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

[sansdoute]

Oh...? Oh, bless, nothing really, we're good and we're sorted'ere, got us a nice stew, with a little back of lamb. Ribs'll do handsome, the kids like some bone, gets their little teeth working, ain't that riiiiiiiiight?

( From behind, a gregarious choir of Yeeeeeeesssssssssssssss. )

Now, what's all this? What's it like, up there? You a fancy man now?

[thedreamer]

You'll all have anything and everything you need, promise.

[ Loose with the promises, this one. He does so love making people happy, he's just a bit reckless in judging his limitations. ]

They put on a good show up here, this lot. A lot of talking, pretending they want to help. I'm trying to sort some of it out so I can help, but I need your help if you have another moment to spare. They talk about the sickness that spread up here. And our young lad, Gavroche, said they can't be going up here very much at all because the others fear the sickness spreading again. What else can you tell me about it?

[sansdoute]

Oh, that old thing? 'course they're blaming it on us lot, who else have they got? I'm saying, me... when it all started, they thought we brought it in, because ours are the first hands that touch what comes in from the boats outside, and we're living here a little... rough.

( A light cough, as if perhaps even ma'am Mariol agrees that might be an understatement. ) Look'ere, you were with us for weeks. Bit of a mess, sure, poppet, is what children do to a house. But there's nothin' under my roof, isn't squeaky clean. Children be putting everything in their mouths that stands still. You can't be playing with that, you clean.

[thedreamer]

Of course you're living rough, they're keeping all the resources up here.

[ He gets a bit upset, excuse him. ]

And the children, well, all the mess they leave behind, that's just living, isn't it? It's not really living otherwise. [ Said with fondness. ] I've seen it. You keep it all very clean. Now, before the sickness, could you come and go up here as you pleased?

[sansdoute]

Well, they didn't like it, but... wasn't all customs and passports and those unpleasant people getting all rough.

[thedreamer]

Did you happen to hear of any people who spent most of their time living in the citadels above who were exiled down below after the sickness? Mrs. Kellaway's daughter, for instance, she lives up here while Mrs. Kellaway is down below. Did they force her down here after the sickness?

[sansdoute]

Oh... oh, that is a question. I suppose... you know, I'm thinking, I can't remember when she came down, her... would have been... around that time, yes. ( But she's making this little sound, between a tsk and a yawn and... smacking her ladle down. )

Oi. Put that down, we don't eat her braids, what did I tell you? Spit it! Spit the ribbon! Spit iiiiiiiit. Children, you're being so naughty today.

( And back regular service: ) You saw, it's not easy, getting access above. Much easier for you, to be honest, you're new faces. But you do it too often, come up and come down, course the customs boy will learn you.

[thedreamer]

[ He can't help smiling fondly to himself again for a moment. Oh, it's easy for him to do so, he's not wrangling the little ones day in and day out. Though he would if he could. Give her a break. He'd take them all away from this if he could. ]

I'll come back with sweets again soon for the little ones. I will be careful, though.

[ He won't take up too much of her time anymore, she has things to do. But- ]

One last thing: did you know anyone who got sick and recovered? What were the symptoms?

[sansdoute]

( A pause, long enough that, from a mouth that runs as freely as hers, one might be tempted to assume the connection has faded, then: )

...children. You be waiting in the dining room for sup. Off you go. That's all of you, Gavroche, be thankin'you — you leave that biscuit for your sister. Off! Off you go. Off.

( Muttering, mumbling, the telltale patter of feet. A door squealing open, then repeatedly shut. )

Right. Young man. We don't ask that sort of thing in front of children. They know there was sick, but there's no need for their little ears to — ( More squealing — ) You leave that door closed, Gavroche, the biscuit's staying here. ( — ...and the door is shut once more. ) They don't need. To hear. Some matters. Do we understand? First'n'foremost?

[thedreamer]

...what did I - oh. Oh, right, yes.

[ Ah, yes. That thing the Doctor's not always very good at: tact. He forgets himself. This would be about the time one of his best friends might have scolded him or hit him upside the head. ]

You are absolutely right. I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking, in fact. Not to be discussed around the children, won't happen again.

[sansdoute]

No one recovered from the sick, young mang. Dead to a man. All these children you're seeing, they came to me with the sick. Because there was a mother, or a father, or both who... ( A fine time now, to combine her sauces, while she has a think. ) They died. Is what happens. If they saved any above, wouldn't be able to tell you. I have me doubts.

[thedreamer]

No survival... [ He says this quietly, making a mental note. ]

No traceable origin as of yet, despite the claims from above that it started here. Did you hear much about how it affected the ill? Did they have a fever, a rash, upset stomach? Anything noteworthy?

[sansdoute]

( As she speaks, her voice wilts or rises, in a volatile cadence. )

Of course I heard, don't be silly. We lived every day afraid of it. Smallest sniffle, shortest cough... can't imagine what it was like. And it'd... sneak up. One day, a grown man, fit as a fiddle, and then... the coughing. That long and deep and... til blood came with it. The spittle. And the... tiring, the chills, the — the teeth chattering, you could hear them, just... just walking at night, creaking the floors, trying to keep warm, and their teeth just...

( A moment's silence. )

Worst of it was the hands, you know. They called it the coal sick for it, at first. Fingers, going dark, and toes and... just rotting. Really. It's the truth, why not say it. It was rot and death, when it got black, they'd try cutting it but... saw one man, had it on his face. Like coal dust.

[thedreamer]

[ He is, quite literally, taking notes. Every detail. It's all important. ]

The coal sick. They saw that and assumed it started here. So Serthica was whole before, the sickness spread everywhere, the two halves fought and split, and now everyone's separated and doesn't trust each other.

[ A pause for a moment, letting that settle in his own mind. ]

Would you go up there if you could? Live up there, with the children?

[sansdoute]

...no point, wondering about none of that, now is it? We're not children.

[thedreamer]

I think you all deserve better than where you are. At least, as good as they have it up here. I'm trying for that, anyway.

[sansdoute]

Well, aren't you a lovely poppet? And so well meaning. ( But then she's screeching — ) Gavroche, you keep that door close. I think he just likes you. Well, you'll be down for stew soon, won't you?

[thedreamer]

He's my very dear friend, Gavroche. I'll be down for stew soon, and treats for the children.

And what can I bring you? There must be something you need, something you've missed from up here. If you don't tell me, I'll guess and it might be all terribly wrong.

[sansdoute]

...oh, some oranges, go on, then.

[thedreamer]

Oranges, brilliant. Done. You're magnificent, you know, absolutely magnificent. You take care of each other, keep doing that, and I'll have better for you soon enough.

[ He hopes she can find the time to rest a bit. If he could help with that more too, he would. ]

[sansdoute]

Well, off you go, then.