While trying to cross a small river — there were tons of them in those parts — we met an old man that would be

While trying to cross a small river — there were tons of them in those parts — we met an old man that would be considered suspicious even by local standards. He had a gray beard, and his straw hat sat above a head of coarse, dirty, tousled hair. The man was skillfully guiding a small raft along the river with a long pole, and a fat water rat sat near his bare feet. Noticing us, the old man approached the shore and hailed us in a local dialect so strange we could barely understand him. "Ah ah ah, good folk, where ya headin'? Fleein' somethin', or lookin' fer somethin'? Ahhh, yer lookin', I can see it in yer eyes! Well, as the sayin' goes, those what seek'll find! I can help ya, surely, if ya can pay me the right price!" After hearing the old man's colorful speech, we...