“We are lost.”

“No, no we are not.”

The lizardfolk stopped to look over at his companion and the map she held, his scales scrunching together over a frown. “We do not know where we are. This is definition of lost,” he growled out.

“No, see…” The elf started, putting her finger on a squiggled line on the map. “I found the road we’re on.” The lizardfolk leans over, turning his head a bit awkwardly to put his wide set eyes in position to look at the blue line underneath the elf’s finger. It did seem like it meandered somewhat the same way they had been walking… He grunted his approval and stood up straight once more. Cheerfully, the elf traced the line down until it crossed over a labeled dot. “And there,” she said, “Is the town of Bronwitch. I told you I knew where we were. We just follow this road south and we’ll be there in a day, easy.”

The lizardfolk nodded as he responded, “Good. I do not like the cold.”

“Mmmm…” She hummed back, not really wanting to voice her disagreement.

Neither of the two paid much attention to the circle of arrows in the corner of the map, or even had a thought about the larger arrow marked with an ‘N’, that pointed at the elf’s feet. She rolled up the cheap paper map, making some new tears in it, before stowing it away in the lizardfolk’s carrysack. Without another word between the two odd friends, they continued along.

----------------------------------------

“Aha And we have found the town of Dunmoore!” The elf’s voice carries across the open fields of various crops. Beside her, the lizardfolk looks at the town, looks at the simple carved wooden sign, then looks over at the elf.

Pointing one claw at the sign, he growls out, “That wood does not say that.” The elf drops her arms right away before turning her gaze to the signboard. She studies it for a moment, only a moment. Reading over the letters dug into the wood, her mouth works around the sounds as she attempts to read ‘Hanwich’, but not like that.

“It must be a local writing dilect,” she deduces. The lizard man looks at the sign once more, dropping his claw to narrow his eyes at the letters. After nearly a full minute, he nods his scaled head.

“Yes that does make sense.” 

The elf reaches over and pats him on the shoulder and sweeps with her other hand in a ‘After you’ gesture. Although, she keeps pace alongside as they both head to the simple guardhouse beside the opening in the low spike wall. A bleary, bored guard turns his head lethargically towards the figures that loom in the corner of his vision. Blinking and going stiff after expecting farmers and not seeing farmers, he looks up, and up, at the two large travelers. The man himself wasn’t short, in fact he could be considered above average for humans in this region, and yet he still had to tilt his head back to see the faces of the strange pair. A slightly hunched lizardfolk, green scaled with a large snout and face like a crocodile with a wide bulk barely concealed underneath a loose cloth coat. And an elf -an elf? Even taller, clad in a thick leather cloak that covered her from neck to ankle. Despite the more stiff clothing that couldn’t hide the wide set shoulders and thick cords of muscle flexing in the exposed arms, the elf’s delicate and feminine facial features underneath the scales made her gender clear. The guard blinked, again. Surprised, again. Scales? Yes, when he looks closer there is clearly delicate blue scales in patches across her slightly blueish skin.

The lizard tilts his head to better meet the eyes of the guard, but turns towards the elf. “Is he injured?” He lets out in a halting low growl. Giving the slack jawed and wide eyed guard a good long look, the elf voices her certainty that yes indeed, the guard is likely injured. With a grunt, the green lizard man turns to his and reaches out with a large and pointy claws hand. He doesn’t notice when the guard flinches away from his hand, and just stretches out his arm further to make contact.”[Cure Wounds],” he speaks. A warm, colourless light builds around his hand before flowing into the guard. Even though he had no injuries to fix, he still felt a rush of energy and shook off the stunned surprise.

“Uh…” The guard starts, working the words through the fog, “Ah… Are you looking to enter the town?” Both of the companions nod, almost in perfect sync. “Oookaaay… And um, what business do you have here?” The lizardfolk gives a pointed look to the elf. She bobs her head, almost in confirmation or excitement.

“Oh yes, we are suppose to meet someone here for work.”

“Mercenaries?” The guard ventures with the single word question. This time the elf and lizard shake their heads. Again, very close to matching the movement.

“No no, we are Adventurers!” She calls out in a loud and carrying voice, in a way much like a child would announce it during pretend play games. A frown crests his face when he realizes he can practically hear the way she capitalized it, like it was a major title.

The guard sighs. “Alright, so hire for pay. That’s fine, just remember that all business has to be done in the inn-”

“Where would it be?” She interrupts. The man stumbles over his words to a stop, taking a moment to adjust his thoughts before lifting a hand to point.

