"Hurry, hurry! Demon essence! Demonic masks! Everything you need!"
"come, come!"
The screaming voice that Colius had heard from afar had become clearer now and had every appearance of being a merchant. At the time he felt a little stupid for having been scared by a traveling merchant, but he didn't have time to dwell on that. he leans out slightly from the rock behind which he was hiding with the hope of catching a glimpse of the marker's appearance. out of the windy storm he sees a small squat figure, with a large backpack behind him and a wooden plank attached to it that passes under his arms.
This little guy is ingenious
thought Colius. he had never seen such a well-equipped traveling merchant.
Even though he had calmed down after the initial scare, Colius still decided to stay and observe the little merchant's movements for a few more minutes. Now the figure was closer and he could notice many more details: he had bluish-grey skin, a white, unkempt beard of medium length. small eyes and a rather funny look.
If I'm not mistaken he exactly matches the description of a duergar, I should stop him and ask him something before I lose sight of him.
Colius had never seen a duergar with his own eyes, but he had studied every known race in the multiverse and felt fairly confident in what he was seeing.
In the meantime the little duergar had set up a small improvised shack, placing his swollen backpack full of patches and a small assembleable bench made up of a few wooden planks put together in an imprecise way with a few crooked nails. Seeing the relaxed behavior of the small merchant Colius decides once and for all to gather courage and come out of his hiding place. the merchant had his head stuck in his backpack, busy with an intense search for who knows what object that he certainly wouldn't find easily. Colius, who wasn't very good with races he didn't know, clears his throat by bringing his hand to his mouth, hoping to draw the merchant's attention or trigger a reaction from him.
The duergar immediately stops its search and pops its large bluish head out of its gigantic backpack.
"Oh! Well, well! Who do we have here? A customer! Welcome boy, how may I help you?"
his voice was quite shrill, at times it could sound very similar to a duck's call. You could definitely feel his enthusiasm, it seemed like he hadn't seen any customers in a while.
"Um hello, who are you?"
Colius' voice always sounded warm, calm and overly friendly and formal. It wasn't very deep, after all he was just a thin 22 year old boy, but it was still pleasant to listen to.
"oh oh! but I'm Thaggul Jointteeth of course! the biggest, most well-stocked merchant of demonic paraphernalia you'll ever meet in the multiverse!"
"Hello Thaggul, I wanted to ask you, where are we in this place?"
"But how! Doesn't such a cultured Wizard know the Valley of the Dead? The most nefarious place in this reality? Indeed, it is strange that you are here all alone and with nothing to defend yourself with, but luckily Thaggul Jointteeth is here to supply your armaments! Daggers? Swords? Or do you prefer arrows and magical artifacts? Obviously everything demonic!"
"Okay.. okay.. but how do we get out of here?" Colius intervened.
"Oh no, go out? I'm sorry, Mr. Wizard, but it's just not possible to know this, it's beyond my knowledge, I come from a people who usually live deep underground, who dig and dig, deadly boring! I've always desired the surface and digging higher and higher I emerged here, in the Valley of the Dead, with all these wonderful demons!"
Thaggul exclaimed. That Duergar had an uncontrollable tendency to lose himself in chatter, which didn't excite young Colius too much. The Wizard was about to intervene in response to his chatter, but was interrupted before he even began.
"But now that I think about it..." Thaggul began, raising a finger as if a distant memory had just come back to him "...There's a village right there, towards the east" he said, pointing with his whole short, chubby arm. towards a direction impossible to distinguish due to the perennial and dense sandstorm. "It's the only place you might find anything resembling social interaction in a place like this, but you'll definitely want to arm yourself first! Why don't you buy something?"
Colius looked at Thaggul impatiently to go to his next destination. "It would actually be a good thing to be prepared, but I warn you, I don't have much gold, what do you offer me?"
An unmistakable glint could be seen in the Duergar's eyes, as well as the large smile he now had on his face.
"Thanks for asking!"
Thaggul immediately hastily placed his best wares on the small shelf of his improvised stall, and then impatiently awaited his customer's choice. He put his little arms behind his back and fixed his eyes on Colius. Colius on the other hand, leans over slightly to look at the strange objects of the merchants and quickly realizes that most of it is just junk: visibly hand-painted masks that must somehow resemble demons, bows of very simple structure consisting of a simple taut rope tied to a curved stick, small imprecise daggers made of strange dark stone and also various body parts roughly torn from the original demon carcasses: wings, eyes, fangs... But at a certain point Colius notices an interesting object, it looked like a sort of claw. That claw must have been about 40 centimeters long, and at its base it was covered with a strange leathery substance as black as pitch. He points at it discreetly and looks up at Thaggul.
"What would this be?"
"Oh, our magician has an eye, I can see! Well, well, don't let him get away! That claw belonged to a monstrous being who lived in these parts! A truly unique piece!"
it will be great for defending myself. thought Colius. "Good, I'll buy it."
"Great! Great choice, that's 10 gold!" He said with a bright smile that went from ear to ear. "I'll also give you a free map, my friend, so it will be easier to orient yourself! How about if together with the claw you also add a mask to camouflage yourself better? Oh, and you can't miss a nice demon skin shield!"
Colius pays his 10 gold pieces and takes the claw, which he places in the inside pocket of his toga, and gladly takes the map as well.
"Thank you Thaggul but as I told you, I don't have much gold available."
The young wizard wasn't lying: he only had 5 gold coins left. But the composure and delicacy with which Colius had declined the merchant's proposal meant that he did not insist as he usually did, but simply dismissed him warmly.
"Have a safe trip then! Hope to see you soon my friend!"
Colius greeted with a nod and a smile, and then began his journey towards the new destination, still mulling over the meeting with the strange merchant who had left him bewildered but also quite amused by the eccentric personality of that Duergar, usually I'm not a such a friendly race, but it is also true that they usually stay underground and not as merchants in the Valley of the Dead.