Bounty Hunter's Journal Page: A Necromancer #1

Target: Thelonius Gretchen Thelonius Gretchen had been tracked for two decades before disappearing without a trace. Reports indicate he lived until the age of seventy-two, spending most of his adult life studying necromancy. His crimes spanned decades, all tied to the dead- either through desecration or the murder of travelers to collect... Materials. However, it's difficult to determine which cases were truly his work and which were merely attributed to him.

(Note: Too many unrelated reports have been linked to the target.)

His origins trace back to New Ashen, possibly as a low-ranking noble who became obsessed with death. The first known murders involved dismembering courtesans before he moved on to reanimation experiments. More recent sightings in Langham’s Wreck described a man with three crude prosthetic limbs and a missing eye. Evidence suggests he engaged in Self-Eating, a grim practice some believe grants immortality.

(Theory: Was his ultimate goal to live forever?)

Over the years, his victims were left discarded on roadsides and byways, each showing signs of surgical modifications, with runes carved into their bones. His experiments seemed less about creating undead and more about enhancing himself or fully reanimating the dead.

Authorities uncovered two laboratories stocked with illegal necromantic texts, embalming fluids, and extensive surgical tools. What remained of his journals referenced entropy and phylacteries, hinting at his final ambition.

The last and most pressing theory? He attempted to place himself within a phylactery to transfer into a living host. After his disappearance, the murders and corpse discoveries abruptly stopped. Rumors persist about the existence of this phylactery, but sources conflict on its nature. Some claim it’s a book, though the evidence doesn’t support this. Others mention an artifact known as the Lexicon, though it doesn’t match the details of Gretchen’s work.

Time is running out. The Church of the Mother’s agents are on the hunt. If they find it first and seal it away, I don’t get paid…