[THERE WAS A FOCUS GROUP!]
- Lazlo Smith, Level 31 Patriotic Paladin,
We had to stop back at the dorms first so that Arlo could unload the practice weapons and Tara the rest of her clothes. We just dumped the clothes into the chest in my room, planning to move it later, and left the weapons piled on my spare bed.
We were out of the gates ten minutes later, following the path that led down the hill towards Backhorn. I organized us into a simple formation, sending Raylan and Arlo out as rovers – but together. I didn’t really want any of us wandering around alone out past the walls when no instructors were about. As we walked quickly down the path, I could see the town spread out below us.
It proved to be farther away, and a bit bigger, than I’d expected. Moving downhill, it took us at least thirty minutes to reach the outer farms, and another fifteen after that to reach the town gates, which were open, with a pair of bored guards keeping an eye on things. Their eyes widened at the sight of the orcs – and perhaps at Zaire and Jayce as well – but they noticed our Delver badges and waved us through.
We didn’t ask for directions, assuming everything we were looking for would be on the main road. As we approached the town square, I was startled to see a sign with my name on it hanging over the entrance of one of the larger buildings. It took my brain a moment to register that it didn’t really say “AZ”, it actually read “A–Z” in big, bold letters, encircled by much smaller text reading “Weapons & Armor Emporium!”.
“Ah, excellent, I didn’t expect to find an A–Z out here!” commented Arlo, and Tara nodded.
Raylan, who was walking next to him, punched him in the shoulder. “You act as if you haven’t been walking next to one all morning!”
“Hey, I am not a store!” I complained, to general laughter.
“Better watch out, they might sue you for copying their name!” Raylan retorted, and I was briefly nervous before realizing he was – hopefully – joking.
“You guys know this place?” I asked, confused. How did they both know a place and not know that it was here at the same time?
“Not this one in particular,” Tara said, then explained the idea of a ‘chain store’ to us rural types. Intrigued by the idea of knowing that one could reliably shop somewhere they’d never previously visited, I followed the trainees into the store. Well, one trainee and one ex-trainee anyway.
As we entered, a soft chime sounded and a man looked up from behind a counter. He quickly emerged, walking over to greet us with a broad smile.
Name: Samuel
Class: Merchant
Tier: 3
“Greetings young Delvers! Welcome to my shop, the Backhorn location of the famous A–Z Armor and Weapons Emporium! You’re a bit earlier than we usually get students in here on Sundays – better selection for you! What can I help you find today?”
I looked around happily as Tara and Arlo greeted Samuel. The store was bigger than the general store back in Sunland, and it was all the good stuff! The majority of the items on display were armor components in every possible weight, but there were also racks of weapons. Everything from swords to bows to warhammers and even pistols, all neatly arranged on clever hooks on the shelves.
“Of course, of course! A bit of everything it is then! It will be my pleasure, and of course we will honor your family discount, Miss Gleason! Let me call a few helpers and we’ll take care of everything!”
Samuel quickly explained the layout of the store, which had Tier 0 items on one side and Tier 1 on the other, with higher Tier items ‘available on request’. We spread out among the Tier 0 racks, and I started with the medium-light armor. Most of my components were only light, and just Level 2. I reminded myself that it would be stupid to get myself killed because I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity.
I was examining some Level 3 components when a voice from just behind me made me jump.
“Miss Azure? Ah, sorry to startle you!” It was Samuel himself. I noticed a few other younger workers had emerged from somewhere and were talking with the others as they browsed.
“I’m afraid I don’t have much Level 5 gear out at the moment,” he continued. “Most new students arrive here at Level 2 or 3, so I usually put the Level 5 gear out a few months after the semester starts. But, I do have some in storage somewhere, if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes for me to locate the correct box?”
I nodded, surprised that he could see my exact Level. He was Tier 3 though, and knowing a customer’s Level was obviously important for a shopkeeper. He probably had some special version of Identify, or just had a lot of Levels in it. I followed him to the counter and waited while he slipped into a back room. H’ruk, Jayce, and Zaire were looking at light armor pieces, while Raylan and G’hala were in the medium-light section. Arlo and Tara seemed content to wander around looking at whatever caught their eyes, and I realized their gear might already be better than anything for sale here.
Samuel emerged a few minutes later, holding a large, dusty box. When he opened it, I saw that there were two different sets of armor inside. One was a dark, rich purple leather with gleaming steel banding and a matching cuirass. The other was much simpler, a heavy, dark brown leather with a breastplate that was probably steel but looked to have been dulled to the color of raw iron.
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“Here we go, these are both Level 5 medium-light armors. This one – “ he indicated the brown set – “is basic but quite functional, made by a local craftsman. Double-layered and boiled trihorn leather with a steel cuirass, processed to dull the shine for a more subtle look. The other, well, this was a commissioned piece that I purchased from a former student who out-Leveled it. Wonderful craftsmanship, and it really pushes the boundaries of what you can wear on a medium-light baselayer!”
He pulled out the purple set and started explaining all of the advantages to me. I was about to interrupt him and tell him I preferred the less flashy set when Tara appeared next to me.
“How much are they?” she inquired bluntly.
“Ten eagles for the brown, and for this –” he hefted the more elaborate set’s chestpiece, letting the light from the store windows hit it just right, “I’m afraid I can’t let it go for less than twenty-five.”
My jaw dropped. I’d been expecting the higher Level, heavier armor to cost more than what I’d paid for my Level 2 components in Sunland, but not more – and that was for the cheaper set!
Tara, however, seemed unfazed. “Hmm,” she tapped a finger on her lips for a moment, then called out. “Raylan, come here for a minute!”
