I have written five of my ten episodes and it is only February.
I think that there are good possibilities in this thread. Fred could be in combat with the dragon in the next episode or two and a decisive result would not end the story. There are two promising complications: the quest for the jar, and what to do about Belboz and Exotica. It could also go in a number of other interesting directions.
While I am waiting for the next episode, I will share one random idea. There is a stage magician prop is "flash paper." It is a nitrocellulose tissue paper that burns very quickly and leaves no residue. Real flash paper would not be a realistic prop to introduce into pseudo-historical fiction. Nitrocellulose couldn't be produced until the 1800s. But I think that it would be acceptable for a fantasy.
I can see Maggie being equipped with something like that. She does not appear to be a warrior type (scared of spiders, has the normal reaction to icy water), but she uses stealth maybe a little social engineering to accomplish her mission. The brigands confiscated her supplies, but did not find the needle - and even if they had, they might not have thought much about it, she just being an unremarkable woman. So in that situation, if she was given something like flash paper she could disguise the paper as lace ornament on her dress, pin it under her collar, or store it inside her underclothes. It could possibly be useful as a distraction in a fight or to frighten off monsters. Also the ignition of flash paper might temporarily blind an opponent.
It might not fit into the action of this particular story, but I thought I would share the idea to see if there were problems with it or possibilities that I haven't seen.
