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

[weifinder]

( he laughs, a touch awkwardly: she's... not wrong, on several levels. )

More thinking of Kaneki's heart in a box, and Lao Five's tongue in its own box. Both appearing to be magically prevented from decay, frozen in a moment of time, and both possessing powers of some kind.

Still, lovely Hatisse! My questions relate to your observations of the two cities themselves. Do you have any sense of the dead or their spirits or energies? Because I, for one, have not since the time of our arrival.

[aprescoup]

Ka... neki. Yes, the pretty boy. The plaything. He's growing, isn't he? He'll be a man. We could make him a man, together. Shall we? I'll leave you the first turn, and me, once you're ready, I can have second. Shall we do that?

( ...of course. )

Sweet boy, do you sense air?

[weifinder]

I'll have to leave you to the making of a man, I've my own husband to attend to on that account.

( he's brushing past that as swiftly as he can with a sort of airy hahahaha fuck feeling internally )

The element, no, only energies on it when they're of certain strengths. When meditating I'm sensitive to the natural energies of a land around me, but understanding what a difference means here has been more difficult than in my homelands. Why?

[aprescoup]

You do not sense air, but you breathe it, no?

[weifinder]

Yes. ( a pause. ) And detecting if one breathes is fairly simple, though not inobtrusive depending on the method.

[aprescoup]

Yes, my sweet. So, then. Do you see men, and they have died?

[weifinder]

Watch for them breathing, or the beat of a pulse, ah? Then I take it you don't notice any strong illusions or distractions of the mind or eye at work that you care to note.

[aprescoup]

Nothing so malicious, my great beauty. What do you fear?

[weifinder]

Harm on those I care for, and little else, truth told. So no illusions or mental suggestions you noticed, as of yet?

[aprescoup]

I am not all-knowing, my sweet. But here, I know nothing that... troubles me.

[weifinder]

Anything that fascinates you?

[aprescoup]

A thousand questions. But above all, do you think, will you observe, how ravenously do dragons mate?

[weifinder]

... I sincerely hope not, but should I be so unfortunate as to come into that knowledge, I will keep in mind your curiosity to... report.

[aprescoup]

Draw me a sketch, my summer love.

[weifinder]

A sketch it hopefully won't be, but if so, as you wish, Lady Hatisse.