Ecaeris Perven

Ecaeris is an undead elf who has run The Haunted Stump for an indeterminate amount of time, though it is the oldest tavern in Negame that is still up and running. She has laid aside adventuring to instead help those that follow her path, whilst still making a good bit of profit from it. No one knows much about who she was in the past except that she was among legends in her prime, back before she had died.

She is a rather stoic individual who has no real buttons that can be pressed to drive her to anger. However, she has a keen memory and will remember if someone has skipped out on a bill, and isn't one to be trifled with. She is also well versed in knowing what someone wants and/or needs before they ask for it, having spend centuries selling to her clients.

## Appearance

Ecaeris is a rather petite woman, having been a bit on the younger side when she had died and been revived by her own magic. She has no real muscular build that can be seen, but is still capable in hand to hand combat, though not enough to do much than defend herself. She is usually wrapped in bandages all over, to hide the many scars her body has and the fact that her body cavity isn't empty, though seeing that requires a strong feel for mana.

## Biography

### Before Death

Ecaeris was born back when elves were considered the superior race, back when they wrote their knowledge to the gods, but she never got to experience this part of elven society, for she was hardly even a child by the time the old gods had left and elves had strived from their knowledge and onto magic. Time passed and she left her village not because she thought purity against magic was the answer like so many before her, but simply because she wanted adventure. As such, she took this time to be the adventurer that she always dreamed of. However, as she did so, word of mouth spread about her, though no one could really find her, there were people speaking of her as a plague for the magic she had naturally picked up on. Over time, it she was to the point where she had cracked the code to life and death itself, performing many different spells in conjunction so that when she died, she would still walk the earth for all eternity. She would live to see empires rise and fall.

### Post Mortem

Once Ecaeris died, she felt an immediate change in her power. No longer was she the strongest like she had been in life, with her large reserve of mana locked away from her, leaving her with a measly 20% of what she had before, she came up with a plan to not be defenseless though. Using only 1% of her remaining mana, she had created scarabs in her body, compacted so tightly against each other that even a slight cut would release a swarm. Once this was done, she would take on exactly twelve more quests, each of the highest risk, so she could eventually quit life as an adventurer.

Once Ecaeris had accomplished this, she set to work creating her tavern, general store, gambling hall and more all in one place: The Haunted Stump. Taking the dead body of a massive tree that rose above the canopy by a few hundred feet and was as thick as some of the thickest buildings that have been erected, she renovated. It took her three years and most of her magical supplies in order to get the place up and running, so she didn't turn away a single living soul. Soon, a quest board under her name was erected outside for adventurers, and inside, there was The Collector's Board, bounties that could be hunted down and done with no repercussions taken against them. This board was created by Ecaeris, as a backup to her policy of "If you can't pay, work for it". Whenever someone came along and couldn't pay, she would give personal quests to cover the difference. However, people abused this, and would cut and run with the quest. So The Collector's Board was for these debtors. If two weeks went by without them appearing with a finished quest, she would put them up on the board. If she got the quest back and the money they owed, anything else the collector found on their body was given to the bounty hunter. There was such a good acceptance to this idea that Collectors started crashing at The Haunted Stump. Criminals with undeniable immunity thanks to her establishment and The Collectors Board, they would check in twice a month for bounties, using their free time to hang around the bar, gamble and supply their criminal services to those who wanted it. They paid their room and board so as long as they don't involve her personally, Ecaeris couldn't care less about what they do in their free time.