You and Ameronis stroll over to the man, who seems delighted to have captured an audience, along with a few other poor souls, no doubt also startled into obedience.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, welcome! ” he cries, suddenly a lot friendlier but no less grandiose. “Prepare to be enraptured… by science!”

Ameronis puts her hand on her hip and shakes her head. “That’s a very… intense sales drive you’ve got going on here.”

“Madam, do not underestimate the effectiveness of a confident manner and a loud voice!” he says.

Alright, fair enough. He certainly would’ve drowned out the competition at any rate.

“The world is changing!” he declares. “Technology is developing at an unprecedented rate! So many mysteries have been unravelled. The secrets of nature, hidden for so long and beyond our reach and comprehension, are no longer! Now, but for a single hurdle, you can harness these forces. The realms of Pneumatics, Alchemy, Geomancy, Magnestry: I can show you those and much more!”

As he had spoken, he had pulled a tray and two small dishes out from inside the cart, then dropped a handful of dull copper coins into one dish.

“In the big city, they turn lead into gold and wood into metal! And the secret is this!”

Now, he puts on a pair of leather gloves, pulls out an ornate, old bottle and removes the wooden stopper, pouring a clear liquid into the empty dish. Then, one at a time, he picks up each coin, and after showing both sides to you and the others, drops each one into the solution. By the time he’s dropped the 4th one in, the first has changed colour, and by the time he picks up a pair of tongs and begins extracting the first coin, all four of them have changed, and the previously clear liquid is now a murky blue-green. He dries the 4 coins on a dark cloth, then shows them to you all; one is gold, one is silver, one is bronze, and the other, a bright copper.

“Behold! Professor Orelio’s All-Purpose Transmutation Wash! Turn base metals into rare ones! Perfect results every time! And this solution can be yours for just one coin! Just ONE brass sest!”

He holds up a large, dull coin, an old sest, as an example. It’s much larger than the modern sest, which is now made of copper instead of brass. It’s also only worth 5 fin these days.

A sest?” asks one of the other observers, contemplating the old coin. “How much would that be worth today?”

“C~45!” the professor cries.

What! 45 cogs!? That’s outrageous!

But, would you buy this? If you were just some peasant girl back in the old days? That seems like a lot of money, but that performance was pretty convincing. But ‘transmutation’? No. He’s clearly just done something to make the old coins shiny again. What exactly is that liquid anyway?

Just as you think that, the other man pipes up.

“What is that stuff made of?”

“Ah, trade secrets, good sir!” says the professor, holding up the bottle. “A concoction of the finest and rarest ingredients and reagents, distilled and fortified with the utmost precision in specialist laboratories in Rent!”

You move closer to the bowl of coins.

“What would happen if you poured this on something else? Your skin, for example?” asks Ameronis.

“Oh, a terrible fate would befall you, madam! The greatest care must be taken with this solution, lest it dissolve your very flesh to the bone! Only those with a careful touch can handle such dangerous chemicals!”

You lean closer to the bowl, taking a look at the now blue-green liquid, and note the scents lingering in the air: a strong metallic smell and the distinct presence of vinegar.

The Professor notices you and quickly takes the bowl away.

“Ah, be careful, madam! One whiff of this could be enough to destroy your entire nasal cavity!”

You casually mention the vinegar smell. He quickly pours the spent solution into an unseen container within the cart, and puts the bowl and the coins away.

“A curious coincidence, is all! But speaking of curiosity, perhaps I can interest you in this amazing contraption, one designed to revitalise the body and purify the spirit!”

He pulls out a black box, closed on all sides except the front, containing a small contraption consisting of a wood and metal frame, a hand crank, a black leather pad, and a secure glass orb about 8 inches across. He rotates the crank and the orb begins to spin.

“Sickness and Blight threaten us all, but with my Vitalistic Effluvium Extricator, you can restore your health and increase your lifespan by years at a time! Touch the orb and see for yourself as the peccant vapours leave you; the more you see, the greater your health will be now that you’re freed from it!”

