Word had spread rather quickly about one Parker Freeman, also known as the Game Master. Gene had always been the curious type, but this case especially interested her - he was a shapeshifter, much like her. Silvery hair, bluish eyes, constant smile. He had horns though, and fox ears. The school was abuzz with how terrible the events that had occurred were, students in tears due to their parents demanding they come home, teachers with ever so slight fear and haunt painting their faces.

For Gene though, there were no demanding parents or a home to go back to. Amityville had always been her home, and now that it was under threat from some shapeshifter that liked to abused his powers? She wouldn’t stand for it.

Holeing up in the library, Gene pulled out her battop and began what she thought would be a quick greugle search of the man’s history, starting with his powers and if they were at all involved in his escape.

Quote:
Details surrounding the escape are still unclear. The authorities are quick to announce that, due to Parker's abilities, he had FEAR confining shackles on at all times. The shackles have not been found yet, and they are confident that he is still wearing them.

To date, Parker has kept one preferred appearance: Silver hair, Blue eyes, small horns from the forehead, dark skin, and brownish fox-like ears. Whether or not he had a tail seemed to be a daily whim, but during his confinement he did not possess one.

Information on the extent of Parker's shape shifting abilites is unknown; it was suggested in trial that was what he used to lure his victims.


Small wrinkles began to form on Gene’s forehead as she browsed through what Greugle had turned up, brows knitting together. According to the Web, Parker’s powers were used to lure his victims to their demise and that was not okay at all. She wanted to know more about the victims.

Quote:
At the time of Freeman's trials the students were under the protection of the law and opted to have their names and defining information kept from public record.

One source says that eight students came forward to testify that Parker had been their kidnapper, from two separate events. Two of the eight that stepped forward were not from Amityville. Through the course of the trial though, it was suggested there may have been others in the games as well, but so far nobody had properly been able to guess how many had been abducted, and Parker refuses to comment on it. Those that step forward proved to have varying degrees of injuries, and all reported a noticible delay with recovery time.


So he targeted more than just students? That was really disturbing. How far, though, had Freeman gone?

Quote:
In regards to deaths, there have been several student disappearances they suspect are linked to this case. Given the length of time since their disappearances, the authorities think it safe to assume the missing are deceased, but their families remain hopeful. Parker refuses to comment on this too, feigning ignorance.


From some of the skelevision shows the Doppelganger had seen, she could guess that there may have been some sort of pattern to Parker’s victim selection.

Quote:
There didn't seem to be any pattern. The only thing the victims appeared to have in common was that they were students.


Hm, quite odd. Her features scrunched up more, trying to analyze the data she’d been given. No patterns, other than that they were all students? That didn’t seem quite right. Maybe some further digging was required? Killers who killed more than just one tended to know their victims, right? That had to be the connection…

”Clip from news site HALLOWEEN DAILY “
It is a medley of small clips, each containing school-aged students with their faces blurred. Each and every one of them claim surprise at the events that transpired, but a few of them admit that they 'should have seen it coming' - Parker was always a lone creature, never really made friends but was friendly enough, and was an active member of a gamers club at school...but they always remember him as being very happy.

It seemed he was always grinning, and laughed all the time.


So then, it seemed that he wasn’t much to make friends. Not even in his game club? That seemed a bit strange. Parker Freeman was an interesting one, to be sure.

But, if he were in a gaming club, he’d make his closest associations there. Perhaps he’d picked victims that had been rude to him in the club?

Quote:
There was one disappearance case that made a small mention of being involved n a gamers club, but it's unclear if it was the same club that Parker was a part of. One survivor was also noted to be part of several gaming clubs, otherwise it seems like the students were as varied in their extra-cirricular as they were in species.


Hm… just two instances. That wasn’t much of a link, but Gene was sure that the game club had something to do with the ordeal. Had he drawn inspiration from it, maybe? The ghoul decided to pursue that thought. What sort of games did they play?

Quote:
Going through old yearbooks shows that one gamers club - complete with a group photo that includes a young Parker - put specific emphasis on 'Dungeons and Humans'


What was that?

Quote:
Dun-geons and Hu-mans: noun 1. A fantasy role-playing game set loosely in the human world based on mythology.

