Your character has just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As they look around, their gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. They 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?))
Example:
"Gladly, thank you" She takes the offer and sit as properly as possible on the once crimson cushion.
"You were not that easy to find Madame, and i am in dire need of your help" She glances around quickly, hoping, searching that what she has been looking for might be in this hell hole.
"The story, as you said, is quite long so i will spare you the details. The thing is I am lost. So very lost, and it might entirely but by my own fault. I was told that you know my land, as very few around here do. Is Auvergne ringing any bell?"
She takes a shaky breath, waiting for the answer as the old women take a sip of a muddy beverage, chuckling with a knowing look.
"You do know ! Oh madame please, please you must.." She is cut by the raised hand of her hostess, stopping her midsentence before the universal gesture for money is lazily signed. She shift on her uncomfortabel seat, confessing by her silence the precarious state of her finances. The silence continue as she search in her pockets, but only the pearl on her neck has any value, so that what she decides on offering. Untying the pendant, she places it in the hand of the hag.
"It's the only thing i still possess here, you might have some but if you hold any kindness in your heart, it could be enough ?"
An old map is thrown on her legs, and the croaked voice speaks again
"You are not as lost you think little one, see ? The journey is long but the long road will easily take you there. Your land is so tiny compare to the wilderness you are in now, you're lucky you found me"
Her eyes hungrily jump on the ligns she knows, the roads and rivers, leading to her home. Far, so far.
"The night is setting. Stay here, i have an empty bed for you, and you can start with your story
-My story ?
-Yes, everyone has a story"
And as they dine, Alexandrine speaks of her home where her mother gather thyme on every shelf possible, she speaks of the sunny summer where she would braid flowers in her friends' hair. As the night fall, and the candles wither, she confess her fear of water, when she was taken by the river as a child. The cold winter where she lost her young brother.
"I still have two younger sisters, the youngest wants to fight the world but the other, Marie, she helps me greatly. We keep my father's sheep you see, he is quite old. Now she must be alone, but thanks to you i will soon take my place back. Or not. I don't know... i always dreamed of something else, that's why i travelled so far, but now the only thing i want is to go back. Weird, right ? My family is poor, and its not easy every day but we support each other. And my friend Jeanne, i told you about Jeanne ?"
She kept ranting, her eyes half closed, wanting to sleep but still ready to share more.
"She is the funniest being i know. She climbs tree and use so much swear words but she is very kind, and bright. I am not. Bright, i mean. I wish i was, of course but i know i am not the sharpest blade in the drawer. It's ok though, not anyone can be i guess."
She sighs, rises her head to meet the old woman's gaze, still listening very intensly.
"I heard elves are very smart. I never met one, of course, but do you think its true ? I would like to speak to someone very ancient; that know a lot of things they could share. I am a godd listener you know. Well not tonight, but you asked, so that's alright ?
- That is alright. But i wanted your story, not the elves' you see
- I know, i know. I just don't know what to had. My life is simple, i like to fish and pick flower, i have no tale of great battle and never met a king or queen. I wish for you to meet someone more interesting next time"
The hostess smiles and nods as she get herself of her chair. A subtle sign to go to bed, with the smell of rotted wood, wet moss and burning ashes.
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