Twilight Deserter's page

Your words hang in the air with almost palpable animosity. Atticus falls silent as well, slumping back into the depths of his throne and his eyes lulling away from you. He offers no solace. Indeed, Siegschwert and Felicia both slump to the ground in their own time, apparently the gravity of the situation overwhelming their spirits. You too start to feel the clawed hands of dread sinking into the folds of your mind.

The sound of footsteps on cobblestone draw you out of your stupor. You instinctively reach for your weapons but stop when you recognize the figure of the Twilight Deserter slipping into the hall through the main door. He approaches you with purpose in his eyes, giving a wide birth to the hole.

He doesn't say anything right away, instead taking in your group the same way he did when you first met. He even glances at Atticus for a moment but does not linger any longer than it takes for his lips to curl into a frown.

"I'm glad you found your way here in the end" he starts. "I kept my hopes guarded until now, the hope that I- we could matter in some way. But you've been able to carry yourselves through all the way. I'm ready now" and he gestures towards the hole.

"By all means" nods the Deserter "I haven't much interest in guarding the Orders secrets any longer."

The Deserter shrugs. "You tell me. Apparently you do not know well those around you."

He indicates the door in the room, the one that the group has not yet been through. "When the King came here, it was for what lay beyond that door. Well, that, and to kill the people here, obviously. As I said, I have suspicions of the purpose of this place, and my suspicions are of that door specifically. But it is locked. Hence: a key."

The Deserter smirks, the closest thing you've seen to an attempt at being pleasant from him.

"I won't be going anywhere for a while, I think."

"Aye..." winces the Deserter "I remember them well. Those misbegotten creatures are whats left of the People of the Sun, forced to survive on the forsaken mountain top. That giant you saw was once their leader, Amonus. He died holding those doors shut against the Kings invasion, and got a couple of nails through the sternum for his trouble once the Prince put together that they wouldn't be getting through."

"The King must have other agents in this mountain. Slay them, and there is a chance that I may be saved."

"Aye" answers the Deserter, and he gets a distant look in his eyes. "That's why fighting them is so disastrous. When they die, they pass the curse on to those that killed them, damning them to the same fate. This poor fellow here was likely a knight at one time or another - could have even been a comrade of yours" indicating Siegschwert.

"There's a cure of sorts. Powerful magic can cleanse the curse. Failing that, there's another means but it's...well, it's not easy."

The man opens his eyes and looks wearily to the survivors. You recognize him now as the particularly cynical fellow you met when you first came to the deep. He does not look particularly pleased to see you all, but that may be because of the circumstances.

"Neither, thankfully." he manages in response to Pengaal. He continues speaking, now to Ludwig "In a way...I've gone and gotten myself cursed" he says, emphasizing the statement by kicking the dead Kings Man "I...won't last much longer in this state, I'm afraid."

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

The man seems unsurprised as the winds pick up. In fact, he merely waves of Felicia and returns to his own thoughts. As a few of the group make their away from the tree he calls out "I wouldn't. Out that way is the Abyssal Woods. Actually..." he trails off and scratches his chin "If you're dead set on finding some meaning to this place then you could do worse than start there. In the old world the Abyssal Witch was home to a witch coven, the leader of which was said to have been privy to secrets beyond mortal ken. Not that that'd help now - no doubt she's gone quite mad. Still, if anyone could have discovered something it would be the Flower Witch."

The man ignores Pengaals question in favor of trading further barbs with Ludwig:

"If you ask me we all would have been better of dying rather than ending up here. At least then we would have died without seeing what was ahead. This isn't hell. this is just...nothing."

His face screws up into a scowl now. "Hard to be a deserter to a bunch of dead men!" he hisses. Eventually his face returns to its more fatigued state and speaks again.

"I doubt there's any significance at all. I came to be here just as you, truly. If you're looking for some purpose you'll find it elsewhere."

"Hrm?" grunts the man, looking to Yuria. Just with Siegschwert he watches you for some time before responding with a simple "No. Keep your hands to yourself."

The man looks at Siegschwert, eyeing him for a long time. In doing so he seems to have found something displeasing as his frown only grows deeper. Eventually, though, he speaks with a tone of fatigue to match his withered features.

"This is the twilight of the world in both time and place. A final "hurrah!", if you will, before we're all shuffled out of existence." he stops to consider something before continuing "The rest...well, it hardly matters now. The only thing you'll find in the Depths to reciprocate your desire is pain and suffering. Take my advice: stay here, at the Lantern Tree. Let everything else sort itself out however." He offers a weak flourish of his hand as he finishes, before letting it rest again against his knee.