The owner of the cart

L'abbee froze in place. He'd caught with his pants down (or off and several miles away, as it were), and with his history, he knew what that meant. "Um, sir, th-this isn't what it l-looks like." He stuttered out, his past as a master criminal having been reduced to a sniveling mess.

"I should hope not, because it looks like my errand boy is slacking off on the job."

L'abbee, stood up, hiking up his skirt, and turned around. "I'm... sorry?"

"Don't get wise with me, new guy. First, you miss our departure in the last town, and then you try unloading the cart without telling me you've arrived? And what the hell are you wearing, anyway?"

"I, uh..." L'abbee struggled to pick up what was being said to him. The merchant seemed to have confused him for someone else, and while he was tempted to simply turn and run, his thief's instincts were telling him to use this opportunity. "This is... the latest trend down south. Yeah, uh... naturist style. I heard about it on the way over here, and I wanted to look fashionable for the customers. You know how the young people are these days, always flocking to influencers and all that."

The merchant cocked his head, looking closely at L'abbee's leaf diaper for a moment. Then he shook his head. 'I'll never understand this new generation and their choices of dress. I heard the nobles in the area were a bit loose with their choices of dress, but I didn't think it was this bad." He pulled something out of his bag and tossed it into the drow's hands. Wear what you want on your own time, right now we've got work to do."

L'abbee unrolled the piece of cloth in his arms to see a long hooded robe. It wasn't fancy, but for a man who'd spent the past 48 hours without any clothes on, it looked like pristine velvet. L'abbee quickly slipped his arms into the sleeves and tied the waist closed. His bare chest was still visible underneath, and he still didn't have shoes, but it was a major upgrade from wearing a bush.

The merchant continued. "Start picking up that stuff you spilled. We've got to get the goods to the inn before nightfall. I'm not leaving my stuff out where any lowlife could steal it."

"Uh, right sir." L'abbee blushed a little at the accidental insinuation of his character and immediately started picking up the spilled contents from the ground. As he gathered up the torn sack, he noticed the items he thought had been coins were in fact small wooden chips. "Excuse me, sir, but what exactly are these?"

"Don't you read the jobs you apply for, boy?" The merchant replied. "We're bringing something new to this dump. The real money in places like this isn't in trade, it's gambling. I'm opening up a betting ring in this town, and we're going to bleed it dry just like we did the last village." He looked over to L'abbee and the drow could see a satisfied grin on his face. "You should have seen some of the idiots we conned back there. They were pawning off everything to save their livelihoods. By the time I left, they had nothing to wear but empty barrels of ale." He chuckled at the memory. "At least the ones who were smart enough did. Plenty of them were thrown out of town on bare asses, nothing left but their names, if they hadn't sold those, too."

As someone who's recently been thrown outside on his bare ass, L'abbee bristled at the thought of this man robbing people blind, but then again, he hadn't been doing much different up until a couple of days ago. "Uh, yes sir. Sorry I missed it."

"Well, hopefully, you'll stick around long enough to see it happen here, too. Now pick up the rest of those chips, I'm not wasting time making new ones tonight." L'abbee just nodded, pulling the wooden discs into a linen cloth from the wagon. Once he had wrapped them up in something easier to carry, L'abbee hustled over to the table where the merchant's apprentice was standing and placed them on a cart that had been hitched up to a donkey. The boy, who L'abbee recalled was named Zed, looked at the drow confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm the hired help. I just got here recently. Name's, uh... Garter. Garter... Belt."

The boy shook his head. "Look, if you're trying to rob the coach, you're going to have to do a bit more research. I mean, you picked the right mark, definitely, but maybe think on that name again before the boss gets back."

L'abbee leaned in. "Look, I'm running a little short on time at the moment. All I need is three gold so I can get inside. Just spot me that and I'll be out of your hair, I promise.