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?))
As she comes to a stop, she reaches down to her satchel, flipping the bag open to grab an herb, wrapped in aged leaves. She steps forward and lights one end of the bud, with the suspended candle - then taking a seat across from you. Her sopping wet clothes dripping onto your cushioned couch, as you stood idly by. "Well.." she began, pinching the blazed bud between her lips, and gripping a lock of her auburn hair with both hands, wringing it dry as she sighed, collecting her thoughts. "My friend and I, we're part of an independent shipping organization, we were attacked by-" oh, what's the point in lying? she thinks, remaining silent for a moment before continuing. "My Captain, is the woman waiting outside. I'm her right hand, to her pirate crew. That was, until those mutinous dogs threw us overboard," she flourishes her hands, gesturing to her soaked clothing, "we washed up here, fortunately. Where, you were expecting us." her fingers pinch at the bud, as she inhales, then pulling it away from her mouth, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke, obscuring her from vision. "Now, I don't know you, and I don't know what you are, but I have the need to tell you more.." The smoke clears, showing her pose had changed. where she now laid back in her seat, one of her feet thrown over her knee. "Like how the Captain and I met, back on some frozen isle, where I had called home for a while. She was badly wounded, after a failed raid on a bandit camp, eye-shot from the coast - they fled deeper into those forests, leaving a fresh red stain into the pure white snow. She passed out, face down in the snow. I could've left her, just picked up camp and moved elsewhere to remain undetected. But, I took her to my camp, covered her trail, and tended to her wounds." She takes another short inhale of the bud, blowing the smoke out slowly through her nose. "In return, she gave me a friend, someone to trust. Which is something I haven't had since my parents.. Decades ago? I've lost count, from how long I've spent on my own- a hermit to society." Her eyes, finally, look towards you. "It was a River Troll, I found its tracks painted in their blood, after it ripped them apart.. I had just returned from picking River Lillies for them. So, in a fit of blind rage, I took their spear, and hunted that damned thing down." She looks away chuckling lightly, at a bittersweet retelling. "It was stuck, in one of our homemade bear traps. So I reeled the spear back, and plunged the tip into its back.. It thrashed, and roared, but I just pushed harder- until it punctured the beasts heart." With one last pull, she finishes off the bud, pressing it against her hide armor, to put the flame out. "Now, please do tell me- who are you?"
(decided to mix the roleplay scenario in w/ the backstory fully, hope that's fine o7)
