Zach woke up the next morning still in a bit of pain, but it was manageable. After enjoying a friendly dinner and evening with his party members, they all retired to their shared tent. Sitting up in his cot, he had the first real chance to look at his living quarters.

Zach’s cot was off to one side, Droknal’s just a few feet away, and Thao slept on the opposing side. There was a wooden privacy screen blocking her from view. The tent was held up primarily with a large wooden beam at its center. It stood roughly fifteen feet in height at its highest point and had a nine meter diameter. It provided plenty of room for the three of them to sleep and store crates of supplies.

This tent looks great and we sure do have a lot of supplies, but that begs the question… How much did Thao spend… Zach grimaced. Easy come easy go I suppose.

“Are you up?” Thao came out from around her partition. She was wearing a long baggy night shirt that went down to her knees.

“Yeah, I’m up. Droknal?” Zach turned but, upon closer examination, Droknal’s cot was empty. “Looks like its just us.”

She stretched and walked to a nearby open crate. Pulling out an apple, she took a big bite. “How did you sleep?”

“Good. My wounds hurt a lot less. They seem to be healing nicely.”

“Oh?” Thao walked over to where Zach was siting. “Take your shirt off and let me see.”

Zach’s face turned beat red, but he complied. She ran her hands over his scars and started removing several of his stained bandages. She grabbed fresh wrappings and rubbed a thick green paste on them before wrapping him back up. When she was finished, Zach could feer her tracing his muscles a bit. The look on his face told her she was found out.

“Sorry. You have more muscles than I originally thought. Your cloths do little for you. You may want to pick up some better equipment before we head into the dungeon.”

“Thanks, I’ll see what's available. I like the tent and it appears the dungeons grown a bit of a following. How much did all of this cost?”

“If your asking how much of the three gold I left over, the answer is none. But before you freak out, let me tell you what I got.” Thao walked over and placed a hand on one of the crates. “Aside from the tent and cots, we have enough rations to last us a month, some healing supplies, some potions, and I was able to pay Debbie for a full month of service.”

“Who's Debbie?”

“She’s the older woman I know and paid to keep track of the dungeon. Aside from keeping records, she's been regulating entry for the guild. And she's doing it all for a very reasonable rate. To be honest, she's just happy to get out of her house and have a job. Old people get bored too, ya know?”

“Regulating entry for the guild?”

Thao nodded. “Yeah. She parses out when parties can enter so the dungeon doesn’t get swamped with people. Dungeons don’t like it when multiple groups enter the same room at the same time. Its best that only one party clears the dungeon before another enters. Ruth used to be a bookkeeper at one of the local shops so she great at making schedules and keeping records.”

“That sounds great.” Zach got out of bed and threw on a nearby shirt before dawning his poor quality armor. Reviewing himself, he agreed with Thao’s assessment. I really do need some better protection. “I think I’ll go find a merchant selling some armor.”

“Ok.” Thao walked behind her curtain. A moment later, her nightgown was draped over it and other pieces of clothing nearby were grabbed and pulled behind the privacy screen.

Zach blushed. “I’ll just wait outside.” He rushed out with his hand shielding his face.

As soon as he stumbled outside, he noticed Droknal sitting in the lotus position. He appeared to be meditating.

“Hello Zach. Are you feeling better >>click<>click<< that would be wise.” He pulled a coin purse from his pocket and handed it to Zach. “This is the remainder of the quest reward >>click<<. I took some to buy some additional items but most of it is there.”

Smiling, Zach checked the pouch's contents. There was one gold and a few silver and copper coins inside. More than enough to get a decent piece, or possibly two, of armor. As he cinched the bag close, Thao came out of the tent. She had her usual outfit on, including her massive pack. Zach gave her a questioning glance.

“What? I’ve gotten used to carrying it. Besides, you don’t want to have to stop back at the tent before we dungeon delve, do you?”

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Zach just shook his head, and the trio headed into the shantytown. Shantytown… “Ya know, we really need to come up with a name for this place. Shantytown just doesn’t have a great ring too it.”

“What did you have in mind >>click<

“How about… Ice Town! Because of my essence type. Or we could go with Dungeon Village.”

Thao broke into laughter. “Ice Town? Dungeon Village? Please tell me you aren’t serious.” She glanced over at him. His embarrassed expression causing her to topple over from laughter.

Zach’s face turned beat red for the second time that morning, and he scuttled away, Thao quickly chasing after him. Evey time she got close, she chuckled. This caused him to speed up in an attempt to lose her again. This continued for almost an hour until they reached the market.

“Woah. This place is getting big. We have a full marketplace?” Zach was stunned at the sheer size of the ever growing town.

“The market was here before we arrived >>click<<. We purchased some of our supplies from one of the local merchants. He was very kind and will certainly have armor >>click<< since he's a blacksmith by trade.”

