Walking through the forest was uneventful though there were some beautiful-looking plants when looking into the forest, none that I had ever seen before but then again, I don’t commit such information to memory. As quickly as I entered the forest I also left with the small town being very close, with possibly another 7 min until I get to what seemed to be the outskirts of the town with a couple of farms dotted around. I seemed to be on a side path as the dirt path I’m following seems to be twisting around many of the fields, though it seems nothing was growing in them yet. With this unobstructed field of view, I can see how a few people are walking about on the fields I couldn't make them out that well though they do seem as short as the peddler I spoke with. After a bit more walking I finally came to what seemed to be the actual start of the city with wooden houses being clumped together more. Along with the higher housing density also came a higher density of people.
It didn’t take me long to realise that I stuck out like a sore thumb among the somewhat crowded streets as everyone else was about stomach height. This did not stop everyone from getting a good look at me as I soon attracted a large number of gazes which while not hostile were not exactly automatically welcoming, to say the least. After moving about town and finding a small bench to sit on I began trying to come up with a plan to somehow hawk my wares and get people to come to my store. Looking about the little town I was in struck me as eastern European in its architecture, well eastern European architecture from the Middle Ages as this was no modern-day town. The streets were paved with cobblestone the further into the village one goes with the outskirts being a mix of dirt and gravel. The clothing of everyone also reminded me of what you would find in a renascence fair if you were to replace all the colourful clothing with more drab colours which meant that the colourful clothing market would be great here. Why am I talking about clothing right now, well it's because I am managing to get a good view of theirs at the moment due to the small (heh) crowd that’s forming around me.
After a bit of time has passed making me get a bit nervous about possibly getting lynched for breaking some unknown local custom one man spoke up.
“Are you an elf?”
“No I am no elf” I responded.
“Are you sure?”
Caught off guard a bit by his response a “yes” was all I replied with
“Really sure?”
“Yes, I am really sure I am no elf”.
“How can you be so sure”.
“Because I am not an elf”
slowly getting a bit peeved by this little man's incessant questioning I countered with a question myself.
“ARE you an elf?”
The little man seemed to be a little startled at the sudden turn of who was asking questions and stuttered out.
“n-n-no I am not an elf I am far too short to be one of them, I am a proud halfling” so that's what they call themselves
I continued, my annoyance turning into amusement.
“How can you be sure you're not an elf” with a small smirk forming on my lips but genuinely curious as to what differentiates the two as I have never seen one in real life.
“Well, I just told you I am too short to be one however if you are no elf as you say then what are you.”
“I’m Mark,” I said with a smile “and would greatly appreciate it if someone could point me to the nearest pub as all this talking has gotten my throat quite parched”.
“Aye,” said another one from the crowd “If you head that way (he pointed down a side road) take a left you will find an alehouse with the name of The Flirtatious Swine as it is the only one with room for tall folk”.
“Thank you,” I said to the helpful man and made my way to the alehouse following his directions. Lo and behold after 2 to 3 minutes of walking I ended up in front of a 2-story building that was quite a bit bigger than its neighbours with the sign of The Flirtatious Swine. Though it seemed I did not do the trek alone as some people from the crowd had decided to follow the not-elf to either continue gawking, get a drink for themselves or both. Entering the building I found that there were not that many customers it seemed with the bar having 2 people at it (a barkeep and barmaid both on stools which was an amusing sight) with 5 more people huddled around a table that was closest to the fireplace seemingly having been in discussion until I had come in. There was a total of 7 people in the area of 4 smaller square tables and 3 large round ones with another 4 being added on (me and the 3 peeps following me like lost chicks) with all eyes following me.
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Walking to the bar and sitting down on a stool dropping my pack next to it, I greeted the barkeep.
“Evening”
“Evening stranger, what’ll it be dinner is severed at the end of the day”.
Seeing as it was only just past mid-day I went with “well what do you have on tap?”
“we’ve got mead, ale, and vodka”.
Not wanting to get too drunk and not having had one yet I responded with “mead please”.
The barkeep nodded, pulled out a wooden mug went to the middle barrel of the three barrels behind him and poured out a gold liquid placing it in front of me once he was done.
“That will be 4 copper” the barkeep announced and I froze.
I don’t have any of their money, which means I can’t pay for my drink hell scratch that they don’t have any US dollars meaning they can’t even buy anything in my store.
The barkeep seemingly sensing my lack of 4 copper that he requested, continuing with “or you can give me something worth this cup of mead.”
Him saying that gave me a bit of relief as now I wouldn’t have to shamefully cancel my order after coming into the building with confidence. Thinking back at what I had brought with me I wondered what I could use as a trade for the mead looking down and rummaging through my bag. After a bit of searching, I finally found something I was sure would pay for my drink and pulled out a bag of party mix and placed it on the counter while asking for a bowl. The barkeep and barmaid sitting at the bar both looked at the packaging with awe once it was placed next to a provided wooden bowl.
“I am sorry sir, but such a small realistic-looking painting would be a bit too much for a simple mug of mead, would like to meet this Chex who painted it though”.
“What painting?” I asked in puzzlement as a grabbed the bag and rip it open pouring its contents into the bowl. The exact moment I started to rip open the party mix packaging both members of the bar stood there with large open eyes staring at me as if I had just destroyed some priceless work of art.
“What would you do that for?” the barmaid said with a shrill voice bringing the attention of the other guests to us.
“What it's only a bag of salted snacks” I replied not knowing what all the fuss was about.
“What kind of affluent family are you from that such close-to-life artwork is simply used as packaging” replied the barkeep in a surprised but hushed voice not wanting to bring any further attention to us.
“Look this isn’t that valuable-“
“ISN’T VALUABLE?” That seemingly did it for the barkeep who finally lost it “I have not heard or ever seen such detailed and beautiful artwork that is so close to life I feel I could reach out and grab the very thing it is portraying AND YOU WANT TO TELL ME IT´S NOT VALUABLE”.
“Yes,” I said calmly trying to stop this conversation from getting any louder, these halflings may be small but boy do they have lungs. “Look the packaging is not what’s important but this,” I say smiling trying to bring the topic of conversation to something that will likely not burst my eardrums and holding up the wooden bowl with the party mix inside. The party mix was made up of pretzels, salted nuts, Cheezit squares, Chex cereal and croutons all nestled nicely in a bowl that I hope the barkeep will now have his attention on.
“What is this,” he asked.
“This hear is a snack bowl with different salty treats which go well with alcoholic drinks” I answered with my best salesman’s pitch.
Cautiously he picked up a pretzel inspected it carefully and popped it into his mouth while I began to sip on the as-of-yet-untouched mead. The mead wasn’t anything too great it was slightly sweet, and had a slight alcoholic kick but was all in all very watery with it possibly being meant to be drunk all day as opposed to only at social gatherings. However, while I was commenting on the quality of my mead I saw the barkeep's eyes widen again and I winced fearing he would start yelling again.