As the trio neared one of the homes, Lanek could see little in the way of danger, aside from some skittering sounds in the distance. However, before Lanek could really decide what to do about it, Sanguineus would bolt ahead and deal with the potential threat. He didn’t mind, his focus was on equipment today, not trying to level.

The first home turned out to be a bust, no equipment or really anything of use was present within the building. The second home also proved to be useless for Lanek’s needs, but he would keep it in mind for the gear he did see, a large and somewhat dented plate cuirass and a glaive. The shaft of the glaive was actually snapped in two, making the weapon useless for him. The gear that belonged to a rogue or ranger class that lived in this home was nowhere in sight.

He sighed, looking at the final house Caelis had recommended. Lanek wasn’t all that hopeful after the last few places he had checked, but this house had a higher chance than the others as it had belonged to a couple. One had been a scout while the other had been a duelist. Sure, neither class was the same as his, but the gear would be similar.

Entering the home, Lanek could see signs of battle throughout the home, despite the dust covering everything. There were gouges and long-faded bloodstains in the stone floor. As he climbed the stairs to the second floor, following the signs of combat, he came across the occupants.

In the far corner of the bedroom, he found two skeletons wearing simple clothing. One was slumped in the corner, a dagger and short spear lying next to it. The second skeleton was lying face down in front of the slumped figure, a finely made rapier resting next to the body. Judging from the weapons and placement, the slumped figure had been the scout and the other figure had been the duelist who most likely perished protecting the scout.

Frowning, Lanek wondered what had been able to attack these two before they had been able to don their full gear. He wasn’t sure if the dungeon break had happened that quickly or if something nefarious had happened here, but he still needed to loot this place despite the somber scene. Especially since the two bodies were not wearing any armor, which gave him some hope that the armor was about.

After a bit of searching, Lanek found a trunk that had been shoved under the bed. Upon opening the trunk, he discovered two chest pieces resting atop one another. He smiled as he recognized the style of the first piece.

The first piece was brigandine consisting of a deep red vest that had rectangular pieces of metal sandwiched between both an inner and outer layer of cloth padding. The only reason he had recognized it as brigandine on sight was due to the rivets that connected everything.

The vest could be easily donned by simply throwing it on like a jacket and then running the four straps through the four buckles on the front and tightening them. Underneath the vest, he found a pair of pauldrons and bracers, all four pieces matching the deep red color of the vest. The pauldrons were designed to strap around his bicep and had a strap to connect to a corresponding buckle on the shoulders of the brigandine vest. The bracers, on the other hand, were simply slipped on and tightened, they did not connect to the rest of the armor. Underneath the bracers, he found folded up black gambeson that would extend to the knees and that was meant to be worn under the vest.

The other chest piece was clearly chain mail, the chain being of a gunmetal color sewn onto a black jacket. He had never seen anything quite like the design. The entire surface of the jacket was covered in the chain mail. To put it on, you simply had to put it on like you would any coat. To hold it closed, Lanek noticed small hooks on the inside of one side of the armor that would hook into the chain mail on the other side. It had sleeves that ran down to the elbow and a high collar to cover the sides and back of the neck, also covered in chain mail.

As opposed to the brigandine that only reached just below the waist, this covered a good portion of the thighs. This also had a pair of matching gauntlets that would extend from the first knuckle up to the bicep and be strapped in place under the sleeves of the jacket, completely covering the arms and hand. Lanek suspected that this set originated from the same place as his han kote considering that the gauntlets once again had loops that would go over his thumb and middle finger rather than being gloves.

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Lanek honestly couldn’t say which he preferred, they were both beautiful and would serve his needs well. They provided an excellent range of motion and decent protection. Both sets of armor were also quiet, even the chain mail not making much of a rustling sound when he shook it. If he had to guess, he would assume that the brigandine belonged to the duelist and the chain belonged to the scout based on the colors used. Deep red, while being a color he quite liked, would not blend into the shadows as well as a black coat with gunmetal chain. A quick use of [Identify] told him that they were both of high quality with the red armor simply being referred to as brigandine armor and the chain as kusari katabira, which confirmed his suspicion that the chain armor had the same point of origin as the han kote.

Dammit, this is going to be a pain to move. I’m going to take both sets of armor, the short spear, rapier, and dagger. While he loaded everything that he could into his pack and carried the rest awkwardly, he once again wondered how these two had been slain before they could get their armor on. This was especially confusing since both sets of armor would not take more than a minute or so to put on. He shook himself out of his reverie, knowing that he wouldn’t be getting any answers to these questions any time soon, if ever.

With his companions scouting about and keeping him safe while he awkwardly stumbled home under the weight of the gear, he finally entered the doors to the monastery. He decided to stow the gear in the old grandmaster’s quarters on the fourth floor, both for comfort and security. Even if he didn’t repair the monastery’s main doors, he still had a minimum of four doors between himself and any intruders when he was sleeping: the tower door, the door to the fourth floor, the door to the grandmaster’s office, and the door to the bedroom.

However, only the office door had a lock. He also had to admit that sleeping under the open sky was still not something he felt entirely comfortable doing what with the potential flying creatures. Lanek shifted his possessions from the courtyard into the guildmaster’s, now his, office as well. With that done, he set off to the meeting room nearby, remembering the pedestal and glyphs at the center of the room. He exhaled in relief as the crystal floated into place atop the pedestal and Caelis appeared. He had been a little worried that this may not have been the right room.

“Well, that didn’t take you too long. Any luck in your search?” Caelis asked, while looking around curiously.

“Yep, I found some new weapons and two sets of upper body armor, brigandine and kusari katabira.”

“Good, I think you are going to need them. What are you going to do now?” the spirit queried.

“I was hoping to get some advice from you and ask a few questions first, then go over some maps in here at some point.”

“Good plan, feel free to ask away. I’m curious to poke around the monastery, but that can wait.” Caelis said.

“Oh, you can move around freely?” Lanek asked, to which the spirit nodded. “Great, so you’ll be able to see what I’m talking about. First, what do you think I should do about fortifying this place? I really want to try to fix the doors to the monastery, but I’m worried that will give my position away since most of the doors in the city are destroyed. Second, is there any way to use the amenities in this place without touching the orb that will give me away to the dungeon? I don’t need all of them, but it would be nice to get the amenities in the guildmaster’s quarters going at least.”

“Hmm, let me go see the state of the doors and I’ll get back to you.” Caelis said, before disappearing from his sight. A moment later, she reappeared before him.

“Umm, you can teleport around in here?” Lanek asked in surprise.

“Yes, I can. So, about the door, I think fixing both sets of entry doors would be a good idea and would be much more secure than relying on the much thinner doors inside the monastery. Some buildings in the city had intact doors, like the adventurer’s guild, so I don’t think the average monster would even notice since you already said that the gryphon is scaring them away. By the way, you are right. There is pressure keeping the lesser monsters away and it is coming from Idril.”

“Good to know, thank you Caelis.” Lanek said appreciatively.

“Now, for your second question, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you should have access to water in here. The Order of the Talon insisted on having this place be as secure as possible, both as a stronghold to protect the order itself but also to be a sanctuary for the people if need be. As a result, the monastery has a water supply and plumbing system completely separate from the city’s, but it needs to be reactivated after not being used for so long. Now, for the bad news. Since the Order wanted to be separate from the city for security, I have no idea if the water has a heating element or how the lighting works. However, even if you have lighting in here, I wouldn’t use it. That would definitely give you away. Same for the fireplaces.”

Lanek looked crestfallen, grieving the loss of his dreams of even rudimentary comforts.