While the population of Crucible is not robust, there are plenty of other survivors to be found. All named NPCs can be interacted with, appear in network posts, and can inboxed but engagement may be limited. Threaded interactions may be resolved summary style.
Characters may accrue positive or negative reputation with npcs based on personal interactions, public behavior, and hearsay. Shifts in reputation might open up player characters to unique plotting opportunities and consequences.
In-depth threads, interactions, and plots using named NPCs might require the a favor earned from bonus activity.
Feel free to inbox any named NPC like a normal text thread using this post by denoting the NPC name and the interaction style (network, in person, etc)
eaters of sin
The so-called Sin Eaters are long-term residents of the Lonely Fortress and are so named by their preference to indulge in creature comforts to keep their servitors at bay.
Siegfried
The Kindred Scholar
RoleRecord keeping
TemperamentFriendly/Arrogant
Location(s)Library
A demonologist who has been exiled in the Crucible for a significant period of time compared to the others. He is invested studying the Crucible and their purpose within it. As the elder, he is somewhat the de facto voice of leadership among the fortress residents.
Edvin
The Lamenting Baron
Role:Steward
Temperament:Evasive/Haughty
Location(s):Tower Study
A melancholic noble who has lived within the Lonely Fortress for some time. He somewhat oversees (or mostly complains) over stewardship duties around the keep and organizes dinner parties. Mostly yells at people to clean up after themselves.
Mathilde
The Rottflower Prophet
Role:Herbalist/Healer
Temperament:Direct/Kind
Location(s):Greenhouse
A woods witch that cultivates an exotic herb garden collected from egregore-tainted flora. She serves as the spiritual guide and healer to fortress residents, often spearheading experimental rituals to try and bring equilibrium to the egregore.
Romilly
The Sorrow-eater
Role:Companion
Temperament:Friendly/Nurturing
Location(s):Velvet Parlor
A low-born entertainer who apprentices with Mathilde as a healer. She provides council and physical comfort to residents, believing that only love can beat out the darkness that prevails over all exiles. She treats the egregore like an entity to be worshiped, lovingly referring to it as Gregor.
yorick
The Gatekeeper
Role:Lift Operator
Temperament:Friendly/Snarky
Location(s):Lift station, front gate, ramparts.
A cheeky bard that manages the exit ways of the fortress. He knows the keep, the undercroft, and surrounding areas better than the back of his hand. Collects secrets and trinkets, but don't you dare call him a thief. Sometimes provides the musical entertainment to fortress gatherings.
Hm, well. Agnete was with us for some time. She did not speak much of her origins, but from what I understood is that she endured a lot of loss in that time.
When a similar tragedy struck here some time ago and took many, she grew more reclusive to company and would only engage with a few she considered dear. She would help me in the apothecary and forage in the Whisperwood, despite the danger.
I heard seen your efforts in finding what cures her. A valiant effort indeed, but I do wonder if it's a feckless endeavor.
I am of the few she was close to, I am afraid the others were lost in the chaos of her turning. She would sometimes play music with Yorick, but I would not count on his approval of this.
Her room has been collected of her personal effects to be burned at the fete. None will forbid you from picking at what's been left behind. That is the way here.
( great, he gets to go through a dead lady's things. this better be worth it, Louis, geez 😩 )
What about your approval. ( she said she wondered if it was feckless, not that it was feckless!!! loophole! ) If we're gonna reach her somehow, somebody who knows her would be better than a bunch of strangers.
[this npc is unavailable to join your party, steve. nice try. ]
I have no opinion on the matter. What comes, comes. What goes, goes. Agnete was too weak to survive the Crucible's flame. It is too late to change her fate.
My focus is required elsewhere. I cannot help you chase your dream, as noble as an effort it may be.
A word of advice: what has been broken before cannot be made whole again. Be weary what you seek to bring back.
Look. I get that bad shit happens and it fucks you up. Trust me. But if there's still some of her in there then no shit she won't be the same after all this. We shouldn't give up on her.
You said she was your friend. Would she have tried to help if it was you?
Well, then maybe you should think about it. Because I gotta be honest, I think our chances are pretty shit because none of us even knew this lady. You're probably her best chance.
( jeez Steve, no pressure or anything. he should really leave it there, but unfortunately, he's not done. and he does feel a little 🤏 bad for lecturing when Mathilde has been a perfectly nice, reasonable lady. it's just familiar, is all, and he doesn't like it here any better than he liked it around the campfire. )
And I get that when things are always going from bad to worse to god-fuckin-awful you just want to stop caring. But you said that's how people end up like her, right? When it's all bad it takes you over. So maybe this whole, cut and dry, all or nothing shit isn't helping either.
[ All that and after a long pause, Mathilde only hums her acknowledgement of a message received. The noise is not positive nor negative. She sounds no more or less amicable than she has the rest of their conversation, but something in the air has shifted slightly. ]
I look forward to the day we might revisit this conversation, Steve.
