Their journey to the edge of the woods took two more days, and from there it was another day to the nearest village. When they arrived, with the noon sun rising above their heads, they paused, staring at the small community with trepidation.
"It's really... Big," Luna stated, eyes scanning the protrusions of stone with just a shade shy of disgust. "Think maybe I could stay here and get a part-time job as a gargoyle?"
The Teifling sneaked a glance over her shoulder at the dragonborn hopefully.
Shaddar was digging around in the bag of holding, searching for the note with the skull signature they were here to ask about.
“Ah, but you would miss the fun if there are any goblins about,” Shaddar said with a chuckle. “Besides, you won’t get those boots I promised you if you stay out here. Ah! Here it is. What… is it stuck to something? What is…”
Out of the bag, he pulled the note which was stuck with dried berry juice to the empty-yet-sloshing ceramic jug. He glared suspiciously at the tiefling.
“Why is there berry juice on the very important note?”
"I've had enough of goblin smell for this whole season," Luna snarled, crouching as she turned from him. Nose to the ground, she crawled on hands and feet, long tail in the air, sniffing in the dust. Suddenly, she sat up, nose wrinkled. "Don't like this smell either."
"Berry juice?" She asked, head cocking to one side, like a dog wondering politely if perhaps someone was mistaken about the chewed couch, that clearly any wandering vagrant could have broken into the house and chewed the arm off. "Berry juice... BERRY JUICE!!!"
Diving for the bag in his hands, she began tearing through it, pulling out everything she could find.
"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, YOU SCALEY COBALT DROPPING!"
Afraid Luna would tumble into the extradimensional bag, Shaddar pulled it away as fast as he could.
“I’m right here, you nasty imp, how could I be in the bag too? Look at the mess you’re making!”
"Not YOU!" Luna screeched at her friend, tail thumping the ground in fury. "That gods cursed flying menace to sanity! The one we thought we left back in the forest. It must be curled up in that magic sack of yours!"
“Ohhh,” Shaddar said, pulling the bag further away. “I understand. You would never eat berries or rummage around in the bag of holding. It couldn’t have been you, it must have been the tiny dragon prankster. I completely understand. Come on, imp, help me clean up this mess so we can get into town.”
He got to work tossing the odds and ends Luna had scattered back into the bag.
"It's been nothing but you and me since we left that... That thing," she pointed out, one hand on her hip. "Do you really think I could have picked berries, gotten into the bag, eaten the berries, and put the bag back without you noticing?" Her tail tip shivered in the grass near her feet.
"We've both done our fair share of foraging," Shaddar pointed out. "The bag has been out of my sight many times and we both have possessions in it. It doesn't matter, though," he said, peeling the note from the jug. "The note and signature are still legible. No harm done."
He turned his attention back to the jug and, frowning, gave it a shake. Liquid seemed to splash around inside, but he knew it was empty.
"I'd forgotten about this. Did you ever figure out what it was?"
This slight would not go unanswered. Turning from her companion she glanced about for any spark of life nearby. A fat pigeon burbled on a branch close by and she strode over to converse with it.
"The cold-blooded can be so hard-headed," she informed the disinterested bird. "But I can be too. You just watch, I won't talk to him until he admits it wasn't me who stained the note and apologizes."
Jaw set, eyes steely, Luna crossed her arms across her chest and glared, silently, at a point just over the dragonborn's left shoulder.
Shaddar rolled his eyes and flicked his tongue. This teifling was like a dog with a bone.
"I'm sure you had nothing to do with it," he said as convincingly as he could.
Nodding her approval, she marched back to Shaddar and stared closely at the jug.
"That's a jug," she said, finally.
"Yes," Shaddar said, giving it a shake. "And it's magical. It sounds like something is in it even though it's empty. Isn't it one of the magical items you examined when I was... unconscious?"
"Ye-no..." Luna amended, hanging her head in shame. "I'm sorry, Shaddar."
The moods of the tiefling were as changeable as a cloud.
"Nothing to worry about," the white dragonborn said, tossing the jug back in the bag. "We'll have time to figure it out later. For now, let's go find out about this letter."
