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?))
“I… I’m not really sure where to begin,” she said, fingers twisting nervously in her lap as her gaze drifted around the tent. “I grew up far from here, in a quiet town where the streets were always empty and the nights too long. My parents… they tried their best, but life was never simple. My father was always distant, buried in his work, and my mother… she loved me, I think, but she had her own worries, her own secrets. There were things in our family I didn’t understand, things people whispered about but never explained, and I always felt like I didn’t belong, like I was different from everyone around me.”
She swallowed hard, her voice trembling slightly as she continued. “I spent most of my childhood wandering alone, reading old books, listening to stories of people who seemed to have answers I could never find. Sometimes I felt like I was chasing shadows, trying to understand myself through scraps of information and half-truths. When I grew older, I realized staying there wouldn’t help me. I left home because I needed answers. I needed to understand why I feel the way I do, why I’ve always been… unlike others. People called me stubborn, reckless even, but I couldn’t stay quiet anymore. I had questions, and no one at home could give me the answers I sought.”
Her eyes met the hag’s, wide and searching. “Someone told me you might know more. That maybe you could help me figure out who I really am and what I’m meant to become. I don’t know what I’ll find here, but I knew I had to come. I had to try, even if it scares me. Even if I don’t know what’s waiting for me on the other side.”
