18th_Emergency

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.”

----

"Tell you my story? Why, we've only just met. Buy me dinner first?" Madelyn smirks and chuckles quietly to herself, clearly, she finds herself amusing. She walks in and sits down comfortably next to the woman, pulling down her scarf off of her head, revealing her long sleek black hair. Despite feeling comfortable sprawling out in a tent next to this woman she's only just met, reaching out and touching her things without hesitation, Madelyn struggles to be honest with the woman. "I'm merely a local from the town over," she says shortly. As she sees the old woman clearly seeing through her lie, Madelyn sighs, "No, I've just been... wandering around for quite a while now." Sensing there's no danger in this woman, Madelyn opens up.

"I grew up with just my father around, or not so around. My mother died in childbirth, and seeing my face after her death seemed unbearable to him, so he'd take any excuse to work in the mines as late as possible. It left me with a lot of time to wander. With no parent to get in trouble with at home, I was happy to get into mischief, stealing fruit from the market, I thought it was funny when Mr. Knownelhaven would chase me for a couple blocks. He's a big guy, easy to outrun." She stopped herself, "It's not like I didn't have anything to eat though," she said in her father's defense. "He clearly still loved me, we just were... distant. And he was so tired at the end of the day that he didn't care to chew me out." She said quietly, clearly something bothering her. "I kind of would do anything for attention, I didn't have a moral conscious either, so I was happy to shack up with the other girl's boyfriends either." She chuckled and added "And god did that put a target on my head. There's this girl in my hometown, Mavel, ugh, she's awful, but did I really like her guy. Anyways, she found out and decided she wanted to 'get me back.' So, she and a group jumped me outside of the tavern I shouldn't have even been in that night. She beat me up real bad. I've never, ever been angrier." She looked down, pausing for a second. "There's this real sketchy old woman who lives a few miles out of town. Her husband, this old farmer, died mysteriously in the fields and ever since she's lived out there alone. No one knows how he died, but everyone thinks she did it. He didn't have any wounds though. It was kind of a scary story they'd tell you as a kid, they'd tell you that she comes into town and snatches kids. I knew it wasn't true-" she cut herself off again to resume the story, catching herself getting off track. "Anyways, after what Mavel did, I saw her walking through town as I bled home late at night. I decided to follow her, and..." She looked down and smiled, "When she first saw me she cursed me out, thinking I was some common mugger. She saw my wounds then gasped, giving me her handkerchief and tapping at my wounds." Madelyn looked out towards the door, "She assumed my husband had beat me, and offered me a 'a solution that would really stop him from ever doing it again,' and handed me a vial. I knew I was coming back for Mavel, but I don't know, I guess I thought it would just like, make her sick? Scare her? Little did I know she had given me arsenic, the "king of poisons" not some shitter. I mixed it with some water and planned to just splash her with it when I saw her in the towns square, but, I'll admit I got carried away. I jumped on her, waterboarding her ass and running off. I really should've known not to mess with 'nobility.'" Madelyn said mockingly with clear distaste.

"Her father, that scummy politician, started a mob, pitchforks and torches and everything, looking for me through town. An old friend warned me that they planned to put my head on a rod on display in the same spot I'd killed her. I had to leave, there was no other choice." She looked up at the woman, "I feel the worst about leaving my father, he was already left once by my mother, then I left him completely alone. Just for him to hear of the murder, I don't know, I just really feel like I still owe him something. I haven't seen him since." She quieted down, sulking in silence before popping up to add "Oh, and I guess I feel bad for Mavel too! yea." 

"After ditching town with nothing, I just kept walking, and walking. No one wants to hire a girl like me, I got no skills to offer ya', I'm weak, but a lady still has to eat somehow. I'd sleep with a guy just so I could raid his pantry, or I'd smuggle someone or something across towns for a promise of money, It's been four years and I still haven't figured out a homeplace, but to be honest..." A smile creeped across her face, "I love it. People are so easy to trick ya'know? And if it gets bad, I'll just ditch town, er... yea." Her smile disappears, as she realises she has not been discret, "Er... yea that's what led me here. I promise I mean you no trouble."