“The inn would be to the left of the main en-”

“Could you please hurry this along? Some of us are important!” Another interruption, from a new and huffing voice. Something tries to push past the bulk of lizard. The faint thump of something hitting the side of his scales is followed with a louder one of something falling to the ground and a loud release of breath with a half finished curse.

All three turn to see a portly and well dressed man struggling to even get up into a sitting position off the dusty road. Cursing and red in the face, his own belly getting in his way, he’s unable to perform this feat of strength. The lizardfolk reaches down with a huff, “You fell,” and grabs onto the man’s arm. A quick exhale and a pull, and the man finds himself sharply hauled up onto his feet. Going even redder in the face, shouting up at the scaly one towering over him.

“Do not touch me with your filthy hands, peasant!” The rotund one attempts to shove the lizard once more, only succeeding in throwing himself off balance and once more to the ground. This time, the elf steps forward to assist as the lizard stops in place to stare at his hands. The well dressed man spits and curses, the elf stopping dead still as she remembers his words.

The guard’s eyes nearly bulge right out of his head as a large claw like that of a crab slips free from under the elf’s cloak. As this heavy appendage reaches out to easily close around even the thick body of a overly fed man, it gives those present a look under her cloak and the thick plates of shell covering his otherwise bare body. The guard’s eyes widen further, if even possible, as this very strange elf casually lifts the heavyset and angry man to his with her not-hand. He attempts to strike at the claw that lifted him but isn’t quick enough as she withdraws it into her cloak. The lizardfolk rounds on the man with irritation.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“I washed my claws three suns ago,” he admonishes the man who is wrong, “And I am not bird.” The fat man sputters at the indignation of being told off by a dirt covered lizard.

“I said peasant, not pheasant you dumb lizard,” he snaps.

The lizard wrinkles the scales on his snout, “I am the smartest in my entire village.” 

“It’s not nice to call lizard dumb!” The elf cries out, partially overlapping her companion’s statement. The lizardfolk turns to her.

“They are pretty dumb,” he informs, as he thinks of regular animal lizards.

“See, he even admits it,” The large man puffs out his chest.

“I never denied it,” The lizard rumbles. The elf turns to him.

“You said you were the smartest in your village.”

“Yes.”

“You admitted that lizards are dumb,” The overfed man interjects.

“They are very dumb,” he agrees with the fat man.

Standing there, and watching this exchange, the guard becomes exasperated. “Okay, Okay!” He shouts, cutting the three off before they can, and likely would, start with another round and round. Turning to the well dressed one, he hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “Samuel,” he addresses, “I know it’s you, you can go in.” With a snort, Samuel waves to his wagon driver to head on in before walking past the guard. A moment of a spared glance back towards the companions before he turns his nose up and passes into the town. Sighing, the man that guards a town on the back of nowhere turns to the… Strange visitors. “As for you two, I’m gon’ be needing your names. Hopefully Samuel doesn’t try to have you both arrested…” He trails off a moment, “… But he’s usually not a bad person. Should be alright.”

The elf perks up and raises her hand in an energetic motion. “Yes yes! I’m Kiida!” Turning, the guard faces the lizardfolk as he opens a tooth-filled maw of children’s nightmares.

“Sihilisko,” the  huge lizard hisses at him. The guard blinks. The lizard man blinks. The guard stares. The lizard man stares back. After several moments of confused silence and eye language, the elf -Kiida -speaks up.

“He is Sihi,” she supplies the name of the lizardfolk as she points at him. The lizardfolk -Sihi -points back at her.

“She is Kiida,” he informs the guard.

And the guard in question simply touches finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose, and waves back at the opening in the simple fence wall behind him. “Just go in,” he sighs.

----------------------------------------

The inn’s owner absently rubs the simple pottery mug with a tattered cloth. His eyes wander from person to person, keeping watch on the noise and the chattering. Today, seemed like it would be a good day. There hadn’t been any troublemakers so far.

The door crashed open as it swung with enough force to strike the wall. All conversation ceased as various patrons turned their attention to the sheepish looking elf. The owner’s thoughts halted, and backtracked. Elf? Was that right? The delicate face and long ears were certainly that of an elf, but the body that was hunched over to squeeze through the low doorway and heavy muscles in the uncovered arm were not. This… Elf took a moment to look at the door before relaxing in expression on finding the door wasn’t damaged, just scuffed. The scattered group of diners and drinkers watch as the rather large elf shuffled their bulk into the common room while keeping their head down from the not-so-low rafters. Following in behind was a more typical lizardfolk, large and scaly. The owner never would have thought he’d see a lizardfolk that looked small, at least in comparison to its companion. Once it was able to enter the building, it turned to stare at the door before bringing its attention to the maybe-elf. It speaks up in a deep and growling voice that pegs its gender as male.

