Darkest Night

You've decided to take to the library. There must be something that can help you fend off Noct, or maybe understand what his motives are. The library is not very big, but it seems to go back further and further into the lodge, almost like it's connected to something else. You get the strangest feeling that the shelves are alive, or possessed.

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You scan the shelves, trying not to think about the uncanny feeling that you're being watched. Noct is the main concern. Everything else is secondary.

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A book to the far right of you flies off the shelf and lands with a loud THUNK on the floor.

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Cautiously, you walk over and pick up the book. It's old and falling apart, and it smells like dust and burning pages. There is no title on the flaking leather cover or the spine; just a fading imprint of a face that looks a lot like Noct's when he showed his true demon form.

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You open the book: Tales for Darkest Night - Warnings for the Winter Solstice 

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The first tale is the one that you know. A traveler camps outside on Darkest Night, too poor to afford a room. He lights a large fire to last him the long night, and he cooks a small meal for himself. Just as he is about to crawl into his bedroll, a stranger approaches and asks to warm himself by the fire. The traveler agrees, seeing no harm in it. The traveler cannot see the stranger's face, only that his hands are pitch black and shiny, and that the stranger's hair is long and gray. The two begin a pleasant conversation, and they talk well into the night. The stranger's stomach growls loudly. Embarrassed, the stranger asks the traveler for food and drink. The traveler refuses. Though he has some to spare, he reasons that his journey is long and he did not wish to suffer hunger in order to feed a stranger.  The stranger is enraged and reveals himself to be the demon Noct. The traveler tries to beg forgiveness and give the food and drink, but Noct is not sated. He throws the traveler into the fire, then takes all the food and drink for himself.

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The second tale is similar to the first. A traveler stops for Darkest Night, too poor to afford a room. When the fire is lit and the food is cooked, a stranger approaches. This traveler, however, asks the stranger to join him in his meager feast. It is, after all, the Winter Solstice. Times are hard on everyone and the traveler reasons that he can eat a little less each day in order to feed his guest. Noct, grateful and surprised by the traveler, reveals himself to be a demon. He not only summons a lodge and a feast worthy of a lord in the middle of the woods, Noct agrees to grant him something his heart has always desired. The traveler, overwhelmed by the offer, asks to think on it as they celebrate. Noct agrees, and the two drink and eat and dance with Noct's servants well into the night. Just before the dawn breaks, Noct asks once more to grant the traveler a wish. The traveler asks for the lodge and its strange endless supply of food and drink. The traveler wishes to house other poor souls like himself, even if just a night, to relieve people of their suffering. He has grown weary of traveling forever, and it is time that he settles down. Noct, touched by the traveler's generosity, grants the wish. The magical lodge is warded from those who sought to do the traveler harm. It is said that to this day there is a lodge deep in a forest somewhere, and that the innkeeper still takes care of lonely souls.

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That lodge sounds familiar... almost like the one that the lodge you're in now...

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