Good blessings on your hunt.
[ The connection cuts out like a scissors to string. ]
( her tone stays cordial, but Steve is still gonna take the brain block as a bad sign. he feels bad, but also, not that bad? cuz he's pretty sure he's got a point.
trying to smooth things over will have to wait, though, since that pile of things is gonna get barbequed if he doesn't get after it pronto. )
If you cannot sleep. If your mind cannot escape the walls of that pit. If you cannot eat without feeling your stomach twist with dread. There are solutions for all.
(if your mind can't escape the walls of that pit. damn. she kinda pulled his number there. and he knows he's supposed to have the stones to just take it on the chin and keep going, but considering feeling bad about things is fucking deadly around here, maybe he could use some help! )
Even when I sleep I go back. I don't know how to stop.
In a way, you have left one pit only to find yourself in another. Your mind seeks the rope that would free you...but if you manage to find it, do you imagine you'll find yourself in yet a different pit?
[ Questions, questions... ]
Would you like to merely escape the pit or conquer it?
One would have you forget your horror, tuck it behind the veil so that you can no longer feel its festering.
Another could show you how to overcome it, no easy feat for the soft-minded, but if you are able to withstand facing your fear...perhaps these thoughts can be put to eternal slumber.
( with the options presented like that, his immediate instinct is option 1. that's already how he deals with everything, incredible that there's a magical potion that can do the emotional repression for him!
but, that's the rub, isn't it. it's already how he handles ugly things, only they keep crawling out of his head to haunt his pillow and keep him up at night. so... so maybe it's time to try and face it. )
I'm not gonna die if I fuck up the second thing, right?
I need something only the Whisperwood can provide. You will fetch it for me and I will procure your draught for this endeavor.
A fungus that grows under shaded banks. Some say they look like fingers. [ An image slowly forms in Steve's mind of what she seeks. ] A hand's worth should suffice.
No, it's the lands beyond the fortress isle, across the waters. Agnete would usually fetch what I needed, but as I understand it you have inherited her sickle.
It's no easy feat with what lurks. Take some protection from the armory and a boat to take to shore.
( oof. well, that's sad, isn't it. while this is quickly becoming more of an adventure than Steve realized he was signing up for, Agnete being involved makes him feel strangely obligated. if he was gonna whit out before, he definitely can't now. )
If there's more you want, I might as well look around while I'm out there anyway.
I'll see what I can do. ( Steve doesn't want to disappoint her, even if he's not confident he can pull this off by himself. he's trying not to get in his head about it, but there's a lot weighing him down. the loss of Agnete, the mess of his own making, and Mathilde being far more decent to him than he'd been to her when he was trying to get her help.
if he's gonna get mauled by monsters out in the waste because he's the world's biggest fuck up, he might as well cough up something he should have said weeks ago. )
[ His BFF Steve has it semi-bad for Mathilde, apparently, and as much as Quentin appreciates and respects a woman that knows her plants, her apprentice feels a lot more his wavelength. Watching Romilly shows him that his first instinct, his kneejerk need to comfort and soothe has a place here. For a few days, he just watches her when he sees her; in his second week, he takes the bold move to introduce himself and ask a little bit about her work; in his thirdish week...well. Yikes. ]
One step at a time, Quentin of Ohio. Tempering comes first to stop the frying. Only after, we pay tribute. You new will learn what is for the better and then we try together better next time to prevent this.
Yes...and no. His wrath changes with each moon. This time is fire, next will be something else. Lady Mathilde says there is something to be learned, but we mustn't have learned enough. His wrath always returns.
[ He doesn't like that, but it doesn't feel like a surprise either. Why wouldn't it work like this? Why wouldn't this be a cyclical hell? Why would any tribute matter when, after whatever effort, you get a lethal earth-wind-and-fire escape room to claw you way out of anyway?
[ His skin feels cold enough to separate from his muscle. If it wasn't for Romilly asking, or for knowing that he's got friends who are certainly making it to the sanctuary, he could just lie down and go to sleep. ]
[ More than she can remember, less than some. That's a song he knows too well. The (uncertainty, discomfort) unhappiness seeps into his brain like mud climbing up the back of his jeans, a cold and wet that he can actually feel. ]
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mathilde plsssss
You there? Can we talk?
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When a similar tragedy struck here some time ago and took many, she grew more reclusive to company and would only engage with a few she considered dear. She would help me in the apothecary and forage in the Whisperwood, despite the danger.
I heard seen your efforts in finding what cures her. A valiant effort indeed, but I do wonder if it's a feckless endeavor.
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Who was she close with. And what sort of stuff did she like. Music or flowers or books or ... smells, I don't know. She got a room somewhere?
( he's not gonna say out loud he's gonna snoop. but he's asking so he can snoop. and... )
Feckless? What's that, like, hopeless?
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I am of the few she was close to, I am afraid the others were lost in the chaos of her turning. She would sometimes play music with Yorick, but I would not count on his approval of this.
