"Aye, you too," you say. "Ye're pretty good." You're not entirely certain why your fingers just twitched.
Ludwig laughs, head rolling slightly in the newly-stilled mire. "Well said. Might I know your names? We've not had the opportunity for proper introductions."
"Father Alexander Anderson o' the Catholic Church," you reply, then point to your companions in sequence. "Djura and Steffon o' the Powder Kegs..."
"Do you remember me?" Simon interrupts before you can begin his introduction. "We sparred once. You accidentally broke both of my legs."
Ludwig's gaze, easily tracked thanks to general hugeness, roams from Simon's weapon back to his face. You think he grins afterwards, but the number of teeth involved makes it difficult to tell. "Simon, was it not? Apologies once again for that; the Workshop had been quite adamant that their new shin guards were up to snuff.
"I had forgotten," he continues, looking downwards. "I had...I had forgotten quite a lot."
You take a few steps back, the Kegs following your cue.
"You kept attacking even after regaining your senses," says Simon. "Why?"
"My mentor demanded it."
"Your 'mentor' led you to this Nightmare. Left you in this state."
"Do you think me a fool?" Ludwig snaps. "I knew from the moment I awoke what had become of me and why. But I had heeded its guidance for so long. I could not simply stop. I could not render everything I have done meaningless." His rich voice cracks as he searches for the words. "I needed a path to follow. Forgive an old man his selfishness."
Simon, covered in gore and breathing heavily, glares for a moment, then slumps forward with a sigh. He stalks towards the slowly-cooling mound of broken Ludwig bits and pulls out an arrow with grisly schlorp sound. Returning to the head, he nocks the arrow and draws his bow to its full bend. You can almost hear the metal groan in protest.
He pauses, a question he doesn't want to ask hovering in the air.
"Thank you," says Ludwig, and Simon releases the string. The Holy Blade dies with something like a smile.
"I couldn't stand to see him in that state," says Simon, walking back to the body. "Forgive an old man his selfishness." He gets to work yanking out his arrows while you and the Powder Kegs look at one another.
"That was...interesting," says Steffon after confirming that Simon is out of earshot.
"Yep. Gotta say, wasn't expectin' a fight ta the death with a giant horse monster in a room full o' blood ta end like that."
"We should probably make sure he's alright," says Djura.
"I vote you do it," you say.
"Why me?"
"'cus he looks like he's in a stabbin' mood and that broken arm gives ye sympathy points."
"You're the one who regenerates," he counters.
"Which I've already had ta do quite a bit recently, thank ye very much."
"Let's just give him a bit of time," says Steffon. "Come on, let's see if we can get your Stake Driver operational again and salvage those cannonballs."
The two of them wander off to do so, leaving you alone with the corpse now that Simon's moved on to digging his arrows out of the walls. Your eyes are drawn to the great blade, still shining brilliantly despite soaking in blood new and old.
[] Take the sword
[] Don't take the sword
[] Talk to
-[] Who?
[] Stop by the Dream
[] Keep moving forward