“Trouble?”

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

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

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

  “I hope so.”

  Filliam reached into his pack, undoing a small bundle which had been ed with a b, alshtly coloured with its own design. He revealed a small wooden box, which caused Jurot to lean in. Filliam opehe box and pulled out a small pendant. It was steel coloured, and as he twisted the small tch 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 tris,” he said, putting the watch ba the box, ing the b around it once, before pulling out another bundle ed in a b of another design.

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

  Filliam opehe box, which was much rger, and revealed small figurines made of smooth metal. They were quite pin, but were shaped like Dragons, each with a different cem for their eyes. A key protruded from their backs.

  Filliam twisted the key once, before pg 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 twist it up to twenty times,” Filliam expined. “If you twist it more, it will automatically lo order to stop the tri from breaking.”

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

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

  “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.”

  “ 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, cheg 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 hahe gold fee for all their entry too, dipping into both the party fund and his own poubsp;

  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 tris.”

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

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

  “Hmmm.”

  “What’s wrong?” Lucy asked.

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

  “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 wheook 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 uo 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 faarrowed his eyes. ‘He wants to get into trouble?’

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

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

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

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

  Emma shook her head. “Unfortunately not.”

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

  ‘I thought you wao get into trouble?’ Filliam thought.

  The group began to settle down, putting away their gear ba 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 ’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 ter, so just take these gems and add it to your savings, alright?”

  “Thank you, mister boss.”

  ‘I’ll bee poor at this rate thought,’ Adam thought. ‘Though, the Dragon tris 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 peabsp;

  “So you sell Dragons and watches?” Adam said. “Anything else?” ‘I have a few mold I burn. If push es to shove, I’ll just ent 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 wao find out where he got these from.’

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

  “What kind of wood?” Jurot asked, uo trol 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 e by, not without a letter of introdu from someoh 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 experien using it as a material, but I have a great many ideas which use wood as part of the design, so I wao 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, you make anything which 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, reag into his back.

  “I have some,” Vonda said, taking out a small book which had been stitched together. She alsht 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 CheckD20 + 1 = 18 (17)

  Adam drew a small ball with a propeller atop it whied 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 nd on the round bit, which I could guess be made of wood to make it lighter, or very thial, so you see io see the inner traption.”

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

  “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, ahat he’d snap at her when she didn’t do anything.

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

  “I 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 remaiaring 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 researd development. If I mao create a satisfactory product before I spend the one hundred gold, then I’ll charge an appropriate prid spend the rest of the money making enough tris 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 tris were in,” Jurot said. “Did you make them yourself?”

  Leaving the nerds to their wood talk, Adam pulled bad 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 like 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 dig it up.” She grabbed her pad 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 rge 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, fed it,” Adam said. “It was ented in the Iyr.”

  “Oh,” Vonda replied. “Of course.”

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

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  Adam has bee riow he's going to spend hundreds of gold on random nonsense. Is he as bad as the Nobles now?