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.”
Azel sits down on the cushion, wiggling around until it feels comfortable, or at least tolerable, to him. He looks at the woman in front of him in bewilderment and says:
"...How do you know who I am?"
The hag spits back a reply: "I know many a-thing child, and I can see all that the woods notice."
Azel thinks back to the road he took to get to this place.
Azel: "Those crows..."
The Hag: "Ah-ha! You're quite observant, aren't you?"
Azel: "Usually not really. When it comes to birds however-"
The Hag: "You have quite the soft spot for them, don't you?"
Azel: "I used to have a pet hawk when I still lived with my parents. She went out to patrol the fields every day, making sure no vermin were knibbling from our crops."
The Hag: "Oh? It's quite unusual for a wood elf to have crops."
Azel replies: "Well my parents weren't elves. They found me lying in the woods as a baby, and they cared for me for as long as they could."
A sad look forms on Azel's face. His eyes no longer meet those of the hag but are now unfocused on the world around him.
"I see... You are quite a peculiar fellow, aren't you?" the hag says.
Azel looks back up at the hag. He musters the will to speak: "I guess... Wait, why am I telling you this? I just met you."
"Folks say I radiate a pleasant aura, though that could just be the stew! Hehehehehe!" she replies.
Azel looks at the back of the tent. He doesn't see anything resembling a stew back there. A few droplet of sweat runs down his forehead. He holds his hands instinctively close to his belongings.
"Well, I guess I beter get going. I don't even know why I walked into this place..." he says.
Azel composes himself and proceeds to move up from the cushion. Just as he is about to rise, the Hag speaks. "Every decision you make is for a reason Azel. Even if you don't know it." she says.
Azel gets up and starts walking out of the tent. He gives a final look at the hag, who is smiling ear to ear. "What an odd person..." he whispers to himself whilst he walked away from the rotten town. It was only several hours of travel later that a thought popped up into his head. In surprise, he said to himself "How did she know my name?"
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