The party began to wind down for the night, each attending to their routines, a normal day. The Folmir was prepping the stew and hardtack for the nightly meal, Aromir was sharpening his bow and arrow for the morrow, Anduin was reading from his tome, I was accounting for the day's expense and making sure ledgers were in order. Our party had not been together long. It started with a contract to take a bundle of valuables to the shores of the Kelmer, in the southern regions of Loren, and to deliver the bundle to the client's contact in Aqre. We were now on our fifth day of travel from Falomire. I think it had been five days, something felt slightly off about that though... It had been a hard day on the road, rain had plagued our party since the previous day, but in the late afternoon had begun to let up. As such we were all soaked and miserable.

As the steward and lead of this party, it was my responsibility that we fulfill the contract and do so in a way that meant that I had money to pay the party, and the Josera's company cut. Typically for contracts like this, the party's cut was 20%, I took 20%, and Josera took 50%, with the remaining 10% going to incidentals along the journey, room & board, stable costs, food, etc. With a group of 3 party and myself, that meant... wait the ledger says a party of 2. I must have miscounted, hmmm. The 10% coming from the fronted contract payout of 15% of the final payment. The remaining 5% were for "un-foreseen circumstances". On these routine contracts, in "safe" zones, these "un-foreseen circumstances" didn't usually come up. Worst-case, this was the fund that would go to bribes for guards as they passed along the road. Any extra was split among me and the party. That meant keeping these "un-foreseen circumstances" to "seen circumstances" as much as possible. That left us on a tight budget. And my endless duty as steward was to keep the purse string tightened, and make sure that we got ours at the end of the day.

So, my nightly ritual of bookkeeping and accounting was an exercise in daydreaming. Daydreaming of what that extra 2.5%, after split, would be spent on. Tonight, that was saving for a voyage to Sarkola, where it was said that a person could enjoy the finest foods and wines that the Northern hemisphere had to offer outside of the Forbidden City. I quite enjoyed this daydream, it consisted of me strolling through the avenues of Sarkola, ducking into an alley way here, a side street there, and eventually finding myself in a beautiful cozy cafe, where I enjoyed the finest coffee, I had tasted in my life. All while watching a beautiful sunset. In the corner of my eye, I saw a dark figure pass along those golden streets. Someone familiar? Anyway, back to work...

I went through the roles and found that my clerical error was more widespread than I liked to admit. I found that not only had I miscounted the party role at 2 instead of 3, but I had only bought enough food for 2 party and myself. Something was starting to feel off. In the distance, I heard an Owl hooting. Then half-through it stopped. Regardless, this meant that we would have to cut into the "un-foreseen circumstances" fund to buy food at the next town, which was another 2 days out.

That feeling of unease kept curdling in my stomach, like I had just eaten a soup with sour milk. It then hit me that I do distinctly remember there were only Anduin, Aromir back at the start... or was that Folmir and Aromir... This kept gnawing at me. So, I went to check the company's contract, I kept a copy signed by myself and the party members in the travel trunk to reference later, and so we could confirm bill of sale with the client and the next Josera office I could find. I rummaged through the stack of documents that I kept in the trunk. Old contracts, bills of sale, receipts from inns and stables, the random detritus you pick up from working with Josera for five years. Something happened then that had never happened to me before. I couldn't find the contract. Worse, I couldn't find the receipts from the past five days. This was now getting weird, way past comfort weird. I always saved my receipts, always. It was compulsory for me at this point. The contract might have been misplaced, but the receipts. I wouldn't get my full cut if I didn't have the receipts, it was standard company policy. It was proof that the delivery didn't just magically appear to the client, and you had fulfilled your end of the contract. And they were all gone. I distinctly remembered staying at an inn on the second night, because of storm, we were waylaid for a day until the rain eased up, but no receipt. I then back at the rest of the camp. I don't remember Folmir being at the inn with us... Or was it Aromir?

Then like a punch to the gut, I found a company notice. It was titled "Watch for Changelings Along Your Path; Count Your Number". Oh god. I remember this. I remembered getting a lecture from the supervisor at the Ayur station about this. It was something to the effect of "blah, blah, blah, you won't even notice them until their among you, blah, blah, blah." I had heard of this happening decades ago, before the "safe" zones were established on the major throughfares, but that was old caravanners just talking at the bar, "just talking...", I whispered.

The changelings were said to play tricks on your memory. They were said to insert themselves in your memory like a maggot on rotting meat. Easy enough to get off, but the damn thing you were swatting it off was dead and rotting. Changelings were said to pray on those with the taint of the whisper. They said that those who were pure of intent, wouldn't be touched. I couldn't remember the last time I met anyone who fit that bill though. It was said that if you stuck to the "safe" zones and the cities you would be safe from the whisper. That the priests and priestesses had driven out the taint with their chanting and praying. I shook my head, "back to the matter at hand", I whispered to myself.

One of these three could well be a damn changeling. "What the hell am I supposed to do about that?" I noticed I was turning at my ring on the finger, I bought this while I was in Aqre the last time, from a merchant who had said it was from Sarkola. I was grasping at my memory by the fistful, trying to think "what do you do with a changeling?" I couldn't remember, I couldn't remember... I took three deep breaths. There was something about "changelings couldn't touch gold without revealing themselves", I think... I looked down at my ring, it was brass... I thought long and hard, "where the hell is there gold in this camp?", I thought. "What the hell would I do if I revealed it?", I thought. I didn't have a good answer for either. The Josera company paid well compared to other services, but not that well. I obviously couldn't ask one of them for a gold piece...

An option floated through my brain for a fraction of a second, "what if I wait?" I could theoretically wait till we reached the next town, go to the nearest temple and have them expose the changeling. I don't have to do a thing! I just find a priesthood member, and they'll handle the whole thing. Afterall, I couldn't remember what the hell you could do with a changeling once you revealed it. Something about chanting maybe. That course of action did mean a few things though, (1) I would have to travel with a changeling for the next two days, "two days, right?", I whispered, and (2) I would be questioned and interrogated by the priest as well by revealing that a changeling has latched itself onto me, hence having the taint of the whisper. "What would happen after the interrogation?", I had no idea. I hadn't heard of anything like this occurring for decades. I couldn't remember what they had done in cases like this in the past. A cold shiver went down my spine. The night was getting colder. The moon was beginning to rise over the eastern hills.

"What's the alternative?" I asked myself. I couldn't think of anything. On the other hand, changelings are said to be quite erratic and unpredictable. Some are totally harmless, and some will kill you while you sleep and steal everything you have. On the other other hand, it's said that once a changeling is revealed that they will fly into a violent rage. Involving ripping, tearing, maiming, and claws.

So, option (A) I reveal the changeling here after somehow finding a piece of gold and try to kill this thing before it kills us, or (B) I wait till we reach the next town ("Arnem, I think it was?") and hope that the changeling doesn't kill us all in our sleep. For option (A), I didn't even have a sword on me, this was supposed to be a "safe" zone dammit! I had a letter opener, a fucking letter opener! "What was I supposed to do with that?", I thought. The only reason Aromir had a bow was to kill game along the path, and Anduin was a fucking medical wizard. Worse, either one of them could be the changeling!

I took a deep breath and closed the ledger for the night. Looks like it's option (B), shit.