The next morning Bjorn was the first one up, making his way into the common area he found a different servant standing there with a cart right next to him. “Ah good morning sir, would you like some tea to start you off?”
Still a little groggy from one of the best nights of sleep Bjorn had in a long while he nodded and plopped down on one of the couches. Soon the servant walked over with a cup of tea in his hands, setting it down in front of Bjorn. “Would you like your tea sweetened?”
“Maybe, give me a second.” Picking up the steaming cup of tea Bjorn blew on it before taking a tentative sip. A rich spiced and somewhat fruity flavor coated his mouth. Giving an appreciative grunt Bjorn set the cup down. “No thank you, that is absolutely wonderful. I don’t think you realize how long it has been since I have had tea.”
“Excellent sir, would you like for me to prepare you breakfast as well?”
Bjorn thought for a moment. “I don’t think so, at least not yet. I think I will wait for my friends to join me before I think about food. If you don’t mind though, I think I will have a look at the books that are on your shelves and find something to read while I wait.”
“Very good sir, and there is no rush. I am here to provide for you until you wish to leave the palace. Also of course you are welcome to anything in this room, they are yours for the time being.”
Bjorn spent some time looking through the bookshelf and eventually settled on a book. Sitting down to read he slowly drank his tea. Whenever it got close to being empty the servant would come and refill Bjorn’s teacup. With Bjorn’s belt of sustenance it was a while before everyone else joined. Alaric was the first one up, then Tayla, lastly Meira. When each person joined Bjorn the servant came over and presented them each with tea, which they all took graciously. Bjorn was a good way into his book before everyone joined. The book he had settled on was a historical record of some man named Sir Konrad and his exploits.
When Meira finally joined Bjorn closed his book and breakfast was served. They had a meat, cheese, and some odd plant omelet for breakfast. When they finished eating Bjorn turned to Alaric. “So what did you end up getting? Are you happy with what you got?”
Alaric gave Bjorn a genuine smile, a bit of leaf caught in between his front teeth. “Yes I am, I am happy indeed. Let me go get it to show you.” When Alaric returned from his room he had a large plain looking hammer in his hand.
Bjorn frowned and used W.A.I.L.A. on the hammer.
Glass Warhammer of beast slaying
Rarity: Rare
Weight 9 lbs.
Durability: 593/594
Damage: 19-23
This rare glass war hammer is enchanted with a static enchantment giving it a permanent 10% damage to beasts. This excellently crafted warhammer has the added bonus of being able to grow or shrink its shaft allowing it to be wielding dual-handed or single handed.
Reading the description he had to admit the hammer was impressive, letting out a little whistle he looked back up at Alaric, his smile was just as large as it was when he first brought it up. “I haven’t even shown you the best part yet.” Alaric placed one hand near the head of the hammer and twisted. The hammer was initially a one handed hammer. When Alaric twisted his hand the shaft of the hammer grew, it grew to a little over 5 and a half feet tall. Around a foot taller than Alaric himself.
“I am able to decide if I want to use the hammer one handed or two handed. With the amount of time it takes to change between the two I should be able to easily change mid combat if I practice enough.” To prove his point he grew and shrunk the shaft a few times.
Meira leaned over and whispered something into Tayla’s ear which got a giggle in response. “What?” Alaric asked.
“Oh it was nothing.” Meira said in a voice all too sweet for it to be the truth.
Either ignored the tone, or he was too enamored by his hammer. Either way Alaric just beamed like a kid who got a gold star as he played with his shaft. Bjorn just shook his head and tried to finish his meal.
Unfortunately he wasn’t able to finish his food before they were interrupted. From their sitting room they could hear a grinding sound come from the marshaling yard. Confused, Bjorn got up from his meal and walked over to the balcony. From where he stood they had a better vantage of the main gate leading into the palace grounds. What he saw disturbed him.
On the day before, the large guard force looked so intimidating. Today though, the column looked almost pathetic. In the lead again was Gram, but his armor was covered in blood, had chunks taken out of it, and some pieces were missing all together. His left arm was in a makeshift sling and was tied to his body. From where he stood Bjorn could clearly see that there was something wrong with Gram’s left arm. The sling was attached at Gram’s wrist, the rest of his forearm going from the wrist to his elbow had created a parabola shape.
