V - Asmodeus

“Six more nights spent tracing arcane geometries. If the counsel of king Purson were correct, and I believed it heartily to be, my wards would be impenetrable, the ritual perfect. 

Six more souls I cast upon the circle. But there was no flash of light, no snap of brimstone. From above and behind me there came a sudden racket. Nothing like the explosive din that the summonings had produced so far, in fact, the shattering of glass and sound of good silver on stone steps led me to believe minnie had tripped on the old granite steps again. 

Imagine my surprise when I turned back to the circle to see minnie, looking quite cross and confused, her dress soaked in what smelled like wine. The ritual candles had burned out, denoting success. As she demanded to know what was going on, I chastised her for mucking about with my ritual work. Perhaps some strand of hair was left over from when I had her clean the sepulchre after the previous ritual. What luck! Who knew that the ritual could work on mortals! Minnie by all means appeared unharmed if disoriented, and now I had first hand evidence of the possibility of mortal summoning!

I warned her not to move and proceeded closer as I wished to gather information about her summoning experience, when I noticed her eyes snap to something behind me. I turned abruptly, and to my own amazement, there at the foot of the stairs by gods own graces was Minnie. She wore the same dress, the same stain, and the same look of confusion as the minnie sitting in the circle.

I noticed my hand. So close to the precipice of the circle. Damn these demons and damn their trickery! 

I met the Minnie in the circles’s eyes and spoke as the old texts bade me do. “Tu vero est Asmoday!” Thou art asmodeus! 

There came a horrific sound from the minnine in the circle. A sound no human throat could ever produce, but was undoubtedly laughter. The form of my maid seemed to swell, as if infested by terrible boils. She laughed as her bones snapped and cracked as she warped and bloated into new grotesque shapes, every pore on her body seemed to seep with some vile black ichor. It poured from her mouth and eyes, streaming until there was nothing but a writhing mass of bloated flesh. And then, with sickening punctuation, it popped, painting the invisible wall of the circle in stinking tarry ichor. 

There before me was King Asmodeus, bellowing and laughing at my gullibility. He was tall, tremendously so, his horned head nearly grazing the ceiling of my family crypt, with a pair of what must have been tremendous wings folded behind his back. He wore the same infernal mark of office I have seen among the other kings, a pair of ceremonial pauldrons of shaped demonic flesh, in this case, one depicting a bull, the other a ram. There was something different from the other demons I had beheld. The form of many other demons seemed almost mineral in their composition, as if the true creature was but a ghost haunting fine statuary. King Asmodeus seemed to be closer to that of flesh, more organic. He was scaled like a snake, and possessed a serpentine tail, but below his knees, his legs became avain, bearing wicked spurs and talons similar to a chicken. 

When the king finished mocking me, he bowed, acknowledging that he was, indeed, King Asmodeus. I readied myself for the offering of resistance to containment as the king inspected my wards. After a few moments, he spat upon them. There was a burst of sickly orange flame as a handfull of what appeared to be molten metal splattered against my ward. I began to sweat. King Asmodeus was more than graceful in allowing me to remove my coat so we could converse.

Alain-Rene Lesage was correct, the king walked with a cane and a limp.”

Brand of the Imposter - The marked is able to change their physical appearance at will. 

At first, one can only copy the appearances of others, and even then only by first ingesting some part of their body. (blood, hair, etc) Initially, the process can take around 12 continuous hours of focus to complete, but can eventually be completed in under an hour if the right conditions are met. The process seems to become faster with practice, and the more material one ingests. The relative comfort with cannibalism is up to the marked. 

Additionally, individual traits are added to a sort of “wardrobe” within the marked, allowing them to customize their appearance with traits they have worn before. The more often the marked wears a particular trait, the faster it can be shifted to or from. The process is not comfortable, even with practice, but can be extremely painful, or even deadly if undertaken too quickly, as one might be stuck with a broken bone, or forget that they need lungs. 

As far as I am aware, the process only works with humans. Shifting into animals seems an impossibility.