ink.
Foolish mortals, they have no perception of how the world works.
You continue reading the note.
We have also seen a grey wolf that wears the daggers. We believe that this may be a servant. NOTE: the daggers can affect the living as well, with similar properties as with the dead. A bow of immense power is strapped to the necromancer's back, the arrows seem to be charged with spells of binding and unraveling. Affect unknown.
Another folder was marked armour. You open it.
The necromancer's armour was tested by a magician during a recent fight. It is made of a mixture of steel, argon, silver and iron. It is made of small, scale-like plates that overlap in a tough covering. The armour covers her skin from the neck down, and a helmet hangs like a hood from her neck. When pulled up, as it is in battle, her eyes appear to be slits. The helmet is plain and unadorned, but is very powerful. All her armour appears to be warded against physical attacks. The sleeves of the armoured shirt stop three quarters of the way down her arm. Cuts and lacerations are visible on her left wrist, where the armour does not cover. We believe this is a source of blood magic.
A final note was written, with hurried writing.
Beware. The necromancer has found a way to open doors into death. These drain the spirits of all beings near them, turning them into empty husks. They fuel her aura, and the resulting explosion-
The icy tip of a sword touches your skin, and you become aware of a being beside you. You are baffled as to how he has approached without you noticing, how a denizen of the seemingly empty house is now near. If you had arrived some time earlier, months perhaps, you would have been greeted with another voice.
"I am the Necromancer." The voice would have been lightly accented and feminine, but very dangerous. "Friend or foe?"
As it is, however, it is a male voice that greets you. Low and malevolent, speaking of an immortal pain. "Welcome to the dead, for you are soon to be one of them."
