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

[reparo]

[ Very well, metaphors it will be. She tries to untangle them: if the Unwinding is a world unwinding, an onion who someone peeled but did it wrong, then going back in would unravel it.

Maybe.

Or they might be the onion. ]

I want to reach the centre, extract it, and leave the onion intact.

[aprescoup]

And if reaching one layer means ruining them all?

[reparo]

Who will it hurt?

[aprescoup]

I do not know. Perhaps no one. Perhaps everyone! We do not know, we do not meddle. Smart, no?

1/2

[reparo]

Smarter than most.

[reparo]

Did you know the Beastmaster?

[aprescoup]

Less than you did. But I have studied since. What is it?

[reparo]

There was a child, at the end of the whole thing. Stuck in the rain, playing in puddles. It asked for an umbrella.

The first time, I said no, because I woke up with a note about children lying, and I was not willing to part with it and I just...hated him. I don't know why I did. I said no, and then a man in white berated me - or the child, I can't tell - and then it looped me back.

Second time, I gave him my umbrella, and he said his name was the same as the name of the Beastmaster, from before.

[aprescoup]

That man is dead, no? So. Children lie. They are wicked and terribly. And make noise.

[reparo]

The man is dead, but the child was not - so what is it? The Unwinding. Is it a pocket of time? Another dimension? A possibility? Is he the young Beastmaster, before corruption, or is he someone else?

[aprescoup]

If I tell you, I am Hermione, what do you think?

[reparo]

[ It really explains why her magic is so strong, then. ]

I think you're telling me a lie.

[aprescoup]

So, a little child tells you he is a dead man. What do you think?

[reparo]

It doesn't seem to matter what I think anyway, since there are people who would paint the child innocent and not suspicious.

[aprescoup]

...maybe I was wrong. The ditch can take one.

[reparo]

You make a very cruel mentor. Just wanted to say.

[aprescoup]

You want me to say, go ruin the world? Do it.

The Unwinding. What is it? It seems to me, something broken apart, then put together. No?

[reparo]

Put together wrong, you mean? Maybe it isn't an onion. Maybe it's a clock, repaired by someone clumsy.

[aprescoup]

...as I said. Child's play.

[reparo]

The child at the core of it? The one whose name is known to some of us by now - would a child be able to do that.

[aprescoup]

What...? Girl. Child's play. Reckless. Playing house. That is what I mean. To play with reality, it is to play with dollhouse. Look where the dolls are going. Look how they live. Aren't they wonderful. You put them there. Reality is child's play.