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?
[ 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. ]
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