Word from Marsember tells of the necromancer Alashendal, formerly of Scornubel, who has set up shop in the City of Spices. Already she has commanded a half score animated skeletons to take up shovels and buckets in order to clear great wet heaps of snow from the cobblestone lanes on the island where her emporium is located and the bridges connecting it to greater Marsember. Those same skeletons act as servants and guardians, and move "with alacrity and care" according to the merchant Ostramagarus, who claims to be the first to have visited Alashendal and employed her services. "Old Ostra" remains tight-lipped as to precisely what services he purchased from the necromancer.