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.”
((How do you respond?))
"Oh, Madame!" The woman gasped in relief, tottering closer to the old hag as she fervently fanned her complexion, "You would not believeee the arduous paths I have traversed! Companionless, no less-" As she fully took in her surroundings, she hesitated for a moment, eyeing down the cushion before dusting it off and laying her shawl across its surface. "Lovely.. ah... little home you have here." She pauses for a brief moment, "Oh! Where are my manners? As you might have surmised, I am Madame Vetiver."
Her smile curved upwards in greeting as she gently lowered down to sit. "I would say it's not oft I tarnish my reputation with such poor courtesy, but in truth, I seem to have abandoned all dignity these days." Vetiver's gaze wanders to the candle flames bobbing gently mid-air as if small boats on a distant sea. Eyes lidded, she chuckles softly in reminisce.
"But you know, the days I spent seafaring were never dull. Even now, if I were to go back to the day my family had swore to marry me off to my neighbour, I would choose to escape with those dreary old sea dogs just the same."
Suddenly, Vetiver's gaze snaps back to the old hag, the moment of recollection fading as quickly as it came. "But I shan't bore you with the finer details of my life." She was speaking harsher and louder now. "I am but a lone woman making ends meet through my paintings and running from my pirate fiancé like he is plague. I have but one goal in mind- If I want to traverse the continent and finally settle in a luxurious domain, I need my works to sell."
In the shifting candle light, Vetiver's stunning smile appeared all the more sinister as she leant forward.
"And I've heard that you, dear madame, are no ordinary woman yourself. Won't you spare a little sympathy and hear my request?"
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