The Devil Muertos

**The Devil Muertos** is a fiend, specifically a bone devil, renowned for being a planar bounty hunter in the service of Ghuul to carry out Covenants of Service. In life, he was the half-elf known as **Juan Muertos** and was a Black Coat deserter who became a notorious mercenary bounty hunter who eventually became the primary agent of Dr. Branson's biomancer enclave. A Sojourner in life, the Devil Muertos is legendary amongst their culture as a fiendish-figure, and he is perhaps best remembered for being an arch-nemesis of the Star-Touched, both in life and in his afterlife.

## The Devil Muertos

A sketch of the Devil Muertos after removing his coat, by MrPuddins

### Type

* Fiend
* Devil

## Character information

### Also known as

* Gabriel Moonshadow (given name)
* Juan Muertos (name in life)
* The Devil Muertos
* Muertos

### Places

* Hell
* Iycodust

### Family

* Fenris Amarak (nephew)
* Ionia Kavandell (sister)

### Connections

* Black Coats (deserter)
* Ghuul
* Star-touched (enemy)

## Appearances

### First seen

* *SteamSpell*

Juan Muertos was featured at great length in the *SteamSpell* campaign where he worked for Branson's biomancers attempting to hunt down Lady Katarina Steele. After her resurrection, as a devil, he attempted to collect the Covenant of Service bounty on her head and was thwarted by the Star-Touched. In *WovenRealm*, the Devil Muertos was sent to collect the bounty placed upon Oleander, but Fenris had sacrificed himself to the Devil. He revealed himself to be Fenris' uncled.

As an NPC, he was played by GM Puddins in both *SteamSpell* and *WovenRealm*.

## Description

### Appearance

In life, Juan Muertos concealed his face with his iconic skull-shaped Sojourner mask and wore his old Black Coat uniform while working, including the long coat itself and a brimmed hat. He often was not seen without his iconic hooked chain weapons. When unmasked, the Star-touched were disturbed to see that he was a rather plain in appearance with dark long hair.

As a bone devil, Muertos' appearance resembles that of a fiendish skeleton, adorned with horns. Instead of the large wings present on most bone devils, Muertos has modified his body to include an extra set of arms instead. He still wears a long coat, but will shed the coat in the pursuits of battle. His skull has intricate etchings infernally burned into it, resembling the patterned skull-mask he wore in life. His arms end in bony claws, and he walks on digitigrade legs. Like other bone devils, Muertos sports a spiny tail with a scorpion-like stinger at the end of it.

### Personality

Juan Muertos' wickedness and cruelty are only confirmed by the fact that after being judged, he was cast into Hell and damned as a devil. He was remembered for being efficient and brutal as a bounty hunter and biomancer agent, utilizing ambush strategies and guerilla warfare tactics to gain an upperhand against his foes. Despite utilizing underhanded tactics and subterfuge to great effect, Juan Muertos was no coward, but he was smart and would not directly engage with his quarries unless victory was absolutely certain for him. On top of intimidating his opponents and using stealth, Muertos also enjoys mentally demoralizing his enemies utilizing various forms of psychological warfare from taunts that cut to the core to the twisted scheme he concocted with Jade in *SteamSpell*, that utilized unliving simulacrums of his apprentice to lure the Star-touched into a trap. He is also renowned for 'toying' with his targets, often making his presence and hunt known before striking.

Despite being a devil, as a Sojourner in life, the Devil Muertos has a great respect for the laws of the cosmos, especially regarding the cycle of life and death. He holds a nasty grudge, as evidenced by his relentless hunt of Lady Katarina Steele and by how he hunted her ward, Oleander.

## Biography

### Juan Muertos

Little is known about the man who was Juan Muertos before he left the Black Coats other than that he excelled in their order. His true identity has remained a secret and is only known to the Black Coats who knew him closely and those who knew him before becoming the man known as Juan Muertos other than he was a Sojourner from western Iycodust. Even his name was likely not his own, for those who understand Sojourners would know that Juan Muertos is one of the many personifications of death. As a member of the School of the Lunar Fox, Muertos was trained in the art of guerilla tactics and setting elaborate traps, but his skill with the whip-like hook chains suggests that Muertos may also have trained with the School of the Megabats and their whip focused style. At some point, Muertos deserted from the Black Coats, going AWOL while fully aware of the consequences of deserting.

