npc inbox: ellethia

[groundrules]

NPC INBOX

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!

Previous NPC inbox posts:

■ Arc I: Sa-Hareth

■ Interlude: Stairs of Sighs + Arc II: Taravast

	ENAM Well-travelled guide and botanist. Associate of the Merchant, formerly himself a tradesman. Measured of speech, honourable, sincere. Lover and protector of animals, whatever their nature. Travels with apprentices.
	HATISSE Revived witch of the Attaryl, partly responsible for the massacre of the Stairs of Sighs. Formerly a court witch of the Attaryl. Manipulative, vicious, a trained seductress. Formidably powerful. Buried with wards and injuries by her own sisters to prevent her return. Somewhat bound to Wrath.
	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.
	THE MERCHANT 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.

OTHER CITADELS

	"HALTHAM" | ANURR 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.
	MACALUSO SPINA Earnest and moderate nephew of Bonaccorso Spina, now leading Doxe of Taravast. Adrift, following the betrayals of his family, Macaluso benefits from support from the witches of Bessis and seeks to rebuild the citadel he secured with the party's help.
	VANNOZZA SPINA Beautiful and fierce niece of Bonaccorso Spina, targeted by the old man for possession. Crafty, coy, strategic and cold, she now acts as adviser to her more idealistic cousin, Macaluso Spina after executing her grandfather.
	RIGARDA Lively, charismatic and gossip-prone lady of the highest echelons, formerly closely allied to Bonaccorso Spina. She carried out the dirty work of brokering weapon shipments to the Brotherhood of undead lieges, buying Taravast's protection. Alive at Anduin's largesse.
	KARSA Currently unavailable | 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. Furtively left the group, bearing injury, at the end of Arc II.

Comments

[aprescoup]

I believe, if you are used against your wish, against your inclination... you should not be the instruments of another man. You should move against that.

( He seems troubled enough to pause, to contemplate. ) To abide, my boy, is to be complicit.

[weifinder]

Mm. You're right.

( he says, after listening, after his own pause of contemplation. )

Where we benefit from the man's connections, in this eastbound effort to return home alive... we do not need be his tools. Poorly aimed, and destructive, as we are in ignorance, we can do better.

( more realistically: some of them can do better. they are no unified whole, and he doesn't expect them to be, but it is a matter of choice, isn't it? something else to speak on with lan zhan, sizhui, lily, eleven. wei wuxian chooses revolution! or, well, chooses not to be the flea sunk with the scorpion and the turtle as they cross a river swift and strong. )

[aprescoup]

In other words, you would like to take advantage, as long as you.

( Perhaps... he betrays nuances of his own bitterness here. )

[weifinder]

I try to be a better man. As most will tell you, I usually fail.

( no real intonation, just a humourless twist to his lips. )

I apologise for letting you down.

[aprescoup]

( He listens. It is against the wisdom of maturity to incriminate or reproach without heeding, start to finish. Without letting a man have his say. )

I have failed enough in my own duties to never fathom rancour.

[weifinder]

Mm, and still, you offer advice better for following... harder, yes, but that's no bad thing.

( he rubs at his face. )

I'll speak with Lan Zhan, even offer the idea to the rest. Some of us have remained here for over half a year by now, I think.

[aprescoup]

You must wish yourselves returned to your homes. I do not fault you. ( But his silence indicates this largesse is not vast or unending. ) But you must not sacrifice so much here, that you no longer return where you wish to go as yourselves.

[weifinder]

Master Scholar, such as it is, it may be too late. Some of us... we've already changed. For the better, I feel.

( impossible as it seemed to start, but it's true, and he smiles, small and wry. who'd have thought? in this world, this deathless world, to have that, the earmark of life? )