Kvaasik - A Wolf Among Sheep

1 - The Rise of Thras
2 - The Cold Front
3 - Change in Wardrobe
4 - The Unsinkable City
5 - An Unlikely Patron
6 - The Purring Liar
7 - The Dismantling Dilemma
8 - The Shade in Sunlight
9 - Varen's Folly
10 - The Soul Siphon
11 - The Astral Escapade
12 - His Master's Student
13 - The Graveyard in the Closet
14 - The Blue Ambush
15 - The Red Redemption
16 - The Liar's End

---

17 - The Field Work
18 - The Trouble With Taproot
19 - Lessons from Coldharbour
20 - Tower of the Black Worm
21 - A Wolf Among Sheep
22 - The Revelation

---

The walls of Windhelm squatted above a frozen river, snow coating every surface. The guards, wearing Stormcloak armor with foolish pride, eyed me with disgust. This was unsurprising, as most Nords in this region are intensely xenophobic, and frowned upon Dunmer and other elven folk. I strode into the city anyway, unimpeded.

The city appeared to be separated (or, more appropriately, segregated) into three parts: the center part appeared to be the entrance to the city, also including a monolithic palace in which Ulfric Stormcloak must sit on his throne with dumb satisfaction. Another third of the city appears to be home exclusively to Dunmer refugees from Morrowind or Argonian dock workers. The Nords express scorn towards these groups without restraint, evidence of the flaws of their stubborn pride. The last third of the city includes shops, Nord homes, and a cemetery. The cemetery, despite its nature, is useless to a necromancer such as me, as most dead bodies are consecrated with Arkay's foul ritual, so I didn't think that 'one of my kind' would spend time there. But, I walked through the graveyard anyway, just to be thorough. That is when I was surprised by a crowd of people around a bloodied gravestone.

A Nord female, wounded in odd places and patterns, lay very still on the slab of stone. The skin was as pale as the snow, so she must have been killed during the previous night. There were four people around the body: a guard, and three people who I assumed to be witnesses. They would not have seen anything useful, as they did not know what to look for. But I have a more observant eye. The wounds are clearly forensic and were made with precision, although none of them would have proved fatal by themselves; I suspect this Nord died of blood loss. There are far easier ways to kill someone, unless the killer's main goal was not murder, but experimentation. This person, the 'Butcher' as I've heard the witnesses mumbling under their breath, is a necromancer.

This necromancer, however, does not seem to know how to cover his tracks very well, as there was a blood trail staining the stones and leading away from the body. A bit surprised that guards did not notice splatters of blood on their daily rounds, I followed the trail. It snaked towards one of the aristocratic Nord houses, a bit smaller than the rest, yet still very grand. The door was locked, but this is not trouble for a sorcerer. I stepped into the needlessly large house, unsure of what I would find.

---

The house was incredibly empty. I would have thought anyone who could afford such a lavish exterior of a house could furnish the interior, but Nords always surprise me with their lack of common sense. A film of dust coated everything, cobwebs wrapping corners of the house like burial cloth, and it appeared that no one had been here in a long time. But there was something in the air, not a smell or a taste but the familiar aura of dark magic. The Necromancer's Amulet is here.

I followed my senses to a short bookshelf squatting on the floorboards. It was chocked full of the same flyer about the Butcher. Odd how a murderer would keep company with his own reward poster, but this killer apparently has many strange mannerisms according to his furnishing choices. One pile of papers, however, was misshapen. A sleek, ebony cord hung from the pile, soaked in necromantic energies, and I knew that I had found the Necromancer's Amulet.

"That is not yours." An old voice said from behind me. I turned with the Amulet in hand to see an Imperial in merchant's attire. Before I could say anything, he sent a spear of frost hurling towards me. It knocked me backwards, but I held fast to the Amulet. I let crackling electricity leap from my fingertips, but he blocked it with a timely ward. I knew that simple spells would not defeat him like any common skeever, so I resigned to use the Amulet.

When used in reanimation rituals, the Amulet will transfer some of the wearer's energy to the reanimated corpse. Theoretically, it could do the opposite, as well. Holding the Amulet in front of me, I redirected the necklace's enchantment, sapping energy from the old man in front of me. He cast ever-weaker spells than the last, until he sat exhausted on the ground. I considered killing him, but he was a powerful resource, evidenced by his near success in apprehending me. I released my hold on him, but cast a paralysis spell on his body below the neck, so he cannot run, but can still answer my questions.

"What is your name, necromancer?" My voice sounds strange coming out of Arevyn's mouth; I had forgotten I was using a borrowed body. With a grumble, the Imperial answered, "Calixto...Calixto Corrium. At your service." He panted for a moment. "Are you going to kill me? Because of my 'unholy' practices?"

"Why would I do that? You are very talented. In fact..." I smelled something coming from a nearby wardrobe, the odor of dead sinew. When I opened the wardrobe, the back panel seemed out of place. Suspecting a hidden entrance, I pushed the back panel out, revealing an entirely new room; it was obviously where Calixto chose to do his work. Bones were strewn across the floor and on an altar, candles lit in arcane patterns on the floor. "Yes, very talented. Do you know what this amulet is?"

"The Necromancer's Amulet. But I expect you know this. I found it in--" He stopped abruptly, perhaps sensing my impatience. "It does not matter. But why don't you kill me? You have what you want from me."

"As I said, you are talented. It would be criminal to kill you. For you, I have a larger plan in mind."

"What do you mean? What 'plan'?"

"Patience. If you come with me, you will have all of your answers." I released the paralysis spell, but Calixto's curiosity kept him spellbound.