QUIETUS [S!5] [Round 3: Deluge]

Originally posted on MSPA by dynamicEquilibrium.

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Username: dE

SUBJECT FILE
Name: Original name unknown, colloquially referred to as Hangman's Nightmare, the San-Belvieg Impaler, Creaking Suzanne, the Thirsty Noose, self-nicknamed as Schadenfreude, within this document referred to as Schadenfreude
Sex: Unknown, female or nonbiological
Race: Unknown, human or nonbiological
Indicative Color: SILVER, ICE, AND BONE, BURIED IN THE EARTH
Physical Characteristics: The subject "Schadenfreude" appears at first glance to be similar to a common or garden scarecrow. From a body made of rough sacking protrude four makeshift limbs, and a head made of any sort of round object that could have a face painted or etched onto it. More precise physical description is unreliable because the subject frequently changes the specific items making up her/its body. The animus behind these objects is unknown and had no apparent physical or magically-detectable manifestation. However, sightings confirm that her/its right arm is almost always unlike the others. Instead of being made of stiff, stick-like objects it is typically a noose of hempen rope that moves of its own volition. In addition, her/its left arm is usually made of a stiff component lashed onto a sharp metallic tool or weapon of some kind. Other than this, all of her/its known body components are replaced frequently and unpredictably, but at the subject's last known sighting, the right leg had been constructed from a broken flagpole, the left from a telescoping machine component, the left arm from a pair of garden shears bolted onto a gentleman's cane, and the head from an overturned pot with a smiling face daubed onto it in pastel paint.
Known Past:

SpoilerShow

Only two significant incidents have given us important insights into the past of this creature. The first comes from a victim of hers/its to whom she/it chose to tell a strange story, which we believe relates to the subject's own past. This victim's soul was captured and posthumously interrogated. What follows is the most accurate possible transcript of the subject's original words:
Ah, yes, you ran very well... quite fun. I'm afraid I have to hang you from this tree now, but since you were good I will tell you a story first. A long long time ago... very long... so long... yes, there was a person, a girl, yes and she was human and pink like you, I remember now... then this girl went into the woods to do something, some fleshy human thing... but that's not important, what happens next is very much more important, because she fell into a hole in the ground, but it wasn't any small hole or ditch, no, no, no, it was very very deep and dark, and so very very deep she could never get out... there were many caves and passages and tunnels and she wandered, and then she heard it... yes, I heard the deep, great, cold voice from below, and he said to me "I have given you a gift, a gift that you shall never die" and the pit opened, and the stars were below... But then, then I did not understand how great this gift was, so I wandered for a long long time looking for a way out, but there was no way, and so I killed myself, I broke my neck, but then I woke up with my neck broken, my lungs not breathing, but still alive... I knew I couldn't find a way out, so instead I dug, yes, I dug into the wall until my hands and fingers were torn off and my arms and legs wore away, and until my bones moldered... Until one day, finally, someone else came down into the pit, many someones, with shovels and digging machines and I realized that I couldn't greet them when I was rotting away and had no limbs, so I hid in the dark and made some new arms and legs out of the tools I stole. And then I tried to greet one of them, yes, but I couldn't remember how, after so long, and I was so strong, that he broke, yes, and he died... but when he died like I could not, then I realized how very very very wonderful this gift I had been given was, yes, yes, yes, and I said hello to may many more humans, yes... So the moral of this story is that you should always be well-dressed, in case someone comes to visit and you end up wearing sticks for arms like me. It's time to hang you now.

This story appears to point towards the second piece of information, the doomed excavations beneath Mithil-glane Hill. Among the few pieces of information recovered from the disaster were accounts of a lurching, makeshift horror that throttled workers. It is reasonable to conclude that Mithil-glane was subject "Schadenfreude"'s point of emergence into the world. The subject's own account of the source of her/its powers (namely, a strange pit, a voice, and a gift of undying life) agree with the recovered reports from Mithil-glane stating that [INFORMATION REMOVED] Further information regarding the above statements is classified. This information refers to Subject: Mithil-glane Hill, not Subject: "Schadenfreude". This information requires a security classification of Alpha-Ace or higher for release. [INFORMATION REMOVED] ,so, it is clear that human beings cannot withstand the effects of this transformation and as such the hill was sealed under solid concrete and then bound by silver, ice, and bone, as per protocol.

In the time since the expedition, reports of people mysteriously killed by hanging or stab wounds have traced an erratic trail across the continent, followed everywhere by stories of a lurching nightmare, a vengeful geist, the spirit of man's tools come to life and other such fanciful tales. These are not as revelatory as the above incidents, but they do, collectively, reveal a certain trend. There is one quality of the subject even greater than her/its murderousness, and that is her/its total erratic inconsistency. She/it once carefully slipped notes under a man's door for five days, repeatedly inviting him to a private lunch until he finally gave in to curiosity. When he arrived, the (disguised) subject immediately killed the waiter and left, never addressing a single word to the victim who was so carefully lured. Should any agent encounter this subject, be aware that her/its nature changes mercurially and without warning. Call for backup and attempt to incapacitate the subject immediately. The subject is largely unaffected by any type of physical damage, and in fact this is counterproductive, so use restraints only. It is of the highest priority that this subject be apprehended and sealed along with the source.