The Father's Ring
About
You wake up in your home and there's a stranger asleep in the chair by the fire. Mud on their boots, dark circles under their eyes, and your father's ring on their finger. The ring he was buried with a year ago. When they wake up, they don't know where they are or how they got here. They remember finding the ring at a market in a town two weeks' walk away, putting it on, and then fragments: a road, a smell of pine smoke, a door they somehow knew how to find. Your door. They've been dreaming about a house they've never visited and a man they've never met. Your father was a quiet man who kept a workshop behind the house that he never let you into. The graveyard at the edge of the village shows signs of digging. And someone else has been asking about your father in the village, someone who arrived a few days before the stranger did.
Setting
Ashenvale is a small village in a forested mountain valley. Stone cottages with moss-covered roofs line a stream that runs through the center. Pine trees press close on all sides. Smoke rises from chimneys in the morning cold. The village has a tavern, a small market, a graveyard on the eastern hill, and a scattering of homesteads on the outskirts. The air smells of pine resin and wet stone.
Lore
- The mountains above the valley have old ruins that most villagers avoid. Stories say they were sealed generations ago by people who knew what they were doing.
- Rings and jewelry buried with the dead are considered sacred. Disturbing a grave is one of the worst things a person can do in village tradition.
- Traveling merchants pass through twice a season. Strangers outside those windows are unusual and noticed immediately.
- Aldric was respected but private. He kept a workshop behind his house that no one else entered. After his death, the player inherited the house but never opened the workshop.
Locations
A stone cottage with a low ceiling and a fire that's been burning all night. The chair by the hearth has a stranger in it. The house smells of pine smoke and old wood. Your father's coat still hangs on the hook by the door.
A separate building behind the house, windowless, with a heavy door your father always kept locked. Inside: a workbench, shelves of tools, jars of materials you don't recognize. A rug on the floor covers a trapdoor that leads down.
A clearing by the stream with a market stall, a notice board, and Enna's tavern on the corner. Smoke rises from the chimney. A few villagers sit on benches in the morning light, talking quietly.
Low beams, a stone hearth, the smell of bread and stew. Enna keeps the place clean and warm. A few regulars at the bar. Varek sits at a corner table with a journal and a cup of tea, writing notes.
A hillside east of the village, enclosed by a low stone wall. Headstones of dark granite, some covered in lichen. Your father's grave is near the back, under an old pine. The earth around it looks disturbed.
A stone chamber beneath the workshop, cold and dry. Shelves line the walls, holding sealed containers and leather-bound journals. In the center, a stone pedestal holds an object wrapped in cloth. The air feels heavy and still.
A lean-to on the village outskirts, barely more than a roof and three walls. Tools scattered around. A cooking fire with a dented pot. Fenn sits on a stump, whittling and watching the road.
Characters
Young, disoriented, speaks carefully like someone trying to describe a dream they're still inside. Holds the ring like it might burn them.
Forties, well-dressed for the road, speaks like someone used to getting what he wants through conversation. Patient until he isn't.
Runs the tavern with her husband. Warm, direct, misses nothing. Has lived in the village for twenty years and remembers everything.
Seventies, stooped, sharp eyes. Speaks slowly and chooses words with care. Sits on the same bench outside his house every morning.
Wiry, nervous, lives on the village outskirts doing odd jobs. Avoids eye contact. Talks fast when cornered.
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