The Night Peddler
Be wary when you walk lonely roads at night. Usually you'll be fine and arrive at our destination none the worse for wear, usually. However beyond all the mundane dangers there is the chance that you encounter a hunched figure pulling a hand drawn merchants cart. If the cart is in front of you, stop and let it continue on its way, do not draw the creatures attention, and it will leave you be. If you notice the cart coming up behind check your pockets for coins and say a silent prayer, for you are about to meet The Night Peddler.
The Night Peddler is a stooped figure in worn out threadbare rags bundled to the point that no flesh can be seen. Its stooped posture hides any semblance of height and build. Even the creatures face is hidden beneath fraying scarves, worn out hoods, and decerped shawls all crowned with a beaten down hat. All of its attire is in a similar jumbled and ragged state save for the boots. The Night Peddler's boots are a said to be a matching pair of heavy black travelers boots in perfect condition and immaculately shined. The voice that comes from the creature is deep, heavy and ponderous. It says very little and finishes everything it does say by trailing off as if the words has simply runout. The cart it pulls is made of simple aged grey wood, a worn canvas cover, and is adorned with all manner of sacks, pegs, display hooks, small drawers, and cabinets much like those of a normal merchant cart.
Should it catch you it will show you its wares. The things it sells are never the same twice and some of them feel oddly targeted toward the buyer as if they were specially curated. The Night Peddler is claimed to sell all manner of things, mundane and ordinary to bizarre and grotesque. Supposedly only two items on the cart remain the same while the rest of the wares very, a box of simple square nails, and a large jar of teeth all with gold or silver fillings. Only those who have seen The Night Peddler from behind or those who made a purchase return with stories of the encounter. It is unknown what fate befalls those who encounter the wandering creature and refuse to or can not afford to make a purchase.
Mind well that you keep a few coins in your pocket when travelling the road at night because, while it is unlikely, you never know when you may need to make a sudden purchase.
I have *So Many* Questions! How does the Night Peddler know what to sell? Does he have a particular beat, or does he appear all over the continent? What *does" happen to those who don't buy something? Seriously, what happens? It's hard to believe the Night Peddler is more than a benign, if creepy traveling merchant if there aren't wild rumors about what becomes of those who don't buy/can't afford something. Do they dissapear? Turn into Chickens? Become more 'wares' for the cart? Even if the populace in general doesn't know, there needs to be enough 'rumors with a grain of truth' to make the fear viable. Still, the Night Peddler is *delighfuly* creepy creature, and certainly one I wouldn't want to meet on the road at night!
Thanks for the interest and the comment! I designed this thing to be the sort of urban legend/ myth where you heard if from somebody who heard it from somebody else who's cousin's step mother saw it once maybe. Where the theme of the myth holds true but the details shift a bit from telling to telling. The Night Peddler is supposed to be one of those urban legends that nobody believes in during the day or safely at home, but when you are outside at night by yourself in an unfamiliar place it starts to seem more and more plausible. The sort of thing where the odds of it existing seem to stretch as you leave your comfort zone.