Sweetest Sufferance was a shareholder in the Trygalle Trade Guild and part of Master Quell's caravan. She had apparently been so named by a mother either resigned to the rigours of motherhood or, conversely, poisoned by irony.[1] She was described as a short, plump woman[2] with soft brown eyes, a round face,[3] and small hands.[4] She waddled when she walked.[4]
When she was hungry, she rubbed her face and a look came into her eyes that was immediately recognisable by those that knew her well.[3] She expected to one day find a man, lock him in shackles in her room, and reduce him to a pathetic wreck before marrying him.[5] Fellow shareholder, Glanno Tarp, was sure Sweetest Sufferance or Faint would one day be his wife.[6]
She fought with a pair of hatchets.[7]
History[]
She was originally from One Eye Cat.[8] As a child her mother had tasked her with picking the ants off the honey-painted cakes they prepared for the harvest festival.[3] Her grandfather, a one-armed former soldier the Revenants, brought the young girl to witness a Dawn of Flies ritual at the city's Temple of Hood. When she was very young, she believed all of his stories, but as she grew older she came to disbelieve them all. By the time she was a member of the Trygalle Guild, she had gone back to believing.[8]
In Toll the Hounds[]
Master Quell's latest Guild trip through the Warrens ended with a crash in Darujhistan outside Quip's Bar that sent shareholders sprawling.[9] Five shareholders had been killed during the journey, but that was just another day working for the Guild.[10] Sweetest Sufferance followed the survivors (Master Quell, Faint, Glanno Tarp, and Reccanto Ilk) into the bar to drink and recover.[9] Mappo Runt approached Master Quell about taking him to Lether where he planned to search for his friend, Icarium. The sorcerer agreed presuming they could fill the positions of the now understaffed crew. Consequently, Gruntle, Amby Bole, Jula Bole, and Precious Thimble were hired.[11]
The Guild carriage first passed into Hood's realm where they were unexpectedly overwhelmed by a hostile army of the dead. During the chaotic melee, three dead men mauled Sweetest Sufferance seemingly intent on some kind of rape. Although Reccanto Ilk came to her aid, he used the opportunity to grope her.[12] Unable to find the exit gate, Quell hastily brought them to a small tropical island (where it was realized their carriage had inadvertently picked up the undead Cartographer in its wake). The mage then returned to Hood's realm with Gruntle as his escort in an attempt to learn what was happening. They learned from the shade of Toc the Younger that Hood's realm was now sealed to the living. An undead dragon burst from the ground as Quell opened a return portal, following them back to the island before flying away.[13][14]
Master Quell took them off the island through Mael's realm, riding heaving waves amidst a furious storm.[15][16][17] Arriving at the shores of a southern Genabackis island, the carriage raced to the top of an immense wave to crash into a cliffside village before it could be dashed onto the rocks below. The carriage was shattered, sending driver Glanno Tarp, Cartographer, and the horses careening away. The shareholders found themselves in Reach of Woe, a community of Wreckers plagued by a curse that turned their young women into bloodthirsty Tralka Vonan. Three Tralka Vonan were awakened by the noise of the crash, forcing Mappo and the shareholders to barricade themselves in a tavern, while the villagers locked themselves in the tavern's basement. Gruntle killed two of the creatures, while Reccanto Ilk accidentally killed the other. Afterwards, Gruntle, Amby, and Jula volunteered to seek out Glanno Tarp, finding him lying in a corral with his legs broken near Cartographer, who was still tied to a carriage wheel.[18][19]
Meanwhile Quell, Precious Thimble, and Mappo went to confer with the village Provost, Bedusk Pall Kovuss Agape, who they soon discovered was a Jaghut and the originator of the curse. After burying his wife years earlier, the Jaghut had been elected Provost by the village to ameliorate his grief. He soon fell in a love with a village girl who spurned his advances. In a rage, he placed a curse on the village that turned any woman of childbearing age who was without children into a Tralka Vonan. Recognising Sweetest Sufferance, Faint, and Precious Thimble were in danger, Quell allowed them to leave for the next village while the male shareholders repaired the carriage.[20][21]
The Provost's wife was not, in fact, dead. He had buried her alive near the cliff and she had been freed from her "grave" when it collapsed into the sea. She emerged from the water determined to destroy the village of wreckers, who preyed on passing ships. Quell saw the opportunity to negotiate an end to the curse which was almost upended when Amby and Jula Bole attacked the woman. Despite her terrifying magic, they brought her down and pinned her until Gruntle bargained for peace. The Jaghut agreed, but the Boles had to be threatened with decapitation by Gruntle's swords. The Jaghut said the curse would end when her husband was dead and she stalked off to confront him.[22][23]
Makeshift repairs completed, the male shareholders retrieved their female colleagues, but the Jaghuts' sorcerous battle soon threatened to engulf the entire island. Cartographer drew a map in the dirt that would serve as a gate to allow them to quickly escape. With misgivings, Quell invested it with his power to activate it.[24] The gate brought them to the Warren inside Dragnipur where the army of Hood's dead fought a war with Chaos. Glanno slammed on the breaks sending Sweetest Sufferance rolling off like a bouncing ball while Faint landed facedown and spread-eagled. Sweetest had to carry the dazed woman back to the carriage, promising death to Glanno and Reccanto as they sniggered at the women. Quell immediately realised they had been duped as Hood chided Cartographer for being late. The god sent the Guild caravan away with Cartographer as their guide and Hood's Herald, Toc the Younger, following in their wake.[25] They were last shown passing through the primeval world where Picker's spirit was lost.[26]
In The Crippled God[]
Sweetest Sufferance was killed in the Wastelands when Precious Thimble accidentally summoned a Jade giant buried there. The other Shareholders present were saved by the sudden appearance of Draconus in his veered form.[27]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.240
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US TPB p.414
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Toll the Hounds, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.241
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Toll the Hounds, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.84
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.242
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.511
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.505
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.510
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.82-85
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.241
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.277-278
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.505/510-511
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US TPB p.415-417
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 14, US TPB p.455-457
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 13, US SFBC p.513-514
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.579-581
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.658-659
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.659-664
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.740-742
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.742-749
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.820-821
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.750-756
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.823
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.820-823
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.957-959
- ↑ Toll the Hounds, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.970
- ↑ The Crippled God, Chapter 6, US HC p.159-161