“You knock too hard,” he scolded the other.

“Noooo!” The owner’s eyebrows shot up to his departing hairline as the elf protests in a husky, but still undeniably feminine voice. She continues to whine at the lizardfolk, “I wasn’t expecting the door to be so light!”

Sihi raised one claw tipped finger to wag it at the elf. “Door is not light,” he clarifies, “Door is wood.”

Kiida reaches out to touch the door. Yes, it was in fact wood. “The door’s wood is fine, can we forget about the door?” She pleads. The lizardfolk angles his head to look at the door. He thought it looked rather coarse, actually, but promptly forgets about the door.

“Is the man here?” He now asks, as he turns his attention to the people in the room. As if only now remembering what they were her for, Kiida jerks her head around to look around.

“Ah!” Kiida lifts one hand and pointing at a lone figure sitting towards the most heavily shadowed corner in the room. The figure started underneath the raised hood, clearly as surprised as the rest of the patrons at the sudden boom of the monstrous elf’s voice. The hood shifted and wrinkled as the figure shifted around, possibly checking to see if it was someone else being pointed at. But, no, the elf and the lizard man approach the shadowy figure’s table and immediately take a seat. Twin groans came from twin chairs that protested the sudden bulk as the pair sat side by side.

“What do you want?” Comes a growl from under the man’s hood. Oh good, Sihi hisses inside his own skull, The human man is friendly.

The table creaks as the oversized elf leans forward onto it, the entire top tilted alarmingly towards her. Her voice and expression drops into serious mode. “Are you the one with the job?”

“You the mercs?” The hooded man’s voice had a note of surprise. “I expected this job would be done with some… Subtly.” He glances over at the inn’s door, still jammed open, “But I guess you look strong enough,” he finishes as Kiida puffs with pride. She is, after all, very strong. Rummaging inside his cloak for a moment before taking out a roll of paper, the man places it on the table and unrolls it. “The target,” he gestures his hand at the sketch, “The client wants you to… Take very good care of him, and don’t make a scene.”

Kiida reaches out to grab the paper, but a clawed lizard hand snatches it up first. He tilts his head to stare at the drawing and the words, his claws tearing some of the edges. Both Kiida, and the man with the hood, watch him as he continues to stare at the paper. After a long but somehow not awkward silence, he lifts the paper confidently. “I do not know what this is,” he informs the others.

“That… That is a sketch of your target.” The man stares at Sihi from under the heavy hood. The lizardfolk turns his head again to direct his other eye onto the paper. He continues to turn his head until it’s at a position that makes anyone watching uncomfortable and feeling the need to rub a kink out of their neck. After many long moments of silence, Sihi lets out a huff of air and slaps the sketch down onto the table.

“Paper scribbles are not people,” he says as he slides the now battered and torn sheet across the wood towards the hooded man. The man picks up the sketch, before turning to offer it to the elf with a look of near desperate hope. Another creak comes from the table as she lifts herself up on the edge, and holds out her hand to accept it. Taking a moment to glance over it, she gives a quick thumbs up to the hooded man.

Letting out a grunt, he waves a hand at the pair. “Alright, get lost and let me get back to my drink.”

Sihi and Kiida stand almost perfectly in sync while accompanied by groans of wood. The two start heading across the inn’s main room, with Kiida looking closer at the sketch and the listed details of the person. Excitedly, she reaches out and smacks the lizardfolk on his shoulder, causing him to stumble forward a moment. “We got our first adventure!” She almost shouts. The inn patrons find themselves very interested in their individual drinks as the large and confusing pair walk by.

“Can you read those scribbles?” The lizardfolk growls out. Kiida looks up from the sketch and over at him.

“You don’t really read a drawing.”

“Then what are you suppose to do with—” Sihi stops dead both mid sentence and mid step when he collides snout first into the now closed inn door. The heavy thwump once again draws the attention of the gathered drinkers, but all again look away when the bulky lizard roars and aggressively shakes the latch, “Who put wood here!” The rattling and banging only gets louder as he keeps pulling at the latch, until finally there is a crack when the doorframe gives out and the door flies open. Storming out with another pitched growl, the rage of the scaled one fades further and further from the inn as the elf rushes after him.

Silence drops in the sudden absence, and it lasts until one man coughs uncomfortably. He turns to face the owner, “Uh… Aren’t ya going to go make them pay for the door?”

The owner, a rather burly man himself, vigorously shakes his head. “I don’t want to see those two again,” he grumbles, just deciding to foot the costs of the damage himself.