Cinderbones

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?)) The man moves towards the cushions, sitting down with a notable pained grunt. Forcing his body to co-operate so he could find himself sitting as comfortably as his body would allow him to. Eyes moving to stare at the hag for a time before he'd pull the furs of his attire to comfortable positions as he regarded the hag. Pulling back his hood to reveal his features, and let his red hair fall freely. "My story...Hah! What is there to say of the human son of a dwarf, who's father preferred to leave him a bastard rather than risk his tribe's look of his choice of interest. Having to grow up among my mother's people like some oddity..." A laugh leaving the man briefly, reaching into his travel bag a moment. "You know what it is like to have to constantly adjust because the furniture is meant for someone larger than you? Clothes bought having to be refitted to you?" Pulling free a bottle, popping it's cork and taking a long drink of it before continuing. "I ended up running off sometime into my adulthood. Not because of that, honestly mum was good to me. The dwarven people took good care of me as well despite... All of this... No, something just did not feel right. Decided that I wanted to see more of the world, see what else was out there that wasn't just the stones of the mines and caves. Found out I really like keeping nature in balance. Keeping things... From getting too out of hand. No idea what you'd call someone like me, that pushes away that which would hunt too greedily or would sever trees left and right." The bottle tilted back, another extended drink of it taken before he sat it down on the ground. "As for what brings me here? There's something in the swamp... Unnatural... Worrying...I've come to inspect what it is, and handle it if I must. That is my purpose, after all. I tend to the trees, even if some of them are far from appreciative." The bottle was then pushed over towards the hag, offering her a drink from it as well as he follows. "What about you? What's your story?"