"A?" Luna enquired, looking up, once more cheerful. "B? Ceeeeeeeee?"
With a grin and a spring in her step she jumped up from her slouching pose to gamble about Shaddar as they started off toward the city. Then, suddenly, she remembered where they were going and whom they would meet.
"Hey!" she cried, glancing about them frantically. "Isn't that a faerie dragon over in that bush?"
To emphasize this distraction, she scurried over to the nearest bush, on all fours. So desperate was she to divert Shaddar's attention that her escapade was instantly obvious as a ruse.
Seeing through the desperate ploy Shaddar shook his head and continued on, turning his head to call over his shoulder.
"Oh, my, I guess I'll get all the sweets and boots to myself."
“Boots?!”
The horned head flicked up from her wild dragon chase and pelted after her friend.
“That was our deal,” Shaddar said. “Boots to make up for being around the horrible ‘civilized’ people.”
"Yes, yes, I remember," Luna said, her tone making it clear this deal had been much more appealing when she wasn't faced with her end of it.
Sighing, she looked up at Shaddar with a final, pleading glance, then, with resignation, pulled one foot from the dirt, lifted it, and planted it in front of herself.
"There."
The village was a cluster of thatched cottages on a hill with a few larger buildings mixed in. A low stone wall surrounded the homes, though it wouldn’t be good for much other than keeping animals out. The surrounding land had several farms spreading out along a river that wound around the base of the hill.
As they approached the gap where the road ran through the wall, Shaddar hailed a human crossing the road from one building to another.
"Excuse me," the white dragonborn said. "Where might we find the local guards or whoever maintains law and order around here?"
The man's eyes flew wide as he observed the pair closing in on him, shifting from one to the other but lingering longer on the wild tiefling.
"J-just down the road," he stammered. "The building with the red bricks, y-you can't miss it."
"Are you ok...?" Luna enquired, staring at the human with deep concern. He looked as though he might lose control of his bowels at any moment. She tilted her head to observe him closer, the sunlight glinting on her sharp little horns.
Arms flailing, the man turned and fled back to the building he'd come from.
"People," Shaddar said, shaking his head. "C'mon, let's go."
"But..." The tiefling said, moving slowly after the dragonborn. "He looks so scared! Maybe if I gave him a hug...?"
“We don’t have time,” Shaddar said, not wanting to explain. “Let’s get to that red brick building and see if anyone there is smarter than he is.”
"Yes!" Luna said, leaping around to walk abreast with the dragonborn. "Maybe I can hug one of them!" She suddenly found herself simply wanting a hug, not just to comfort the clearly terrified human.
The tiefling cast Shaddar a sidelong glance, then, without warning other than her sneaky look, she stepped sideways and flung her arms around his thick torso. She squeezed with all her might, closed her eyes, and rested her small, horned head on his shoulder.
"Mmm..." She sighed, contentedly.
Thinking Luna had figured out that the human was afraid of her and needed comfort, Shaddar patted her on the head awkwardly. Mammals were so strange.
“Come on,” he said gently prying her off. “We have a forest to save.”
"You aren't a very good hugger," Luna commented, examining him critically as she slid away from his armour and fell into step beside him. "But that's ok because I make up for that."
Her long, dirty tail made sweeping impressions in the dust as she finally walked into the town of her own free will. The idea still didn't appeal to her, but she knew anymore whining might just push Shaddar over the edge so she had decided to make the best of it.
Most of the villagers were off working, but there were a few flitting around the town. Most were humans and halflings, with the odd dwarf or half-elf thrown into the mix. When they saw the travellers, they all drew away into tight clusters, watching warily and muttering.
Looking around, Luna tried to make out which building in the small village was most likely to contain boots.
"So is that it?" She said, eager to get to the reward part of the errand and mostly forgetting about the errand part.
The building was one of the bigger ones in the village and it seemed to be the only one built with red bricks. It was also the only one with a slate roof, rather than thatch, and the windows were nothing more than glaring slits. It looked like a miniature fortress.
“Red bricks, he said we couldn’t miss it,” Shaddar said, his tongue flicking nervously. He didn’t like how many people were around and he liked how they were looking at them even less. “This must be it.”
