Pierce Keswick

### Death

Late 2017; sacrificed himself and created a Great Work to ensure Mitch and Kiera became more powerful in the future.

### Played By

Jhan

**Pierce Keswick** was an Orpheus agent and part of the 'rogue' Orpheus cell that included himself, Mitch Hook and Kiera Jackson. Pierce was the sneakier agent of the cell, using his Occultist abilities to sneak past security devices and wielding a knife as his weapon of choice.

## Appearance

In *Missing Pieces*, Tiresias shows Mitch and Kiera a photo of Pierce and he's described as looking "more like a Ralph Lauren model" than a spy, with "windswept hair, a big, winning smile on his face, perfect straight, white teeth. The only thing off about his model-good looks is he looks a little drawn, a little bit tired, or perhaps like someone who's been doing some drugs. But he's the kind of guy who gets his way, you can tell that just by looking at him."

## Archetypes

### **Occultist**

*"Your Track Record as a destabilizing influence is.... Impeccable."*- [Redacted]

Following the greater good, the bigger mystery, or beholden to a horrifying monstrosity. What ever it may be that powers a cult, that thing creates the Occultists. Reaching into the great beyond allows for the reversal of personal time in a pinch. Or the slipping between places unthinkable to the normal human. Some say that if you talk to an occultist for too long, you will lose yourself to them.

As an Occultist, Pierce's greatest ability was his use of **Impossible Geometries,** allowing him to bypass any security measures with ease and to travel great distances without being noticed. **Machinations of the Timeless** also saved him countless times during combat.

## Backstory

Pierce came from old New England money, son of Ambrose Keswick.

Pierce rebelled against his wealthy and influential family by using drugs, especially psychedelics. However, nothing would ever fully scratch the itch that caused him to rebel or answer his quest for truth. Pierce eventually fell in with Darren Feldman, a serial murderer styling himself after a mythological creature.

Pierce eventually killed his father in his office. The body was discovered by his sister, Tabitha Keswick, soon after Pierce ran away.

## History

### **Missing Pieces**

Pierce was first introduced in Missing Pieces as a deep cover Orpheus agent implanted within a cult by the name of "The Congregation of the Gentle Hand". He was the 'court jester' for Elijah, the cult's leader, and had fully integrated himself within the cult due to him being abandoned by his handler, Muninn. He met with his old cell-mate from Orpheus, Jack Kincaid, in a biker bar, but was then ambushed by armed bikers who were swiftly dealt with by Jack.

At a tent revival held in Naperville, Florida, Pierce was then met by Mitch and Kiera, and he warned them about the cult and their use of hallucinogens during so-called 'sermons'. After watching Elijah go through a sermon, some hymns and a humming ritual, Pierce was taken to the cult's farmhouse, where he attempted to formulate an escape plan for Kiera. He then watched as the witch intentionally choked herself on a piece of carrot and managed to save her and pulled her away to privacy. Without a plan, he let Kiera run out of the house's back door and then alerts the others, before proceeding to chase her down, but keeping himself just a few paces shy of catching her. The pair ran into the nearby swamp, where Pierce and Kiera reunited with Mitch, but Pierce was then attacked by an alligator that Mitch swiftly killed.

Pierce guided the cell to the cult's base camp, a ramshackle island of sheds in the middle of the swamp. Using Impossible Geometries, Pierce was able to disable the cult's fan-boats to prevent anyone from escaping. He then plugged his ears with mud to block out the cult's hypnotising music and made his way to the camp's generator to disable the power and knock out the PA system.

## Death

Pierce died in the Icarus arc as a result of his own **Great Work** countering Nadra al-Hashem's Great Work. The Occultist was empowered by three very powerful entities; the Lady Clothed in Crows, Autumn and Henry Colfax. He used this power to manipulate the Long Legged Larry children's book, turning it into a pure occult working that gave him the powers of a god. With this, he took his two teammates, Mitch and Kiera, and flung them into the future; Mitch into the single future that Nadra's own Great Work would create so he could retrieve Excalibur, and Kiera into the future that Pierce created after stopping Nadra. His existence spread across all of time and space, and mere moments after he saved his friends, Pierce's began to fade into oblivion.