Jinjier

You’ve just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As you look around, your gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. You 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.”

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Araeylin takes a long glance over to the old hag sitting on a small, dark-oak wooden stool in the tent as she gestures to the cushion next to her on the floor. The wood elf then takes one step forward but pauses for a moment, looking around the tent and studying her surroundings. She then proceeds to take a deep, exhausted sigh as she kneels down to sit on the dusty cushion that is placed neatly on the floor. By this point, the old hag had asked "Tell me your story." Araeylin takes another sigh, giving a slight hand gesture to the old hag to give her a moment to ponder where exactly it all started. The hag then gives a slight nod, understandably, waiting for my reply curiously.

Araeylin then looks up at the old hag, looking her in the eye and admiring her eye color for a moment before speaking. During this moment, the old hag looks at her and remembers that she's a Wood Elf, who loves darker clothing. "I grew up in a dense forest surrounded by rivers in a small collection of Elves known as my family throughout my younger years, but because of the nearby conflicts with the Orcs long ago, and other nations going to war near us... the younger ones had to flee while the older ones tried to defend what land we owned." Araeylin pauses for a moment, glancing over to the ground and giving it a long stare before speaking again. "I had 9 siblings but knew not of where they went or if they are still alive, same with my family that stayed behind. I was instructed to run twenty miles south from where we resided, where we grew up, where-" She stops talking for a moment, still staring at the ground with a slight tear in her eye before speaking once again while clenching her fists. "After I fled, I spent two years surviving in the wilderness, alone: thinking about what happened. After those two years, it dawned on me... I was always taught to be thankful for the footsteps that guide you forward, for you can't count those that have passed before you. I was quite young so it took some time to realize this." The wood elf pauses for a moment, unclenching her fists and giving a deep sigh as she looks back up at the hag, giving eye contact again. 

"I then stumbled upon a small town that taught me some inns and outs of general social superiority and how they function. I stayed there for quite some time, up until two years ago where I yearned for the forest once ago and decided to take my steps towards a future I can shape." Araeylin breaks eye contact for a moment, looking at her flask: noticing that it's leaking, but attempts not to pay any attention to it. "The amount of bears I faced after going back into the forest was atrocious. I must've stumbled upon the highlands of where I grew up because I hadn't seen something that big since I was little, and those were just deer." She stops speaking for a moment, taking a breather.

Araeylin then mutters under her breath; "I only wish to go back and save my family but I can only look forward." Another moment passes and she speaks up again. "I'm also into alchemy... but I'm quite bad at it. Anyway, I ended up on a dimly-paved dirt road one afternoon and decided to follow it. Something yearned to be awakened in me, so I kept following..." The wood elf then gives a deep sigh. "There were many wolves on the path, the owls led me the right way when the path faded on one of the days that it stormed really bad. There was lightning and fires, it was almost like mother nature was giving me a warning for what future I may face ahead. I should also mention that on the way, I ran out of arrows so I could no longer hunt: so finding some sort of encampment: for better or for worse, was crucial for my survival." Araeylin sighs, looking at her hands for a moment, realizing that she has a cut on her hand from climbing a tree. "And now I'm here, talking to you. I'm Araeylin Willowgrove, by the way. This place is strange, isn't it? What is this place? And errm... you don't happen to have any arrows, do you?" The wood elf tugs at the very loose collar on her neatly woven, dark-wood colored shirt, looking at the old hag questioningly. "I should be on my way. I have things to learn, and places to explore, even if that means I have to steal something to survive." Araeylin then gets up and waits for the old hag to say something, or if she has anything to say at all, giving her a promptly stature.