pandasock

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?))

Thorgrim cautiously navigated the rickety wooden pathways, the putrid smell of decay filled his nostrils. Intrigued by the flickering glow emanating from a tattered tent.

Thorgrim finds himself face-to-face with the old hag. Thorgrim's heart skipped a beat, both curious and apprehensive about the potential mysterious knowledge the old hag possessed. Despite apprehension Thorgrim finds himself oddly compelled and begins opening up to the hag, recounting his youth. "My earliest memories were of my parents and our travels together. They were the only other dwarfs I knew. We traveled just the three of us for many years. My father taught me the necessary skills to survive and I learned pull my weight." 

Thorgrim was a quieter and more soft-spoken dwarf than most, who bore the weight of a tragic past.

"I was orphaned in a faraway land, one evening like any other while we were having our meal for the day we were ambushed by damned orcs"

His temper grew but there was a sadness in his voice. The memory is clearly still potent. "I was told to run and my fear took over and I ran. I never found my parents. I don't really know what happened to them." Despite the loss, Thorgrim's father, a seasoned survivalist, had instilled in him a wealth of knowledge during their shared journeys. For a substantial part of his youth, Thorgrim found himself alone, navigating the world with resilience and skill. He encountered various races and people along the way and treated them with kindness, yet he always kept his distance, continuing on his solitary path.

This self-imposed solitude persisted until the fateful day he stumbled upon a group of traveling dwarves. To their astonishment, they discovered this young dwarf venturing alone, and they recognized that such a lifestyle was not befitting one of their kin. They extended a warm welcome and convinced Thorgrim that he deserved a place among his own kind, ultimately guiding him back to the capital city. 

As Thorgrim embarked on this new chapter of his life, he carried with him the scars of his past, but also a growing hope for a future filled with companionship, unity, and the profound sense of belonging that he had yearned for throughout his solitary years.