Jade
Jade is tougher than a bear, feistier than a wildcat, and absolutely convinced that the mountain fog is a weapon deployed by the Grave Mind through some kind of strange technology. She tells this to everyone she meets. Most people nod politely and change the subject.
A well-muscled Natural One woman with a tanned face, sharp green eyes, and dyed dark hair, Jade is difficult to age beneath the dirt and grime of a life spent entirely outdoors. Most estimate somewhere in her thirties. She is one of the best mountain guides in the Unbearable Mountains, possibly the best alive, and she is widely considered unstable.
The stories are numerous and consistent. She once crouched behind a bush for days to ambush a creature she suspected of being connected to the mists. It turned out to be a badger. She captured three of the strongest Mountain Men and held them for two days before deciding they were innocent of whatever conspiracy she had been investigating. Locals say Jade has always existed, as though the mountains produced her as naturally as they produce fog.
Despite the paranoia, or perhaps because of it, no one alive knows the Unbearable Mountains better than Jade. Her obsession with the mists keeps her in the peaks year-round, mapping routes that safer minds would never explore. If you need to cross the mountains, she is the only guide worth hiring. You will hear every theory she has about the Grave Mind's atmospheric weapons program. That is the price of passage, and it is cheaper than dying in the fog.
A well-muscled Natural One woman with a tanned face, sharp green eyes, and dyed dark hair, Jade is difficult to age beneath the dirt and grime of a life spent entirely outdoors. Most estimate somewhere in her thirties. She is one of the best mountain guides in the Unbearable Mountains, possibly the best alive, and she is widely considered unstable.
The stories are numerous and consistent. She once crouched behind a bush for days to ambush a creature she suspected of being connected to the mists. It turned out to be a badger. She captured three of the strongest Mountain Men and held them for two days before deciding they were innocent of whatever conspiracy she had been investigating. Locals say Jade has always existed, as though the mountains produced her as naturally as they produce fog.
Despite the paranoia, or perhaps because of it, no one alive knows the Unbearable Mountains better than Jade. Her obsession with the mists keeps her in the peaks year-round, mapping routes that safer minds would never explore. If you need to cross the mountains, she is the only guide worth hiring. You will hear every theory she has about the Grave Mind's atmospheric weapons program. That is the price of passage, and it is cheaper than dying in the fog.
Children
