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Library/ The Butcher's Masquerade
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character

Miriam Dom

Miriam

Miriam explains the vampire outbreak, entrusts Prepotente to Carl, and deliberately dies in the dawn sunlight so every recent vampire descended from her will be cured.

Story so far

Carl and Donut find Miriam holding the magically paralyzed Prepotente in a clearing ringed by corpses. Exhausted and close to losing control of her hunger, she gives Donut a spellbook of Get Out of Jail but insists they wait until dawn before attempting to free him.

Miriam explains that she abandoned an earlier life to care for her parents and remained on their farm because she came to love its responsibilities and her goats. Prepotente became her inseparable, stubborn shadow. In the dungeon, Viscount Fog hunted her as the star of Blood Hunter. Miriam is the progenitor of the fifth-floor vampire infection, and surviving the floor would make her condition permanent under the title Princess of Hell. Recent infections include other crawlers and the dinosaurs controlled by Big Tina. Her death before the floor ends will cure them all.

Prepotente tried to move Miriam's curse into Fog with Community Pool. Countermagic and paired Opposite Day rings made the spell ricochet, leaving Prepotente stunned, Fragile, and mystically bound to Miriam through Left to Fester. Miriam cannot safely free or heal him. She summoned Carl because she trusts his love for Donut to help him understand her own choice and because she needs someone to protect Prepotente after she is gone.

Carl refuses to kill Miriam for her bounty but keeps watch until sunrise. As daylight drains her life, Miriam rests against Prepotente, calls him her beautiful boy, and turns to dust.

Appearance

An older Italian shepherd woman with callused hands, a faded musical-note tattoo, deathly pale skin, and blood-red tears.

Role

Miriam sacrifices herself to save Prepotente and end the vampire epidemic descending from her.

Relationships

Prepotente — Her beloved goat and inseparable companion; she dies to free and protect him.
Carl — She trusts him to understand her decision and guard Prepotente afterward.
Princess Donut — She gives Donut Get Out of Jail so Prepotente can eventually be awakened.
Viscount Fog — His attack and counterspell create the crisis that leaves Prepotente helpless.
Big Tina — As Tina's vampiric progenitor, Miriam's death will end Tina's infection.

Earlier in this series

Also appears in books you've already read — spoiler-safe to their endings:

Sources — 8 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 6
  • Prepotente's human mother, now a level 52 vampire Shepherd healer who keeps Carl alive after the bombing.
Chapter 7
  • Allied crawler who scouted the bugbear town and parts on good terms with Carl after their joint hunter ambush.
Chapter 9
  • A vampire Shepherd crawler, sixth on the leaderboard, feeding Carl road intelligence from the south.
Chapter 15
  • Placed near Point Mongo on the captured map and claimed alongside Prepotente by the Nebular Sin Patrol.
Chapter 43
  • Miriam finally contacts Carl from a nearby trap and says she will not survive the coming dawn without rescue.
Chapter 44
  • Miriam holds Prepotente's fragile frozen body through a second day while using Revive and blood potions to survive sunlight.
Chapter 45
  • Miriam admits she infected Big Tina during their fight and warns the resulting vampire epidemic is accelerating beyond the failed elite quest.
Chapter 47
  • Miriam explains the vampire outbreak, entrusts Prepotente to Carl, and deliberately dies in the dawn sunlight so every recent vampire descended from her will be cured.
Character portrait