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.”
((How do you respond?))
Bag in hand, Tarlac stepped further into the tent and sat down, sitting with well-practiced posture. "My name is Tarlac, I am a student of lore at the Seventh School." he blurted, as if having rehearsed the line. "I was sent by Master Tracadius to retrieve an artifact recently uncovered by some builders in Gauenia, though I seem to have lost my way. You wouldn't happen to know the safest way to that region, would you?" the student asked sheepishly, clearly uncomfortable.
"The Seventh School?" the old crone mused. "Very interesting. You, however, did not answer my question. Tell me your story."
Tarlac let his shoulders relax a bit. "I was born to a good family in a village just outside a most ancient woodland. My parents often shooed me away from the tree line, but I could never help it. Every opportunity I got, I snuck into the underbrush and explored what I could before my absence was noticed. Eventually, I started to find things I couldn't understand. Crumbled architectural features with massive trees growing over them, indicating an age that I found hard to fathom. When I found small items of interest, I would hide them in my shirt and take them home with me. Once, a convoy from the Seventh School passed nearby, and I ran alongside a cart in order to show my findings to one of their master, Master Tracadius. After that, he invited me to his tutelage quite quickly."
Tarlac paused, but the woman's silence indicated that she expected him to go on. "As part of my duties as a scholar, Master Tracadius sent me out to Gauenia to find the artifact I mentioned before."
She sat back, a small sneer across her lips. "You've wandered quite far for such an silly thing. All dust and pebbles, I'm afraid."
Tarlac's eyes shot wide. All semblance of discomfort disappeared in an instant. "The artifact? You've seen it? Is it here?"
The woman's face cracked into a gnarled smile. "Not here, no no."
"Then where? Surely you know!"
"You've come a very long way indeed... What a pity for the School to lose such a fine fellow..."
