Keerla Aralen
Keerla Aralen’s employment to the Marquesse Silaste Evengarde bound her to the long journey from Baldur’s Gate to Mythrite. After all, the Lords' Alliance needed a representative from the Gray Harbor in the boomtown, and how could a noble like Silaste possibly function without her personal secretary? A few months or more in some freezing, backwoods, lawless mining outpost was not what Keerla had in mind for a vacation, but the job had its perks. Thinking of the hefty bag of gold the Marquesse paid her each tenday, Keerla packed up her goods, feigned a convincing grin and a hearty “I’m honored that you would have me Lady Evengarde!” and took to the road.
A reliable wage wasn’t Keerla’s endgame, though. She had a wife in Baldur’s Gate, and the pair had always dreamed of traveling to Evermeet, but the journey was expensive. A flat salary was never going to pay for that voyage. After she landed her position as Silaste’s secretary, Keerla put on a glowing smile and made herself more than useful. She worked overtime and earned a few extra silver here or there doing logistical favors for other officials serving the Council of Four. But ever the charismatic opportunist, Keerla found ways to turn those silver coins into sacks of gold as innocent courtesies became mysteriously disappearing documents, forged signatures and legal agreements, and quiet bribes leveraged on aristocrats. At times, Keerla even accepted payment for leaking crucial details about the Marquesse’s court to competitors without catching a whiff of suspicion. Beneath the disguise of a faultlessly loyal and hardworking secretary, Keerla built a reputation as a discreet and cunning manipulator under Lady Evengarde’s nose.
Though she loathed the endeavor, Keerla knew Mythrite was as bursting with mithril as it was loaded with opportunities to make a pretty platinum. Shadowed by the intimidating barrier of the Lord’s Alliance, Keerla has already become known in town. To her under-the-table benefactors, she’s the elf you go to if you need a claim settled before a competitor has a chance to make an offer, or if the buyer for your mithril isn’t approved by the Council of Lords and you need an exception drafted. Her favorite clients are the dwarves who aren’t fond of the Alliance, because they are happy to pay in mithril for a piece of paper that says that they can mine where they please, and they keep a stubborn silence about where they got it.
Ever the diligent secretary, Keerla gets her job done well, even in Mythrite.
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Wealth & Financial state
Working-class
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