Droknal guided the party to a large gray tent at the edge of the market square. The banging of a hammer on anvil was unmistakable as they made their approach. Zach was taken aback as they entered. Items completely covered every viable surface on the inside with purchasable goods of a wide variety.

“Stoneaxe!” Droknal screamed over the smithing.

The hammering from the far side of the tent abruptly stopped. A short, stout man came out from around a corner. He was four foot tall, looked to weigh in the mid two hundreds and had long red hair and a beard that went down to his waist. When he spoke, it was in a deep but friendly voice.

“Droknal! Hello, my friend. Welcome back to The Stone Axe! How can I help you today?”

“Hello Stoneaxe. This is the friend >>click<< that I was talking about. Please meet Zach.”

Zach outstretched a hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Stoneaxe. I hope you don’t take offense but… are you a dwarf? I haven’t met many dwarves, but I hear your weapons and armor are second to none.”

Stoneaxe shook Zach’s hand, his grip being much firmer than Zach imagined.

“Aye boy! I be a dwarf and our smithing is the finest you’ll ever find. How can help today?” Stoneaxe looked at Zach’s blade. “It doesn’t appear you need a weapon. Even though its not dwarven steel, that looks like a fine blade. I can’t say as much about you armor? It looks like its held together with string. A poor excuse for defense.”

“Actually, yeah. I need some new armor, but I have little coin. I’m looking for just a piece or two for now.”

“Hmm… You use light armor, it appears. Why not metal like a real man?”

“I am a real man.” He replied sheepishly.

Thao erupted in laughter. “Real men don’t need to say they’re real men. Really brings it into question.”

Droknal even giggled at Zach’s humiliation.

“Right my boy. Big man’s armor for the big man.”

“Listen. I would really appreciate it if we stop questioning my manhood. I just need some quality armor."

“Get over here so I can measure you.”

Stoneaxe took several measurements and wrote them all down on a clipboard he was carrying. The complete process only took a couple of minutes before Stoneaxe moved Zach aside.

“Tell me about the armor you want. Is metal completely out of the question? What is your fighting style like? I see a sword but no shield or off-hand weapon.”

“Well… I don’t really want anything too heavy. I use a single sword and alternate between one and two handed styles. I also like to have a free hand to use my essence.” Zach scratched his chin. “I don’t think metals out of the question but it would have to be something light. I want to stay mobile and agile.”

Stoneaxe wrote everything down. “Ok. I think I have a rough idea. I can make you a perfect set of dwarven made light armor for roughly… five gold.”

“Five gold? What could I get for one gold?”

“Since its light armor, I won’t have to use as much resources but one gold isn’t a lot. Normally that would get you a helm or possibly leggings if they were on discount.”

Droknal stepped forward. “Perhaps you could help us as a favor >>click<

“The adventurer’s guild, ya say? I’ve done some work for them in the past. Listen, I’ll give ya the guild discount and make you a new tunic for one gold. That’s the best I can offer.”

Zach pulled out a gold and tossed it at Stoneaxe. “Thank you, I’ll take it!”

“Yeah, yeah. Make sure the guild knows I gave you a good deal. Now come back tomorrow for a fitting. After that I should be able to complete the final piece in a day or two.”

“Thank you, Stoneaxe. I’ll make sure to point all guild members your way.’

The group left and, after some debate on where to go next, headed for the dungeon entrance.

“Wow! This place has changed.”

Droknal nodded. “Yes. It looks much better now >>click<<.”

“Hello Debbie.” Thao approached the older woman sitting behind a small desk outside the staircase leading into the dungeon. “This is Zach. He’s the one in charge around here and technically your boss.”

“Hello there. My name is Debbie. Thank you so very much for this opportunity. I’ve had all the reports sent to your tent. I’ve also had my lovely granddaughter make copies I’m storing for you if you ever need them.” Debbie had a motherly voice. It was very welcoming and friendly.

“Thank you Debbie. I haven’t gone through them yet, but I will take a look at them in the next day or two. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Right now were actually hoping to go down into the dungeon. Is it clear for us to enter?”

Debbie checked the papers in front of her. “The last party entered an hour ago. You should be all clear to go in. Parties have regularly been delving. Usually we have a line but its about dinner time so its perfect timing. I’ll be leaving shortly for the night if that's ok?”

“Umm…” Unsure what to say, Zach just nodded and waved to her as he went down the stairs leading to the dungeon. I’ll have to get used to having some more responsibilities. Never thought I would be in charge of someone, but I suppose that's what a party leader does. Am I the party leader? I’ll have to find a way to pawn that off onto to Droknal.

The group entered the first room and readied themselves. Zach gripped his sword and grinned. Bring it!