My Armor

I’ve already talked about how I found my weapon and my horse. There are a couple more things that were going to be necessary in my life. Well, three. My armor didn’t come with shoes. My shield was the third. It took a long time to find my shield. But, that isn’t this story.

Armor. I had a nice weapon, loosely slung across my shoulder using a leather strap. Not much different than how you’d carry a nice bag. I did try tying it around my waist like a belt, but that is much less handy than you are imagining. Ever try to undo your belt when a few zombies are running after you?

Zombies? Yes, we had something like zombies. Many types, really. They all had the same sickness. The body wouldn’t stop moving. Dark magic. The worst kind. I’ll get into the magic a bit later, but fighting through zombies occupied much of my time. Don’t ask how I got myself tangled so well, I’ll be sure to tell you later.

But, back to shoes. I was still wearing the wooden shoes I’d created during my weapon quest. I had made them a bit more comfortable. The outside was polished to almost a mirror shine. Gold buckles and leather straps held them to my feet. I did add a leather wrap to help with the snow, and slightly ease the comfort of walking on, well, wood. They certainly weren’t quiet. The shoes I’d gotten with my weapon were very comfortable, but they didn’t really stay together very well. I was constantly fixing them. They became pieces for my wooden shoes.

They also made a neat way to carry a couple daggers. I guess a thief’s trick works for anyone. And, no, I didn’t use the lead daggers. For very long, anyway.

After coming back to the ocean, where I worked on my shoes for a day or three, my leather bag made a rustling sound. I originally thought an animal had gotten in somehow, but it was just another piece of paper.

Paper. You might be thinking of medieval parchment, and, congratulations, you aren’t too far off. Animal hides. Treated the right way, they make a good way to carry words and pictures. I can’t really tell you what the words really looked like, another altered memory.

This one showed a larger picture. And a dot. Or three. This was going to be a long quest. One dot looked pretty close from where I just was to get my mace. So, I decided that’d be the first place to go. After a short tavern visit.

You see, I learned that I probably shouldn’t be wondering by myself at this point. I didn’t have enough money to hire a bunch of people, or even a few people, but I did talk one lady into coming with me, Khrista. She had just finished her military duty, and was trying to set up a small store. Problem was, there were many with her idea on the beach. She had a few nice daggers, leather, and buckles. That’s about it. I had asked what she did in the military, and it was interesting. She made all the shoes. I found my first friend. I did buy everything in her inventory. That may have had a minor effect.

You may think I’m crazy for bringing a shoe-maker along for some adventures that may be dangerous. And, you’d be right. She was an expert with daggers. Especially throwing them. This isn’t as useful as you may be thinking, and not for the reason that you just thought of.

For the first couple days, Khrista insisted in walking in front of me. Then behind me. Finally, she thought it best just to be at my side. Think I left a detail or two out? Yes.

Details. On the second day, and the days were behaving normally this time, we ran across a large cat. This cat wasn’t really interested in us, but it was eating lunch on the path. And wasn’t in a hurry. Normally, I would go through the wood and avoid the cat. But, I was a ways behind Khrista. Wood shoes are no match for leather shoes.

She did venture into the wood, but not far enough. Well, far enough in the wood, but she left the wood a little early. Too close. I was able to see the cat change his gaze just in time. You’re thinking of a flying moon at this time. Sorry. Remember that belt thing?

My javelin was strapped into a holster across my back. The javelin I’m talking about was only a couple feet long, so maybe it was a big dart. But, it was made to be thrown. Cats in my world were tasty. Big, but tasty. What cats ate, not so tasty.

After that, Khrista decided I was better to come across any surprises and followed behind a ways. I did tell her that things will come up behind at times too. And, one did. This wasn’t a cat. Much worse. Bandits. We still had a few steaks, so our backpacks were puffy. My mace was now off my waist and on my shoulder. In plain view. It was shiny. Yes, I polished my weapon. Daily. Maintenance is very important.

Shoulder slung wasn’t much better, but at least I had time as I was running back to help. There were a few bandits, three or four. Sometimes bandits were former military. These weren’t. Closer to high school dropouts, if we had high schools.

Javelin for one. Khrista’s daggers for two, and the third probably wished he’d ran. It was the first time I swung my mace against a person. I hadn’t figured out all the magic details yet, but one of the talons exposed a claw as the mace came across his chest. I was surprised, and a little shocked. The claw cut cleanly from the shoulder to the hip. Like a sword. I guess that bandit didn’t have long to regret his choices.

As we approached the first dot on the map, walking side by side, the map changed to show us a little more detail. The cave looked mighty familiar. Too familiar. Same fuzzy animals. But, instead of bandits, we only had to deal with bones. Walking bones. It seems my mace is very good when dealing with dark magic. With each hit, a bright flash of light radiated throughout the cave. Khrista didn’t see it, of course.

Pants. Or, in armor terms, greaves and cuisses. My legs wouldn’t feel the slapping of tree branches. They were definitely made of metal, but they were dull, almost black. I couldn’t see any magic, just some pieces of metal. I wore them anyway. Khrista found a nice set of leather from my first adventure.

