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

[scrapgege]

"Ah, yes. Humans are like that, aren't they."

And yet surprisingly sturdy at time.

Xie Lian crouches down, his hand still holding onto the lock of hair under the fabric.

"... Does it do anything? Like a talisman, or... something to locate people?

[aprescoup]

As for that, Anurr-turned-Haltham spares little concern for the braid, less for Xie Lian's question — honours both, at the last moment, with a nod.

"You keep it safe."

[scrapgege]

So he can't answer, or he won't. Not that it matters. Xie Lian has met enough powerful beings in his life to know that even if the lock of hair itself has no magical properties, it is meaningful in some ways.

"I will."

A small beat and...

"Say, if you've been around for a long time, you wouldn't happen to know more about this ghost army, would you? Their general... he feels almost like a Wrath-level ghost, and that means he either has been around for a very long time, or what is keeping him here is very strong."

[aprescoup]

"Know nothing about no wrath, me," he murmurs with a borrowed mouth, a quieting of the voice that doesn't become it. This skin always ill fit him, stretches and tightens at the wrong corners.

"But it's getting stronger as it walks." And there's a grin well-lived at the corner of his mouth, one his companions mirror. "Appetising."

[scrapgege]

That catches Xie Lian's attention.

"........ You're planning to eat him?"

That's... not actually as outlandish as one might expect, at least when you know ghosts and spirits the way Xie Lian does.

"He's keeping a whole army tethered. That's very powerful."

[aprescoup]

Ah, but he keeps his smile thin, his pace measured, the shrug well-learned. "Me, I'm just visiting."

And he's stayed, past his delivery. "You go off, now."

[scrapgege]

Well then, he's being dismissed, very clearly.

he's stand, and dust himself off and give a little bow, but still... Eating the ghost. It could pose some problems in the future, depending on how that affects him.