“What is it?” he asked, stepping closer.
“Did you find anything good in Level 4?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“There’s a nice set of Level 3 that I’m interested in,” he replied, “but I’m not sure it’s that much better than my Level 2 gear.”
“We’ll take both!” she announced to Samuel, who smiled in satisfaction.
“Huh?” I asked, brilliantly.
She turned a blinding smile on me, and I swallowed.
“This one, for Raylan,” she fingered the darker set, “he’ll just have to stay alive for another Level to use it. I think it makes more sense than buying a Level 3 set now and nothing later. And then, of course, this one for you!” She handed me the shining cuirass of the set of armor and I gulped.
“Um, Tara, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but this really isn’t my style!” I objected, flushing slightly.
“Nonsense!” boomed Samuel, drawing everyone’s attention briefly. “You’ll look stunning in it, I’m sure, and if you still prefer a darker look, well, I can do a simple cosmetic enchantment for you, no problem! Or, even better, we can do a sampling of mods and try to find you something suitable!”
“A of mods?”
“A sampling, my dear! I have quite a few Level 5 armor mods in another box somewhere. For a modest fee of an eagle per five mods, you can attune as many as you wish. Then you can select those that suit you best and only buy those! I’ll strip the attunements from the rest for another customer.” He grinned.
“An eagle, just to try out some mods?” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but Tara laughed and nodded.
“That’s a fair price, for Level 5 mods, I believe,” she said. “Let’s start with ten, if you have that many?” she asked Samuel, who flashed another grin before disappearing into the back room.
“Tara, this is too much,” I objected as soon as he was gone. Her face hardened and she shook her head.
“No, it’s not,” she replied firmly. “Jayce was right, you know – just by having me in your Squad you’ve become enemies with someone who’s both ruthless and rich. It’s only fair that you get something out of it, and honestly, Az – my family could buy this whole store and not notice. Well, I guess my parents would, but my uncle wouldn’t. You should see some of the stupid shit that man buys, I swear…”
Samuel returned with a stack of smaller boxes this time, each clearly labeled. There was a box each of Level 5 armor and weapons mods, and more with Level 4s for Raylan and Zaire. Inside were neat little wooden racks that held ten of the softly glowing orbs. He casually removed one rack of each of the Level 5 armor and weapons mods and handed them to me.
“Attune all ten first, then we can set aside the ones that look interesting and select four from those,” he instructed. “Or, of course, attune more – I have one more rack of Level 5s, and plenty of Level 4s as well.”
The experience of quickly attuning ten mods – each of which I guessed was worth half of my savings – was surreal. In the end, I came up with a few interesting choices. There was a Level 5 quiet steps, which I already had in Level 4, a thermal regulation mod that Samuel assured me would be dramatically more effective than the Level 0 version I’d had previously, and we found a basic camouflage mod as well.
The others were an odd assortment, with several resistance mods that didn’t seem especially useful, a ‘lightweight’ mod that would reduce the weight of the armor by a small amount, and not one but two self-repair mods that I certainly didn’t want. I decided to take the thermal regulation and basic camouflage ones, but refused the others. Tara tried to get me to attune more, and I turned her down. I still felt uncomfortable despite all the justifications I’d made to myself earlier.
I moved on to the weapons mods instead, attuning another ten expensive mods that I couldn’t afford. Tara was shocked when I placed all of them back in the rack, indicating I wasn’t interested. I had to explain to her that, even though my mods weren’t Level 5, I had some very good ones that I wanted to keep. The ones I’d just checked were a mix of different damage mods – similar to the fire mod I’d ended up applying to my armor. And one odd one that would add a light to my gun. There were also a couple that just didn’t seem to apply to my weapon, like keen edge.
She shoved the other rack of Level 5 weapons mods into my hands, and I sighed in defeat and started attuning those too. The second round proved luckier, as I found a Level 5 red dot sight. I wasn’t sure what the difference would be compared to my Level 3, but I wanted to find out. There was also an ammo capacity mod that would give me another space in my bandolier compared to my Level 4 version. I would never have spent my own money on such a small upgrade, but with my slugs taking up most of my bandolier’s slots I could really use any extra space I could get.
I ended up with four mods set aside in a neat pile with the fancy armor – thermal regulation, basic camouflage, red dot, and ammo capacity.
Tara wandered off to help the orcs, who were having trouble finding any armor that would fit them even after it resized. Arlo came by to where Zaire, Raylan, and I were looking at the mods. When I explained why I’d rejected so many of the weapons mods, he frowned and tapped the hilt of my shortsword.
“Do you have mods for this?” he asked, and I paused.
“No,” I admitted, “but it’s only Level 3.”
“I would be most pleased to find you a Level 5 replacement!” Samuel was eager to help, of course. So, I ended up with a new sword and scabbard, plus a poison mod and keen edge. Arlo claimed poison would be the most effective of the damage mods I’d found. There was also ice, light – I had no idea what that would do – and two fire mods. Finally, I had a use for a self-repair mod as well, since I couldn’t just channel mana into a non-Class item to repair it.
Once the Merchant had finished setting me up with my new sword, he set his sights on Raylan. Smoothly, he suggested the Knife Fighter consider a new shortsword as well, pointing out that it would be compatible with all his Skills while giving him additional reach and power when needed. Before long, my friend was testing the weight and balance of a selection of Level 4 swords, eventually settling on one that he liked, along with a set of mods for it.
By this time, another group had come in, but they were second semester students and looking for higher-Level gear than us, so we pretty much kept to ourselves. I did notice at least one of them eyeing the substantial piles of stuff we were planning to purchase, but they didn’t say anything. I stepped back to evaluate the haul.
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