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?))
“My story?” he repeats quietly.
“I don’t have much of one worth keeping.”
“I grew up farther south, near stone and roads that still had names. Spent some years guarding them, for a time... Sometimes giving escort to the caravans that didn’t ask many questions, and sometimes stopping ones that asked too many. His gaze drifts, unfocused, then returns to the hag. "There were stretches we were told not to linger on. Places where the maps were old, and the answers we were given didn’t quite fit. And before someone mentions anything - it's easy to fall into these paths when you're desperate enough.”
"At first, it paid well enough. Enough to stay. Enough to believe that if something went missing, or someone didn’t come back the way they should have, it wasn’t my concern.” A pause follows. “Then something did go missing. A shipment. A man. Maybe both. There was this one incident... You've probably already heard about... Luric moves his eyes backwards, towards the doors, his voice goes down. "It doesn't matter."
Luric's jaw tightens.
“A caravan came through late in the season. Smaller than it should’ve been for the distance it was traveling. Thinking about it was predictable after all... The men with it were nervous, something was just off about them... Spoke little, rode too close together. They claimed to be carrying trade goods meant for the coast, but nothing was right there. Seals were off, everything was off... I noticed. So did another fella' I was workin' with.”
“We were told to let it pass.”
His eyes flick briefly to the hag, measuring her reaction, then away again.
After a pause he releases a sigh of disappointing relief. "Anyway... There were more things, but... The fault didn’t land where it should have. It landed where it was easiest. On a name that was just nearby."
"Really... I just stayed there too long, for reasons I'm not even so sure about. Honestly, just owing coin before I ever really touched it. Turns out some debts don't really shrink the more you work for them."
“When the work ended... You know... Perhaps I've outlived my usefulness there... After that I just kept walking. Took what I could, left when it dried up. No home waiting for me, no one calling me back.” He shifts slightly, uneasy under her stare. “This town wasn’t a destination really..."
“You say you were expecting me,” Luric says. “If that’s true, then you know more than I do. Because I didn’t come here looking to be found.”
"Oh, I just, uh…" you stutter, tensing up. You eye the crone, then back outside the tent. For a moment, the air thickens with anticipation, until…
Recommended Comments