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.”
Elaris hesitated at the tent’s entrance, the scent of rotted wood and wet moss clinging to his cloak like a memory he couldn’t shake. The floating candles cast flickering shadows across his sharp features as he ducked inside. His hazel eyes narrowed slightly, adjusting to the dim glow as the old hag raised her head.
“What brings you to this dingy town?”
She pauses, studying him closely—
“Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.”
Elaris moved silently, like a creature trained by the woods themselves. He lowered himself onto the cushion, his posture tense but poised—like a wolf unsure if it had wandered into a trap.
“My story?” he muttered, more to himself than to her. His voice was low and quiet, but clear. “It’s not one I’ve told in full before.”
He took a breath, fingers brushing the carved stone tied at his waist—his old hunting tool, now worn smooth from years of use.
“I was left as a child… abandoned beside a river beneath a tree I still see in my dreams. Raised by wolves, I learned to survive—hunt, track, run with the pack.”
His jaw tightened.
“But I was different. Curious. Rebellious. I crafted weapons from stone and vine. When I used one against one of my own, I was cast out.”
The hag watched him, expression unreadable in the flickering light.
“I wandered for months. Found others like me—Elves, high in the trees. They caged me at first. Feared me. But I learned their tongue, told them who I was. They let me in. Taught me their ways. And I taught them mine.”
A shadow passed over his face.
“But obsession… it took root. I hunted something I shouldn’t have. Lost myself in the thrill. One night, I woke to fire. Everything burning. Everyone gone. And I—”
He paused, voice caught in his throat.
“I was the only one left standing.”
Silence filled the tent, save for the low hum of the swamp outside. Elaris met the hag’s eyes, his own unreadable.
“So here I am. If you’ve truly been expecting me, then maybe you already know what comes next.”
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