The rest of the troops looked no better. Out of the 150 who left the day before less than 50 of them were on their feet. Between them they had 20 or so litters filled with bodies, which Bjorn couldn’t tell if they were alive or not. Every single one of the soldiers had some sort of bandage on their body, or were covered in some sort of liquid. Either the red of humanoid blood, or the same color that came out of the spider when Alaric was able to break off its leg segments.
“Guys, come look.” Bjorn called out. Curious at the tone in which Bjorn said that everyone quickly left their food and joined Bjorn on the balcony, the servant even left his post to see what had drawn their attention.
Upon seeing the state of the returning men Alaric let out a string of profanity that would make a sailor jealous. “I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I think we should get out of the palace, they will have a lot to take care of, they don’t need to worry about us as well.”
“I agree.” Tayla said.
Bjorn looked over at the servant. He had turned pale as a ghost. “What are we to do? If the guard failed we are lost. We will have to abandon Blackrock Bay, at least until one of the armies from the fight with Cronkrum will have to come and clear this infestation. That will take months for them to get here, that really isn’t an option.”
“How do you know that they failed?” Bjorn asked.
The man pointed down at the returning small army. “Look at them, does that look like they are returning in triumph?” He let out a joyless laugh. “No, they failed to eradicate the spider menace.” the servant trailed at the end of his speech. Taking a deep breath he schooled his expression, and his practiced professionalism returned to his voice. “I am afraid that Sir Alaric is right, it would probably be best if you left the palace. That being said until otherwise stated you are welcome to stay. As I haven’t heard one way or the other you are welcome to stay.”
They all exchanged a glance. “We appreciate it, but I think it would be for the best if we took our leave.” Meira said.
“Very good madam, Whenever you are ready I will escort you out.”
With nothing else really that they needed, and with nothing to collect they followed the servant as he led them through the maze-like hallways of the palace. As they were making their way to the gate the entire palace was ablaze with activity. Servants and guards were running through the halls. Sometimes they were running, others they were carrying laden packs of goods, they even passed one who was pushing a cart full of blood soaked bandages.
In short order they were led back to the same side gate that Gram had led them to the day before. Bowing to them the servant turned around and walked back into the palace, once he passed the gate the guards pushed it closed again and a heavy thunk could be heard as the gate bar was dropped back into place.
“Well, now that we have been forgotten by those more important than us. Want to go back to our inn and have a beer?” Alaric said.
Meira gave him a sidelong glare.
“What? It’s not like the town is overly lively, I doubt there is much we can do in town. My bet is that most of the stores will be closed for the day, might as well get drunk.”
“I think we should go check on your shield first. I know she said two weeks, but with everything that has been going on Ella might have tried to rush your shield.” Bjorn said.
“That works for me. To Ella’s first, then drinks!” Tayla said in a half cheer.
“Alright, I'd be a fool to push against the tide.” Meira said as she turned down the street and took off heading towards the commercial district. It took them little time at all to make it to Ella’s weapons and armor emporium. When they made it to the door it was locked tight. Not overly surprised at that they turned to leave.
“Wait, do you hear that?” Bjorn asked. They all froze, straining to hear what it was that Bjorn was pointing out. After a few seconds the sound came again. It was the sound of metal ringing on metal. Pushing his face against the glass of Ella’s building he could barely see inside, but he was able to make out the orange and yellow glow that indicated the forge on the other side of the wall.
“She is in there alright.” Bjorn said. “Let’s go around to her store from the residential side, I have my doubts that she will be able to hear our banging no matter how hard we try.”
It took the better part of 2 hours to find their way to Ella’s shop from the residential side. The downside of the lower class residential district was the fact that there was little planning that went into laying out the streets. They would be traveling right next to the wall separating the two districts when all of a sudden a building would be in their way and the street they were traveling down angled away from the wall. They got lost quite a few times on top of the weird layout of the streets.
In the end they hired one of the only people they saw out on the street. They came across a small emaciated boy who looked like he hadn’t spent a night indoors in over a year. The kid was more dirt than child. At first he was weary of the group talking to him. When Bjorn offered him 10 copper to lead them to Ella’s they could see the greed in the child’s eyes. He would have offered the kid less, but after seeing the state the kid was in Bjorn figured the child had more use for the money than he did.
