Image
Encounter Conditions
Only if Etheric, if you have asked about him in the Ramshackle Fortress choice encounter
Initial Text
Among the whistling winds and rhythmic beat of wings, you hear a stone scraping against stone. It's coming from the north side of the floor, near where the scientists downstairs mentioned Dr. Johnson might be.
Looking closer you can see a figure in the shadows among the rubble. He deftly leaps from one pile of rubble to the next, picking through the concrete.
Or, if you have given him a hound
Among the whistling winds and rhythmic beat of wings, you hear a stone scraping against stone. It's coming from the north side of the floor, near where you previously met Dr. Johnson.
Looking closer, you can see him moving nimbly from one stack of rubble to the next, following after the hound. He doesn't seem likely to notice you unless you grab his attention somehow.
Summary of Choices
- Rush him - Fight Dr. Johnson
- Try to talk - Fight Dr. Johnson
- Mention Project Huginn (after talking to Dr Mira) - information
- Just watch Gain 6 XP in Perception
- Record his introduction - Fight Dr. Johnson
- Give him a hound (once only if you've picked "Watch him" and have a binding tome equipped and at least one instance of Release the Hounds) - Lose 1 instance of Release the Hounds
- Back off - walk away
Choice Text and Results
Rush him
His mouth quirks into a manic grin and he gestures towards you with one clawed hand. "Yes, come. Out there perhaps you'd win, but here, understanding is strength."
Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have any trouble fighting during his monologue.
(Fight Dr. Johnson)
or, if he's been hounded
His mouth quirks into a manic grin and he gestures towards you with one clawed hand. "Yes, come. Let's see if it needs to feed."
The emphasis he puts on that last word is just… unhealthy. Maybe you shouldn't have given him that hound after all.
(Fight Dr. Johnson and a Twisted hound)
Try to talk
You approach him politely, trying not to startle him, but the moment you get close enough he yells "impure!" and charges you.
The entire time he keeps babbling about how "not being on a wrong side" doesn't mean you're on the right side. That doesn't stop him from lashing out with his talons, however.
(Fight Dr. Johnson)
Or, if you gave him a hound
He glances up, looking at something you can't see.
"Yes, thank you for your help. But I have more experiments. Soon, perhaps, I'll understand."
His shoulders drop for a moment… if he were normal, you'd suggest he realized how insurmountable his task really is… but it's hard to say with his mental state.
Mention Project Huginn
???
Or, if you gave him a hound
He glances up, looking at something you can't see.
"Yes, thank you for your help. It's my greatest work, so large even I can only see the faintest slice of it. Until it's done… I can't know if it's done. When I die, yes. Perhaps my tomb can speak of the discoveries I could never see myself."
His shoulders drop for a moment… if he were normal, you'd suggest he realized how insurmountable his task really is… but it's hard to say with his mental state.
Watch him
You move a bit closer, just enough to see the twisted figure. He's still wearing a lab coat and glasses that look Midgard issued, but he's hunched over a pile of rubble whispering to himself.
Using chunks of metal and concrete, he constructs an approximation of… some sort of quadruped, you guess, it's hard to say exactly what. Looking over his work, he smiles to himself.
He stretches out one taloned hand and a spectral shape, like a crystal twisted into a hound's shape, passes from it into the effigy. A few moments later, it pulls back slowly into his hand.
He sighs heavily and raises his voice, sounding only a little exasperated. "Well, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Let's try another one."
You've earned 6 XP in Perception
Or, if you gave him a hound
You stay back and watch him follow his new hound all around the fifth floor. It's interesting in its own right, but also leads you on a path cutting clear across the floor.
You've earned 6 XP in Perception
Record his introduction
You politely introduce yourself and put on your best smile. He responds by yelling "impure!" and charging at you.
He continues rambling about how not being on "a wrong side" doesn't mean you're on the right side. Unfortunately, he's not talking about himself in the third person much to get the recording you need.
(Fight Dr. Johnson, with the possibility of getting a Dr. Johnson recording by surviving for 5 rounds)
Or, if you gave him a hound
You politely introduce yourself and put on your best smile. He flashes you a manic smile and says "ah, the helpful assistant… yes, I'm…"
His smile falters and becomes a vicious scowl. "I suppose there are two answers to that. There can't always be one like you. One answer! All high and mighty!"
He slashes his clawed hand at you and a nearby pillar explodes into concrete dust. Okay, that could have gone better.
At least the hound's staying out of it, watching impassively with its featureless eyes. Can't pay too much attention to that, though.
(Fight Dr. Johnson, with the possibility of getting a Dr. Johnson recording by surviving for 3 rounds)
(Based on the message, does he not use Release the Hounds, or does it fail to work, or something?)
Give him a hound (once only, if you've picked "Watch him" and have a binding tome equipped and at least one instance of Release the Hounds)
You hold out the tome, muttering its words quietly. It seems to almost push back against your wishes.
Eventually, though, it gives in and a spectral echo of the hound passes from the tome to Johnson's strange facsimile. For a moment you think it hasn't worked, but then it jerks to life.
Johnson throws his hands into the air, letting you see that one of them is twisted into a terrible claw. "Yes! Yes! Ha ha! So perhaps this is how he caught them! He understood! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
He flashes you an unhealthy grin and follows the hound, which has begun stalking the area, at a safe distance.
(Lose one instance of Release the Hounds)
Back off
You just walk away. No harm, no foul, right?