Keres Creed

Art by Stormrider

### Connections

Ayla Fern, Talon, Ganymedean Bodysnatcher, Dr. Oshi, Dr. Ignatius Hellebore, Victor Valentin von Cicero

## Campaign Appearances

### Guest Appearances

*Pipe Dreamers*

> *"Oh, Doctor Hellebore. You'll soon come to learn that I mean what I say. And I do what I say."*
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> -Keres Creed to Dr. Ignatius Hellebore
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**Keres Creed,** also known as **"The** **Butcher"**, is an undercover agent that worked within the Xiros Defense Force. Known for her vicious nature and psychopathic tendencies, Keres acted as a contact and handler for an unknown employer with equally unknown goals. As the Façade killings were coming to a close, Keres inducted Dr. Ignatius Hellebore into this enigmatic conspiracy, and also had previous dealings with his former partner Dr. Oshi.

However, Keres Creed's actions preyed upon the conscience of one of her other contacts, Ayla Fern. Some fifteen years before the events of *Deadbeats*, Ayla confronted Keres and used her powers as a Spiritualist to possess the Butcher's body, effectively trapping her in her own mind. For the following years, Keres Creed remained mostly dormant while Ayla puppeteered her body to continue working as a protector. However, Keres remained alert and patient, waiting for the opportunity to retake her body and continue her bloody work.

## Description

### Appearance

Keres is a unusually youthful looking women with fair skin and bright red hair tied back in a ponytail. She stands tall at a height of 6ft 1in and has a very muscular physique, complete with broad shoulders, large biceps and well-defined abs. Her eyes are usually orange in color but often seem to glow red when in combat.

Keres normally wears a variation of the Xiros Protector uniform, most notably a blue and grey sleeveless overcoat with yellow trimming. Underneath she wears a simple black tank-top that exposes her midriff and a pair of grey baggy pants with a yellow belt.

### Personality

> *"You're a monster. You always were. A Butcher."*
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> -Ayla Fern to Keres Creed
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Keres Creed is, in her possessor's own words, a monster. Her moniker of "the Butcher" is well-deserved, as she is inherently violent and takes psychotic delight in hurting others, primarily shown in her days as a Prot by literally beating confessions out of criminals, or using Ayla's powers to make them so afraid that they willingly confess on a good day. Keres is no mindless enforcer though, as she has significant cunning and charm when she needs it. She patiently allowed Ayla to use her body, waiting for the opportune moment to take control and arrange her return. She also has particularly good understanding of people, as she successfully convinced Dr. Ignatius Hellebore and Victor Von Cicero to join her, preying on the former's grief and the latter's desire for freedom to win them over. However, anyone with previous interactions with her, such as Hellebore and Oshi, are deathly afraid of her, demonstrating her cruel nature always reveals itself one way or another.

Keres Creed show blatant disregard for morals and laws, believing herself to be above them. She willingly threatens Ayla with the death of her friends knowing it will doom Arcmond and allies herself with the rogue Ganymedean Talon to further her own ends, showing that nothing is off the table for her. Her angry confrontation with Ayla in the Decontamination Room also shows her sense of entitlement, believing her independence to be everything to her and Ayla's act of preventing her from doing as she wished as theft and jealousy. Though Keres' motives and goal are as of yet unclear, it is obvious that she will allow nothing to get in her way and will delight in leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.

### Background

Keres Creed's history is still unknown. She is a Journeyman Human, which imply that she or her family were travelers that moved around Io's Arks. At some point, Keres settled in the City of Xiros in Qethos and joined the Xiros Defense Force as one of its protectors. However, Keres also had ulterior motives, as she became part of an unknown group with equally unknown goals. It is not clear how this happened but she continued to serve as a prot while also furthering their agenda. She made several connections as part of this group, including a young woman named Ayla Fern, who was studying to be a spiritualist. Ayla became particularly attached to Keres, considering her to be a friend and impressed by her strength.

### The Façade Murders

Around 20 years ago, Xiros became terrorized by a series of horrific killings, with the victim left paralyzed in an expression of horror. The supposed perpetrator became known as Façade, and the XDF devoted significant resources to tracking him down. Leading the investigation was Detective Logan Horn, a famed veteran of the prot force. Keres was likely involved in the investigation in some capacity, as she seems to have known Logan, though it is yet unknown to what extent. However, Façade continued to elude the authorities and eventually ended their killing spree after the murder of Logan's son, which subsequently broke the detective. It is unclear if Keres knew about Facade's true identity as a cabal of Ganymedean bodysnatchers.

