You’ve just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As you look around, your gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. You duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? she begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.”
((How do you respond?))
“How is it you know me?” Balasar said as he look at her with a questioned look on his face. There’s a pause. He looked down at his fiddling hands, then looked back up again and said “I am from the Kingdom of Norland; I did not live in town, but on a farm with my mother, my father had died when I was young, he was a soldier, a fine one I heard, but if you live by the sword, you will die by it, It is an unfortunate truth; as I got older my mother only grew more frail with each passing season." There was a pause. "She had fell ill; I knew deep down that she would not make it, and I was right." Balasar opened his pack and took out a small canteen; he then proceeded to take a swig of it. "Good stuff." He put it back in his pack. "So, what was I too do? I did not know. So I tended that farm for 3 years and during those 3 years I felt disconnected, sorrowed, misplaced." Balasar's eyes wondered around as he pondered what to say next. "But I had an idea..., well, more of a yearning; I wanted to see what was out there and it was the only thing on my mind for months. So when spring was starting to poke it's head around the corner, I bought supplied, packed a bag, and I sold the farm. And I just started walking, how else was I going to see things? And now I'm here, in this tent. My story so far." Balasar stood and strapped his pack on. "Well, I best get going, lots of things to see, and not a whole lot of time. I hope you enjoyed my story, so far at least." Balasar then headed to the entrance of the tattered tent, looked back, and left, leaving the old hag behind and a bit of his story with her.
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