Zyra Veilcart

Stats

• Role: Disgraced map-seller
• Bond: Owes a debt to a silent patron who supplies the strange light
• Flaw: Trusts no one, believing every kindness hides a price

Appearance

Zyra wears a thin cloak of goat-hide, its seams stitched with sinew. Ink stains her fingers and the cuffs of her sleeves, and a small satchel of calfskin vellum hangs at her belt. In the gloom of her stall hangs a single oil lamp whose flame is fed by a wick of braided goat hair, casting a wavering amber glow that is the only light not drawn from electricity.

Secret

The maps Zyra sells are not of existing lands but of places that have not yet come to be. Each sheet was bought from a dying seer who whispered future geography into the parchment in exchange for a life already taken — usually a child's breath sold to the patron who fuels her lamp. Zyra knows the price has already been paid, and she merely collects the coin.

Hook

A party seeking a forgotten ruin approaches Zyra’s stall. She unfurls a map that shows the ruin’s exact layout, but warns that the price for the map has already been taken from someone else. If they accept the map, they must decide whether to trust a bargain built on another’s suffering, or to walk blind into the dark.

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