NemoAmet

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?)) Durnik frowned. He heard of a cursed town that was on his delivery route. He never actually believed the tales of the Hag of the Hatal. I should be careful what I say around her if I want to keep my soul... He thinks to himself. He then takes a seat where she indicated. "Well, madame, me story is not one tha' is too interesting, I am but a simple smith, and how I got here was fairly normal..." He scrunches his eyes thinking back. "Well, when I was a wee lad, I always loved teh watch the smiths doing their work, turning a lump o' ore into a pure and shiny ingot and form a bland ingot into a work o' art." He smiled, getting into the rhythm of things. "Me parents were good and kind, but always a bit annoyed whenever I brought random scraps that I found on teh street, waiting for a chance to melt 'em down. Me da finally caved in, if you don't mind the pun, and let me apprentice with a good smith friend of his when I became a Beardling." He smiles, reminiscing for a few moments. "Anywho, I was more excited than a dwarf who hit a gold vein when me birthday rolled around. I remember it like it was yesterday. Granted, me 73rd was yesterday come to think of it, heh. I rolled out of bed and hit the ground running as fast as me lit'l legs would carry me. We had a hearty breakfast of rabbit stew, me mum's secret recipe, and then the time came. I was nervous, but then me brother handed me a package. It was a while since I had seen him, 'e was a tailor. Not quite as important as a smith, but he claimed to be more useful than them, because to quote him 'If it weren't fer us, than yeh all would be running around naked or in chains, and tha' wouldn't be too comfortable one would reckon.' It was always a little difficult to understand him, but he is doing well for himself. Ah, and I was rambling. Where was I... ah yes, the present. Me brother handed me a package, and when I opened it, it had a pair of leather gauntlets inside and a jerkin. I put them on ri' away, and thought I was the best thing since the minecart. Me gran'da then came in, with a bundle. He was lucky enough to be a jeweler for the Ironguts. He smiled as he came over to me." He gives a sad smile. "'e was one of the good dwed, may his soul fetch a high price in Khaz'A'Dentrumm. I will find the one who stole your life and beard, so swear I." he says with a grim look on his face. He then shakes off his dark mood, before continuing the story "Well, when he opened the bundle inside was a pair of goggles, though I di'int know what they were then. While he was showing me how to use them, me da and his friend showed up. I was told to say my goodbyes, as an apprentice I would work under the friend of me da, which his name was Dwalin. 'e was a mountain dwarf, but me da said he saved his life, and I could count on him. I said my tearful goodbyes, leaving me family behind, a bittersweet moment as I lose one of the things I love, to gain another thing. Before we went far, I heard a voice calling out me name and found me da hauling another cart behind him full of all the scrap I collected over the years. 'What, yeh think yeh can just leave all this with us? Remember what I told yeh, take care of your own!' We laughed as I transferred the scrap onto the wagon I was riding on, and then we were off." I was a Young Beard by the time that I finished the apprenticeship and headed off as a journeyman smith." He reflected about his past in the slow flicker of the candles. This Hag is remarkably patient, not even interrupting me story once. He thinks before continuing. "I got me rings for my first two jobs, one was making pickaxes for the Miner Union, and the ring was the payment marking me as a friend to them. The other one is for making swords for the crown. Took me many a year to fill tha' order, but I did and got that beard ring as payment, and I always polish the rings to a gleam. I was just taking some ingots teh the Kal'Darakaan market teh sell since the price is up for them." He stops, noticing that suddenly he was standing in the middle of the swamp, with no town in sight. He shakes his head before trudging forward through the muck. "I got to stop drinking Daruuk's brew... He mixes it a wee bit too strong..." He then heads for the faint lights in the distance where the great dwarven city is.