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?))
Keeping the fabric of her fur-lined hood over her face, wisps of her silvery-hued frizzy hair coiling down to her shoulders, Raith blinks her jade-toned eyes in rapid succession, clearly surprised that she was being addressed. She'd absolutely never seen this woman before in her life, and now she was being questioned about her 'story?' Weird. Curiously, she twists her head slightly to peer over her shoulder, wondering whether or not someone was standing behind her--only to find no one but them in the worn and battered tent.
With her dark-toned lips set into a faint frown of suspicion, she turns her attention back onto the elderly woman.
"I.." Notes of wariness lace her raspy, slightly-honeyed voice, betraying her unease in the presence of the hag, "...am not sure. I was in the area looking for an herb that's rumored to grow in the surrounding swamps."
She casts a hesitant look down toward the indicated cushion and reluctantly sinks down into it cross-legged, reaching down into a satchel at her hip. Flipping the leather flap and reaching inside, she produces a single slip of aged parchment, its edges tattered and surface discolored, and turns it forward to catch the light of a nearby candle. On it is an illustration done in black ink of a twisting, fern-like plant, its jagged and uneven leaves bearing stipple-like markings.
"Have you seen this before? It is rumored to help with nerve pain and damage when boiled and steeped as a tea--I'm doing an extensive personal field study on the subject.." she trails off, her eyes narrowing into a squint, "..though, it might be possible that the merchant I bought this page from may have simply conned me for coin."
Breathing out a defeated-sounding sigh and giving her head a slow shake, Raith leans back onto her palms, relaxing slightly.
"I'm hoping to find something--anything--that can help someone with such injuries. When my sibling and I were born, our mother's body was too weak and her spine fractured, leaving her nearly fully paralyzed from the neck down. I've always been to blame for it, as the second-born twin. Once they turned eighteen, my sibling--Naith--left on a journey of their own, and I stayed with our family in Celia'nor to help take care of our mother. Yet, with the constant reminder of my involvement in my mother's condition, I couldn't stay for much longer; I lasted a year more before I packed my things and left the city, using what alchemical and botanical knowledge my father was willing to teach me just to get by. I've been traveling since then, on this study, researching day and night with the singular hope that someday I'll be able to find something--anything--to fix her."
Tilting her head upwards to face the old woman, her lips shifting into a weary frown across her prominent features, she continues, "Maybe I'm just looking for something that doesn't exist, and the past few years of my life have been nothing more than a waste of my time. What do you think?"
[OOC Disclaimer: I was given permission by the player of Naith Mettalyth/Ash Probably#4218 on discord to play their twin sister.]
