The incredible convenience leads to the common stupidity that anyone can use any armor component regardless of size or shape. To disprove this, just give an orcish friend of yours a dwarven breastplate and see what happens when they put it on and it gets stretched out like a tin can. Fucking hilarious! Gets me every time. In fancy terms, the mass stays the same, only the shape changes. Also, if you don’t have an orcish friend, get one! Great big companions are another form of armor that doesn’t depend on your baselayer.
- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 6.3 – “Armor components”
Thanks to Block’s generosity, I ended up with the armor components, both dregs, two t-shirts, a long-sleeve shirt, a pair of thin gloves, some socks and underwear, a pair of shorts, and a medium weight canvas jacket with a thin quilted lining that was big enough to fit over my armor. Even with all of that, I would still have a little over six eagles left.
“Hassan, am I going to need to spend money on anything else soon?”
“Need? No, I don’t think so. You might want to be able to buy a beer or two, but you shouldn’t have to spend anything for a while.”
“I don’t like beer,” I told him, then looked at Billings. “I’ll also take two Level 2 mods, one weapon and one armor.”
He beamed, pleased. “Wonderful, Miss Zimmerman. Your total will be 11 eagles, 4 talons, and 2 feathers.”
I instructed PAST to transfer him the amount, and suddenly I was down to a more comfortable 4 talons and 7 feathers.
Hassan helped me fit everything into my new pack. The belt with canteens, pouch, and knife went on my waist. The knife was small, with a blade about four inches long, useful for eating or cutting a rope. According to Hassan, it belonged on my belt and not in my Inventory in case of emergencies.
Billings had me wait while he disabled the store’s alarms. Those would go off if you put anything into Inventory, to help catch thieves. I wasn’t sure if we had any of those in Sunland, but maybe someone would be tempted if there weren’t any protections. The pack and the rope, but not the waterskins, went into my Inventory, draining my stamina noticeably. It felt sort of like I’d just run around the block a couple of times, but I wasn’t breathing hard or anything. It was a strange sensation, but I’d get used to it.
The armor components went on easily, magically attaching to my baselayer. The added weight felt reassuring. I wanted to use the mods on the spot, but Hassan said the others were waiting for us in the square, so I slipped them into my new pouch. Carrying the bulky waterskins, we found the rest of the group in the square near the inn.
I’d thought I’d met everyone, but to my surprise there was someone new standing with them, someone who looked nothing like anyone I’d met before. Most obviously, his skin was a stone-like grey. The shade varied slightly, making it look a little bit like rock, but as we got closer I could make out that it was actually smooth, like regular skin.
His eyes were a golden color, with no whites, and he had no hair or eyebrows, though his other features seemed relatively normal. He was about 6’ tall with an average build, and he was wearing a set of dark blue robes with a few pieces of leather armor. Identify.
Name: Zaire
Class: Mage
Tier: 0
I’d guessed that he was a caster from the robes, but at least I got his name and confirmation that he was one of the recruits. I couldn’t begin to guess his age from looking at him. What was he? I was wondering if I'd been even more isolated than I thought here in Sunland. Sure, there were a few townsfolk that had minor mana corruption, but everyone was pretty much… human.
Just here in the group of seven Delvers (counting me), we had Mason with his scaled legs and tail, Vale – whose build was so impressively short, broad and muscular I was sure she wasn’t a normal human, and now Zaire. Squaring my shoulders, I walked up to him and, awkwardly shifting both waterskins to one arm, held out my hand.
“Hi, I’m Az, nice to meet you.”
“Greetings Gunner Az, I am Mage Zaire. A pleasure to meet you as well.”
I was surprised at his voice. Somehow I was expecting him to have a really deep voice, or even possibly strange-sounding and inhuman. Instead, it was perfectly normal. Mason cut me off before I could ask him anything about himself.
“Great, now you know everyone. Recruits, help Az get those waterskins filled and then we’ll move out.”