The child had them in front of Ella’s within 10 minutes of them hiring him. When it came to paying the kid Bjorn fished out the 10 copper, and he retrieved a full loaf of bread from his portable pocket and handed it over. The urchin snatched the food and coins out of Bjorn’s hands and quickly ran away heading back the way he had come.
Bjorn watched the retreating form of the child. “I just feel bad, I wish I could do more.”
“You did more than most.” Alaric said. “What you gave him was almost as much as he would make in half a year begging and stealing.”
Tayla gave Bjorn an appraising look. “Alaric is right. When I was growing up on the streets of Vanta I wish just one person showed me as much kindness as you showed him today. Honestly if someone had I likely wouldn’t be standing here with you today.” She stopped speaking and slid closer to where Bjorn was standing. “You know if you want to leave Meira, I would make sure you were very satisfied.” She said that last part in a sultry voice, her spade shaped tail poking out from behind her back and softly caressing Bjorn’s cheek.
Bjorn took a step back and got a panicked look on his face. “What do you mean leave Meira? Her and I aren’t together.” He stammered out his cheeks a pure beat red color. “Not that I would be opposed to it, I mean she is gorgeous, but any man would want that. I just wouldn’t want to make things awkward.”
Tayla had a wicked grin on her face as she looked back and forth between Bjorn and Meira who were both standing there awkwardly and blushing profusely. “Sure sure, say whatever you like. Let’s just call it women’s intuition.”
Alaric walked over to where Bjorn stood and patted him on the back. “I am sorry my friend but you fucked up today.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry about it. One day you will understand. Until that day comes though I have a shield I need to retrieve.” Alaric turned towards the door, walked up and knocked loudly. To no response. His timing was terrible though, as when he started to knock the sound of metal striking metal rang out from inside the building, The din was considerably louder from this side of the building. Waiting for the sound to die down Alaric knocked a second time.
“Hold your damn horses, I will be right there, there is no need to make such a racket.” Ella’s voice rang out through the door. True to her word it didn’t take her long to make it to the door. Flinging it open she looked down at the group as a heat wave bellowed out from behind her. The heat overpowering the still slightly chilly air from the early spring. “Ah, it has been a few days, I was wondering when you’d make it back, come in come in.”
Sliding past her they filed into the forge one at a time, once they were all fully inside Ella swung the door closed and locked it. Turning back towards the party she pointed a finger at Tayla. “You, two things. One: don’t steal anything, I know the look of a rogue when I see one. I don’t have Yanda around today to keep an eye on you. Two: you are a tiefling, I want you to work the bellows while we are talking. I know it doesn’t seem fair, but you are the one who can handle the heat the best. Snap to it.”
As Tayla rushed to follow Ella’s snapping orders Ella walked over to where the other three were standing. “What can I do for you? If you have come for your shield it isn’t finished yet.”
“We actually came here for the shield or to check on its progress, I know you said it would take you two weeks and we are at a little over a week, but we wanted to see how it is coming along.” Alaric said plainly.
Nodding her head. “That is fair, fortunately for you I put in a few extra hours over the last week. It will be ready tomorrow. I figured with what all has been going on around town with the murders and such that you would want your shield sooner.”
Bjorn cocked his head at her choice of words. “Murders? Do you not know what has been going on?” Ella shook her head. “I don’t know how much of this they want us sharing around, but I don’t see a reason to keep it hidden any longer.” And so Bjorn told her everything they had learned about the snatcher spiders and how the city guard seemed to have failed in their attempt to wipe the spiders out.
Ella frowned. “And how is it that you know all of this? There hasn’t been anything coming down from the palace, and I haven’t seen anything publicly posted on any of the bulletin boards.”
Alaric let out a chuckle. “Ha! It’s because our friend Bjorn here has a hard time keeping anything from getting their fangs into him. So we were the ones to find out about the spider menace, and because of that we ended up spending the night at the palace last night as a reward for bringing the danger to the duke's attention. So that is how we know about the failed attack on the spider queen.”
Ella was quiet for a few seconds. “So if what you told me was true, I should be making this shield for Bjorn and not you.” She delivered that line with such a deadpan straight face that Bjorn couldn’t tell if she was serious or if she was mocking him. “Regardless, I think I have something that could work for you Bjorn, letting you defend yourself a little better.”
