Chosen

how to catch a changeling

You hadn't been completely lying. You did go to the bathroom. And you hid in one of the stalls until the ball rang and you could hear other students walking to their next classes. 

"Where is she?" you could hear Jim's voice nearing the girls' bathroom. "Maybe she was kidnapped by Strickler!" Tobias burst out. You opened the door slightly, getting in a sliver of sight from the outside. Jim and Tobias coming closer and closer, ready to pass. "Maybe she just felt sick and- AA-" Jim yelped as you dragged him and Toby straight through the door before locking the door. 

"What are you doing?? This is the girls' bathroom!" Tobias exclaimed, clasping his hands over his eyes. "In Trollmarket, we all pee in one river, big deal?" you snapped a reply, not willing to waste any more time. "Y/n, we'll get in so much trouble if anyone finds out!" Jim tried. "Shut up!" you snapped. "Strickler's a changeling and I know it!"

The boys fell silent. "Strickler's a changeling? How do you know?" Tobias asked, looking puzzled. As you explained, Jim's eyes looked as if they.. deepened, in a way. Like he couldn't belive it. "No, he can't be a changeling. I would have known," he refused. "You would have known?" you replied, folding your arms. "I'm just saying that throughout my whole high-school experience, I haven't once taken him for anything else than a-" Jim begun, but you grew too impatient. "You know what? Nevermind," you snapped. "We're getting through all our classes, and then we're going to Trollmarket. Got it?" The boys shared looks before looking back at you and nodding. "Good, now get out of the girls' bathroom."

"The matter at hand, master Jim," Blinky said, currently going on and on about the history of changelings. "Master Jim?" he repeated, noticing Jim's head in the clouds. "Master Jim!" AAARRRGGHH thundered right next to Jim's ear, making him scream. "Yes, sorry. Paying attention. Paying attention!" Jim replied, smiling nervously. "As I was saying, assuming that Killahead Bridge was in Arcadia, and it was indeed, as you say, delivered to a clandestine location, that would mean more changelings, scavenging, assembling and dissasembling," he explained, whispering the word 'changeling.'

"If we prove that the museum curator wasn't working alone, then Vendel might start believing that you saw the Killahead Bridge," he said. "So, we find another changeling," Jim replied. "We already have! I'm telling you, Strickler's a change-" you begun, but Blinky cut you off. "Stop saying that so loudly, both of you," he said, covering his mouth to whisper something, but stopped as he felt the same orange troll you'd met in the pub evesdropping on the conversation. "Do you mind?" Blinky scowled at the troll. "Whatever," the troll rolled his eyes before walking off. Blinky scoffed.

"Changelings have not been heard or seen in Trollmarket for centuries," he whispered. "The mere word could cause hysteria." "Then how do we find one?" Jim asked as the fellowship reached the hall's end. "RotGut's," AAARRRGGHH said, his eyes nearly sparkling. "Woah!" Jim and Toby marveled as the giant stone carving of a troll with a thick jaw loomed over you. RutGut's store sold everything you could ever need for any quest with little to no questions asked. The perfect place for resources during times like these.

"Purveyor of fine charms, totems and spells," Blinky told, as the five of you approached a heavily decorated metal wall with carvings, colored windows, around three metal trapdoors and one large knocking handle sculpted as the face of a livid troll with green eyes placed right in the middle.

"Follow my lead," Blinky whispered with a smile as he knocked on the door of RutGut's. You'd stopped by just a couple of times in the past to either have a chat - you found it funny when the two trolls on the other side of the door faught - or to buy something. Blinky took a step back as he kept smiling confidently. Then, one of the windows with orange colored glass slid upwards, revealing a red-ish troll with one blue eye visible. It was Rot. The trolls at RotGut's were large fellows, hence why nobody (besides themselves and possibly Vendel) had seen their full faces.