Polyantha Ret

Polyantha Ret is the name used by what appears to be a woman that conducts trades for occult items. You give her an item and 100 fathoms and in exchange you get a mystery box reliquary containing an item that is somehow similar to the one you gave her. Curiously, her name is an anagram of nyaRlathoteP.

Appearance
She doesn't mind hanging around in the dark, which makes making out the details of her body from a distance difficult. From closer you can see her better. She is thin with subtly odd proportions: fingers and neck a bit too long, head a bit too round, limbs slender but not bony. She is pretty in an otherworldly sort of way.

She has a pair of round glasses with black lenses that block your view of her eyes, red hair held up in a braid that encircles part of the back of her head, and a long red dress. She usually sits in a relaxed, slumped position, unnaturally still, regarding visitors to her shop from behind her glasses.

Her voice is a raspy whisper but somehow not unpleasant. She purrs in a way that make your teeth itch.

She stands and moves almost impossibly, like something is pulling her out of her chair. She pads across the ground in a way that reminds you oddly of a spider.

She either is or shares the same name with one of the Saints of the Cthonic Church. One of the enormous statues along the Tunnel of Pilgrim's Path is of a woman. This is not uncommon. What is interesting is the name on the statue's banner: "Saint Polyantha Ret the Consumed" The woman depicted by the statue is a somewhat matronly looking woman, stern faced and well muscled without being bulky. Her hair is done up in a braid that encircles her head and she holds what looks like an open black book in one hand, with her other arm outstretched. The outstretched arm ends just before the wrist in what look like carved swirls of steam or smoke. Much of the entire right side of her body including part of her face is also gone or hidden in that steam or smoke. She wears the outfit of one of the Deep Walkers, the soldier priests of the church.

Shop
A small shop in Anvil tucked away in a distant part of the town, deep in the tunnel maze. It has no sign displaying a name, but through open, glassless windows you can see many boxes of all varieties sitting about. Polyantha is usually found sitting behind on a stool in the back corner of the room, barely visible in the dark.

The boxes here, or rather the reliquaries as a sign above them states, come in all varieties. Some are small things, a few inches across, others are several feet wide, and everything in between. They all have some degree of care put into them, from simple but clean metal boxes to hugely ornate things made of genuine wood with maddeningly tiny and complex golden filigree or filled engravings.

Trades
"A trade, 100 fathoms and one object. The laws of similarity are in effect."

She waves a hand when asked about limits, languid and disinterested. Asking about GTA credit gets you a smile that makes your skin crawl.


 * Pancaek traded a gemstone people construct from the ruins of the first expedition and received "The Kidnapper Bell".