"Exactly!" Scrapmouse answered his suggestion to advertising as she went along, her enthusiasm towards the idea growing. When he suggested that they travel together, she smiled at him and she answered "You know what? I think I might just take ya up on that offer! Never hurts to have someone watchin' yer back!"

After she accepted your offer to join you on your adventures, one of her gadgets seems to activate. A strange house like object, mounted on the wall, with a circle enscribed with numbers, sudden had a wooden bird pop out and give a "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" before it retreated back into the device. Both the short hand and the long hand, were pointing upwards to the upmost number. Scrapmouse points out, "Oh! It's midday already,"

Just after she says that, distant music can be heard, even from inside Scrapmouse's hut.

Albrecht jumped at the creature that popped out of the strange object. His own family never had the privilege of owning a timekeeping device, and the youth was mesmerized by the intricacies of the clockwork.

Then he realized it was midday, and they were barely halfway done with cleaning up the place.

"Aw shit, here we go again," Albrecht grimaced, remembering all the times his procrastination had cost him before. It was definitely time to try harder now. No stops, no breaks, just hella hard work. Wielding his damp cloth like a mythic blade of eldritch power, he scrubbed away with renewed vigor, singularly dedicated to this grim task.

One hour later, the shop was as clean as it'd ever be, and Albrecht wiped his brow, sweating but satisfied. Nothing like honest labour to do one's heart good, after all. Squeezing black water out of the cloth, he wiped his dirtied hands on his trousers, before turning to Janine. "Gonna bounce and check out the carnival now. Just, like, ask for me at the Cockatrice's Crow tomorrow morning if you're ready to go, yeah?

He spared only a couple seconds before bounding out of the store, eager to see all the wild, eccentric things that folk in Marian's Grove never did.

As Albrecht got to work, so did Scrapmouse. She continued scrubbing as well, putting as much gusto as Albrecht was. With the both of them working together, they got the place cleaned in an hour. Of course, while they were scrubbing, the both of them could hear loud, boisterous, and upbeat music playing and cheering and awing in the streets of Kylliam. The Carnival had arrived and they were apparently parading through the town, performing as they looked for a place where they could set up their carnival. By the time the hour was done, the loud music had faded and everyone had gone back to their business.

After the both of them finished, Scrapmouse called back to Albrecht "GOT IT!"

Since everything had just calmed down, Albrecht would be able to see people go back to their own business. He would be able to find a colorful group of people start setting up the carnival in an empty lot in Kylliam.

Albrecht's mad dash slowed as he realized that the parade was indeed over, his chest heaving up and down in exhaustion and disappointment. Maybe there would be a closing parade after this, but one could never really be so sure. Approaching the workers, the warrior went for his usual tactic of time-killing.

"Hail, friends. Need an extra hand?"

He'd probably do it for free. The faster they set up, the sooner he got to enjoy everything, after all.

The closest carnival workers look to you as you hail them. These workers are a tortoise like humanoid, an elf with skin that is as black as night with a wide brim hat to block out the sun, and a human with light blue skin. The light blue skinned woman answers you, "Hail! Thank you kindly for the offer, but there's no need. We got everything covered. Can't make a future fan of ours work for us, now can we?" The woman asked teasingly while giving him a wink.

She then greeted, "I'm Rain. This is Wenston, and this is Alejandra," As she introduced the other two, she gestured to them as she gave their name. Wenston was the tortoise like humanoid while Alejandra was the drow.

Albrecht drank in the sight of all these people, curiousity clear in his expression. Marian's Grove was a predominantly human community, outside of the halfling family that ran the leather tanning business, and such strange individuals as tortoise-men and dark elves was a hella wild experience. He stared for a bit, before suddenly starting when he realized that he was being discourteous. "Albrecht," he said, with a bow and a smile. "My responsibilities kept me from attending the parade, but now, in the absence of work, I've nothing better to do but offer my own services. It's a poor day when adventuring folks like myself got nothing to keep my hands busy with, y'know?"

Rain noted Albrecht's stare, and she laughed, "I know, we're quite a weird combo, huh? A tortle, a drow, and a water genasi! Trust me, there are a lot more colorful characters than just the three of us!" After Albrecht introduced himself, Rain nodded and answered "Nice to meetcha!" After Albrecht made his comment, Rain nodded and answered "Yeah, I can understand that. Bet it's the same for ol' Hoot! None of us can keep that kenku still,"

She then rubbed her chin and she suggested, "Tell ya what. If you really want to help us that bad, then you can, and we'll let you watch the carnival for free tonight. Sound good?"

"Kenku?"

Albrecht hadn't even heard of that term before, but before he could dwell too much into it, the adventurer received his job, and grinned. "Got it," he said, rolling up his sleeve. "Whatcha need to be done? I've got smithing experience, and I can't say I'm terrible with knot-tying either."

Rain smirked mischievously and she answered his question about the kenku, "Oh you know, raven like people who can only communicate either by writing or full on mimicry? Never heard of 'em either, huh?"
When he asked what needed to be done, and what he could do, she answered, "We don't really need any smithing done, but we do need some help getting those tents up. Mind helping with that? There are still a bunch of tents to put up!"

Albrecht scratched the back of his head. "Where I lived, it was predominantly human. Crow people though...fascinating!"

As he spoke, he popped his own pack off his shoulder, retrieving his trusty hammer. Limbering up with a couple shoulder rolls, Albrecht soon got to work, setting stakes down to secure the tents. As he did so, he asked, "By the by, Rain, is the carnival gonna be heading to Instella too?"

Rain nodded in understanding when Albrecht mentioned that he had grown up in a predominantly human area. She grinned at his comment about crow people being fascinating, and she added "Wait til you meet Hoot in person! He's a total card!" When he asked about the route, she thought about it and she answered him, "Yeah, I believe Instella is on our route. Why do you ask?"