It is midday in Sassafreud. Amaru is checking out the local market. There’s all sorts of wares for sale, pots, swords, arrows. And a lot of food of course. But he’s not interested in any of it. He’s looking for something unique to the Serpensius empire. Something small. He could bring it with him on their way to the former Sanora region and sell it there for additional profit. He makes his way to a man selling various trinkets and the like. He has some beautiful watches on display, but many seem broken or are otherwise in need of repairs. The man looks short and chubby, and is middle aged with his hair starting to gray. Amaru asks the man if he has anything unique to sell.

  Unique? I’m an antique salesman, of course I do. The man shows him a collection of antique knives. They look beautifully decorated. Some of them have Serpensius engravings.

  I’ll have one of those, he says as he points at one of the knives.

  That’ll be 15 gold pieces. You don’t look like you’re from around here son, am I correct?

  Indeed sir, I'm traveling myself. Got anything unique to this region to sell, other than the knives?

  The man strokes his chin and thinks for a little while.

  I have this old box here. Don’t know what it does or what it’s for. Probably some kind of safe.

  The man reaches under his table and lifts up a medium sized box. On it are several engravings and symbols that can be pressed, but it lacks a keyhole.

  I wonder what inside it, Amaru thinks out loud.

  I don’t know either, I haven’t been able to open it no matter how I tried, he says.

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  How much do you want for it?

  A mere 10 gold pieces will do. After all, I can't seem to open it myself, the man says.

  Amaru buys the box and goes back to the group.

  Look guys, I bought this box, but nobody can open it. Does anyone have any ideas to find out what’s inside?

  Baldric looks at it. Then he takes his shield and gives it a hard smack. The box flies against the wall, but remains sealed.

  Be careful! You might break it. There’s probably an intricate mechanism inside. Baldric apologises.

  Then Zad takes a turn. He tries to use his picklocking skills, but there’s no visible locks on the thing. He tries some random combinations of pressing buttons, but none of it seems to work.

  Kilian gives it a try and tries to pry it open with his sword, but the box is sealed so tightly he can’t even get the tip through it.

  How about this, Mona, can you teleport it right? Perhaps if you teleport the box, the item inside will remain in place.

  Good idea Amaru!

  I don’t know if it’ll work, Mona says, usually things teleport with all their contents remaining in place.

  She teleports the box, but the item inside is teleported as well and it remains in place.

  I’m out of ideas, what can we do? All that’s left is to try the mechanism.

  Amaru takes a closer look. He notices that the patterns can be shifted on the box. Like a puzzle with the correct pieces falling into place. But shifting certain pieces around also shifts other pieces, so it is quite difficult. After a long time he finally manages to place the pieces in place.

  He opens the box.

  What’s inside?! Alina asks.

  Amaru looks inside. There’s some sort of thick cloth and inside that there is a musical instrument. It’s a whistle.

  Damn, how useless. Do you want this Ennius?

  Sure, maybe I can use it sometime. He takes the whistle and blows it.

  It sounds awful. Like a screech of agony.

  This thing is useless.

  Amaru ponders, I’ve read about these whistles, they’re used by warriors to strike fear into their enemies.