npc inbox: sa-hareth + stairs of sighs

[groundrules]

NPC INBOX: SA-HARETH

Reach out to your (not-so-)favourite NPC here, putting their name in the comment header. Try to keep it to just quick text/audio/written exchanges or inquiries that can accept summarised answers, please!

CURRENTLY WITH THE PARTY

	THE MERCHANT username: raven master The patron saint of etiquette and the eastbound getaway expedition. Seems to largely trade information alongside wares. Appreciates spices, strategy and collaboration. Has an eerie and overly cautious manner. Committed. Defends the benefit of the many, to the detriment of the few.
	KARSA username: lady of the willow tree Sorceress, young (?). Employed by the Merchant and deferential to him. Talented but fiery and frequently impatient, intolerant of fools. She will get today's job done yesterday. Struggles to sympathise with men, objections and those who cannot absorb information quickly. Enchanted the group's translation devices.
	ASGEIRR The ghost of a scholar monk. Haunts the tattered execution cloak that the party stole from the La Rea bank in Sa-Hareth. Once a champion of equality and freedom, he faced ire for converting his followers against the regionally profitable trade of slavery. Soft-spoken but wise and just, slow to regain his strength. Will speak to those who visit his cloak in brief interludes. Favours necromancers.
	MAZYAR Charlatan, crook or wise man, Mazyar has worn all the names. Once an exceptionally skilled smuggler, now an equally apt tradesman and caravan master, allied with the Merchant. Less cryptic than his 'associate,' if more prone to riddles and keen on items with value.
	GHOST ARMY OF ARHA A maudlin, marauding and eerily fixated army led by the young lord Arha through the Stairs of Sighs. They seek to rescue Arha's oracle lover Hatisse from Taravast.
	OUHRSSON Guys, it's a bear.

SA-HARETH

	"HALTHAM" | ANURR username: Haltham | illiterate The undead warlord Anurr, previously posing as gentle-mannered giant Haltham. An embodiment of Sa-Hareth's cold storms and wind, who regained his territory from contender Unhalad with the inadvertent help of the party in Arc I. Frostily rational and amenable to some negotiation.
	THE (NOT-SO) GOOD PEOPLE From distressed locals to busy-bee merchants, guards, enchanters, tradesmen, politicians and looser-tongued courtesans — never underestimate the value of indiscretion in a citadel built on commerce, rumour and stubbornly choosing to ignore the expanding rule of the undead. Not every piece of gossip or legend's worth your time, but beggars can't be choosers.

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Comments

[aprescoup]

You mean... you mean, Unhalad's? Them came from the mines. So was always...

[bearshermark]

[Quietly]

Of course.

[It makes sense- the miners..]

..How long were you able to use the salt mines before it became too dangerous?

[aprescoup]

Must've been... ( A moment, hummed. ) A few years? Lost the count. Was a few years.

[bearshermark]

So you've been cutting lumber since then? Well I guess that gift was fairly useless to you then, I'm sorry. I'd thought it would help.

[aprescoup]

Now, don't be worried! I can use it. I can always... wait. That why you called on me? You want me back? Be needing it?

[bearshermark]

No! No, I don't need it. I haven't been to the mines since before the avalanche. Besides which, it was a gift. I'm hoping you'll have use for it again sometime.

[aprescoup]

I do too. I just... I want to see you. And show you good ale and... the nice weather, maybe. Haven't had us much o'that. But the sea's beautiful. And the forest...

[bearshermark]

[That's sweet, Haltham. That's the genuine nature he remembers encountering first thing. It just strikes a little odd here, given he isn't speaking to everyone currently.

Eleven hesitates a breath, at odds with following the flow or attempting to wind back for a moment]

..Will you be coming East with us, then?

[aprescoup]

Me...? East? I don't... I never... ( Laughter, hoarse. ) With the fancy folks? Me. I can't... I can't even read.

[bearshermark]

Fancy? [He takes a moment, then laughs] Not all of us are high-born, you know.

[Although, on second thought, he is, but.. that's more a technicality]

Have you been much outside of Sa-Hareth before?

[aprescoup]

I go to the forest. And I went to the mountains, before... and I fish, too! Harder, since the arm, but. Them fish don't care. They like to listen to stories, too.

[bearshermark]

[He tells stories to fish you guys]

The forest is interesting- the ancient tree in particular. But I haven't been to the mountains; is there anything interesting to see there?

[aprescoup]

( Beware the fish. )

The sky. And birds! Time to time... and when it snows, it's better up there. The air feels purer in your lungs.

[bearshermark]

[Eleven mostly knows his limits- and riddling isn't among his strengths. Gdit Wei Wuxian]

I can imagine. When I came from my world, it was from atop a mountain, so I know the feeling. I think most of us have grown rather tired of the cold, though.

[And there were those voices from the mountains that made them both appealing and not]

But where is it that you go fishing, if I can ask? I miss it, and we only have a lake with an old corpse in it, here.

[aprescoup]

That so? Shame... and they... they don't bite no more, if there's the. Old corpse in? Maybe just... fish on the other end?

[bearshermark]

[Grimacing]

I don't think we can trust the water, let alone anything that might live in there, so I haven't bothered to try. There must be a less contaminated place to fish.

[aprescoup]

Try one of them small lakes in the meadows? In the forests, past the rim. You'll find a few. Might need to... crack the waters, if they're frozen, but...

Will that be all, then?

[bearshermark]

[Shit, he doesn't have much more time, but! Lookit that he may be able to source more food for everyone. Very worth]

Ah- one more thing, sorry. I was wondering where it was that Bl- er, the Merchant had planned to send us, rather than this farmhouse? It might give us an idea of which way we're going next.

[aprescoup]

You mean, instead of...? He never said. I don't know if he'd chosen. But wasn't no one at the farm, and it's got all them fancy gears and... amenities and some magic, too. It's good, isn't it? And you can toss a ball from the back room, and if you open all the doors, it'll go right through the front one!

[bearshermark]

A-ah, what? Sorry, I was-

[Taking notes and thinking about seguing into follow up questions]

What was that about a ball and the doors? ..Something magical?

[aprescoup]

What...? No... just. You take a ball. With your hand, yeah? And you open the doors... and you put the ball down'n'... you kick? Bit hard, maybe? And it... rolls. Through rooms.

[bearshermark]

Ah. [Um. Hm.]

I think it's a bit cold for that now- the others would probably kill me for trying.

[And now, grasping at straws]

..Sounds fun, though. I take it you've done that before?

[aprescoup]

Kicked... a ball? Yeah. We've got... balls. Sewn together? They're good.

[bearshermark]

[An amused huff, though he rubs a frustrated hand over his forehead. He isn't made for this]

Of course. But um, I don't mean to keep you. Thanks for talking to me- and really, about the fishing spots. I hope we'll have a chance to speak again before we head further East.

[aprescoup]

I know we will. And it'll never be a trouble.