After a couple days in the cave, we decided it was time to leave. The snow was returning. The next dot took us farther from the ocean, and through a small town. We sold some cat steaks, and some other odds and ends at the general store. This was definitely where Khrista shined the best. I didn’t think the stuff she gathered would buy more than dinner. She bought a larger dagger. She called it a sword. I didn’t argue, but the blade was about half the length of my arm. Big dagger, super short sword.

We asked in the tavern about the mountain we were heading toward. The only information we received was that we shouldn’t go there. No one offered an explanation as to why. But, one person offered to show us the way. Klarys. The same elf that exchanged a bunch of junk for a really nice dagger. She had sold everything in her shop when she heard where we were heading.

As you may have read, I did wind up with quite a bit of money in my life. These two ladies were why. This is also where I was introduced to what’s best called an infinite bag. I still didn’t know I was carrying something better. But, at least we had a way to carry more than three people should ever be able to carry. Including plenty of food. One other nice thing about an infinite bag. Time doesn’t move for what’s in the bag. If you get injured badly, climb in the bag and let your friends carry you to a temple.

Klarys liked to walk side by side. No slow learning. But, she also liked to talk. And talk. And talk. I liked to follow. Not far, just far enough.

The long night started as we approached the mountain bottom. I had to lead. I was the only one that could really see where we were going. Klarys insisted in not using magic light in this area. She was fine with my night-vision explanation.

We made our way up the mountain about half-way when we stumbled into a nice, flat clearing. It was big enough to hold a small town. I didn’t like it.

The map changed now. It showed this clearing. And, what we were after was on the other side. We didn’t have to scale the entire mountain. But, the clearing wasn’t empty. Specters. Demons. Ghosts. These words somewhat describe what was here. The moon shone brighter, but there was nothing to see, only feel.

Khrista asked why we stopped. Klarys knew the rumors. I could feel the shadows. I told them to stay where they were. My mace began to vibrate. Humming, or just really excited. I grasped the handle and asked it what it could see. I was really talking to myself, but it did talk. It said, “Food.” There are no marks in the English language that can show how unnerving its response was. And, certainly not enough words.

I hesitated before asking what it could do against whatever was there. “Eat.” This is where I saw how quickly my mace could launch glowing orbs. These orbs wouldn’t hurt most people, or even living things. But they absorbed dark magic. Veraciously. After a short time, my mace burped.

We walked across the clearing to a set of stones arranged just right. In the middle, was a helmet. Dull and almost black, just like my armored legs. No magic. It fit. I was starting to look funny. Wooden shoes, black armor pants, black helmet, flimsy leather shirt. After a restless sleep, I decided that I should put the helmet in a bag. It refused to leave my head. Looking funny was my style at the time.

The final dot? Yeah, it was another long walk. I was wishing we had horses. We stopped in a few towns, made a few coins helping with whatever small adventure we could. I’ll get into a few more of these adventures in time, but for now, they are just this little note.

This final dot was basically in the middle of Drak-Bahr’s Boulders. We had started at the far eastern edge near the ocean, went near the northern edge, went further west and south to find a helmet, and were now heading even farther west and south. We aged a few years.

It was still myself and the two ladies. By this time, we had accumulated a decent stash of coin. Khrista was talking about opening up a store in one of these towns. Klarys thought of opening an arms store. It took all I had to convince them to stick with me for the final dot.

As we approached, we came into a small town. It almost looked like a ghost town. There was a tavern, and that was about it. No stores. No sleeping rooms. We walked into the tavern. There was a large man behind the bar and an elf sitting on the bar. They looked familiar. At the time, my mind didn’t put them in place. They knew me, but said nothing.

We took up a center table, and the big man shook his head as he walked out. His first words? If you’re a stranger in a town, always take the booth against the wall. Near an exit. I looked around at the empty tavern. My helmet finally came off.

We asked about the place that my map pointed to. He looked at the three of us and frowned. Elysha said he’d show us the way. Leyan stayed behind to tend to the empty tavern. I never did get an answer to where the townspeople were. The response was that we should leave at first light.

I didn’t know what worried Elysha about the path. There was no adventure. Just an empty house with a piece of chest armor and arm pieces. They matched what I already had. I could feel magic.

The empty house? Yes, it was filled with lead daggers. How the armor got there? No one knows. I did feel some comfort, so I took all the armor pieces and laid them on the floor. Elysha looked nervous.

I could see magic dancing, but not in any way that would be considered strong. My mace said, “Finally.” So, I put on the armor on the advice of my mace.

After I put on the helmet, I looked down. It was still dull, but no longer black. The magic began to glow much brighter, dancing faster and faster. I could feel warmth. Except for my feet, they were still cold. The three with me backed away as the magic danced. The armor polished itself with each pass of magic fiber. Warmth, then I started feeling lighter. Stronger. Faster. Then another voice. “Shoes.”

After getting back to the ghost town, Elysha said to return and spend some more time. Khrista and Klarys stayed and opened their stores.

I met a wizard.