Asher Benfodt

## Common Knowledge

Students of the Haelwyd Soul Academy who delve into its deepest secret histories, or anyone alive in Haelwyd in the 9,700’s A.B., may recall a period of time where some people simply began to disappear.

## Further Description

Asher Benfodt was a centuries-old hobbit ghost, sealed away for his crimes. In the early 10,000s A.B., he was freed from his bindings and possessed the body of one of his descendents for years. His presence damaged the psychology and soul of his host, until he was ultimately forced out and banished by the Binturian Party in 10,018 A.B..

## Early Life

### Life (9,700’s A.B.)

In life, Asher Benfodt was a member of the Benfodt noble family, and a student at the Haelwyd Soul Academy (then called the Haelwyd Life/Death Academy). He was a brilliant student, but had a deep-seated apathy and streak of cruelty. To further his research without the pesky morals of his colleagues getting in the way, Asher kidnapped a number of people from the Haelwyd countryside, including children, and performed various magical experiments on them. Many did not survive these experiments, and some may have suffered worse fates than death.

### Imprisonment

When the other students and faculty discovered Asher’s actions, they took it upon themselves to rectify the situation and bring Asher to justice. They located Asher’s hideout, and killed him. Asher was a powerful user of soul magic, however, and had used a necromantic ritual and sheer force of will to keep himself bound to this plane of existence. Anticipating this, the mages who slayed him performed a ritual of their own, cremating Asher’s body and sealing his soul into the same jar which held those ashes.

The jar containing Asher’s ashes was turned over to the members of the Benfodt family, for safekeeping until the Academy could devise a more permanent solution. The understanding was that the Benfodts would tell their descendents about Asher, and why keeping him imprisoned was so important.

### Release and Possession of Erika Benfodt (10,000’s - 10,010’s)

As is often the case with stories passed down through the ages, details began to fade and disappear, and in the span of a few centuries a new generation of Benfodts inherited the estate that had never heard of Asher’s misdeeds, nor the true nature of his sealing jar.

In the late 10,000s A.B. (or possibly the early 10,010’s A.B.) the lady of the house, Erika Benfodt, came upon Asher’s jar in the Benfodt family crypt. Not knowing the legend, and deciding the jar would look nice on the mantle, Erika opened the jar, emptied it of its contents, and took it inside the house. Asher was now free, and jumped to the nearest host body he could find: Erika Benfodt.

In the years to follow, Erika became pregnant, and was warned by her essence-sensitive maid Ferris that she was the victim of a powerful curse. Erika and her husband sought to have the curse lifted many times, for their protection and the protection of their soon-to-be-born twins, but to no avail. Asher deftly avoided all attempts at exorcism, as a master of the soul himself. Asher’s presence within Erika’s pregnant body had unforeseen consequences: Erika’s soul began to erode to make room for Asher’s occupation, as did the souls of the unborn twins.

#### **Trigger Warning: Child Death, Psychological Trauma, Forced Amnesia**

Erika gave birth to two girls, named Lilith and Mara. Their souls had suffered as a result of Asher’s possession, however, causing the two infants to form a complex soul-based interdependent relationship. Between the two of them, Lilith and Mara had only one soul which was split unevenly. Lilith had enough of a soul to survive unhindered, but Mara was in a state of constant pain and expressed this pain through constant crying. Asher, unknowing or uncaring of Mara’s plight, used this annoying baby as an excuse to test the limits of his possession. He asserted control over Erika’s body and mind, driving her into a fit of fury that drove her to strangle Mara to death.

The entire family was horrified by what had transpired, to say nothing of Erika’s mental and emotional state. In order to bring their lives back to some sense of normalcy and to fulfill a promise to Erika to make things right, Mr. Benfodt (name tbd?) hired a group of psions to alter his family’s memories. As far as Erika, Lilith, the eldest daughter Willow, and the staff of the house were concerned, Mara had never existed and Lilith was a lone birth.

#### **End of Trigger Warnings**

Because of Lilith’s unusual connection to Mara, only Mara’s body died. Since the two shared a soul, but not a mind, Mara would appear to Lilith as an apparition and became Lilith’s best friend. Erika wrote off “Mara” as her overactive child’s imaginary friend, and though Mr. Benfodt deduced the truth he would never share it and took solace knowing that Mara would have some sort of a childhood. In the presence of Asher’s powerful possession of Erika Mara was only visible to Lilith, but the further away from Asher Lilith was the more visible Mara became.

## Time with the Binturian Party (10,018 A.B.)

### A Child’s Birthday Party

For Lilith’s ninth birthday, the Benfodt family invited the children of all Haelwyd’s other noble families and intended to throw an impressive party. Recognizing the potential danger of having the children of powerful people all in one place, the Benfodts sought out the best security that money could buy: the Binturian Party. When eventually a gaggle of bandits arrived to take the children and the Benfodts hostage, the Binturians handily dispatched them. During the chaotic fight in the Benfodt crypt, however, Lilith broke free from captivity and ran off through a small passageway into the woods to play with Mara. Though many Binturians and Benfodt guards gave chase, no one could find Lilith.

### Asserting Direct Control

With Mara out of the picture, Asher began to exert more control over Erika. If he was lucky, maybe he could completely oust her soul altogether and be the primary controller of her body. Erika’s behavior became more erratic, blaming Willow for Lilith’s disappearance and locking her in her room. Willow’s subsequent escape and alliance with the Binturians only incensed her further. Asher stoked the flames of Erika’s emotions to a cool boil, hoping that she would either succumb to his influence or her behavior would get her killed and he could find a new host.

When the Binturians returned to the Benfodt manor one evening, with both Willow and Lilith in tow, Erika violently insisted that that child was not Lilith and that Willow had kidnapped her, disowned both children, and ordered her guards to escort all of them out of her home.

### Final Confrontation

A few days later, equipped with a ritual to banish Asher Benfodt for good and save the Benfodt family, the Binturians stormed the manor, forced Asher out of Erika’s body, and entered the Shroud to engage Asher in combat and banish him. Though Asher was a resilient opponent, he succumbed to the same trappings of other undead in their vulnerability to certain magic and was ultimately banished for good.

## Further Information

* The Binturian Party
* Ghost
* Haelwyd
* Hobbits
* Magic
* The Shroud
* Soul