She turned to walk away but stopped dead in her tracks looking down at Alaric’s waist. “Let me see that.” She said pointing to where Alaric had slung his new war hammer. Shrugging he handed it over. Giving the hammer a once over she held it out in her hand, scrutinizing it. One detail that Bjorn missed the first time he looked at the hammer was that the head was actually made out of a rippling rainbow metal.
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“Hey Ella, what type of metal is that?” Bjorn asked.
“It isn’t actually metal. It is a super tough material called glass. But it isn’t like the type of glass that you see in my windows.” She picked up a long iron rod that was sitting on the ground near the anvil. Placing the hammer down she took a step back, raising the metal rod high over her head she brought it down with as much force as she could generate. Seeing her actions Bjorn took a small involuntary step forward. When the rod came in contact with the head of the hammer the metal rod bent in two different places. First was where it came in contact with the glass hammer head, the second was halfway down the shaft as Ella’s swing continued moving, bending the rod instead of stopping her.
Dropping the now useless rod she picked the hammer back up and walked over to where Bjorn Alaric and Meira were standing. “See, I put all of my strength into that blow, and yet the head is still unblemished. I have no idea how to work glass, and there aren’t many who do. It is a technique that is used to forge it. Those who do know rarely share their knowledge with anyone else in the craft.”
“If it is rare to find a crafts person who can work with glass, how did it end up here?” Meira asked.
“There is a smith in Law who is able to craft using glass.”
Bjorn gave Meira an inquisitive glance. “Law is the capital of Escar.” Meira said.
“Yes. If there was even a slim chance of me learning how to forge with glass, I would sell my shop here and move to Law, just in an off chance. But alas, he isn’t taking on any new apprentices, at least the last I heard of it. As it stands though, you have a well crafted hard to damage war hammer that will be able to help you in your upcoming fight with the spiders.”
“I don’t know if we will be fighting any spiders.” Alaric said.
Ella let out a full bodied laugh. “Of course you will. I fought you Alaric, and your fighting style says one thing about you. You care for those around you, that is further reinforced by you buying a shield from me. You want to protect, and what better way than to throw yourself into the fray. I find it hard to believe that someone like that will just sit by and let this city become overrun with snatcher spiders. So tomorrow you will come here, get your shield, pay me for it, and then find a way to help with this spider threat.”
Alaric frowned.
“Thank you for your words. Let’s leave her be, let her finish Alaric’s shield. Besides standing in this hot room, I need a drink. Come on Tayla.” Bjorn said.
A look of relief crossed Tayla’s face. The entire time they stood there talking to Ella Tayla had been working the bellows on the forge without complaint. Upon hearing his words Tayla abandoned her post quickly and was actually the first one out the door. “Come on, that beer sounds nice.” She called back over her shoulder at the other three.
By the time they all had piled out onto the street Tayla was already a good 300 feet ahead of them, walking backwards while watching the door.
When they made it back to the inn and made their way through the front door Kent was standing behind the bar in his customary spot cleaning a glass. When he saw them it looked like years of worry left his face. The worry lines and winkles disappeared, being replaced with a beaming smile. “Ah, welcome back! I thought you had either met the same fate as everyone else in town, or you had run off. I am glad to know that you are alive, and that you haven’t decided to run away. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, what can I get you?”
They had their pick of the litter in the empty taproot. They picked out a table in the middle of the room. Sitting down they ordered their drinks, Kent quickly brought their orders over. Setting them down at the table Kent went back to the bar returning with another mug.
Sitting down with them he turned his head towards Meira. “All of this talk about murders and death is bad for business. Ever since the first one not many have wanted to chance their lives for a drink and a tumble.”
“I hadn't even thought of that. As you said, I haven't seen anyone really other than us here. At least for a few days.” Meira said.
“True true, true true. It isn't only that, most of my guys make little money from me, they usually make their money from the services that they sell. Well with no patrons they don't come into work. With no servers people don't come in to buy. It is a vicious cycle.” Sighing deeply Kent took a swing of his drink.
“Well don't worry you haven't lost us yet.” Tayla said. “I can always hope that your workers will come back.”
Kent gave her an assessing look. “Is that the case now? Come to think of it, you were the only one of any of you to make use of our services. If you want I bet I could get one of my guys here if there is a guarantee of making some money.” He trailed off turning the statement into more of a question.
It was hard to tell if Tayla was blushing based on her already red skin, but by the way she averted her eyes told the story of her being embarrassed. “N-no thank you.” She stammered out.
