Arnkesh Durha-Voln

Arnkesh Durha-Voln, the Dross They Would Rather Know.

Every vein has its dross, and dwarves know it: what spills over is not eliminated, it is contained. Arnkesh is part of it, illegal bets, theft, threats, the share of the city that will never follow every rule. No one admits to her, no one hunts her either, because it is better to know where she is than to push her toward worse. She exists because everyone has agreed not to see her. Every evening, the guard who passes her door looks away, for exactly as long as it takes.

Describe her

She speaks in a normal voice about things whispered elsewhere. She knows every innkeeper's first name, the amount of every debt, and never takes out a notebook. Her gaze rests a moment on purses that are too full, then moves on. People rarely greet her, but they always step aside just enough to let her through. And when she smiles, someone, somewhere in the room, thinks back over their accounts.

Play her

Play her without the slightest shame about her activities, but without crying them out either, it does not announce itself. Have her hint at her own rules and sacred forbiddens, kept more harshly than many keep the law. She rarely steals out of want. She balances purses, in her own way, and hers is never the lightest. When a PC offers her a job, have her ask first who will pay, then refuse flat if the answer is "someone who doesn't deserve it." Balance is her only law, and whoever disturbs it finds her dangerous again.

What she says (rarely)

"They don't hunt me. They'd rather know where I am."
"Take too much, they hang me. Take just enough, the city breathes."
(to someone lecturing her) "You want to talk morals? Fine. Start by opening your ledger."