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The dusty path lead into a lonely frontier town, their walls solid but a clattering disarray, wood and stone and metal all lumped together to form a careful ring of a town that was clearly moved often as they expanded in odd spurts and jumps. And yet still, every inch of the walls were well crafted and maintained, just a bit of a patchwork speaking to the needs of a growing community. The gates were wide open, and near the front stood a bored looking youth, lazily holding a spear until he saw the lone figure approaching.

His armor was light, well-crafted, and heavily used while still being expertly maintained. A large and wide hat sat atop his head. At his waist sat a single blade, a saber designed for single-handed use. And strangely, impossibly, he was alone. He had no caravan, no fellow travellers. It was a sight that the novice guardsman, Raul, had seen only once before, and it was enough cause for suspicion.

“Hello there?” He called out to the figure. Their face was obscured by the hat, tilted down. They walked in a slow, steady, and constant pace. Raul looked over at the alarm bell, a small copper one that rang with a surprising volume, and his hand twitched, but he shook it off and instead simply stood in the middle of the gate, spear clutched in both hands and a slight tremble running through his form.

The approaching adventurer stopped and looked up at him. His feature were flat and his expression confused. Then he rolled his eyes and carefully, slowly reached into his pocket and produced a small cared, made out of fine, sturdy paper. The guard regarded him with even more suspicion, keeping one hand carefully on his spear and turning over the card. A complex interwoven sigil on the back showed the work to have been scribed, and safe to read. Well, as safe as reading could get, anyway.

Gritting his teeth, Raul flipped over the card and read, the information surging into his mind like a storm. Even as gentle as it was, it was still a wave crashing down into his thoughts and filling his mind with information. This man was an adventurer, an incredibly skilled adventurer. He could not speak or hear. He could write but preferred to handspeak if there was anyone who could in town, but could lip-read in lieu of that.

And just like that, the fear of the man was gone. He didn’t think the card was telling the truth. He knew that what it said was true, as plainly as if he had do the learning himself. That was the power of reading, and with a nod of assertion, he looked up at the lone traveller. “Well, you gave me quite a scare what with the single guy wandering around. Timaeus Gold is already inside, so I was just confused as could be who would have the balls to go around alone.”

The traveller, who Raul knew was named El, made several hand gestures in responses. Raul looked at him perplexed. “Oh, uh right. Can’t exactly respond, can you? Well, the tavern’s the big building down near the middle, if you go in there Innkeeper Sven can get you set up right quick. Silver like you’d normally get top bunking, but, uh, Timaeus Gold being here and all...”

El made a few more gestures. In spite of not knowing the hand-speak, it was fairly clear that it was a concession, a sort of ‘don’t worry about it’.

“Anyway, I imagine Elder Rayne will know handspeak, so they’ll probably send a runner for her, and you can talk with her.”