Edgar is an ancient talking tortoise NPC, Shell Mage, tattoo artist, scout, and member of Signet's Hunting Grounds community. His magical protection, detailed maps, Sense Movement skill, and ability to create living memorial tattoos make him an important technical and emotional ally. Edgar resembles a giant tortoise of the sort associated with extreme age, except that he speaks and uses magic. Carl initially describes him as looking approximately 150 years old. His calm manner and slow physical movement contrast with the speed and precision of the information he supplies. He is classified as a Shell Mage. The class supports a large-area concealment or protection effect that can hide an entire group. Edgar also moves through water, participates in assaults, and possesses detection abilities useful against ambushes and hidden divine activity. Edgar meets Signet on the night her mother dies. When she asks whether he can bring her mother back, he says he cannot, but offers to preserve memory as well as possible. The resulting puddle-and-fish tattoo is incomplete because too much time has passed, yet Signet eventually accepts that what remains can still live within her. This relationship makes Edgar more than a craftsman hired for a quest. He becomes a keeper of Signet's losses and a member of the mixed Hunting Grounds community that follows her. Edgar uses a silver needle-like stick held in his mouth. He draws material from the remains of a fallen figure and repeatedly pokes one spot; the generated dots move across the recipient's skin and assemble themselves into an image. The procedure converts memory and remains into a magical tattoo capable of later manifestation. Carl watches Edgar work on Signet using Miss Nadine's remains. Edgar's technique helps explain how many of Signet's paper figures preserve enemies, allies, and family. Carl later receives a comparable stick-and-poke kit, connecting Edgar's specialized craft to the wider tattoo system. Edgar detects an ambush before Signet's party reaches it. He also prepares an exceptionally detailed map of the naiad or elf castle, including towers, stairways, ballrooms, control rooms, soul crystals, capacitors, and restrictions on inventory and magic. Carl's coalition uses the map to plan infiltration and defense. On the Ninth Floor Edgar scouts Naga territory and clears a route for Imani's concealed group. His level 15 Sense Movement skill can detect upward Bijou movement associated with first-time worship of a god. Rosetta's plan relies on that ability to test a theory about Naga escape. Edgar operates with Elle, Imani, the strippers, and sluggalos. His work supports infiltration rather than public command. Later he is strapped to Rosetta like a backpack so he can be transported quickly, a humiliating but practical accommodation for a slow-moving tortoise in an emergency. He retains his tattoo kit and immediately begins removing or producing items when the group regathers. His grumbling humor shows that he understands the indignity while continuing to contribute. Edgar survives the Ninth Floor. Samantha's later recap places him among NPC allies expected to appear again on the Twelfth Floor, alongside Holger and Big Tina. He is not present for the Tenth Floor racing scenario because many allied NPCs are separated by floor rules. No death notice contradicts that expectation. Edgar joins technical expertise with care for memory. His maps save living people, while his tattoos preserve people who cannot be restored. Both practices oppose the dungeon's tendency to erase context and reuse identity without consent.
- Signet
- Living Tattoos
- Hunting Grounds
- Rosetta Thagra
- Faction Wars