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.”
"Greetings kind mother" Alano says, as he moves to sit on the appointed cushion, "Such welcoming hospitality and kind treatment are as wine on a sultry summers eve". He sits comfortably and looks expectedly at the hag "I do hope I meet your expectations, far be it for me to be outperformed by forboding visions. My story, you asked? Well, I am a sailor at heart, having sailed across the seas, visiting islands whose names I've never heard nor now remember."
His lips form a soft smile as he continues, "My own mother taught me how to tread the waves, how to soothe the oceans violent outbursts and glide through her gentle winds. Mighty were the storms we faced, but mightier were we!" he laughs, "They should have seen us then! they would have told tales of us then! wrote songs sung by minstrels and children and jesters alike..." his voice turns soft, "Ahh that was long ago, she's gone now, they are all gone now, off to sail the seven skies, bless Sequana."
He looks up, the greyish green of his eyes sparkling in the light of the flames, the colors roiling like tempestuous waves, his eyes meet the hag's, staring intently, "they do not tell you how lonely it is, out there, the only companion the sea itself, the only touch the salted water, the only voice the grating winds. It twists something inside, creates a hole more empty than the void itself. I sought to fill it, with magic, with power, wealth, freedom, love... I only found the first" he glances quickly at his blistered hands and looks back up at the hag, "Oh listen to old Alano" he says, suddenly back to his casual confident self, "boring my gracious hostess with tales worth less than the salt in the seas."
He studies the hag, the floating candles, and tilts his head inquisitively, his lips a friendly smile, "Say, could I ask of you a favor? I have come to this land to offer my services to any lord or lady that will have me, you strike me as a wise and knowledgeable woman, would you happen to know of such a one?"
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