Pick Your Peril: The Hero of Mudtown
INTRODUCTION
You are a peasant living in a village called Mudtown.
You, the people you call family, and your neighbors all reside in little thatched huts near a brown, silty stream. Your life is simple, but hard. You spend your days chopping firewood, harvesting crops, and foraging in the dense forest surrounding the village. The people of Mudtown all live in service to the King of a nearby castle.
The King himself has only been seen once by a few of the older residents, but the people are very familiar with his tax collectors, who visit twice a month demanding the best rations of crops and a large tribute of money from the villagers.
Mudtown has recently been struggling to gather enough food and coin to appease the King, and many of your neighbors fear lapses of protection or retribution from the castle. There are mutterings of an exodus from the village, and your family forms a plan to strike out on their own.
The proposition is to march out into the forest and use your family’s connections to a band of forest outlaws to seek safe passage to a better home. A path leading to a spot deep in the forest is mapped out and memorized, and everyone agrees to flee Mudtown at the first sign of bandits or tax men. You begin to dream for a more comfortable life in another village or out in the woods. Anywhere that takes you away from greedy nobles.
One day, you leave your home to catch fish at a nearby pond downstream. It is the peak of summer, and the air is warm, even in the shade of the trees. You are treated to a peaceful morning by the pond, lounging for hours on the mossy banks, fishing rod in hand. You have excellent luck, and soon catch enough trout to feed half the village.
Suddenly, the wind picks up and dark clouds roll in, turning day into night. You feel a creeping sense of foreboding, and contemplate going back to Mudtown. You tell yourself that it is only a spell of bad weather, and that it will pass soon, but even after the clouds dissipate, the feeling of dread remains. The sun comes back out and a fish begins to tug on your line, diverting your attention away from the dark thoughts swirling in your mind.
What will you do?