### Recruiting Great Minds

Within the same year the Façade killings end, Keres was contacted by Ayla Fern, who recently took up an apprenticeship with Enchantress Evangeline Hellebore. The Hellebores had been driven from their home in Alabhastar by an angry mob and were seeking to relocate to Qethos. Keres agreed to assist her, and sought out Dr. Ignatius Hellebore shortly after their arrival. Keres explained she and her employers were very interested in the grieving doctor, who initially didn't want to work with the XDF. Keres assured him he would be working for the people of Io, not the prots, and that her employers could protect him and his family and provide for them as well. Her grandiose claims that he would be helping mortality to advance to its "next chapter" enticed the doctor, and he accepted.

After enlisting Dr. Hellebore, Keres would then approach Dr. Oshi with the same job. The soon-to-be Father of Radiation initially accepted and entered into a partnership with Dr. Hellebore at her employer's request. Under this new partnership, the two of them would go on to developing Radiation, mankind's answer to the magic they had previously drawn from other Veils of existence. Keres would continue to act as their liaison, but eventually the two would see her true colors as a violent and callous woman. Dr. Oshi, particularly unnerved by the whole situation, would eventually abandon the project while Dr. Hellebore's relationship with Keres' faction still remains unknown. However, both men show very tangible fear at the very mention of her name years after their last interactions with her.

### Losing Control

Some five years after recruiting the two scientists, Keres' attitude and actions finally upset Ayla the Spiritualist to breaking point. This instigating circumstances are unclear but Ayla managed overcome her shyness and isolate and confront Keres Creed. Through the use of her mastery of spirits, Ayla abandoned her own body and forced herself into Keres', assuming direct control of it and suppressing her consciousness. Keres was unable to take her body back and was forced to remain trapped within her own mind. It is unclear what became of Keres' standing with her employers, but Ayla continued to serve as a prot with the XDF, masquerading as Keres. As a side effect of this, Ayla could manifest her own spirit in the form of an Astral Spirit, that could fight alongside her new body.

This possession would continue for the next fifteen years, though it did not go smoothly on Ayla's part. She would suffer recurring headache and blackouts as Keres forced her way back into command. One such event of Keres' original personality emerging had her put on probation by the XDF, which continued to the present day. The details of this event were unclear, but it was enough to forever brand Keres with a fitting moniker "The Butcher".

### Reemergence

For the next fifteen years, Ayla maintained control over Keres' body, partially as a consequence of Keres allowing her to do so. However, as with the incident that earned Ayla her probation, Keres took several opportunities to let her true self shine through. When Ayla was recruited by Logan Horn to seek out the recently re-emerged Façade, Keres began to come back up to the surface as well. When Ayla and her new allies arrived in Southern Ishtar, Keres asked where they were while they were asleep. Keres very nearly showed herself shortly afterwards when the dhampir Victor von Cicero confronted her about her moniker and insulted her. For the most part though, Keres stayed quiet, observing as the group made an alliance with the Lamantos and explored Cicero Manor to discover they had been double-crossed.

However, Keres' will was able to overcome Ayla's some days after returning to Jotun, when Dash Whiskers questioned if she knew about Dr. Ignatius Hellebore, who exhibited great deal of worry upon learning of her involvement. Keres, in command of her body again, deflected Dash's questions and attempted to act natural. Despite this, she demonstrated certain gaps in her memory and unfamiliarity with the group that drew attention to herself. Dash and his allies, especially Victor, took note of this strange shift in personality and quickly deduced something was up. Keres then decided to retreat back to avoid further exposing herself, but the damage had already been done. Despite Ayla's efforts to defuse the resulting tension, her party were now aware of Keres' presence and became highly mistrustful.

### Lying in Wait

Keres continued to play the long game with Ayla in the hopes of finally getting her body back to herself. She remained quiet and attentive when the group travelled back to Qethos to investigate the Ganymedean invasion and the new threat that was Hecaton. Keres also began to pay more attention to Victor, seeing something of a kindred spirit prone to anarchy. When the group made contact with a group of scrappers in Veshar who had had dealings with Hecaton, Keres noted a familiar face in the form of Dr. Oshi. Ayla nearly lost control again, but managed to suppress Keres. Oshi did notice how different the protector was from before and accurately deduced that Ayla had no knowledge of their previous encounter with Keres. To combat the threat to the Arcmond Reactor, Oshi devised a plan to infiltrate Arcmond and then assault the Spire that housed it to stop Hecaton's plan. Once they reach Arcmond, however, Keres finally found the opportunity she was looking for.

