Vel and Kat examined the dead mage. His armored robe was covered in blood and brain matter around the collar but the rest was intact. There was a belt with a pair of enchanted leather pouches around his waist and I found two bracelets on his wrists.

[Armored Robe (Durability, Defense)]

[Armored Shirt (Durability, Defense)]

[Armored Pants (Durability, Defense)]

[Armored Boots (Durability, Defense)]

[Leather Pouch (Durability, Space Expansion, Size Expansion)]

[Leather Pouch (Durability, Space Expansion)]

[Focus Bracelet (Durability, Magic Focus; Psychic)]

[Focus Bracelet (Durability, Magic Focus; Illusion)]

"No storage item?" Vel asked.

"Either it was left in Niu when I stored the body or he didn't have one."

"Probably didn't have one," Kat said. "Storage items are rare in the eastern empires. And from the looks of it, he was only carrying the minimum on him. They probably have a team dedicated to logistics."

It made sense. This mage was part of a very specialized group. They probably operated like a terror cell back on earth, roles and information would be compartmentalized and each member would only have the equipment they needed to complete their mission. It denied as much information as possible if they were captured by an enemy.

"Let's see what's in the pouch," Vel unclasped the left one from the belt. She pulled out a metallic circle and dropped it immediately as if it had burned her. We had both recognized it from our scrying attempt.

[Slave Collar (Durability, Mana Lock, Command Seal, Beacon, Magic Inhibitor, Skill Inhibitor)]

"Well, well, well." I steepled all four of my hands together. "Look at what we have here …"

"Slave collars," Elyssa spat.

I picked it up with Psychokinesis and examined it through my magic perception. The enchantments were complex and intertwined. The command seal was at the center and connected to the two inhibitors. Surprisingly, the mana lock was on a separate circuit but maybe it was to prevent someone with access from unlocking the collar. From everything I could see, the rest of the enchantments would only work if the collar was actually around someone's neck and locked.

It was a theoretical weak point in the design. Though I could see that several runes in the lock design were of the explosive variety so blindly picking it was certain to end in disaster. Combined with the lighting runes inside the command seal, it told me that whoever had designed this was truly an asshole and sadist of the highest order.

"Ones that I can examine at my leisure since they aren't around someone's neck several hundred kilometers away. The enchantments are complex and full of traps but I'm fairly confident I'll be able to crack them open in time."

"The collars explode if they're tampered with," Kat said. "I don't know of anyone who managed to free an empire slave alive."

"The lock only arms the explosives once it's closed. Same deal for the beacon. These collars are harmless as long as they aren't put around someone's neck."

"You can see the details of the enchantments?" The snow elf asks.

"I have a third tier magic perception perk."

"Then maybe you have a chance."

I stored the expanded pouch with more than a dozen collars inside my amulet and we continued our examination of the mage's corpse. The second pouch contained a more diverse array of things. A tent and bedroll, some survival provisions, two books on illusion magic, a pouch with a pile of octagonal bronze coins, and a spare set of clothes.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Only crap that's impossible to sell …" Kat sighed. "I have a contact for the coins but the books are branded and no magic shop will take them and the rest is not worth the gold a good fence would cost us."

"Keep the coins then." I said. "We'll keep the books and enchanted gear. I'm always on the lookout for some good magic theory."

"You killed them, all that stuff is yours. How did you even manage that?"

"An explosive arrow to the eye socket does a lot of damage."

Elyssa winced and Katherine let out a small bark of laughter.

I returned the naked mage's corpse to storage, I planned to dispose of it away from the village in case it was possible to track it down, and pulled the first of the two warriors out.

"Looks more or less the same," Kat said.

I destroyed the beacon medallion as soon as I detected it.

The plate armor was enchanted with durability and defense as well. He lacked the foci the mage had but the two leather pouches were present. They were strapped further back, likely to get them out of the way of stray weapons. Their contents were similar as well, survival supplies and coins. And the final corpse was more of the same. The equipment was obviously standardized, both had the same armor with the exact same enchantments.

"The blacksmith can probably melt all of that into ingots," I said.

"That was surprisingly uninformative," Vel sighed.

"Well, we at least have confirmation it was the Crimson Lys from the medallions." I pulled her into a hug. "And the collars will be incredibly useful for research."

