Alastair pushed his way into the weapons shop.
“Hi. Can I equip weapons?”
Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sell?”
“That answers that. Buy. Dagger. Here’s three coins.”
Vendor: “Gloves - 3; Studded Gloves - 8. Spiked Gloves - 23. Cudgel - 3; Mace - 8; Hammer - 23; Warhammer - 68; Iron Staff - 68; Rod - 203. Dagger - 3; Short Sword - 8; Bastard - 23; Long Sword - 68; Great Sword - 203. Three coins.”
Alastair pulled out the coins and handed them over. “Let’s see if I can equip this.” He fazed out for a moment. “Success! At least I can equip a dagger, but I want to experiment. Do you mind unequipping your gloves and trading me for the dagger? See if we have restrictions that way. Then next I’d like to see if I could equip a higher level of gloves.”
Flor shrugged okay. She unequipped the gloves and handed them to Alastair, who gave her the knife. She lifted it and thought about equipping it and a notification popped in her interface.
Unable to change weapons specialization. Abandon skill level in gloves to equip swords? Yes/no?
I haven’t earned a skill level in gloves. That I know of. I should ask Al, but I don’t want to give him more control over the situation than he already has. So, I’m going to think this through. The skill tree in swords seemed to go higher based on the raw cost of the weapons, but without more information, she couldn’t be sure. In other games she had played, swords were usually considered slower than fists, so maybe there was a speed penalty if she transitioned. But, if the efforts with Amets worked, she might eventually be able to level up and eventually pick a non-brawler path. She couldn’t quite remember what Amets said about those paths, though. I’m getting forgetful. Let’s stick with gloves for now. It’s intuitive fighting with my fists for some reason. She mentally selected No.
“I lose progress if I equip the dagger right now,” she said to Alastair.
“I could equip the gloves, but a message said that gloves aren’t scribe weapons.”
“Let’s trade back, then,” she said.
“Sell the gloves back and buy the next level.”
Flor turned to the vendor. “Sell. Gloves.”
Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sell? Sell what? Gloves - 1 coin.”
“Wow, that’s a rip-off. Okay, here they are.” The vendor took the gloves and returned a coin.
Flor said. “Buy.”
Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sell?”
“Again, buy.”
Vendor: “Gloves - 3; Studded Gloves - 8. Spiked Gloves - 23. Cudgel - 3; Mace - 8; Hammer - 23; Warhammer - 68; Iron Staff - 68; Rod - 203. Dagger - 3; Short Sword - 8; Bastard - 23; Long Sword - 68; Great Sword - 203.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Flor sighed…why is this process so obnoxious? “Studded Gloves.”
Vendor: “Eight coins.” Flor handed over the coins, and the vendor looked behind the counter before coming back up with wrist wraps with metal bits embedded in one side.
Flor accepted the gloves and started to put them on.
You do not have the level to equip studded gloves.
It was often a struggle to avoid cussing. Flor fought hard against doing so.
“So, Alastair. I can’t equip the studded gloves because they are too high a level for me…”
“Yeah, I kinda figured that would be the case. I shouldn’t have had you sell the regular gloves until we knew.”
“So we’re down more coins, now. Fine, I’ll sell them back.”
“No!” he said, “Maybe we’ll be able to level you up enough in the carillon that you can equip them later today. Just buy regular gloves again.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, then looked at the vendor and sighed again.
“Hi. Buy.”
Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sell?”
Deep breath. {Seriously, if you think this is annoying reading in a story, imagine dealing with this sort of poor programming in a game. Be better, developers!} “Buy.”
Vendor: “Gloves - 3; Studded Gloves - 8. Spiked Gloves - 23. Cudgel - 3; Mace - 8; Hammer - 23; Warhammer - 68; Iron Staff - 68; Rod - 203. Dagger - 3; Short Sword - 8; Bastard - 23; Long Sword - 68; Great Sword - 203.”
“Gloves.”
“Three coins.”
Flor grimaced but handed over the coins, then accepted the gloves and equipped them. “Let’s go find some armor, right?”
The vendor surprised Flor when she said, “There is an armorer two blocks north. Turn left, then left again.”
“You’ve been able to talk all along? Now I really dislike these developers.”
Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sell?”
“Never mind,” said Flor. She led Alastair out the door. “So, let’s stick with class-appropriate level one armor, right? Do you think it’ll be as much of an automaton as this weapon vendor?”
“I hope not.” They walked the two blocks and saw the sign, fairly obviously, of the armorer. The shop had an identical layout to the weapon shop with armor displayed on the walls instead of weapons. The male twin of the weapons vendor was behind the counter. “Figures,” Alastair said.
Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sells?”
“Sells? Seriously?”
Vendor: “Sells what?”
Alastair let out an exasperated sigh before saying, “Buy.”
Vendor: “Tunic, cloth - 3; Tunic, padded - 8; Tunic, leather - 18; Chest, leather, studded - 38; Chest, leather, banded - 78; Cloak - 78; Chest, leather, plated - 158; Chest, half-plate - 318; Robes - 318; Chest, full plate - 638. Shield, buckler - 2; shield, half - 6; shield, full - 14. Headband - 1; Cap - 4; Helm, leather - 10; Cap, feathered - 10; Helm, bucket - 22; Cowl - 22; Helm, close - 46; Hat, Wizard - 46; Helm, great - 94.”
What’s appropriate for a level-one brawler? Probably just a headband and a cloth tunic.
Alastair potentially anticipated this, also. “Tunic, cloth, and Cap.” Then he said mockingly, “Seven coins, please.”
Vendor: “Seven coins, please.” Alastair took the coins out and put them on the counter. The vendor took the coins and ducked under the counter before returning with the two items.
“I’m going to try to equip these first.” He phased out and then back in, his outfit changing from his toga to a better fitting set of cloth shirt and britches, but without a hat. “I can do the chest armor but not the hat. It’s above our level. Let’s keep that one on hand also.”
“Sure. Buy.”
Vendor: “Welcome. Buy/Sells?”
Flor said, “Buy.”
Vendor: “Tunic, cloth - 3; Tunic, padded - 8; Tunic, leather - 18; Chest, leather, studded - 38; Chest, leather, banded - 78; Cloak - 78; Chest, leather, plated - 158; Chest, half-plate - 318; Robes - 318; Chest, full plate - 638. Shield, buckler - 2; shield, half - 6; shield, full - 14. Headband - 1; Cap - 4; Helm, leather - 10; Cap, feathered - 10; Helm, bucket - 22; Cowl - 22; Helm, close - 46; Hat, Wizard - 46; Helm, great - 94.”
Flor said, “Tunic, cloth, and two headbands.”
Vendor: “Five coins.”
Flor handed those coins over and accepted the items. She handed a headband to Alastair, who equipped it while she equipped hers. He said, “Now we’re twinsies! Let’s go see if those skull eyes are dimmed.”