The Traveling Trader

The Traveling Trader

The Traveling Trader appears periodically in the Market Square. He trades items for twinkly wads, or for his strange shiny discs back again.

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Arnold Benedict, the Traveling Trader You approach a funny looking man behind a large cart. The man sees you, smiles broadly, and says "Unvy gb lbh, cbgragvny phfgbzre! Qb V unir n qrny sbe lbh! V unir geniryrq sne, nyy gur jnl sebz Qvfgnag Ynaqf, gb genqr jvgu lbh naq lbhe fvzcyr crbcyr! V unir n terng arrq sbe gjvaxyl jnqf jurer V yvir, naq V jbhyq or jvyyvat gb genqr lbh gurfr jbaqreshy vgrzf sbe nal gung lbh unir." He looks at you expectantly, then sighs, and explains what he wants from you using interpretive dance. The dance is surprisingly expressive, and after he is finished, you understand the following:

The traveling trader is looking to acquire:

twinkly wads
(You have X on you.)

For your twinkly wads, he will trade you:

Items for trade (On January 4, 2007):

Item:		Price:
	arse-a'fire elixir	10 twinkly wads
	cosmic lemonade	10 twinkly wads
	powdered toad horn	10 twinkly wads

Items for trade (On February 27, 2007):

Item:		Price:
	bunch of bananas	10 twinkly wads

Items for trade (On April 1, 2007):

Item:		Price:
	Deactivated O. A. F.	100 twinkly wads

Items for trade (On May 16, 2007):

Item:		Price:
	jar of swamp gas	1 twinkly wad

Items for trade (On January 23, 2008):

Item:		Price:
	strange shiny disc	10 twinkly wads

On July 16, 2008:

Arnold Benedict, the Traveling Trader You approach a funny looking man behind a large cart. The man sees you, smiles broadly, and says "Unvy gb lbh, cbgragvny phfgbzre! Qb V unir n qrny sbe lbh! V unir geniryrq sne, nyy gur jnl sebz Qvfgnag Ynaqf, gb genqr jvgu lbh naq lbhe fvzcyr crbcyr! V unir n terng arrq sbe fgenatr fuval qvfpf jurer V yvir, naq V jbhyq or jvyyvat gb genqr lbh gurfr jbaqreshy vgrzf sbe nal gung lbh unir." He looks at you expectantly, then sighs, and explains what he wants from you using interpretive dance. The dance is surprisingly expressive, and after he is finished, you understand the following:

The traveling trader is looking to acquire:

strange shiny discs
(You have X on you.)

For your strange shiny discs, he will trade you:

Item:		Price:
	Rainbow's Gravity	50 strange shiny discs

Notes

• The trader's foreign language is ROT13. The translation is:

  Hail to you, potential customer! Do I have a deal for you! I have traveled far, all the way from Distant Lands, to trade with you and your simple people! I have a great need for twinkly wads where I live, and I would be willing to trade you these wonderful items for any that you have.

  • On July 16, 2008, he said instead that he had "great need for strange shiny discs".
• The January 16, 2007 Jick and Skullhead radio show suggested that the trader's initial disappearance was because the Trader was meant to sink twinkly wads, when in fact the number of twinkly wads in the economy surged due to people pulverizing equipment quickly to either trade in or sell the wads. On April 1, 2007, the Deactivated O. A. F. succeeded in sinking 2.5 million twinkly wads (according to the April 2, 2007 radioshow.)
• If you view the source of the page you can see that the hidden field called "action" has the value of "For Gnomeregan!"
• Failure to select an item for trade will result in the message, "The trader is not trading for that item."

References

• Benedict Arnold became famous for being a traitor in the American Revolution.
• The message posted under Announcements for the trader's arrival may be a reference to the Mystery Trader in the game Stars!.
• The message posted under Announcements for the trader's arrival in 2008 (The Traveling Trader is back once again!) could be a reference to Magical Trevor 4, in which the first line is "Magical Trevor is back, once again!"
• Gnomeregan is the home city of the gnomes in the online MMORPG World of Warcraft. Conquered by monsters, it is now a World Dungeon or instance.