Her room has been collected of her personal effects to be burned at the fete. None will forbid you from picking at what's been left behind. That is the way here.
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What about your approval. ( she said she wondered if it was feckless, not that it was feckless!!! loophole! ) If we're gonna reach her somehow, somebody who knows her would be better than a bunch of strangers.
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I have no opinion on the matter. What comes, comes. What goes, goes. Agnete was too weak to survive the Crucible's flame. It is too late to change her fate.
My focus is required elsewhere. I cannot help you chase your dream, as noble as an effort it may be.
A word of advice: what has been broken before cannot be made whole again. Be weary what you seek to bring back.
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Look. I get that bad shit happens and it fucks you up. Trust me. But if there's still some of her in there then no shit she won't be the same after all this. We shouldn't give up on her.
You said she was your friend. Would she have tried to help if it was you?
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The egregore is in a fragile state. To risk all to save one is not the way for most of us.
Survivors tend to make ill heroes.
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( jeez Steve, no pressure or anything. he should really leave it there, but unfortunately, he's not done. and he does feel a little 🤏 bad for lecturing when Mathilde has been a perfectly nice, reasonable lady. it's just familiar, is all, and he doesn't like it here any better than he liked it around the campfire. )
And I get that when things are always going from bad to worse to god-fuckin-awful you just want to stop caring. But you said that's how people end up like her, right? When it's all bad it takes you over. So maybe this whole, cut and dry, all or nothing shit isn't helping either.
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I look forward to the day we might revisit this conversation, Steve.
Good blessings on your hunt.
[ The connection cuts out like a scissors to string. ]
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trying to smooth things over will have to wait, though, since that pile of things is gonna get barbequed if he doesn't get after it pronto. )
poison mommy pls
( the whole trouble moving past it thing. )
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If you cannot sleep. If your mind cannot escape the walls of that pit. If you cannot eat without feeling your stomach twist with dread. There are solutions for all.
[ drugs, steve. it's drugs. ]
Something is weighing on you. What do you need?
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Even when I sleep I go back. I don't know how to stop.
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[ Questions, questions... ]
Would you like to merely escape the pit or conquer it?
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( he has seen the trend line of his bizarre supernatural experiences and suffice to say he doesn't like how things are going. )
What's the difference?
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Another could show you how to overcome it, no easy feat for the soft-minded, but if you are able to withstand facing your fear...perhaps these thoughts can be put to eternal slumber.
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but, that's the rub, isn't it. it's already how he handles ugly things, only they keep crawling out of his head to haunt his pillow and keep him up at night. so... so maybe it's time to try and face it. )
I'm not gonna die if I fuck up the second thing, right?
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[ Silly boy, what kind of witch does he think she is? Death. no. Incomprehensible nightmares...maybe! ]
I would serve as your guide. A hand to hold through the Everbloom's grace as it washes over you.
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Everbloom? Am I supposed to know what that is?
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Think on it if you need to, but do not dwell for too long. It will not do to keep on like this.
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( from S1 to S5 and all the fog in between, some things never change: Steve stays not thinking about it. ✋ )
What do I have to do?
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A fungus that grows under shaded banks. Some say they look like fingers. [ An image slowly forms in Steve's mind of what she seeks. ] A hand's worth should suffice.
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Whisperwood. Let me guess, that's not in the castle.
( aka, is it outside, you know, the place with all those monsters roaming around??? )
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It's no easy feat with what lurks. Take some protection from the armory and a boat to take to shore.
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If there's more you want, I might as well look around while I'm out there anyway.
( you know. since Agnete can't anymore 😭 )
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It would be wisest to part in the morning and return before nightfall. There are few places to shelter and it is most unforgiving under the dark.
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Go armed, take a boat, only what you need be quick. I got it. ( maybe. ) Unforgiving how?
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[ Don't find out, Steve. ]
Be well and back by dusk.
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if he's gonna get mauled by monsters out in the waste because he's the world's biggest fuck up, he might as well cough up something he should have said weeks ago. )
I'm sorry I was an asshole about Agnete before.
ROMILLY (by thoughtspeak)
Gregor?
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Yes. Come quickly, Quentin of Ohio, he cannot reach us as easily here.
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I'm on my way, just--checking rooms. Gregor's an awful cute name for something so wrathful.
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or will it. ]Gregor is equal parts cute and wrathful. We must temper him and pay his tribute. Only then he will be contented.
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Now come to sanctuary.
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[ His skin feels cold enough to separate from his muscle. If it wasn't for Romilly asking, or for knowing that he's got friends who are certainly making it to the sanctuary, he could just lie down and go to sleep. ]
How many moons have you see come and go?
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I do not remember them all. There have been many. For others, many more.
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They ever make things better?
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[ A beat, a crackle of anger like sparks in kindling. This time. ]
Next time, we're gonna make it better.
I'm gonna pick up some stragglers, I'll be there soon. Stay safe, okay?
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