“Tisk. It's a pity, I could use the money, and I know they could too. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah. So with no workers comes no patrons, and with no workers those who have been staying in the inn left, all except for you that is. Most of them got scared by the mood in town and scampered off. For you staying around I thank you. Your first round is on the house.”
A broad smile crossed Alaric’s face. “Well we were planning on doing nothing else but sitting here and drinking. Unless you have anything better to do your welcome to join us.”
Kent picked his head up and looked around his establishment. “Let me check with the other patrons first.” Calling out in a booming voice. “Does anyone need another drink?” When all his question was met with was silence he turned back to the group. “Looks like we can do that. Come now let me buy us a bottle.”
The rest of the day was filled with drink, food, and good stories. The friends talked about their adventures before and after meeting each other. The entire time Kent listened intently, he was a good audience, gasping at the right parts, and laughing when he should have. For his part Kent filled them in on a myriad of stories of his time owning the Glittering Goose, and his life up to that point. It was a good, fun loving day filled with much joy, they weren't interrupted by anyone coming in. It was late into the evening when they finally decided to call it a night.
It was well past noon the next day when Bjorn got up from his bed. Still a little dizzy from how drunk he had gotten last night, he stumbled his way down into the taproom.
“Ah good morning.” Tayla called from the table she and the other two sat at.
“Morning.” Bjorn grumbled as he made his way towards the table. Looking around a little bleary-eyed “where's Kent?”
An almost litigious smile crossed Tayla's face. “Last time I saw him, he was still naked sleeping off his drink from last night.”
“You know that brings up a good point, you weren't in your bed when I went to bed, and you most definitely weren't when I woke up. Where were you last night Tayla?” Meira asked.
“Oh you know, I passed out on the floor over in that corner.” She blatantly lied. “Had a bit too much to drink and didn't fancy taking the stairs.”
“Uh huh.” Alaric said. When Tayla wouldn't meet anyone's eyes he continued. “Well if he isn't going to get up and make breakfast I'll make it.” Standing up from his seat Alaric made his way into the kitchen and soon the sounds of cooking could be heard echoing through the mostly empty building.
Bjorn just sat there in agony, trying to figure out what was a greater threat. The bright light filtering through the large windows, or the loud sounds coming from the kitchen. Either way both made his headache worse.
It was almost an hour before they saw any signs of life from Kent. He slowly made his way into the common room and stumbled to the table they all sat around. Dropping into his seat he groaned. “I don't know what happened to me last night, but every part of my body is sore.”
“I think we know what happened to you.” Meira said. Her words caused Tayla to quickly placed her hand over Meira's mouth to silence her next words.
“I'll give you three hints.” Bjorn said, picking up where Meira was cut off. “It was red, it is in this room, and it rhymes with sayla.”
Tayla gave Bjorn a betrayed look. “What? So you fucked the inn keeper? So what? As long as you both had fun, who cares?” Bjorn asked.
“I think it is more about her honor. Or about propriety. No woman wants it to be known that she slept with her host. Even if I occupy more women here than most of my servers.”
Tayla's head snapped towards Kent, all looks of betrayal and hurt gone, in its place it was only anger. “So let me get this straight. You not only slept with me last night, you apparently forgot it happened, and to top it all off you openly admit to sleeping with multiple women.”
Smiling at himself, oblivious to her obvious anger. “Yeah, that sums it up quite nicely. Oh and don't forget that you were the one to ask for it. And to top it off I am pretty sure you have had quite a few more partners than I have. There were things you did that I haven't done with anyone. That thing you did with your tail.” Kent was cut short as a 110 lbs ball of woman shot across the table to silence him.
Alaric made his way out of the kitchen 5 plates piled high with food. “Hey, enough playing around, I just spent an hour making a meal for us. You and Kent can go for another round after we eat. You will not be letting your meal go cold.”
Kent looked sheepish and they could actually tell that Tayla was blushing as her already red face turned an even darker shade of red. They both sat at the table and dug into their food. As Bjorn made his way through the mountain of egg and sausage on his plate his queasy state started to go away, it also helped alleviate some of the effects of his headache.
Soon they made their way through their meals. Kent stood up. “You took care of cooking for us, I will do the cleaning. What are your plans for the day?”
“I am supposed to go pick up a custom made shield today. Other than that I don’t know, we might try and skip town. We have done our part here.” Alaric said.
