Bersi the Bold

The loudest, friendliest braggart in Ahnassi's taproom, who has been about to dive Vallen's Barrow and come back rich 'tomorrow' for two years running. Buys a round, tells a better story than anyone, and never quite leaves.

Bersi will clap you on the back, name you his dearest friend inside a minute, and lay out exactly how the two of you will walk into the barrow at dawn, step over the famous ash-hounds, and come out kings. He is wonderful company and he is not coming. Buy him an ale and the plan gets grander; buy him two and you'll learn, quietly, near the bottom of the cup, that he went in once — with Toller, who laughed louder than him and walked in front — and that only one of them walked out, and it wasn't the brave one. So now Bersi leaves tomorrow, every day, and tomorrow he is the bravest man in the Vale. He is the warmest welcome a new road-walker gets in Vallenfield, and if you actually go where he only talks about going, he'll be the first to drink to you — and mean it more than he can say.