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

[foxable]

He bothers her every day, bringing something different to show her every time. The first couple of days he works through showing her his tattoos - the magpie on his wrist (though he does not mention who it follows), the tattoos around his ankles that help muffle his footsteps, the elaborate one up his arm that helps him to see the interwoven make up of spells.

Then he starts on his clothes: the hoodie that disappears him, the warming enchantments he's placed on everything to still the bite of winter. He's open about his methods, shows her his notes, explains the spell he wants to cast.

An enchantment linking a tattoo (only for the willing, of course) to a crystal - one that will speak for the person when the person can not, when they are in danger or grave harm. A beacon to draw their friends to their aid.

[aprescoup]

She does not approve: this is not her way, the way of her people, their purpose. There is a beaten path, not for lack of attempt or imagination, but for understanding the nuances of linking man's mind and thousands of living tongues, and this webbed interconnection of quartz pieces, speaking to each other. Better not to improve on matters of subtlety, when the boy has not yet spent even a year apprenticed to a magician.

But he has his sketches, and for now, the incantation will hold. She provides a single revision, noting where the underlying runes might be called on differently, or the spell components might be tightened to render the magic — efficient, lessening the toll on the caster. To the initial plan, she adds only this, an additional pulse to tell those who receive the emergency message if the sender is dead or alive.

You never know, after all, in these lands.