Everly's Mercenaries

Everly's Hires · Everly's NPC Crew

The two or three dozen NPCs Everly hired across the floors instead of allying with fellow crawlers; nearly all died.

Story so far

Rather than accept help from The Mantids, Everly hired NPC mercenaries floor after floor — two or three dozen in all. Some she fired in a rage. Some simply vanished and stayed on her payroll anyway, to her annoyance. The rest died. They and the invisible words on Everly's Prayer Mat were the only company she kept.

Ten of them followed her into The Tower Maze on The Eighth Floor. When the ceilings began grinding downward, seven died within the first ten flights of descent. The last two — Everly's Ogre Mercenary and Everly's Dwarf Mercenary — died with her in the sand at the bottom, one digging until his fingers bled, the other awakening into self-awareness in his final breath.

Appearance

A rotating crew of dungeon NPCs of varied races — ogres, dwarves and others — in scavenged mercenary gear.

Role

The hired substitutes for the allies Everly refused, and the price of her isolation.

Relationships

Everly — Their employer, who preferred paid NPCs to mantis allies.

Everly's Ogre Mercenary — One of the final two, who awakens as he dies.

Everly's Dwarf Mercenary — One of the final two, who digs for the keyhole to the end.

Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 21

The two or three dozen NPCs Everly hired across the floors instead of allying with fellow crawlers; nearly all died.