[Icewalker]

While I'm on here, I may as well.

The rest of case file 9, and all of 10. Just only over 1500 words.

Spoiler

Over the course of the next five years, Havoc hunted the Alias killer across the entirety of the Spire, between Peak, Old Chasm, Hawkhaven, Iron Heights, the Living Market, and the Spire Halo. In 337, Havoc pursued the Alias killer to the Empire of the Sands, in which he reported several further encounters with the killer. In 338, Havoc broke into the royal palace in the Empire of the Sands, and cornered and confronted the crown prince, holding the boy hostage. Havoc demanded the prince’s room be investigated. Court Mages arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, and disabled Havoc. However, within the same period of time, Vizier Satef acted on Havoc’s statements, and returned as the Court Mages intervened, having discovered the dead body of the crown prince hidden within his chambers. On the Vizier’s orders, the Court Mages accosted the crown prince Havoc had confronted, stopping him from leaving, and contained him.

Havoc insisted that the Alias Killer had taken the form of the crown prince of the Empire of the Sands. Vizier Satef supported the investigator’s claim, as did certain others. In agreement with the royal family of the Empire of the Sands, the Lock prison facility held trial for the accused, and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to convict, and would allow the Empire of the Sands to conduct investigations hold trials against both Investigator Havoc as well as Vizier Satef for their actions. As the royal family left the courtroom, Havoc attacked the accused with a blade he had smuggled into the court. Witnesses in the courtroom, including the royal family, report seeing the accused’s body shift in a way utterly impossible for a human body. Havoc struggled with the accused, whose shape changed between several forms before Lock staff and Court Mages separated the two and took the accused back into custody. The accused was re-tried given new evidence, and was found guilty of 62 counts of Murder of the 2nd Gauge, 1 count of Regicide, and Practice of Priority II Illegal Magic, and was sentenced to life in prison within the Lock prison facility. Upon the request of the court, Investigator Jacob Havoc took the position of Lock Scholar 9 to continue observations of the convict.

On the 19th day of the 3rd month, in the year 440, the occupant of Cell 9, having often changed form and appearance with its confines, returned to its cell after a regular scholar’s session in the appearance of Scholar Jacob Havoc. The occupant of Cell 9 has retained this appearance through the last year and a half, continuously claiming to be Scholar Havoc. On the outside of the cell, the effectively identical Scholar Havoc has stated that this is a further manipulation by the Alias killer. Some have theorized otherwise, however no conclusive evidence has been drawn in either direction.

Known Capabilities:

The particulars of the Alias killer’s abilities are unknown. Havoc has stated that it is capable of changing its appearance and form with great rapidity, with no known way to differentiate between Alias and those who it has taken the form of. Alias has not been seen to take the form of anybody it has not encountered and attacked. In battle, Alias has been seen to change forms with sufficient speed and precision to avoid the blows of weapons. It is unknown how the being is capable of such changes.

Havoc has noted that Alias is capable of learning any and all knowledge and memories of those he has taken the form of. It is unknown whether he also gains the skills of those he has harmed, both physical or otherwise, such as magical ability; Alias has not been seen to use any clerical or arcane magic in encounters.

The Alias killer’s victims have been found with their souls damaged, in keeping with the soul grafting procedures designed by Jonathan Gabriel Falx and Xerxes Sveran. It is unknown what capabilities this grafting may confer, nor whether his knowledge of soul grafts is different or more extensive than the original designs proposed by Researchers Falx and Sveran.



Prisoner File for Cell 10

Occupant:
Amadeus Conté

Crimes:
Murder of the 1st Gauge (171 Counts)

Date Imprisoned:
Imprisoned the 29th day of the 5th month, in the year 337
Transferred to the Lock prison facility on the 14th day of the 9th month, in the year 337
3 years, 3 months, 2 days to the date.

Classification:
Human

History:
The early life of Amadeus Conté is almost entirely unknown. Orphaned young, he was adopted in the year 308, at the age of 14, by the then retired medical researcher Jonathan Gabriel Falx. As Falx lived a highly reclusive lifestyle, there are effectively no records of his early or late childhood. In the year 315, Falx died in a chemical laboratory accident, leaving Conté his estate.

Shortly after Falx’s death, Conté discovered old research files written by Falx and his colleague Xerxes Sveran detailing the procedures of soul grafting developed by the two in the year 292, which were never published by the researchers. The procedure was considered by the officials of the Halls of Hope and deemed immoral and illegal. This ban was acknowledged and brought into effect by the Spire and the Empire of the Sands, as well as by the Kingdom of Dawnstar.

Conté followed the career of his adopted father, becoming an official surgeon in the Halls of Hope at the young age of 23, and was considered among his colleagues to be one of the most competent surgeons in the Halls, even right from the end of his training in 317. Over the course of the next 9 years, Conté continued to serve in the Halls of Hope as a surgeon of renowned ability. In 326 he was given the position of Head Surgeon within the Halls of Hope, a position he held for the next 10 years, generally considered to be one of the most capable surgeons in medical history.

Between the years 330 and 336, a number of deaths occurred within the Halls of Hope, seeming to be the result of unexpected allergic reactions and abnormal responses to medication. In 336, a Hope doctor named Raphael Ophiuchus Oros and a Knight of Dawn named Iustitia Ariel presented evidence that this large series of deaths was the result of intentional malpractice, via the modification of medications given to certain patients. Oros had concluded that the pattern in the deaths was the result of the same modification in medicine across over a hundred cases. Dame Ariel noted that every patient found dead in such a way seemed to have some history of crime, including numerous criminals who had served and finished a sentence, and individuals tried but found innocent. When investigated by the Halls, the pattern was acknowledged, and the lethal changes to the medication was traced to Amadeus Conté. Conté was tried by the Kingdom of Dawnstar for the murder of 168 patients over the course of 8 years. Conté was found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisoned with productive labor for the Kingdom.

Shortly after his imprisonment, Conté escaped his guards during a session of labor, and was found afterwards with the dead body of another prisoner, a Twilight Dragoon and Knight of Dawn named Michael Iblis brought in by Alexander Sky ten years prior. Conté had killed the man with a scalpel, without apparent evidence of a fight. It is unknown where the prisoner acquired the blade, but it was confiscated and removed from the facility. Conté’s sentence was modified, limiting his allowances out of his cell and ceasing labor opportunities. Weeks after this incident, Conté was discovered to be missing from his cell, and was found with the dead body of another prisoner, similarly a Twilight Dragoon and Knight of Dawn, named Opalus Telemachus. Again, via methods unknown, Conté had used a scalpel. Conté was moved into high security solitary confinement under high watch in a separate facility within the Kingdom of Dawnstar. A month after this second incident, Conté was again missing from his cell. He was found back in his previous prison facility, with the body of the third major leader of the Twilight Dragoons brought in by Alexander Sky, the ex-Knight Jahanna Navis.

After this third killing, the Kingdom of Dawnstar requested the assistance of the Lock prison facility to deal with Amadeus Conté. Amadeus Conté was tried on 171 counts of Murder of the 1st Gauge, and was sentenced to life in prison in the Lock prison facility.

Known Capabilities:

Amadeus Conté is primarily known as a surgeon, and not as a combatant, thief, or mage, though he is known to have clerical knowledge within the scope of a skilled cleric. Conté has extensive medical knowledge of all sorts as well. It is likely that Conté is capable of the soul grafting procedures developed by researchers Falx and Sveran, however whether this is true is unknown.

It is unknown how Conté was capable of escaping his bonds and guards during his three escapes in prison. He had shown no previous experience of similar abilities or knowledge prior to his imprisonment.