“Hea, how’s my shine?”

  The toad gave the crab a firm thumbs up. “Lustrous!”

  “Alright, time to dazzle some lizards!” Balthazar turo the orc standing by the entraell the envoy to e in.”

  Khargol’s panion disappeared through the gate once again and after a moment, a different figure stepped in.

  Slender and tall, the lizard creature was far more humanoid than Balthazar expected. He had two arms, two legs, and walked upright. His head and facial features were clearly reptilian, as was his green and scaly skin, but he was as much of a lizard as he erson.

  Once again, human books had given the crab all the wrong impressions. Writers, what an unreliable bunch.

  The lizard looked around the bazaar as he calmly stepped forward, approag the group without paying them any mi.

  As he came closer to the light of the fire, Balthazar gave his outfit a closer look. He wore pants and a vest, both made of what the crab first assumed was leather, but upon closer iion, he realized whatever material it was, it had hard scales all over it, and a slight sheen to it. He had never seen anything like it before.

  The mert peered through his monocle.

  [Level 22 Lizard ander]

  Something else that stood out was the fact that the envoy wore no shoes. Looking at his long and sharp cws and how watg him walk made it clear to Balthazar that lizardfolk were digitigrade, it made sehat boots would not be the most practical thing for them.

  How had a crab who lived all his life at an isoted pond learned what digitigrade eve? Human books. Maybe irely unreliable after all.

  “Greetings,” the lizard said in a soft, slithering voice. His eyes nded on Balthazar and observed him with pierg iy, their shape and gaze reminding the crab of Blue’s, except for the fact that the drake’s eyes were an intense golden yellow, while the envoy’s were a dark amber.

  “Salutations,” Khargol said, bringing his hand to his chest. “As promised, this is the mert, Balthazar.”

  The lizard crossed one arm in front of his chest aehe other out, taking a gentle bow towards the crab as his tail coiled around one of his legs. As he did, Balthazar spotted the new arrival’s on strapped against his back: a long, sharp spear.

  “I am J’ath, envoy of my people, the lizardfolk of the deep marshes. Pleased to meet you.”

  His void mannerisms were polite, yet Balthazar felt as if he was being intensely watched and judged. He o make a good impression.

  “I am Balthazar, mert of this, uh… bazaar. Crab of… this here pond. Nice meeting ya, pal!”

  The crab smiled and himself. Level cap or not, his speed charisma were still unmatched.

  “Oh! And this is Hea, the fro—I mean toad responsible fhttime trade here. Big k of rock behind me is Bouldy. He’s a friend.”

  The golem smiled and waved a hand at the envoy. “Friend.”

  “It is an honor to make your acquaintance, friends,” J’ath said, releasing himself from his bow and rexing his tail. “With me tonight, I bring my loyal watcher. Her name is Jazk.”

  The ander extended his hand to his right, towards one of the darker ers of the bazaar.

  Balthazar’s gaze followed the envoy’s hand, fused as to what he was talking about. Just as he was starting to wonder if the lizard wasn’t right in the head and had a habit of talking to imaginary friends, the crab jumped in pce.

  Two eyes appeared in the dark, rge and purple, their gaze even more intehan J’ath’s. As Balthazar began making out the shape of the other lizard in the shadows, she stepped forward and into the edge of the fme’s light, giving the hosts a gentle bow of her head.

  Even more slehan her ander, Jazk wore the same straype of scaly leather armor from o ankle, her scales darker than his, yet smoother looking.

  [Level 20 Lizard Shadowstalker]

  “Goodness gracious!” Hea excimed, startled by the sudden appearance of a sed lizard from the shadows.

  “Many apologies,” J’ath said. “We did not ihten you. It is ary for watchers to be discreet and to go on unnoticed, in order to better keep… watch.”

  The envoy gave an apologetic bow of his head, but a smile still appeared on his face. Somehow, Balthazar felt the situation had greatly amused the lizard.

  “No, no, it’s fihe crab said, clearing his throat and attempting to speak in a deeper and tougher voice. “I knew she was there all along. I bet the chieftain over here kht, Khargol?”

  “I did not,” the orc said, crossing his arms and lifting his .

  Balthazar rolled his eye stalks.

  “Anyway, no matter,” said the golden crab. “I’m gd you made it here safe. I appreciate you ing such a long way from home to meet me.”

  “The appreciation is all mine,” said J’ath. “It will have been a worthwhile journey, if it means good busio our people.”

  “Right! Let’s get down to it then, shall we? I’m sure our mutual frieold you I’m the best mert around.”

  “I told him you were the only non-human mert around,” the chieftain corrected, a serious scowl still on his face.

