SERGEANT NPC CONTACT

[cartesio]

The Lodge is located on the hills near the town, large and strange. It contrasts a lot when compared to the rest of the town -- its gray and white walls are quite the change from the vibrant and colorful Cartesio, the plants and bushes that are planted on the lower levels of the Lodge only make the contrast more obvious. There are many windows, but no matter how much you look you don't see anyone passing behind them. If you didn't know better you'd think it was completely empty.

But it isn't empty. The Sergeant is there.

You won't get too far into the Lodge before you encounter the Sergeant. There he is in the lobby, standing in front of a door that leads deeper into the building. No matter at what time you come or what you do, he'll always be there, reading self-help books, or with a mirror, practicing his next speech/confrontation. When he's not facing all of you at once, he seems to be easier to talk with.

Want to bother him?

Comments

[cartesio]

[.........yes? He sure hopes]

Are you insinuating something else will be needed as well?

[robitussin]

I mean, you made it pretty clear that you wanted us to do this already. Everyone already knows. Why would saying it again do anything?

[cartesio]

All this time I had intended to be kinder. Shouting a lot didn't lead anywhere and I was going to go back to doing that, but if that's not enough...

[He did have a few ideas stashed for emergencies]

[robitussin]

[There's a brief pause, before she realizes what he's implying as he trails off.]

What? No! No, no, that's... Nothing else you try will work, either. That isn't what I meant!

[cartesio]

[Tooooo late, Natalie. But he also notices she's trying to backtrack, so he waves a hand and tries to change topics:]

Nevermind that. Any questions you want answers to?

[Have fun knowing you gave him the last push to get motives going, Natalie]

[robitussin]

Wait - no! I'm not going to never mind that! Just, please forget I said anything, seriously!

[cartesio]

I'll forget this conversation today ever happened.

[He taps his helmet as if that was enough for that, cracks his knuckles and says:]

...h-how unusual of you to visit me at s-such a time. Welcome, Ms. Goodman.

[Yeah, he's totally pretending he forgot. He sounds so amused he almost couldn't pull off the sentence at the first try because he was stifling chuckles]

[robitussin]

[After a moment:]

Fuck you.

[cartesio]

You just don't know how to take a joke.

[Somehow, having fun at Natalie's expense seems to have gotten the Sergeant in a better mood -- almost like he's a normal everyday person instead of, you know, the evil military guy trapping you all here]

I should thank you for the laugh, I guess. Thanks? Whatever.

[robitussin]

[The frown is still there, but...]

Can I ask the other questions now?

[cartesio]

Go ahead. [It does seem the good mood makes him a bit more carefree, at least...]

[robitussin]

Are more places going to show up on the map again, the way they did this week...?

[cartesio]

I certainly hope not. It's too much of a hassle to print new maps -- do you have any idea how time consuming that is? [And tedious. Especially tedious] So you guys better not be missing anything or else I'm going to be really cross with you all.

[In other words: doesn't seem like locations are something he influences. He's just the guy who makes the maps]

[robitussin]

...So you don't even know everything that's in this town, either?

[cartesio]

It's simply that there are a few things out of my control.

[Not knowing everything about Cartesio bothers him, but yeah]

[robitussin]

If you tell us what it is, we could probably help you figure it out.

[cartesio]

I think it's very obvious someone who in charge can't tell classified information to unrelated civilians.

[robitussin]

But you're not in charge, and we're not just civilians if you're expecting us to do shit for you.