Mari

Mari, riding on top of her Eidolon, Thread

Mari is a Bugfolk belonging to Giants Step, sent out to gather as much information about the forest as she can. Mari is (and seemingly always has been) designed to look and act like an old grandmotherly woman, though with an interest in the more Macabre aspects of life. Still, Mari strives to not let her insecticide-like appearance unnerve those she comes across, speaking in a soft tone and being physically and facially more emotive than most bugfolk.

After encountering The party in New Town, Mari committed to joining them in their quest to seek out and eliminate the source of the Black Ooze. This was in part because Mari's role would have her journeying about anyhow, and in part because of the existential threat the Ooze would prove (especially to Queens).

## Story Developments / Character Events

* Shortly after the Newtown Arc, Mari had to step away to help her hivemates briefly. When she was done with that, she learned she had become the godparent to the recently awakened furfolk, Brioche.
* At the end of the Morabella Arc, Mari briefly died due to spending time away from her Queen for so long. She was then returned to the party around a week later after her body was picked up, having had her class changed/having gotten a "refresh."
* In the Umbral Hollow mini-arc, Mari saw Psychopomps for the first time, and was notedly more fascinated than scared. Would have stayed for longer/would have visited it again were it not for the party outvoting her. Pair that with the recent visions of outside the forest due to the Wanderland Arc, and Mari is now personally quite invested in trying to find a way out of the forest.
* In the Wanderland Arc, Mari was tricked into giving up some of her Hemolymph to pass a game that involved ritual necromancy. This caused the Queen of Wanderland to have her genetic information, which was quite upsetting. Mari's Queen was particularly upset about this mistake, which is one of the few times Mari has ever been on the bad side of her Queen.
* In the Conspiracy Arc, it was revealed that not only is Mari's Hive located quite close to The Conspiracy, but that her Queen was planning on taking action to consume an old Greater Furfolk, The Lion. This is a bad idea that may get the hive killed, if it goes poorly.

## Thread

Thread is Mari's once-familiar-now-Eidolon.

Thread was originally a common tamed jumping spider, originally picked up by Mari's travels for his ability to create fibers (which proved quite useful for crafts). Thread wasn't a very good familiar, as Mari got her at-the-time witch magic directly through her Queen and he wasn't great at handling magic, but he was still a welcome traveling companion. In those rare cases when others could communicate with him, he seemed to have a surprisingly harsh tone of voice. Still, Thread was about as smart as a dog or cat.

When Mari got class-changed into a Summoner, Thread was also officially brought into the hive as a new minor member. From there, he was changed to grow several sizes larger, taking on a more wasp-and-tarantula like appearance. Thread is now more intrinsically tied to Mari, as they seemingly are constantly tied together in a genetic and mental way, with Mari occasionally being able to take control of Thread's actions even from a minor distance away. Though less communicative than before, Thread seems to like being large and intimidating, especially in comparison to his small and cute prior form.

## Lore/Facts

* Mari has been in the role of a grandmotherly figure for a fairly long time now, as she seems to like collecting those kinds of memories.
* Mari was and is a big fan of necromancy magics, as she believes them to be potentially quite useful for a hive. Sometimes struggles to see why non-bugfolk find the practice creepy.
	+ She has since had to put her necromancy skills on the backburner as she focuses on being a Summoner, trading her knowledge there for her knowledge on what realm(s) exist.
* Mari does not have blood, but a clear Hemolymph.
* Somewhere in Mari's genetic code there are remnants of a Psychopomp. Is that the only surprise in there? How did Mari's queen get the data for a psychopomp? Who knows!
	+ Mari, like all bugfolk is considered to be an "Outsider", though this is not common knowledge, not even to bugfolk themselves. The psychopomp genetics seems to NOT be the cause of this.
* Mari's hive is not particularly big nor old, but it is infamous (especially for other bugfolk) for being brutal and goal-oriented. This has resulted in others assuming Mari to be a bully upon first glance.