  “And thus the best, by default,” Balthazar quickly added, with a nervous chuckle.

  “Do not worry,” the lizard envoy said, raising one hand calmly. “Let your own deeds with us speak for you. If you deal fairly with us, we will do much busiogether.”

  “Hmm, speaking of which, what exactly are you here to trade? I don’t see you carrying any baggage. Oh, maybe your, uh, watcher has it?”

  Balthazar looked over to the er again, but Jazk was not there anymore. He looked around, fused, but found no trace of the other lizard.

  Just for peaind, he gnced back at the pile of cookies he had left on the ter. They were still there, all four and three quarters of them. At least that was a relief.

  “You misuand, Balthazar,” J’ath said. “I came here today not to sell, but looking to buy from you.”

  “Oh, excellent!” the crab excimed, perking his shell up and g his cws together. “Here to buy then. We love that! And what are you looking for?”

  “Alchemy paraphernalia,” the lizard responded.

  “Hmm! Sure thing,” Balthazar quickly said, turning his eyes to a nearby shelf. “We got lots of alchemy ingredients around here somewhere. Do you want some bitterbloom petals? Just got a new batch of those. Perhaps some fresh purple moss grown uhe southeastern side of a geode rock? Oh, I know! You look like the type who’d be ied in giant toenail clippings. That means they’re toenail clippings from a giant, not that the clippings themselves are gigantic. Well, they also are pretty big, because, you know, they’re from a giant, but I’m sure you get what I mean.”

  “No, Balthazar,” J’ath said in a soft voice, raising his haly again to attempt to interrupt the overly excited crab. “I am afraid you misuand me once more.”

  “How so?”

  “I said we are ied in alchemy paraphernalia. Items reted to the produ of alchemical brews, not ingredients. We have a long and rich tradition as makers of potions, poisons, and other cos, and our marshes are ri plenty of ingredients. We have little o outsource those. What we are after are things such as gss bottles, tools for potion making, like beakers, vials, mortars ales.”

  “Oh, I see…” said the crab, rubbing his . “But if you have such a long tradition making that stuff, how e you don’t already have plenty of tools to do your thing?”

  “Ah yes, an astute question, as expected from such a famously astute mert,” the lizard said with a smile and an ied gaze. “We have our means and ways to produce our poisons and remedies the traditional way. A more… rudimentary way, if you will. I would like to ge that. For you see, we retly began learning of how humans do their own alchemy, their precise ways of measuring, their loial tools, instead of wood or stone, and their ability to achieve greater purity and efficy through use of gssware. I would like t such advas to our kind, for while ossess a knowledge os of alchemy that no human could ever hope to match, it shames me to admit they do have the advantage on those other fields.”

  “I see, I see,” Balthazar said, crossing his arms and nodding his shell. “Got to admit, not what I was expeg. I’m a general trader, mostly. Not specialized in alchemy stuff or anything.”

  “So you ot help us?” inquired the envoy. “That would be such a disappoi after ing all this way. Our kind may be great alchemists, but we do not have a tradition of f metals or the art of crafting gss. It would take a great deal of time and dedication to develop those tools ourselves. We were very much hoping to expedite this process through you and your mertile es, Balthazar.”

  “No, no! Don’t get me wrong, I provide you with the stuff,” the crab quickly assured. “I just don’t really have much of that around right now. I didn’t really know what to expect from you. However, I’m sure I e up with something for tonight, and if you give me a little time, I’ll have more proper merdise for you at our meeting.” Balthazar turo the toad. “Hea, if you don’t mind, give me a little help.”

  The crab skittered his way behind some boxes and shelves with the toad hopping close behind.

  “Alright, I only got an old mortar ale around here somewhere, but there are plenty of gss bottles around. I’m thinking I’ll sell him this junk for now, to keep him hooked, and before his visit I’ll get Tristan to buy some basic alchemy tools in bulk for cheap from the town’s alchemy shop, and thehem to the lizards for a much higher price.”

  “Junk? Reselling for an infted price? Isn’t that a bit disho of you, Balthazar?” said Hea with a slightly angry croak.

  “Shhh!” the crab hushed, before peering through a gap between the shelves. “It’s called smart business, Hea. If I get him what he needs, it’s only fair that I make a profit, don’t you think? He stills gets the items he wants, without having to deal with humans directly, who’d rade with him, anyway.”

  “I just hope you know what you’re doing,” she said, giving the other mert the side-eye. “Don’t go ruining what could be a good future business retionship for a quick profit.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t ruin anything. After all, it’s you who will be dealing with the lizardfolk iure, not me,” Balthazar added, giving her a grin. “Now hurry, help me colley empty gss bottles we have lying around. Get some of those over there as well, dump their tents, wash them in the pond, and bring them too.”

