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?))
"Story about what?" Elyra asks as she sits down on the cushion, "I know a lot of stories, like the one where an old man fell into a lake, or the one where the wizard accidentally became a tree, or the one where..."
Elyra looked at the hag, and giggled. "Oh! My story! Not much to tell, if I'm being honest. Always travelled around a lot with my parents, but it was always between the same few squalid little villages. Dad was a bit of a poet, and mom was a musician, so travelling was the only way to make their coin, you see. Only so many times a farm hand will listen to someone ramble on about how good a bush looks..." She shifts around on the cushion, desperately trying to make it more comfortable.
"Eventually they had enough of it and settled down in some little middle of nowhere town, not too far from here actually, just take a left turn and." Elyra motions her hands around, as if trying to manifest a map in front of herself. "Bah, nevermind. No reason to want to go there anyway, about the same as this place, just a little more dry.
"Where was I? Oh! Well, they settled down, but I didn't, so when I scraped up enough cash, I started travelling. Haven't gotten far on those travels, as you can probably tell, but I've made enough to buy a set of panpipes and a good belt, which is more than I expected. Turns out not a lot of people wanna travel to places like-" she gestures broadly, before suddenly stopping herself. "Sorry, not meaning to insult you or anything. Just a little out of the way here, and a little sad, so it makes sense people want some songs in their life."
She gets off, dusting the seat behind her. "Oh wait!" she cried, "I bet you wanted to know how I got my name too, seeing as you seem to be a fan. But you've gotta guess it first! C'mon!"
Awkwardly smiling in silence, Elyra continues. "I was born on the road, of course!" She laughs her way out of the tent, leaving a very confused crone behind her.
Recommended Comments