Further research shows it has quite a cult following, and incorporates several different types of dice.


A cult following? That sounded rather dangerous. She squinted more, mouth set in a thin line. How did one play the game?

Quote:
It appears that there are several variations, but it appears that most D&H games follow a certain path:

One person, the 'dungeon master' (DM), creates a 'campaign' or story. The participants all create a fantasy character based on a series of races and give them 'stats' - numerical depictions of their efficiency in various categories such as dexterity, charm, and strength. Often times these characters will also have 'job classes' (such as scholar or tradesman), backstories and personalities to make game play more interesting. The participants are lead through the campaign or story by announcing their character's actions - which may be the result of the DM prompt, or from the character's nature - and dice rolls, often compared to the 'stat' values, dictate the events and rewards gained as they progress.

Some stories have a 'player verses player' option, where one character may sabotage another in the course of the story for their own gain.


Hrm, well that sounded rather geeky. Most of it seemed like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but there was one intriguing part of the rules; player versus player. Perhaps Parker had gotten a bit too involved?

Quote:

As the phrase implies, it is one player's character against another player's character. This can either be orchestrated during the course of the DM's campaign, or it can be one character's personality clashing enough to warrant it as a personal, unrelated attack.




Hrm… perhaps Parker had been playing a lot as the DM, and he’d already had some issues that led to… this. Maybe he was orchestrating a PVP match as the DM of his ‘games.’ Yet, it didn’t seem like the DM could attack another character, could they?

Quote:
It seems possible, yes.


Oh… well then. That solidified a few things in her mind. Furthere questioning on the DM seemed necessary, however.

Quote:
In typical D&H games, the DM may play several characters in order to progress the overall story. Some have been known to have their own 'player characters' that are not privy to the main storyline.


Hmm… so perhaps he DM’ed and had a player character? Surely the investigations, or at least the D&H forums, would have some sort of record on that.

Quote:
It wasn't clear if Parker played a DM or Player role in the Gamer Club's D&H compaigns.


Well then… she’d just assume he was a DM. A DM who got a bit too involved… and maybe wanted to advance his ‘story’ a bit too far. What could have lead to such instability? It usually started at the family, right? The tree was bad because of its roots?

Quote:
An article paints the picture that Parker had a 'perfect' homelife with two shapeshifter fathers and a younger sister. An obscure forum post suggests that the stress the parents endured made them 'twisted', while ultimately lead to their divorce. It further claims that they put their then 9 year old daughter up for adoption, and she hasn't been heard from since.


So it wasn’t his family life, then? Then what on earth could it-

Wait. Hold the skelephone. She quickly reread the obscure article, brows knitting together as her hands interlaced under her nose. A nine year old shapeshifter that hadn’t been heard from in ten years? That would place her at 19… the same age as Gene. That was certainly peculiar. Though, there were plenty of 19 year old shapeshifters out there.

She had to wonder, what did the article mean by ‘twisted’? Had that hurt the little ghoul in any way?

Quote:
The post is unclear, but suggests they may have become hateful and violent.


Violent?! That certainly wasn’t good at all. Perhaps someone had reported a physical abuse charge around the time of Parker’s trials? She had to know, just to set her mind at ease. No scareling, or any sort of person, deserved that.


Quote:
Not abused, but a gruegle search turns up a report of a 9 year old ghoul named 'Jenny Freeman' that had gone missing. A photo of the ghoul shows her to have silver hair, light blue eyes, and a large smile. She's clutching a little hazmat treat plushie. The report suggest she was last seen with one of her Fathers.


Gene stared for a long while at the attached picture. She stared long, she stared hard. Her face was stoic, the sapphire blush of anger slowly rising to her cheeks, and then dissipating in white. She’d gone completely pale, eyes wide open and beads of sweat running defined trails through the valleys and hills of her face. Pupils dialated to a pin p***k, mouth slightly open. Stillness, no jittering legs, no floating, no smile.

The battop was closed quietly, with the deafening silence that came before Pompeii was buried in lava and ash. The ghoul walked, heels clack-clack-clacking down the hall, eyes boring centimeter wide holes in the floor.

Parker Freeman. She needed coffee. Jenny Freeman. Lots of Coffee. The Game Master. Two pot’s worth of coffee.