"You're right."

----------------------------------------

After everything was cleaned up and back into storage, I dropped the anti-scrying barrier. The headless corpses had dripped some blood on the floor which I had scoured with a void spell to leave as few traces behind as possible.

"It's getting close to midday." I said. "Let's go get some lunch."

"Any plans for the afternoon?" Elyssa asked.

"I wanted to have my armor repaired and adjusted by Nieven. I have some elemental gems that need to be processed as well."

"I need to get mine checked too," Vel said, "the goblin said it was in good condition but it was before the temple."

"Kat and I will probably go to the library," Elyssa said with a smile.

----------------------------------------

The leatherworker was a woman by the name of Nieven. She had light blue eyes, wavy silver hair, and a warm smile. We were at the front of the shop which had an open area with a big wooden counter. There were a few common items like bags and belts available in bins alongside a wall but most of the work was custom orders.

"It's in pretty bad shape," Nieven said with a wince as she examined my ruined chest piece. "What the hell managed to punch through those defensive enchantments? And how the hell are you still alive?"

"An adult taratect two meters in height," I said, "and I'm a pretty good healer."

"Scared the shit out of me," Vel added with a jab at my ribs. "I thought you were done for."

I kissed the top of her head. "Sorry."

"I can believe that. It happened before you got turned into a spider?"

"Just before. The alpha of the pack pursued us and threw me on the ritual circle."

"Well, you survived. It's what counts." Nieven shrugged.

"I can repair and adjust it but it will break the enchantments," she continued. "Not much I can do about it. Not sure I'll have enough Wyrm leather however, it's not that common around these parts."

"I have two intact sets in storage, would that work?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I can salvage this one," she tapped the damaged armor, "and use the parts on the one in good condition."

"Will it preserve the enchantments?"

"Most of 'em look to be anchored at the front and back of the corset. As long as I don't replace that, they should hold firm. You can have Saida look over them once I'm done to be sure."

"She was my next stop anyway."

"Perfect, let's get to work then. There should be enough space at the back for you. Follow me."

Nieven walked around the counter and around the side of the building. I followed her down the side alley to the back of the shop. It was laid out a lot like Sontar's with tanning racks instead of looms. Two other elves were at work on the tables. One, a boy that looked about two seasons younger than me, was cutting patterns in a large sheet of leather while the other one, a slightly older girl, was in the process of sewing together a boot.

"Heya boss," they waved. "What's going on?"

Then one of them spotted me in the door and her eyes widened.

"My lovely apprentices, we have a custom order," Nieven winked at them. "An armor that needs some adjustments and I need some help."

I stepped in behind Nieven. The two apprentices dropped their tools and dashed towards us. From the big smiles on their faces, they were very enthusiastic about the idea. They introduced themselves as Siveril and Malonne respectively.

"So … what do you need?" Malonne asked.

"Probably some new armor," Siveril said. "Yesterday, I noticed it was conjured."

"Correct," I said, "my old armor got damaged shortly before the whole … spider business." I pointed my thumb back. "I've been using a skill since but it's not as good as the real deal."

"There's quite a bit of work to do," Nieven added, "I hope you're ready for a challenge."

At his direction, I dropped two of the armor sets, the ruined one and my spare, on the work table.

"I hadn't noticed but … that's an elite armor," Siveril whistled, "and of high quality too."

"Yeah … this is fine craftsmanship," Malonne continued as she examined the chest piece, "both elegant and protective. Work of a rank eight at least."

"This was my assessment too," Nieven said.

"Overall, I think only the chest piece and coat need to be modified. Siveril said. "The armored skirt looks like it will fit without issues and the pants are … redundant."

"Agreed." Malonne pulled a small roll of tape measure from a drawer. "We just need a few measurements and the sizing enchantments should handle the finer details."

"Do I need to remove my shirt?" I asked.

Vel was in a corner of the room, looking at us from afar with a smile on her face.

"No since it's worn with an undershirt. This one was tailored by Sontar?" I nodded. "Did he adjust the under armor too?" I shook my head. "We can take care of it as well. Sontar is better for leisure wear but we're the best for armor of any kind, not just leather." Malonne preened.

"If you don't mind then."