33 A very normal Traveller

"I don't see the purpose of making it foldable," a young boy said.

"Haha, son, if it ain't foldable, you'll have a pain in the ass trying to travel around with it, trust me," a rough shaven man grinned.

"But I won't be travelling," the boy grumbled inspecting the shovel.

"Jeffrey, you'll see I was right," he gave a gentle smile while patting the boy's shoulder.

…

Waiting around at the eastern gate. Jeffrey and his team stood around chatting with each other. The previous night they had already packed all the equipment and supplies they would need for the mission.

All of them were early birds having already been fully accustomed to the outdoors lifestyle.

As they waited, a traveller walked up to them. He wore a white shirt, draped in a black coat, outfitted with a black top hat, with a purple band. He only caught their attention as soon as he was directly in front of them.

Strange.

Despite him, not speaking a word, everyone somehow understood his intentions.

He showed them a variety of different strange and off items, he seemingly pulled from within his 'cloak'.

The objects on display were extremely varied, from commonplace to cursed looking objects. From sticks to skulls. He had it all!

At least, they felt like he had it all.

"Hey, hey d'you think we should get anything?" Bryoni was sceptical about the authenticity of this guy and asked the others.

"I mean, if he's offering why not take a look?" Marius found no harm in taking a peek. And the others agreed. Plus there were four of them and only one Traveller, logically speaking, they should be able to take him down should the situation somehow escalate.

Browsing his wares the four carefully inspected the items Traveller had to display.

Looking through the strange assortment, Jeffrey found something that piqued his interest. It was a pouch of powder. It seemed rather rare and Traveller was just peddling it. Asking the price of the pouch, he found that he would not be able to afford it. Considering that he hadn't been given his paycheque yet and that the cost was still rather out there. But he was rather attracted to it and was intent on purchasing it.

"Can I trade?" Jeffrey asked, garnering a slight nod from Traveller.

Taking out a variety of items he offered it up to Traveller. It was basically all random junk, including the tacky silver knife.

Traveller lightly shook his head and pointed at Lily.

Did he want Lily? Well, he wasn't going to get her! No, wait. He just wanted some of her feathers. Then that was alright.

Sensing that something was wrong, Lily tried to fly away but it was too late. Jeffrey had already locked her in place and kept her still.

While her feathers were plucked, Lily had a betrayed expression. What did I do to deserve this? The others could swear they saw the crow shed a tear.

Nodding, Traveller took the twenty or so feathers and gave Jeffrey the pouch.

With no one else showing any intent to purchase anything, Traveller bid farewell at the tip of his hat and left.

Watching Traveller depart, as the four thought back, that guy had no face! Well, it was not that he had no face, but rather he was like a black silhouette, all they could see was a white plastered smile and two white dots. It was quite unnerving when thinking that they had just interacted with someone so frightening while remaining so composed.

Yet the only thoughts in their minds were,

Huh, that sure was a strange Traveller.

"That seemed a bit illegal,"

"Yeah, just a tad bit ay,"

…

As morning set in, Karl and Lieutenant Adalyn's teams were already set with the essential supplies needed for the journey and were just waiting on Hayley's team.

"They're late," Adalyn frowned. He didn't like the lack of discipline Hayley and his team were displaying.

As soon as he spoke those words, a group of four could be seen dashing toward their location. They were frantic, seeming extremely disorganised and unprofessional.

Adalyn's impression of this team started to lower even more.

"Why are you late?' he barked out.

"Huff, huff, it was just that we aren't used to this sort of stuff,"

"Excuses, excuses," Adalyn was not pleased with the answer, "It seems some people might need to undergo extensive retraining,"

Lieutenant Adalyn was cold, as he mounted his horse and slowly trotted away. Ignoring the fact that no one else had their horses yet…

"Anyway, whatever the case is, it's best we be on our way," Karl tried to smooth things over.

…

"This stuff is really good!" a scaly humanoid exclaimed, as various beasts of various races rallied around him, obeying his every command. The humanoid had a dark green scale arrangement similar to lizards, with lighter scales covering their stomach areas. Having the head shape of a common lizard and the tail to match.

The only distinguishing feature that kept them apart from a big lizard was that he was bipedal and had five functioning fingers.

"Hmm, glad you like it," a cold sounded. By the tonation it was quite feminine, they wore a green cloak, and covered their face with a cloth mask. Any other indicator of their identity was an expertly crafted bow slung on their back.

The bow had intricate marks and a flowery cursive text inscribed on it. Scholars would recognise it as a type of elven text. Text of wood elves to be specific. A dead giveaway on this person's identity.

"Anyway, moving onto business, we have helped you, the lizardmen tribes quite endearingly, so its time for you to uphold your side of the bargain,"

"Yeah, yeah, you got it, we haven't forgotten y'know,"

They did not speak in any discernible human language, rather, the lizardmen spoke in somewhat guttural calls, and whistles. While the elves. They seemed to be mimicking their language through the extensive use of illusion magic. A fine art that humans struggle to undertake, yet a versatile one that keeps humans trying again and again to master it.

"Though, I'd like to ask to make sure," before the elf could leave, the lizardmen, presumably the spokesperson for their tribes called out.

"Are you sure we can beat the humans with this? I mean, we defeated a couple of their warriors but what if the villages all band together?"

"Do you doubt the effectiveness of our kind gestures?" the threatening tone, made the lizardman sweat bullets.

"O-of course not! We wouldn't dare!"

"Then there is no concern,"

Immediately the elf left, seemingly meshing with the surroundings, disappearing from sight.