let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote2020-02-09 02:53 am
groundrules) wrote2020-02-09 02:53 am
Entry tags:
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
| 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. |
| 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 |
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. |
visiting ma'am mariol, after the beginnings of the remembrance plot
When the door opens Fei sets the sack gently on the ground in the space between them, so that she can cup her fist in her palm and offer a respectful bow. ]
Honored Ma'am, I have brought things for the children.
[ She's brought questions too, but keeping the orphans here healthy and well fed is more important. Curiosity can wait. ]
no subject
( Oh, it's them, then, is it? Oh, aren't they sweet, always checking in, and now, look at the girlie Mariol's rushing to let in, her gaggle of misfits clamouring behind her — )
Steady, steady, you'll be trippin'er over, don't want that, do you? Do you? And she's brought you gifts, what do we say, children? Annie, you put'nother bowl on the table, get Kester to drop one down from the shelves, the nice yellow ones, eh? Without'em chips!
( Mariol and the children make fast, careful work of dragging the goods in and leading Zhou Fei about, at least, wafts of fresh stew building. )
Just put some fresh potato in, be licking your lips by the end, poppet. Come in, come in.
no subject
Ma'am Mariol, I brought this for you.
[ The shawl wrapped in brown paper was purchased with a generous tip she'd been given after matching up a pair of dragons by what had to be pure luck alone, and she hands it off to her once Mariol's hands are free again. It didn't feel right to bring only things she'd stolen. ]
I wonder if you would be able to speak to me. I have heard things about those who wish to unite the two cities above us, I wish to know if this would benefit the children here.
no subject
My, what a bounty... innat right, children? Pleased, ain't we? Grateful? You say your 'thank you's now, children.
( It's a long, paltry and particularly unfortunate line of reedy thank yous, but every son and daughter of the Mouse House's impromptu orphanage takes a turn. Some bow, others courtsey, the manners clearly imitated from sightings of the upper class.
Then, Marion waves them off, waiting in the kitchens while she sets all her goods to rest, before turning her eye back on Zhou Fei: )
I'll thank you not to speak all sorts of unpleasantries around them. They look silly, but you never know what their little geese minds pick up on. They're at an age, you know. Why, Gavroche, he's even learned letters.
( Spoken with just about as much enthusiasm as she collects a particularly handsome potato in her two hands, finding its weight pleasing. There it goes. )
Now, what's with you all and the above? Other one was asking, him, about the sick not long ago... you ask me, if they's together, if they's apart, won't be changing much for us. They've decided we're filth under their shoes now. Won't be mattering to them if they say it together or think it apart.
no subject
[ She frowns and offers Ma'am Mariol another bow. Little ears do hear much, and the things she wants to know are indeed not for them. ]
There is a movement above, they are called Remembrance, and they seek to unite the city above, but they dwell down here. I wish to know if this is harmful to you and the children. Do they endanger you by being here?
[ And then, after not thinking it through enough. ]
Would you live above with the children if you could?
no subject
...here? What do you mean, now?
( Frowning, softly, but tending to the long business of readying her pots, cleansing her pans and passing a soft cloth over the legumes newly set at her disposal. What fine breakfast cakes she'll assemble for the children, come the morrow. )
Ain't none of them in the Mouse House. Don't know what you've heard, but we're honest and mostly good people. Some have had a turn, but... but we're all trying here. And... as for them above, they might have it better than us, might be having it worse. ( Huffy, one might say. ) I'd take the children, certain. For more light, for more schooling.
no subject
[ Fei understands that perhaps it's not the most polite thing in the world< to not offer help in the kitchen. Instead, she reaches into the bottom of the sack, setting down two leaf-shaped mounds of baked clay./small> ]
Break it open. My husband made his best chicken for you and the children.
[ The first time it dawns on Fei that these children are growing up without light is when Ma'am Mariol mentions it, and she can't help but look surprised by the thought, nodding along in earnest agreement. ]
More light, yes. You would prefer Eidris where there is sun?
[ The little house she's let with Xie Yun would certainly not support all the children of Mouse House, but Fei is certain there are other places above worth investigating. ]
no subject
What do you.. ( But she stills, for a moment, hand slow over her pans, mouth a quiver. It seems to strike her, all at once, that men of violence might transgress against her people. That she might have already laid out their traps for this game. ) We don't want trouble here.
( And then, she rallies: gathers herself and takes stock of the containers set before her, palm heavy on hard clay. ) Your husband's a good man, he is.
( But then, slowly: ) Except if he don't put garlic in his chicken, some people are stingy. ( Not her, mind. You never underspice your chicken. )
Oh, dear me. All this talk of... I'm surprised I've still got appetite. It's no good, is it, lovely? Dreaming of what you can't have? Why set yourself for disappointment? Life's grey enough.
no subject
I have troubled you with this talk, and I apologize.
[ Watching the other woman break open the beggar's chicken she's brought Fei tries not to look as pensive as she feels. Then, she recalls something else, something Red mentioned– ]
For next time, how old are the children now? I want to bring books that are not too old for them. Gavroche knows his letters and can show the others.
no subject
( Hard work, dividing good food when small hands are renown to be sticky, and ma'am Mariol has all of this banquet to delegate, among people. )
Oh, bless, I don't... like to ask. Some of them didn't come with... with good memories, poppet. Talking about their families is —
( A wince, and the turn of her smile sours. ) I'd reckon, you know, I think the oldest I took in was three, turning his fourth summer. And some are big, 'course, proper gentlemen, almost! Aren't they? Nearly... thirteen? Oh, they'll be young men and women shortly.