“Trouble?”

“A little,” he admitted. “I’m Filliam, a Pedlar of trinkets. Do you have any need for trinkets?”

“What kind of trinkets?” Adam asked. “I’m always happy to buy trinkets.”

“You are?” Filliam perked up. “Well, my trinkets aren’t cheap, but they are a wonder.”

“I hope so.”

Filliam reached into his pack, undoing a small bundle which had been wrapped with a blanket, also brightly coloured with its own design. He revealed a small wooden box, which caused Jurot to lean in. Filliam opened the box and pulled out a small pendant. It was steel coloured, and as he twisted the small latch to its side, it flipped open.

“A pocket watch?” Adam whispered, seeing the dial and the twelve segments. “Didn’t think you’d have one of them.”

“Not just pocket watches, good Adventurer. I’ve many trinkets,” he said, putting the watch back in the box, wrapping the blanket around it once, before pulling out another bundle wrapped in a blanket of another design.

‘Damn, those blankets are pretty funky too,’ Adam thought.

Filliam opened the box, which was much larger, and revealed small figurines made of smooth metal. They were quite plain, but were shaped like Dragons, each with a different coloured gem for their eyes. A key protruded from their backs.

Filliam twisted the key once, before placing it down on the ground. After a moment, the Dragon’s wings beat, and it began to crawl along the floor, though did so only for two steps.

“You can twist it up to twenty times,” Filliam explained. “If you twist it more, it will automatically lock in order to stop the trinket from breaking.”

Adam stared at the metal Dragon for a moment, before his eyes fell to the watch. He remained stone faced. “Do you have this sort of thing in the Iyr?”

“Grandfather has a watch, and so does granduncle Tarot.” Jurot narrowed his eyes to think for a moment. “I do not believe we have any of these Dragon trinkets.”

“These five Dragons are it?” Adam asked.

“Yes.”

“How many watches do you have?”

“Three.”

“How much are they?”

“Fifty gold a piece for each of the items you have seen. I have two more watches, each worth much more.”

“Can I see them?”

“Unfortunately not,” Filliam said. “I have to show them to Lady Redoak.”

“Fair enough,” Adam said, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ll take the lot.”

“Excuse me?” Filliam asked. “The six items?”

“Yep,” Adam said, checking how much money he had through Bell. “Oh, uh. I’ll buy the watch for now, and once we get to the Guild, I’ll be able to buy the rest. Is that fine?”

Filliam blinked rapidly. “Yes. Yes, of course it is. Thank you. What’s your name, kind Adventurer?”

“Adam, son of Fate.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you mister son of Fate,” Filliam said, shaking Adam’s hand.

“Here,” Adam said, handing Filliam a gem worth fifty gold. He handed the gold fee for all their entry too, dipping into both the party fund and his own pouch.

Filliam clutched the gem tight in his hand, handing over the watch to Adam, including the box. Jurot let out a soft exhale through his nose, wanting to see more of the box, but he kept himself at bay.

“Why don’t we get some drinks at the Guild?” Adam asked. “I’d love to talk to you more about your trinkets.”

“Of course,” Filliam said, smiling brightly at the Half Elf.

The group made their way to the Adventurer’s Guild, though Adam felt something tingle at the back of his head, and a great sense of disappointment.

“Hmmm.”

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked.

“I just realised… we didn’t really get into any trouble this time.”

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“We did, didn’t we?” Lucy said. “Wasn’t there an argument with Sir Landon?”

“Yeah, but I fought the Knight and there wasn’t much beyond it.”

“What about when he took all the loot?”

“Half the loot,” Adam corrected. “Sir Vonda took the rest.”

“For the great Mother Soza,” Vonda replied. “Who, without, we would be unable to live.”

Adam rolled his eyes, thankful he was wearing his helmet. “Right. Still, we didn’t really get into any trouble.”

Filliam, who had been following them silently with a smile on his face, narrowed his eyes. ‘He wants to get into trouble?’

The Adventurer’s Guild, with it’s familiar walls, welcomed the Adventurers back. Emma was currently at the counter, and she nodded her head to greet the newcomers.

“Afternoon,” Adam said, before checking his watch. “How’s it going?”

“Well,” Emma replied. “How was your adventuring?”

“Not bad, though we didn’t come across anything really, unfortunately.” Adam placed down the coins for their stay and food. “Anything for our party?”

Emma shook her head. “Unfortunately not.”

“Sounds pretty fortunate to me. Means we didn’t get into any trouble.”

‘I thought you wanted to get into trouble?’ Filliam thought.

The group began to settle down, putting away their gear back in their room.

“There’s no need for that, mister Adam,” Remy said, trying to refuse the gems.

“You guys helped us on the way back, and as much as I can’t pay for ten gold a day for that, I want to make sure you were paid for the work you did.”

“Oh, well…” Remy begrudgingly accepted the gems.

“Me too?” Nobby asked.

“Yeah,” Adam said. “We’ll begin training you soon officially a little later, so just take these gems and add it to your savings, alright?”

