From a rugmaker’s apprentice: 

“Among the elders and veteran warriors, it is said there are mountains to the South. These are the last mountains before The Sea of Dust. And in these mountains, a horrible dark master rides a hideous red anhkeg, ready to rip anyone unlucky enough to meet them into shreds. But, if you can get past them, there is a path that leads down to an ancient shrine that holds a lost treasure of the underworld. I can sell you a rug that is also a map to this place for 23 pieces of gold and 6 silver.”

 From a halfling herdsman:

“Two years prior, I had traveled to Ekbir to buy some ponies from a well-known family. Due to forces beyond my control, and her sister Debra, my business in Ekbir took longer to complete. I was there until the very end of the trading season. Then, as I was preparing for my return journey southward, a long ship rowed into the harbor. Massive, grim-looking sailors, strange tongued, and with long pale hair set down their oars and headed into town with bags of silver. I worked up my courage using half a horn of arak and asked one of them where he called home. He laughed and said, “Krakenheim”. To this day, I am yet to meet anyone who knows where that is. Do you?”

From a woman selling flowers:

“If can sell a little extra, I can make an offering at the Temple of Geshtai. These days, it is little more than a shelter for a shrine. But, if the women there see me make my offering, they will invite me to count the Yan, Tan, Tethera. Here, they play the game by casting three dice into the air and yell out the sum. I could make a lot of money, true. But what I really want is to be with people who like to count the Yan, Tan, Tethera.