Mauve Marigold#

Summary#

Mauve Marigold is the person Duke Tristan Blackwood sent the party to find in Havenport. They are to stay with her until he sends word. They met her this session at the Salt House. Source: 2026.09.22, 2026.09.29.

Notes#

• The party met Mauve at the Salt House, the survivors’ community center in Havenport’s dock ward. She was in charge: a middle-aged woman wearing a weathered sailor’s pin that marks her authority.
• She recognized Cassian as Cassian Fortescue at once and addressed him by name.
• She has known Duke Tristan Blackwood since before he held his current title as Duke. She said Tristan doesn’t send people this far west by accident. “Which is it — are you traders, or are you here because Tristan thinks Havenport needs something from you, or he needs something from me?”
• She asked pointedly whether the party is here because of trade or because of Tristan’s agenda.
• She explained Havenport’s decline: when House Westermere fell 15 years ago, the town lost ships, merchants, trade, economy and infrastructure. “Lately people aren’t only leaving — they’re dying.” She believes what happened at the manor 15 years ago has everything to do with what her people face now: the entire Westermere family went missing in an instant, a black wall of force blocked the undercroft, and the Wither began creeping in over the following years. At first two or three individuals a year were taken; in the last five or six years, the town fell apart. Mauve was 31 when it happened and knew some of the people who “brought something into that manor that they couldn’t control.”
• She described the Wither’s progression: people get tired and sick, stop eating, stop talking, and “it’s like watching somebody disappear before their body’s gotten the message. Black veins begin to crawl beneath their skin.”
• She introduced the party to Hesta Cole, Havenport’s closest thing to a nurse — a practical healer who tends Wither victims but has reached her limits.
• She agreed to let the party stay at the Salt House for a short period. She asked them to pay a fair price for a bed.
• When Aldric introduced himself as Aldrick Havenport, she was puzzled: “Havenport is not a surname.” He shrugged it off.
• She said she’s known Ian (Ser Ian Wren) for a long time and finds him charming, but he doesn’t visit the Salt House.
• She cautioned the party against spending too much time in Westermere Manor: “It is exceedingly dangerous and unfortunately I don’t know if I can help your friend.” She said she doesn’t know what game Blackwood is playing by sending them to her.
• She said the more people who have perished to the Wither, the more ghosts seem to gather around the manor. “There’s some clue buried beneath that place but none of us dare brave it to find out.”
• She asked the party, if they return to the manor, to find out why Havenport’s dead aren’t staying dead.
• She is a survivor of Havenport’s decline, part of “Mav and her people” who took refuge in the village from the undead below the manor.

Source: 2026.09.22, 2026.09.29.

• She is the Salt House’s bookkeeper. Odine Dunmere found her reviewing the tavern’s ledgers in a study next to the main hall, wearing half-moon spectacles. Source: 2026.10.06.
• On learning that an entity behind the black veil is behind Havenport’s troubles, she mused: “There may be a reason Blackwood sent you to me after all. He sure does know how to measure his bets.” Source: 2026.10.06.
• She told the party what Havenport has already tried. Priests and priestesses prayed at the veil, studied it and tried to bless the undercroft’s burial site. A hedge mage from House Corwyn spent three days on it, and “the veil didn’t so much as flutter.” The town has no fighters or militia, only civilians toughened by their surroundings. Source: 2026.10.06.
• After Cassian’s persuasion (22), she said that if blood is needed, she is likely the only one in town willing to give it. She refused to send Hesta Cole along because Hesta was needed with the dying, and she refused Cassian’s idea of asking the dying to give their life force. “Despite Blackwood’s conniving ways… I have no such expectation of you all.” She would be eternally grateful if they ended the undead problem, but she would not ask strangers to pay for it. Source: 2026.10.06.
• She agreed to check that nothing escapes the manor if the party is not back within two hours. Source: 2026.10.06.

Relationships#

• Duke Tristan Blackwood: Directed the party to her. She has known him since before his dukedom.
• Havenport: Lives there with “her people.” Runs the Salt House.
• House Westermere: Her family’s fall 15 years ago set off Havenport’s decline and the Wither’s arrival.
• Investigate the Pestilence: Taking more of Havenport’s people. She believes it’s connected to the Westermere fall.
• Hesta Cole: Fellow survivor; Hesta is the town’s healer.
• Edith Rooke: The bartender at the Salt House.