  “These? Are you sure we should waste the potions?” the toad asked, pointing at a row of bottles filled with a light blue liquid.

  “Yes, do it. They’re intelligeions. Nobody ever buys those. It’s a mystery why,” the crab said, with a sarcastie at the end.

  “Alright, if you say so. What about these?” She poi another row e potions behind the first ones.

  “Hmm, no. Not those, they’re fire resistaions. Adventurers buy those now and the’s keep them.”

  After hastily colleg everything he could find, the golden mert rejoined Khargol and J’ath by the front of the bazaar, carrying a rge basket over his shell.

  “Back!” he excimed, putting the basket down. “This is what I could get on such short notice. A few empty gss vials, a fine mortar ale for your appreciation, and plenty of empty gss bottles for all your potion needs.” He looked back at the toad returning from the shore, who quickly started retrieving even more bottles from her Bag of Holding. “And even some mht here.”

  The envoy looked at the sele of items in the basket while nodding his head.

  “I uand this was very short notice for you, Balthazar, but I am gd you still mao provide su impressive sample of goods. You truly live up to your reputation as a mert. I have no doubt you will have much more for us ime.”

  Balthazar g the toad with a knowing expression. She rolled her eyes.

  “So long as you have the pay, I will always have the goods,” the fident crab decred. “Which brings us to the matter of payment for these. Sorry, but we don’t have a policy of free samples here.”

  “Of course, I uand,” J’ath softly said, reag for the side of his waist arieving a small pouch. “I am told you deal in human currency. Golden s. The ss of our homend gift us with many surprising things, including the occasional unfortunate dead adventurer who met their end in the bogs. We waste not, so we retrieve everything the marsh provides us with, including their , even if we have little use for it ourselves. I am hoping you will find this a suitable amount for these.”

  The lizard gently pced the pou a nearby wooden table.

  Balthazar looked at it through his monocle, and it nearly fell off his eye. 250 gold.

  “A fair amount, fair lizard,” the mert said. “In fact, on the spirit of starting this retionship right, I won’t even haggle. I’ll just take this as payment a’s call it there. Rest assured, I’ll procure more of this stuff for your visit.”

  “I am w,” Khargol started, uncrossing his arms, “how exactly do you pn to keep a supply of things ing and going, especially involving humans, without them ever getting suspicious about your side of the business? Questions will be asked, sooner or ter.”

  “I’ve thought about that, dear orc,” said Balthazar, smiling and pig up the money pouch. “I io get ahead of all that by also upgrading my retionship with Ardville. I am here to stay, so it’s only right that we establish some kind of trade deal. Don’t worry about it, though. I’ll ha all, and you won’t have to worry about any pesky humans.”

  Both the ord the toad gave the crab a gre, although probably for different reasons, Balthazar imagined.

  “I do not mean to be an ungracious guest,” J’ath said, pig up the basket, “but I would very much like to return to my people with these as soon as possible, and we have a long way back. If this is agreeable with you, I would like to say our farewells now.”

  “Of course, my new favorite green t!” Balthazar cheered, looking at Khargol from the er of his eye and smirking mischievously. “Let me walk you guys out. You ing, Hea?”

  The toad waved them down with a f. “Oh no, that’s alright, someone o go sort out all the mess of armor and ons you guys left all over the floor, and I’m not about to wait for poor Druma to wake up and do it. It leasure to see you, gentlemen. Until ime!”

  After a brief exge of nods, she hopped further into the bazaar, while the rest of the group stepped out onto the road with Bouldy following behind.

  As they arrived outside, uhe chilly air of the pins, dark and silent, lit up only by the fmes of the torches the two guarding orcs were holding, Balthazar realized Jazk was standing right behind J’ath, half covered by the darkness at the edge of the halo of light. Once again, the crab had no clue where she had e from.

  “Well, fels, it was—”

  “Quiet!” the lizard envoy hissed, raising one hand and stretg his neck up.

  Balthazar frow the and. “A bit rude, don’t you—”

  “Silence, crab!” Khargol said, in a whispering but still deep voice. “Listen.”

  The mert tried to listen, but all he heard was the soft crag ing from the torches, and all he saw were three ord two lizards standing at the ready, tense and apprehensive, as they stared at the tall grass from the pins.

  “Guys, I really don’t hear…”

  Finally, he heard it, like a chorus of moaning in the distance. And then he saw it as well: an aura of ethereal green light f over the grass, emanating from a slowly creeping cloud of green fog growing in their dire.

  “Oh. That.”

  H0st