The night before Ayla and her allies were to raid the Arcmond Reactor, Keres took command of her own body while her possessor slept. She rowed out to an island east of Arcmond and used Ayla's burner phone to make contact with Talon, a former member of Façade. Keres asked him to do her a favor in exchange for information about her party's movements. The favor was simple: locate the body of Ayla Fern and bring it to the Spire. Talon agreed to do this and Keres informed him of the proposed pincer attack on the reactor, as well as the interference done to Talon's escape vessel. After ending the call, Keres used all her strength to crush the burner phone, and then commanded Ayla to wake up. Confused and disturbed, Ayla rejoined her allies and said nothing of where she had been.

### The Butcher's Ultimatum

The next day, the prots and cons made their way to the core via the waste disposal entrance, shutting down security as they went. When the group finally made it to Decontamination 2, they found a black metal box with a strange symbol and a set of stuffed animals beside it. Knowing what it was, Keres had started to take complete control over her body, drawing Ayla into a mental conversation. Keres made her demands clear to Alya: she was to relinquish control of her body and continue her task or Keres would forcibly take over and kill her friends. Ayla retorted that Keres had no right to her body and that she was keeping her under control. Ayla's remarks touched a nerve and Keres angrily declared that Ayla stole everything from her. Bringing herself back under control, the Butcher reminded her of the events of last night as proof that Ayla had no true control over her.

Knowing she had no choice, Ayla reluctantly agreed to Keres' terms. However, she declared that Keres was a monster that needed to be put down, and she would hunt her for as long as it took to bring her down. Keres, unfazed, simply said she already knew that. With that, Ayla forced herself to open the box and end her possession of Keres, returning her astral self to her old body. With the Butcher back in complete control once again, she turned to her former allies and announced that they were too late to stop the Reactor. She then turned to Victor Von Cicero and explain her intent to leave with Talon and offered him a chance to join her. She reminded Victor of the liberty that had been taken from him and that he could be free to do as he pleased if he went with her. Intrigued by this possibility, Victor agreed, offering Logan a rather sincere apology. Logan, however, was not on board with the idea and fired a shot at Keres Creed. With superhuman reflexes, Keres caught the shard before it hit her, her smile not wavering from her face. She then assumed a combat position, ready to make good on her promise to put down Ayla's friends for good.

## Mechanics

### Powers and Abilities

#### Monk Abilities

* *Unarmored Defense*
* *Martial Arts*
* *Ki* (5)
	+ *Flurry of Blows*
	+ *Step of the Wind*
	+ *Patient Defense*
* *Unarmored Movement*
* *Deflect Missile*
* *Slowfall*
* *Extra Attack*
* *Stunning Strike*
* Butcher Abilities
	+ *Army of One*: For every 2 enemies you fight against, you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your max HP
	+ *Butcher's Flurry*: When you use Flurry of Blows and hit a single target, The attacker and the target get forced 10ft into the air. After all hits have been made, both creatures fall to the ground, with the target taking falling damage.
	+ *Links of Debt*: When a willing creature would lose Temporary Hit Points and you have Temporary Hit Points, you may redirect the damage to yourself

#### Spell List

* *Guidance*
* *Spare the Dying*
* *Detect Magic*

### Other Abilities

* *Quad Fury Strike*
	+ By spending an inspiration, when you use flurry of blows, you make 2 additional unarmed strikes.

### Notable Items

* *Light Pugilist Taunting Claws*
	+ Damage: 1d4 Slashing
	+ *Pugilist*
	+ *Taunting:* The first creature hit with this attack gets Disadvantage on any Attack rolls towards targets that *aren't* the original attacker, until the start of that attacker's next turn.
* *Periapt of Wound Closure*

## Etymology

The Keres (*Κῆρες*) were goddesses from Ancient Greek mythology that personified violent death. As daughters born of Nyx and Thanatos, they were drawn to battlefields to feast on the souls of those who perished there. The name comes from the Greek word Ker (*κήρ*) which means "death" or "doom".

"Creed" is a English surname, which is derived from the same word meaning "a series of beliefs and principles to be adhered to". The word has its origins in the Latin word *credo*, meaning "to believe".

## Trivia

* According to SummersSalt, who has synesthesia, Keres' art evokes the scent of lilac and peaches.
* Keres is the first and only character to have the Butcher subclass, which is a homebrew subclass for Monks created by Io Publishing.

## Official Art

Keres Creed under the control of Ayla Fern (Art by MasaeAnela).Keres invoking her Astral Arms (Art by MasaeAnela).Keres Creed with her hair down (Art by MasaeAnela).