After leaving the Black Coats, Muertos began to lend his talents toward the service of bounty hunting, developing a reputation for brutal efficiency amongst his peers. Whispers of his name were enough to instill fear into most folks who knew what the name Juan Muertos meant. It was during his time as a bounty hunter that he was approached by the Good Doctor to join the biomancer's cause as their chief agent. Feeling a kinship with both being former Black Coats, Muertos joined the biomancer enclave and his intimidating reputation came as an unintended benefit to them as his name alone was enough to cause fear in their foes. Muertos eventually took on another Black Coat deserter, Jade, as an apprentice.

#### *SteamSpell*

The escape of the Blood Angel experiments proved to be a great hazard to the biomancer enclave, and Dr. Branson sent his top agent to track down Kat Steele and Corvus Altera. With the aid of his apprentice, Juan Muertos was able to track Katarina traveling with the Star-touched in the Commonwealth of Higard. He chose to ambush them while they were traveling to the Spire of the First King, separating them from their allies through an elaborate trap. In the conflict, while in killing Kat Steele, he did not account for her desire for vengeance. Having died a wicked and cruel individual, Muertos' soul was cast into Hell by Aor.

### The Devil Muertos

When cast into Hell, Muertos' soul took on the form of a bone devil. Amongst the fiends in the Tatarian depths, Muertos did not devote himself to any higher power in the lower realm, preferring to adopt the mercenary lifestyle that served him well in life. As a bounty hunter in life, Ghuul saw the servant of death and offered him a chance at escape; Covenants of Service, and with this Covenant came an opportunity for revenge against Kat Steele. He first ambushed her when the Dreamtime caused a planar rift during a dreamquake that occurred during the *SteamSpell* campaign. Thwarted, he would continue to plague her existence as she was never able to pay her price. Amongst his infernal kin, he was losing respect for being bested by the same pesky group of adventurers, and it reached the point where the Inevitable known as Omega-X became involved before Lady Rosalyn was able to argue planar law on her friend's behalf.

With nothing left to lose and everything to gain, the Devil set out to rearm himself, and in this process, would earn back the respect of the devils who once sneered at him. In Gehenna, he made an agreement with the goddess Cersei for a lock of chain, promising to bring her a soul ripe for tormenting. Back in Hell, the Devil Muertos did the unthinkable; the unspoken rule in Hell is that 'no one f\*\*\*s with Surtur.' Muertos went to the lost giant god's domain within the Tartarian depths. What occurred there; what conversation took place; how Muertos was not annihilated by Flames of Creation, no one is absolutely certain, but the Devil Muertos left Surtur's domain armed with two new infernal revolvers: Pain and Torment. The Devil, motivated by an unknown purpose and armed with powerful weapons, Muertos began to set out on covenants of service, often bringing him into contact with the Spirit-Farer. Although he would never admit it, Muertos is fond of the arch-existence.

#### *WovenRealm*

Muertos was offered the chance of a lifetime to finally escape the confines of Hell; the Covenant of Service to end all Covenants, and how fortunate that this particular target brings with her a chance at payback. Setting out to hunt down Oleander Morgenstern. Muertos sends fae an infernal bullet with faer name on it to intimidate fae, and in Season 2, Fenris and Soren discuss that the Devil Muertos will come after Oleander.

In the premiere of Season 3, the Devil Muertos ambushes the Emerald Caravan within the Alfenheim temple of the Oprix Academy. He came close to defeating the Caravan before Lady Steele arrived. Fenris offered his soul in exchange for Oleanders, the devil gladly accepting the request revealing himself to be Fenris' uncle, referring to him as 'Little Moonshadow.' He knew Constance, recognizing her was Minverva due to his time working for the biomancers in life.

## History

In life, Juan Muertos' name became something of legend; a name that instilled fear into the hearts of those who heard it. As a devil, this reputation has not changed, and his defeat to the Star-touched in life and in afterlife are some of the most recounted stories of the Star-touched's adventures. Sojourners in Iycodust, especially Kovithian Iycodust, see Muertos as a strange figure that represents a desire to be liberated from their occupiers. The reason for this is poorly understood.

## Relics

* Chains of Torment
* Moonshadow
* Pain
* Torment

## Trivia

* Juan Muertos is featured as a main antagonist and boss fight in the *SteamSpell* campaign.
* The name 'Muertos' is the Spanish word for *dead*.