Oh No, Not The Shortcut!

"This is amazing." They stepped forward past the turnstile and stepped into a world of wonder. Beyond the turnstile, it had seemed, was darkness. A magical shroud, that the splendour of the city would not be spoiled by a preview. As they stepped past the illusion, the first thing they noticed was the sky. Where on the outside the sky had been slightly overcast with a hint of lightning, this sky on the inside was bright and sunny, though not in an oppressive manner as the "Sun" was mostly blocked by the presence of several clouds, the only white spots in an otherwise bright blue sky. The second thing they noticed were the buildings. They were architecturally diverse, the buildings being from separate times, separate cultures, some common, some recognised from documentaries, some ruins seen from the news and others completely alien to them but all blending together to form an odd harmony of form and shape. The third thing they noticed was that a small reptilian creature had flown in front of them and was bobbing up and down in an effort to attract their attention.
"Hello there. What are you?" Lunare asked it.
The creature tried to croak out something and the only words that they managed to hear properly were "Hello" and "I".
It's tail, twice the length of its body, swept up and seemed to indicate frustration. It gave up on its attempt on Common and started to speak in Draconic. Acherus being the only one fluent in the language, he responded in kind.
"Hello? Do you understand me? Can any of you speak Draconic?"
"I do."
"Ah. Cain, right? Okay, would you help me tell the rest of your friends that the simplest way for me to communicate would be to have physical contact. I can transmit my thoughts forward that way. My vocal chords can't handle Common."
"Oh." He switched back to Common. "Guys, this thing says it can talk by touching us and transmitting its thoughts forward. Or we could just use Draconic."
The creature added, "I can understand Common by the way."
"And it understands Common."
"I'm not too comfortable with it touching us. You know why. Couldn't we just use Draconic? I understood a little of what she said. You could just explain to us the words we don't know." Lethe said.
Acherus shrugged and turned back.
"You heard what she said. I suppose we could just use Draconic."
"All of you can understand Draconic?"
"Yes, but I'm the most fluent."
"Then how about this, you guys use Common, I'll just use Draconic, you help translate whatever they don't know."
"Alright." Acherus turned to the group. "I'm sure you guys heard that."
"Mostly."
The creature asked Acherus, "Do you mind if I use your shoulder for a moment?"
"Go ahead."
It landed on his left shoulder, the right already used as a perch by Acheros. It addressed the group.
"Hello everyone, my name is Grei and I'm your guide for your entire stay."
"What are you?"
"I'm a..." She lifted a talon and lightly touched Acherus' neck, taking care not to touch the vocal vents.
"Roughly translated, it's a pseudodragon I think. That's what I'm getting from her." Acherus said, after a moment's pause.
"It's a telepath?" Styx said, eyes wide.
"No, no, no, I can only transmit thoughts one way. I can't read minds. All pseudodragons can. And I would like to point out that I'm not an it, I'm a she."
"Oh. I didn't know there were such things as pseudodragons." Kestrel said.
"Don't they teach you kids anything in school? What happened, didn't pay attention to Bestiary lessons?"
"They don't even teach Bestiary anymore, they say it's not an important subject."
"Anyway, welcome to the Darksun Carnival! I'm one of the newer guides, so no worries about me being too serious or anything. It will be night soon and anyway I'm sure you guys don't want to lug all that baggage around. Did you guys have a hotel in mind?"
"Not really. We were thinking that maybe we could look around."
Grei glanced from side to side and purred. "There's a lot of people. We'd better get moving if you want one of the better hotels. What's your budget?"
"Big."
"Okay. Does that mean you all have enough for the best of the best?"
"Sure."
Grei flapped her wings several times and flew ahead of them. "Follow me."
"Hey! We can't see you through the crowd!" Cocytus shouted.
Grei promptly flew back and landed on Phlegyas' head and curled her long tail around Phlegyas' body all the way down even until his left ankle. He gave a start, then gestured towards the group.
"I know where to go." He said, somewhat calmly for someone who just had information inserted into his mind.
Grei asked, "Do you guys want to take the shortcut? It's through an alley and there may be gangs still around that area. We could go the longer and safer way."
"Shortcut please, my legs are killing me." Styx groaned.
"We just started, how can your feet be hurting already?"
"I'm lazy, okay?"