npc inbox

[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

■ Interlude: Ellethia

■ Arc III: House of Ravens

SERTHICA | ALLIED NPCs | OTHERS

SERTHICA

	ARABELLA Mistress of discipline and Minaras' Watch ships, and member of the ruling governance. Her manner at once innocent, ruthless and cold-blooded. Mother to clockwork children.
	CAIN D'UBIQ Foremost dragon rider and gentleman of Eidris, accepted by the great fire-breathing Ashtart. War hero of the conflict with Minaras. Too young for his rank and achievements. Patron of several dragon schools. Appears perpetually absent-minded, thoughts astray.
	MA'AM MARIOL Motherly figure to the orphans of Serthica's impoverished underworld of exiles, the Mouse House. After years of rearing, prone to treating everyone as children. Her temper runs hotter than a first glance might indicate. Knows just about everyone.
	(KING) THIVAR II Formerly king of Serthica, holding a diminished court in Eidris — the single citadel contingent that still recognises his authority. Headstrong, firm, dignified. Claims Minaras and Serthica's dragons as his birthright.
	CHRICHTER Only available to those who join Remembrance. Leader of the radical Remembrance resistance movement that calls for a different solution to Serthica's post-plague political landscape. Unaffiliated with Eidris or Minaras.

ALLIED NPCs

	KARSA 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.
	'QUICKSILVER SAM'(UEL VANE) Pirate king of great renown, master of haunted waters. Recovering from a journey through the Crossing Seas, where he summoned the drowned dead for a foolish act of vengeance with an elusive artefact he himself misunderstands. Agile, quick-witted, charming and possessed of more street smarts than many. Intent to repay his debt to the party.
	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. Not travelling with the party.

OTHERS

"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.

Comments

[aprescoup]

I... I can't say. ( But he's studying himself, armed with the deepening, squinting curiosity of a man possessed of new interest in his own person. ) But I am... I am... I do prefer this. I think.

[weifinder]

It's nice to see you feeling more of yourself, Asgeirr, for that I'm happy! You sound more focussed too.

( meaning this might be a decent time to ask what else he had in mind, now that he's reassured that his scholar friend is not suppressed or non-existing here. which... also makes him think: we don't sense. what is all here, and perhaps stronger than it would be otherwise. )

We're in Serthica now, with its divided cities of Minaras and Eidris. Do you notice anything strange about this place, spiritually speaking?

[aprescoup]

I... ( But he takes his time, as if the air of the place, the knowledge of it, are flavours on his tongue. He must taste them, one and all. )

I don't recall these... divisions. Serthica was always a fine citadel. A little... eccentric in its affection for dragons, but... it is often a place will become overly zealous in the use of its few advantages. They've always had them, the dragons.

[weifinder]

Was it a citadel that raised and lowered itself in the times that you knew? The dragons remain, smaller ones as couriers. I hear of larger ones as warriors.

[aprescoup]

The dragons... yes, the smaller for transport and courier work. The larger, for what nature intended them. ( And a conspirer's whisper: ) They are not timid creatures.

( But then, adrift, lost in his thoughts: ) Serthica has raised and descended itself, yes. An ancient mechanism. I believe, bound to its central clock. When the citadel was attacked, it could... flee underground. And the might of its dragons might retaliate against its offenders, while the civilians were unharmed.

[weifinder]

( he laughs, more surprised in a pleasant way by the whispered aside than perturbed. he has enough else to be perturbed about than giant flying predators.

though yes, he's not necessarily at ease with giant flying predators. they are, however, fascinating, and intelligent, meaning he has more faith in them than say, donkeys. and such. )

At that time, it was the citadel as a whole which moved, not only half of it, ah? Or was the citadel always operated as two halves, moved jointly? The dragons patrol one side's skies, and sleep the nights over while the flying machines cover the other side when it rises.

[aprescoup]

( When he blinks, it's almost a learned thing, a gesture of feline imitation. Too delayed. )

Now, why would only... half of a citadel protect itself? Of course the whole of Serthica went up, then down, then... you understand, surely.

[weifinder]

My question exactly. These days, only a centre strip remains in place, while each other half of the city lifts or lowers opposite of each other.

( he sighs, shaking his head. )

Master Asgeirr, I can't detect the dead here. Not their energies, not their resentment, nothing that lingers.

[aprescoup]

That... shouldn't be possible.

( But then, he expects, with a moment's pause, that he would not be approached if it were not so. That he has largely been visited to solve this great and inexplicable riddle. )

Unless... there are no dead. Or they have thralled their territories to allow no distinction between the living or the dead. Or they have arrested the moment when the living die. Or... perhaps it is you. You, who are... lessened in your skill?

[weifinder]

( he laughs, low and not so much bitter as tired. )

It's possible, but it's also across all those who should be able to tell. Maybe it's all those things you mention, with the exception of there being no dead. If someone were desperate to keep people alive, against what nature or fate might wish them, would it be possible to slow down that decay? I wonder... but at a distance, I know I cannot tell. We'll have to observe closer and from different views to see about the rest.

[aprescoup]

( A strange thing, a ghost succeeding to nod. Like a dog, walking on its hind legs. )

I can assure you, if this isn't your trouble alone... this wasn't the way of Serthica, before. The dead were the dead, the living were living. There was no confusion.

[weifinder]

( a nod that in and of itself becomes something of a bow; strange for a ghost to have become more of himself, to be more visible than he is transparent, and yet.

and yet not the strangest of the things here, or of things growing. perhaps a leading edge to another ending, not yet known. )

Thank you, Master Asgeirr. After knowing that you were as okay as you could be, that's what I wanted to understand.

( the history to examine the present, and what those difference must indicate, aside from a timeframe spanning more decades than he's ever seen. )

[aprescoup]

You are kind, in your own way.

( That of a necromancer, and a stranger. But it pleases Asgeirr enough to have company that he waves along the bow, somewhere between gentle acceptance and dismissal. )

You be on your way. And... take care. There's a wind come. These old bones sense it. Quite easy to catch a sickness when you wash your hair, or the weather turns.

( Life advice from a friendly, slowly dissipating ghost. )