Gestal

Gestal, also known as Lord Divergence, is a demon thrall, or priest, of the demon lord Demogorgon. As the lord of Divergence, he is the first servant of the Prince of Demons and is the self-proclaimed ruler of the area of the Underdark known as the Depths of Madness.

Personality
Gestal appears to have multiple personality disorder. His other known personality is an innocent young man who calls himself Liet Sagrin, who is unaware of Gestal’s existence, though Gestal knows of his. Gestal claims his own personality is the original personality, and he uses this to his advantage, for he is aware of all of Liet’s memories and uses Liet as a lure to find a suitable female companion to rule the Depths by his side.

Gestal has rather perverse tastes, using candles of human fat and kneeling on blankets of skin when he prays to Demogorgon—demanding power from the demon prince rather than begging, since Demogorgon would give nothing to the weak. His private chamber is filled with a horrid reek, and adorning the walls are murals painted in blood, excrement, offal, and other foul substances depicting human and snakelike figures engaging obscene and depraved activities.

Liet Sagrin
Liet Sagrin is an innocent, boyish, and kindhearted young man of about twenty-eight years who claims he is from Harrowdale. He is shy around women and in some ways, it seems as if he were teenager trapped in a man’s body.

Physical description
Liet is a handsome young man of about twenty-eight years. He has mismatched eyes—one green, the other gray-blue —and sandy, wavy hair, although he is not very muscular. The skin on both his arms is gray and puckered, which Liet is embarrassed about and keeps covered with the sleeves of his tunic.

Whereas Liet wears a dirty tunic, Gestal cloaks himself in tattered gray robes covered in filth, with madness seeming to bleed from the gaps of his robe. The flesh from his shoulders down to his wrists is black and scaly and crisscrossed with grotesque scars. , When Gestal is in control of his body, he can use a demonflesh spell, causing the inky blackness and putrid sores to spread across his skin except for the right side of face, for a brand depicting a two-headed snake wrapped around a serrated blade appears on his right cheek.

Background
Gestal is the highest-ranking servant of the demon lord Demogorgon, and he had decided to rule over the Depths of Madness for the sole purpose of finding a female companion and lover, for the glory of Demogorgon. To this end, he uses the alternate personality of Liet Sagrin to gain the love of his intended female target—though whether Liet’s personality was intentionally created through magical means or merely a product of a mental disorder is unknown.

Throughout the Depths, tribes of demon-blooded lizardfolk living in filthy warrens serve Gestal, but Gestal’s most prized and faithful servant is a physically altered troll named Tlork. Gestal can telepathically speak to Tlork, giving him commands. Another of Gestal’s servants is a female halfling named Daltyrex Blacksoul, also called Slip. She serves Gestal by infiltrating herself into a party of adventurers, as Gestal does with Liet, and leads them to their deaths. Gestal can also see through Daltyrex’s eyes while Liet is awake. ,

Gestal’s principal enemy is a sharn called Ruukthalmuramaxamin that dwells in the ruined Netherese city of Negarath within the Depths. , ,

Events in Depths of Madness
Gestal finally found a perfect potential female companion when the moon elf who calls herself the Fox-at-Twilight entered the Depths with a band of her fellow adventurers. Her band was ambushed by Gestal’s fiendish lizards, and she awakened in a dungeon with other prisoners, including Liet and Slip, with her memory wiped of the recent events. The prisoners united in a group to escape the Depths, unknowingly being tested and toyed with by Gestal and Daltyrex.

Twilight and Liet fell in love as Gestal had planned, but when Gestal revealed himself to Twilight, she refused to join him. Later, Gestal, weakened, desiccated, and already near death after being hit by a powerful spell that had just been cast by Ruukthalmuramaxamin, was finally killed by Twilight as she ran him through with a dagger, though she never stopped loving Liet.

Appearances
Gestal is the primary antagonist in Depths of Madness.