The Bard's Mission: Legends of Redemption

The old man watched as the hooded woman rode away, back down the road.

He had seen many traders pass through, and even more travellers, but such a mysterious figure was rarely seen in these parts. She rode with a grace that only long years of riding could instill, yet still seemed to be moving too fast for a person to ride on horseback. The old man wondered if her horse was truly moving that swiftly or if it were some kind of illusion. He took another sip from his mug and glanced at the other patrons of the tavern. Many had taken notice of the woman, but none knew who she was or where she had come from. Even with all his wisdom, he could not discern her origins.

A small child - perhaps five years old - approached him cautiously and tugged at his cloak. The others in the bar watched this exchange silently while they continued to drink their ale. "Sir," the little boy said, "Who is that lady?" He nodded towards the door where she had left only moments before. "She seemed like a good omen."

The old man smiled and put down his mug. "Yes, I suppose she did." He looked over at his fellow patrons and frowned. "I have no idea who she is or where she came from." A few muttered curses came from those around him; they didn't like being kept in the dark about anything concerning their town, especially something as unusual as this woman's appearance. The old man took another sip from his mug before continuing with the child's question. "Mostly we don't get strangers here though," he added thoughtfully, "but if you live here long enough like I have, then you'll start to see things." Another murmur of agreement came from around the room; some friendly nods between the men and women gathered there too. This young boy was no stranger to them either; almost everyone in town knew him well enough, so they didn't need any further explanation as to why he'd ask such a question regarding this stranger who appeared out of nowhere and headed off toward Porton Forest without another word shared with anyone present in town. They were grateful that she hadn't asked about it since it seemed that for now, at least, she wasn't going to venture into their part of the woods after all and would continue travelling down their road until she reached their village instead.

"But what does an omen do?" The kid asked curiously after a moment or two of silence between them had passed.

The old man smiled again and patted him on the head before getting up from his stool near the bar and walking over to one of the windows facing out onto Main Street outside. He pointed at one of the houses just across from them and explained to him how a house could also be considered an omen: when someone moved into a new home within Porton, it usually meant that there was going to be new people visiting town soon enough due to someone else moving away. It was similar to how an omen could signal change within life too; change which usually brought good things along with it but could just as easily bring bad too depending on what changes were made though he meant no harm by telling him this since there was nothing wrong with being prepared for both kinds of changes in life even though most changes were for betterment in society nowadays since bad things tended to happen less often than good ones did these days since most people followed God's teachings well enough now which meant doing good deeds wherever possible would help promote positive change wherever you went or whatever task you were set to do in life because doing otherwise would just make matters worse for yourself by creating more bad luck than good so it was best to stay on God's side whenever you could remember that he cared about all his children equally even if some people sometimes forgot about those teachings which is why we saw more bad than good happening nowadays despite our efforts otherwise which meant following His will is always important even if we never know what awaits us next in life which so far has been mostly good but not always so we should always be ready for anything which is why I've lived such a long time myself and am blessed by God every day so far which means every day can be an omen whether you get something good or bad out of it which makes people happy when they get something good but sad when they get something bad but everything that happens stems from God himself who created us all so shouldn't we follow His teachings well enough so we can enjoy our lives forever rather than live in darkness? At this point many of them understood why he'd talked about God's teachings for so long since it always helped remind them that he believed God was always watching over them all whether they thought about Him every day or not which meant every day could be an omen whether they got something good or bad out of it which made people happy when they got something good but sad when they got something bad but everything that happens stems from God himself who created us all so shouldn't we follow His teachings well enough so we can enjoy our lives forever rather than live in darkness? So many questions ran through their heads after hearing this long speech but none dared utter them aloud since they knew he wouldn't answer any at all today because he wasn't being paid for explaining right now; he traditionally only spoke freely whenever someone handed over a coin first otherwise he just drank his ale quietly like any other patron might on a busy morning like this one where lots of people had already started arriving early again expecting another eventful day ahead considering how many more travellers had passed through town yesterday heading towards Porton Forest after the strange woman ahead of them had disappeared inside there apparently deciding not to enter Porton itself after all which meant most people expected her to venture back up their road eventually once she exited Porton Forest instead since nothing ever stayed hidden forever especially not when townsfolk wanted answers!