| “ | Oh if only Elaine had been saved, we wouldn't be in this mess. | „ |
| ~ Ogden Hartman |
Ogden Hartman is a worker in the Nemeton Monastery with his wife Bessy in the game, Koudelka. He and Bessy pose as kindly groundskeepers for the Heyworth estate of Nemeton Monastery but in truth kill any and all visitors who come upon the estate.
History[]
Ogden was once a captain of a pleasure boat called the Princess Alice but the boat crashed into an iceberg one night killing most of the passengers and crew, Ogden was black-listed for the accident and became a pariah not just in nautical circles but in just about every job he applied for. Finally when Ogden applied to a researcher named Patrick Heyworth for a job, Patrick's wife Elaine Heyworth, hired him on her husband's behalf ignoring the rather large blemish in his work history. Elaine was the first person other than Bessy to believe Ogden was neither drunk nor incompetent at the time of the crash and also attempted to comfort him on the trauma assuring him it wasn't his fault; As a result Ogden became obsessively loyal to the Heyworths and Elaine in particular. Ogden and Bessy were hired as full time servants for the Heyworth estate, Odgen mainly worked as a handyman while Bessy mostly tended to the cooking and cleaning and for many years it looked like Ogden had found a second chance and a place to live out his remaining years in peace.
One day, tragedy struck though, Patrick had left to get supplies and taken Ogden with him to help carry them back, while they were out bandits had broken-in and killed Elaine in the robbery. All three became extremely depressed after Elaine's death. However Patrick eventually took in a traveler one night. The traveler was a member of the Vatican who in exchange for Patrick's kindness told him about a book called the Émigré Manuscript. The book was said to hold power over death and the traveler assured Patrick it was more than just legend for he was a student of the man that had written it and was himself over 300 years old. Patrick begged the man to use his post as a Cardinal of the Vatican to steal the book for him and offered to pay him well. The Cardinal accepted his bribe and stole the Émigré Manuscript for Patrick. Upon examining the book Patrick found sure enough that the claims of the power the book was purported to possess was genuine and began immediately preparing the rites to bring Elaine back to life. Ogden and Bessy were both all too eager to help him in anyway they could.
The ritual called for blood sacrifices, at first Patrick started with small animals, then he had to move on to larger ones, eventually though he knew he had to start killing people. Patrick would invite people to the monastery then Bessy would slip pain-killing and sleeping herbs into their food and Ogden would quickly cut off their heads in their sleep then send the remains via dumbwaiter to Patrick's lab in the lowest levels monastery which had once been a inquisitorial dungeon before Patrick bought it and built his estate over it. Eventually Ogden, Bessy, and Patrick all had to do things more brutally, Patrick made arrangements with a contact of his in the Royal Medical Society to buy a steady stream of people from the slave trade. Patrick bought an automatic guillotine to make the chopping easier and quicker, Bessy had to switch from pain killers to paralytics so no one could wake up and fight back at the last minute (of course that meant the people were awake and felt as they were chopped up alive, they just couldn't move) and Ogden mowed down any stragglers and sent all the victims down to Patrick by the dozens. All three got over their reservation by telling them selves it was all for Elaine.
Eventually Patrick did revive Elaine but not in the way he intended, what he brought back was a soulless monster, Patrick fed himself to the abomination as penance for not only defiling his wife's body but slaughtering over 200 people to do it. Since Patrick never liked to be disturbed in his research and the lower levels themselves were dangerous Patrick never wanted Ogden or Bessy to enter his lower research chambers and so neither one ever discovered that the resurrection had failed or that Patrick himself was dead. Though the number of people arriving slowed up with Patrick's connection in the Royal Medical Society ceasing to pay the slave trade Ogden and Bessy still made a habit of killing anyone who happened upon the monastery.
In the game Koudelka, Koudelka Iasant, Edward Plunkett and Father James O'Flaherty all arrive at the Monastery and meet Ogden and Bessy hiding their darker nature by posing as just a kindly old couple taking in wayward travelers. Koudelka was a witch who had come because she heard the spirit of a woman, Elaine as it turned out, calling for help to end her suffering. Edward had come because the Royal Medical Society had spread rumors of the mansion hosting non-stop orgies to lure in stray travelers. James was an investigator for the Vatican and an old friend of Patrick and Elaine's who had come to visit his old friends while stealthily inquiring about whereabouts of the stolen Émigré Manuscript. James arrived first and was drugged then locked in a garden with a monstrous plant to be eaten. Koudelka and Edward met each-other there and soon met Ogden and Bessy who invited them in for a meal. Koudelka was an experienced herbalist and smelled the paralytic laced soup Bessy was serving and refused to have any. After they were alone Koudelka used her powers to cure Edward who had drunk the soup and the two laid-low letting Bessy and Ogden think they had died so they could continue to explore the monastery without the mad couple on their tale and eventually met, saved and teamed up with James.
Koudelka was separated from Edward and James and had to make her way through part of the estate herself and during her time found out most of Ogden and Bessy's past, just before being reunited with her allies though Koudelka is caught by Ogden. Ogden knocked-out Koudelka tied her down and began to sharpen his axe to chop her up. Koudelka came to while Ogden was still sharpening his axe and talking to himself. Ogden was about to carve-up Koudelka alive but was shot dead by Bessy just before he struck. Bessy had finally had enough of the killings and had shot Ogden to give her husband peace and save Koudelka, Bessy attempted to put her husband's insanity in prospective for Koudelka before releasing Koudelka's restraints and then casually turned the gun on herself saying that Ogden was waiting for her and then pulling the trigger.
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 Villains
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Koudelka Shadow Hearts Shadow Hearts: Covenant Shadow Hearts: From the New World | ||