“Thank you, mister boss.”

‘I’ll become poor at this rate thought,’ Adam thought. ‘Though, the Dragon trinkets will be quite a gift for the kids.’

The group took their meals to a private room so they could eat and drink together in peace.

“So you sell Dragons and watches?” Adam said. “Anything else?” ‘I have a few more gold I can burn. If push comes to shove, I’ll just enchant some more in the Iyr.’

“I sell all sorts, usually,” he said. “I haven’t been able to stick around a town long enough to make anything more.”

“You made these?” Adam asked, raising his brows. ‘Nice. I wanted to find out where he got these from.’

“Yes,” Filliam replied. “I’m a Tinkerer by trade, and peddle my wares where I can. I came to Red Oak so I could find some wood.”

“What kind of wood?” Jurot asked, unable to control his curiosity.

“I was hoping for some cherry, I hear it’s a speciality in Red Oak.”

“It is,” Jurot said. “They have many types of cherry wood. Some are hard to come by, not without a letter of introduction from someone with renown.”

“Oh, well, I’m just looking for some typical cherry.”

Jurot nodded his head. “All cherry wood is good.”

“Sorry about Jurot,” Adam said. “He’s a wood nerd.”

“Wood is quite fun to use. I don’t have much experience in using it as a material, but I have a great many ideas which use wood as part of the design, so I wanted to spend some time here to learn.”

“Which is why you want to save those watches for Lady Redoak?” Adam asked.

“Yes.”

Adam nodded his head. “Say, can you make anything which can fly?”

“Fly? Oh, that’s rather difficult to do. Not impossible, but very difficult, and very expensive.”

“What about something like…” Adam tried to find the words. “Do you have some paper and a pencil?”

“I have a little,” Filliam said, reaching into his pack.

“I have some,” Vonda said, taking out a small book which had been stitched together. She also brought out a stylus which he could use to draw.

“I didn’t expect that,” Adam admitted. “Do you draw?”

“Sometimes,” Vonda said. “It’s a hobby.”

“Oh. That’s cool.” Adam realised he didn’t know much about Vonda though they had spoken a few times.

Dexterity Check

D20 + 1 = 18 (17)

Adam drew a small ball with a propeller atop it which formed the key. “You twist it at the top, then the inside has a thing which spins, and it’ll shoot up towards the sky. Hopefully, it’ll land on the round bit, which I could guess be made of wood to make it lighter, or very thin metal, so you can see inside to see the inner contraption.”

Filliam stared at the design for a long while. ‘What a simple design. Why hadn’t I thought of it before?’ “Are you a Tinkerer too?”

“Oh,” Adam said, chuffed to bits. “No, no. I have my specialisations in other things.”

“Yeah, he’s a-“

Adam snapped his head towards Lucy, his eyebrows raised.

“A smith,” Lucy said, looking away from him, annoyed that he’d snap at her when she didn’t do anything.

“That makes sense,” Filliam said. “I think I could manage this. Since this is custom work, I need to charge one hundred gold. I should be able to figure out a design that you need with that much money, though I’ll also need money for food and board.”

“I can do that,” Adam said.

Filliam blinked. “Excuse me?”

“A hundred gold, right?” Adam asked. “I’ll give you a hundred gold, plus, what, fifty gold for living fees?”

“Uh…” Filliam remained staring at Adam. “That sounds fine.”

“Just to be clear,” Adam said, narrowing his eyes. “It’s not going to be one hundred gold for one flying ball, is it?”

“No,” Filliam replied, quickly. “That’s just for research and development. If I manage to create a satisfactory product before I spend the one hundred gold, then I’ll charge an appropriate price and spend the rest of the money making enough trinkets so that the one hundred gold is used up.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Filliam looked to Jurot, the Iyrman, for support.

“I liked the box the trinkets were in,” Jurot said. “Did you make them yourself?”

Leaving the nerds to their wood talk, Adam pulled back and stared at Vonda. “How often do you draw?”

“When I’m in town, usually every evening. Out in the wild, I don’t like to draw. It’s a little dangerous for that, and I don’t want to fail saving someone’s life because I was doodling away.”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “Do you have anything I could see?”

“Oh,” Vonda said, her eyes lighting up, sitting up straighter. “I might have something I sketched some time ago. Let me see if I can dig it up.” She grabbed her pack and pulled out a small book, each page about as long as Adam’s hand, and a little wider. She flipped through them, making sure no one could see it, before she slipped out a paper.

She revealed a sketch, all grey as Adam expected, of the sun rising, and a large cluster of trees, with a bird mid flight.

“Wow,” Adam said. “You sketch better than I smith.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said. “I’ve never seen you smith.”

“Fair,” Adam said. “Actually, I made that axe Lucy uses.”

“You made that axe?” Vonda asked, surprised.

“I, you know, forged it,” Adam said. “It was enchanted in the Iyr.”

“Oh,” Vonda replied. “Of course.”

Adam stared at the sheet, his heart thundering. ‘Gotta be more careful than that, you idiot.’