He pointed at one of the town’s wells, on the east side of the square. We tromped over, and after waiting for the person ahead of us to fill her bucket, started the slow process of filling the waterskins. Elin and I had to first fill our enchanted canteens, push mana into them to purify the water, and then pour them into the skins, which the boys held for us. It took a while, and there were a few people waiting by the time we finished. I noticed them staring at Zaire, but they kept whatever they were thinking to themselves.
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When we were finally done, we followed Mason through the town along the east road to the wall. It wasn’t a long walk, since Sunland wasn’t a big town. About a thousand people lived inside the walls, though there were a number of farming families that lived outside. The oldest and richest farms were right outside the walls, but there were people brave or desperate enough to live in the wilds.
My family had been one of those – and it had gotten my parents killed. Their deaths could have been avoided, but… The Gleasons’ feather-pinching rules were responsible. I ground my teeth in anger as I thought of my parents fleeing their farm for the safety of the town. My father fell outside the closed town gate, buying us time to scramble up a rope. Then my mother, forced to fight on the wall alongside the Guard, had died of her wounds.
If the Gleasons weren’t such money-sucking assholes, none of it would have happened. With stronger Guards, the gates could have stayed open longer, and non-combat Classes wouldn’t have had to join the fight on the walls. Or the town could have had a competent Healer, who could have saved my mother’s life.
I forced myself to take several deep breaths, pushing the fragmented memories away. Ahead of us, the heavy wooden gates were open for the day, ten feet tall and about as wide. One of the pair of guards outside, a large, heavily scarred man in chainmail, conspicuously turned and spat on the ground as we passed through, though he didn’t say anything. I knew he was a recent arrival in town, but I didn’t know anything about him.
I wonder who he’s so disgusted by? Mason, Vale, or Zaire? All three? Or maybe he has something against the Guild…
Since no one in our group reacted, I ignored him. We continued on through the gates and out of the town I’d been aching to leave for so long. The pace Mason set seemed relaxed for him, with those long, strange legs, but it was a brisk walk for me. Vale was jogging, which was impressive since she’d changed out of her leather armor and into some of the heaviest-looking plate I’d ever seen. Curious, I tried Identifying her.
Name: Vale
Class: Healer
Tier: 2
She’s a Healer? I was stunned. I didn’t know Healer type Classes could get heavy armor baselayers… Maybe she started as some kind of a Fighter?
I looked at the other senior Delvers. Hassan was up in front, chatting with Mason, his color-shifting armor now a dirty brown color, matching the dusty dirt-and-gravel road. Mason’s armor was darkened steel over a gambeson of some kind, all in black of course.
Behind the lead pair were Raylan and Zaire. Raylan’s armor looked a bit like a cheaper version of Hassan’s, though it was a darker brown leather and I hadn’t seen it change colors. He had on a matching calf-length cloak that looked, well, a bit silly. He’s doing a better job pulling off the look than I would, though, I admitted to myself, though why a cloak in this heat I have no idea…
Finally, behind me was Elin, walking next to – fuck, what in the Wastes is up with Block? How do I keep forgetting about him until I look right at him?!
Seeing my reaction, he just chuckled with his deep voice. He too was now wearing plate, and his smiling face was only visible because he had the visor of his bascinet up. I realized I still didn’t know what Class Elin had, so I used Identify again. I didn’t need to conserve my mana now that I was traveling with a group of powerful Delvers.
Name: Elin Summers
Class: Healer
Tier: 0
Elin looked much more like a healer than Vale. She was wearing a set of medium green robes, with a leather breastplate, and she had a steel-banded leather helm on as well. Her sturdy boots were visible below the hem of her robe as she walked, and she gave me a dark glare as our eyes met. As I twisted back around to the front, wondering what I’d done to piss her off, Mason caught my eye, and a notification appeared.
Incoming Squad Invite:
Do you wish to join Mason’s Squad?
Accept yes/no?
I accepted and immediately heard Mason’s voice in my head, much like PAST’s – except at a perfectly normal volume.
Raylan, Elin, and Zaire
Leaving Sunland