He continues to spin the orb, and after a little glancing about amongst yourselves, the man who had asked about the Transmutation Wash ingredients volunteers, resting his hand against the orb; you and the others lean in to look. As soon as he touches the orb, a very faint orange glow with a slight pink tint begins to emanate from the orb, with the area directly under the man’s hand showing a much more intense ‘fuzz’ that matches the shape of his hand. The orb continues to spin, and there is a faint crackling sound just audible beneath the “oohing” of the audience. It’s quite impressive, and while the black lining of the box makes it a little easier to see, it would definitely be more impressive in a completely dark room.

The man removes his hand from it, and the glow quickly fades, at which point the Professor invites someone else to try; the only other lady in the audience reaches forward and touches the orb; the glow returns, but just barely, and only for a moment. You notice that the Professor isn’t rotating the orb as fast this time.

“Ah, Madam! It seems your condition is already quite excellent! With little effluvia to extract, the result instead will be longer years for you! But, for extended youth, the best results will be attained by daily use. For just a single cog, this device could be yours!”

A cog? That one’s worth 100 fin now, or 20 sest, so at 9 times the value of the old sest, that’s over 900 cogs…

“Eternal youth doesn’t come cheap, ladies and gentlemen, but an investment like this is worth every fin!”

There must be something to this. Obviously, there’s no way it does any of what he’s saying, but what is it actually doing? How is it producing that glow? He’s definitely manipulating something, but what..?

As you contemplate how many people would be likely to buy into his claims, the professor puts the Extricator away and reaches for some other contraption within the cart.

“But if that hasn’t truly captivated you, then surely this will! The latest in frontier technology, one that will revolutionise life as we know it! I give you… the Crystal Candle!”

He places an object on the table, consisting of a modestly sized round metal base and, in the centre, a large protrusion in the shape of a teardrop made of translucent white glass, which, itself, sits inside a slightly larger clear glass orb. When everyone is watching, he twists the glass just a small amount, and suddenly it emits a bright light, pale yellow, intense enough to be seen clearly in the daylight even without a darkened box to highlight it. It actually hurts to look directly at it for too long, like staring into a candle flame, but worse.

“Illuminate the world!” he cries once more, “and worry not about soot nor spills, burns nor fire hazards! Cannot be blown out nor doused by rain! An inexhaustible addition to any home or place of work!”

He holds up the contraption and presents it, allowing you all to marvel at it; it is not connected to anything on the cart, and has no moving parts. You all get an opportunity to touch the orb, which you do, gingerly; bringing your hand near it produces no fire-like heat, but placing your hand on it only produces a slight feeling of warmth.

Now this… This is something else. A device that produces light brighter than a candle or lighter, but burns with no flame? What is this? And how has he managed to do this?

The others have questions too, which he answers by not giving any clear details, and as you ponder the nature of his contractions while he starts preparing to reveal the ‘low’ price, someone yelling catches your attention.

“OI! Clear off!

You look over to see a Law Enforcer, one clearly from a long time ago, striding towards your group menacingly, short sword in hand. By the time you glance back at the professor, he has already managed to stuff the Crystal Candle back into his cart and is in the process of shutting it down. With the speed of a man who has done this many times, he collapses the cart back into its original unassuming form in about 3 seconds flat.

“Progress waits for no one, ladies and gentlemen! Must dash!”

With a tip of his hat, he and his cart hurry away into the bustle of the other visitors and actors in the green before the law arrives. The enforcer reaches your group, watching the professor scurry away, but doesn’t chase after him. Instead, he sheaths his sword and turns to you and the others.

“Keep yourselves safe! Charlatans like that are rampant around here. They come from the city and travel from village to village, preying on the naive and impressionable with tricks and lies. Don’t fall for their claims, and never buy any of their ‘miraculous contraptions’. You didn’t part with any of your money, did you? A poor peasant could easily have lost weeks or even months’ worth of income buying things from peddlers like that.”

Fortunately, your group of ‘peasants’ were saved, but what would it have taken to convince you to put some serious consideration into that Candle? Especially if you were alone and he wasn’t putting on a show..?

The Law Enforcer continues to speak to the others, answering their questions about both the charlatan and himself, their respective time periods and what life was like for each of them. You glance further down the green. Professor Orelio has set up his cart at the far end and is now slamming his swagger stick aggressively against his expanded counter. Everyone around him turns to look.