There could be nothing, nothing at all in the whole world quite so amazing and attractive as black powder. It was a wonderful thing. Not that had anything to do with this however.
"Alrighty then sir, all fixed up! I told you it would be worth the tools." Kelvin ducked back out from beneath the wagon, finished working on the new fixed-axle bearings. Intricate things, and prone to sticking if not kept clean and well greased. In this particular case, the owner had left an axle cap off whilst traveling, and a bit of dirt and mud later... BAM. Frozen axle. It really didn’t take much in the ways of tools to fix, just a delicate touch, some boiling water, and some clean grease. The owner didn’t need to know that though. “Aye, was a pleasure indeed sir.”
He had always wanted to get in on the inside of one of those fixed-axle wagon wheels, see what was really going on in that hub. It was quite intriguing really, two cones, one inside of the other, and each lined with miniscule rollers that spun about eachother. Combined with a slathering of grease, and the wheels were practically floating! Of course... If yeh didn’t cover them properly, the dirt and debris would foul it up quicker than a necromancer in a chapel. It was payment enough to just take one apart. Kelvin opened his backpack, scanned over it’s contents quickly, and sighed. No food, only a bit of gold. Besides that, he didn’t truly feel like sleeping on the cold, hard ground again tonight. Tools of the trade were expensive, especially when most people had no idea what black powder even was. Only one thing to do. Head for an inn.
Kelvin kicked the door open to the inn loudly, if he was going to do this, he would do it in style. Not that anyone inside could have seen him turn the handle on the door before kicking it- partially so he wouldn’t have to fix it later, and partially because he wasn’t strong enough to kick it open anyway. “You there! I’m calling you out.”
He strode to the small bar, heads rotating, and took a short survey, picking a semi-muscular man who wasn’t facing him. Kelvin put a hand on his shoulder, and turned the man around, finding a woman instead. Inside, part of him died a bit, and the other shrieked with fright. “Sorry, wrong person.” Just had to sidle away from that one. This time he chose a younger looking man.
“Hey, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He made is voice deeper for a moment, and then winked conspiritorially, sitting down. “I am in need of a dry place to sleep, and you look like you need a travel companion. Care to figure it out?" It was a shot in the dark, but worth making. There was a reason this guy was in an inn, sitting alone. "Call me Kelvin, by the way."