Content warning: Dark themes, manipulation, evil protagonist
Venturing down the river I begin scheming how to approach this scenario. Should I be scared? Confident? Should I be flirtatious or present myself as boring and dim? People are going to go missing, it is most likely best to make it seem unlikely that I am the culprit. I conclude that it is best for few people in the village to know of my arrival and for those that do to pity me. I decided to fabricate a story of my hometown being ransacked by ogres. I was lucky enough to have been raped and discared, and I am now looking for a new place to call home after such a terrible incident. I use my knife to cut at my clothes and inflict a few wounds to make the whole ordeal realistic. I then use a rock to inflict bruises and bumps. After the whole ordeal, I am reduced to 7/20 HP, but the damage was necessary for the intended effect. Battered and shaken, I enter the village with empathetic arms.
A man with a red and black flannel and a full and brown beard with scruffy hair comes to me with concern and worry, asking “Miss, are you okay? What happened to you, do you need medical attention?”
I respond pathetically with “Oh sir! Oh, my village! It was ransacked by savages! Those ogres, they, they…”
“It’s okay miss, you’re safe here. We’ll get you medical attention as soon as possible. What’s your name miss?”
Shit. I forgot about a name.
“Anabelle, my name’s Anabelle, oh your people cannot see me like this! My clothes are tattered, I’ve been, I’ve been…”
“It’s okay miss, calm down, listen, I’m going to get you to the doctor here, he’s very good miss he’ll patch you right up. I’ll make sure that you’re introduced to the rest of the village only when you’re ready. Right now let's just focus on making you better okay?”
Sniffling and holding back fake tears, I respond with “Sniff… Thank you sir. I-i-i- don’t know how to repay you for your kindness… What's your name?”
“My name is Lawrence. And don’t worry about repayment, I’m sure you would do the same for me.”
His faith in my doing the same for him is comically misplaced. He leads me to the doctors without any of the other villagers noticing me, which is perfect. Lawrence introduces me to the doctor and heads back on his way, presumably to cut wood or something.
The doctor asks “These are some pretty serious cuts and bruises. By the looks of it you’re quite lucky to have made it through the ambush. What town got ransacked?”
I knew nothing of the various towns and geography there was to know about this place. The only indication I had for where I even was were the apples in my bag named after Pillimar, and so I had to make something up that he wouldn't know about.
“We were setting up a camp further up the river, trying to do some scouting for a new trade route, and in the middle of the night we were ransacked by a group of 7-8 ogres. I think.. sniff… I might be the only one left…”
“We’ll send a party up there to investigate tomorrow morning. I’m sure there's more of your group waiting to be found.”
My first targets were acquired. I needed to find out who the party was that was heading up to my non-existent camp and drain them before morning so that when they didn’t show up the rest of the village would just think that they left already. The perfect crime. And when they didn’t return, the village would just assume that they didn’t make it back. I’m not sure how slow I want to play this out, but this was definitely the first step.
“Thank you so much. I can never repay such generosity. What is your name doctor?
“My name is Jerimiah. I’ll be getting the search party to talk to you about where your camp is, if you’re alright with that. I know you’re uncomfortable seeing people right now, after all you’ve gone through but it’s important they know what they’re up against.”
“Sure, sure, I understand. I hope my memory serves me well, everything feels so fuzzy…”
Jeremiah then left and brought back a group of 4 people whose names I can’t bother remembering considering their imminent demise.