Kent’s easy smile slid off his face. “I can’t say I am surprised, I will still be sad to see you go. If you want I will refund you the 4 more nights that you paid for.”
“That’s alright, you can keep it.” Meira said. “Thanks for putting us up and being welcoming.”
He bowed his head and left with the plates. Standing Alaric spoke. “Well there is no need to wait, let’s go get my shield.”
They made their way out of the inn and started the long journey through winding streets. A little under an hour they made it to Ella’s shop. Without the need to pay for a guide this time. Walking up to the door Tayla pushed on it and it swung open. For the first time they had come to Ella’s shop the forge was cold. The interior was silent.
“Hello?” Tayla called. “Ella? Yanda?” Silence. Getting an uneasy feeling everyone drew their weapons. They also fell into their usual configuration, Alaric in the lead, Bjorn and Tayla a few steps behind and to the side of Alaric and Meira in the back, forming a small diamond. Walking through the forge the interior of the building was cold without the blazing heat coming from the forge. Thoroughly searching the forge it was devoid of life. Forming back up they made their way through the arch and into the store. Which was also devoid of life, leaving the only place left to explore being the stairs leading down.
They made their way over to the stairs slowly. Looking down the stairs led to a door, on the underside of the door they could see a faint light. Alaric looked back, and Meira nodded at him. With a sigh Alaric slowly made his way down the stairs Bjorn and Tayla following behind him. Reaching out with his free hand Alaric placed it on the door handle. He raised his hammer and pulled it open.
Light flooded into the stairwell. On the other side of the door was a room with multiple workbenches with various tools arrayed around them, on them, and on the walls behind them. The other half of the room was filled with boxes that were laden with weapons, tools and armors. Next to one of the workbenches stood Ella.
Hearing the door open she snapped around hand going to a belt knife she had, in one fluid motion she pulled it and dropped into a fighting stance. Seeing the party she relaxed. “Damn it, don’t scare me like that.”
“Scare you like that? Don’t scare us like that.” Alaric said. “Didn’t you hear, there is a spider threat here, and you were the one who didn’t answer when we came into your store. We automatically thought you were dead and we would have to probably fight another one of those damn spiders.”
She scoffed. “Well I’m not a spider, and actually I did hear about that last night. A flier got posted on the bulletin explaining the threat, it also called anyone in town over level ten or had some fighting experience to help deal with the spider threat. Looks like you’ll have to fight the spiders anyways, even if you wanted to leave town. It’s a good thing that I made this shield for you, if there are any other weapons or armor you need I’ll sell them to you for a discount of course. After all, they will be used to defend the city that I love.”
“Wait. You are saying that the city is creating a militia and then they are drafting everyone in town who can fight to join?” Bjorn asked incredulously.
“Yeah that is pretty much what it is.” Ella said. “Anyways go upstairs and wait, I’ll be up in a few minutes with the shield and you won't be disappointed.”
They made their way back up into the forge, after a few minutes they could hear Ella’s heavy boots on the stairs. When she came around the corner she had an odd shaped shield in her hands. It was the shape of an oval on the bottom half, and on the top it had three points, one on either side of the shield and one in the middle. The material in between the points created a shallow parabola. There was a thick band of pearly white metal that ran along the exterior of the shield. In the middle was a wood that Bjorn had never seen before.
Ronnel shield
Rarity: Rare
Weight 14 lbs.
Durability: 398/398
Defense: 15
This shield is made out of a rare self healing wood. It was made specifically to be used by Alaric of the serrated mountain dwarves. As such its defensive capabilities will increase for him by 20% it will also increase his block skill by 5 skill levels just for wielding this shield.
Walking forward she handed it over to Alaric. “Put it on, let's see how it fits you, I think it will be about perfect.” On the back side of the shield there were multiple leather straps that could be used to lash the shield to Alaric’s arm, it was made in such a way that it protected all of Alaric’s forearm and half of his upper arm when it was lashed in place. It was also short enough that when in place it left his left hand open, not restricting his range of movement at all.
“What do you think?” Ella asked.
“Hmm, it is weighted almost perfectly, I like the range of motion it leaves me with. The shape is a little odd though, what is with that?” Alaric asked.
“When we fought you liked to tuck your left arm while evading attacks, so I figured it would be better to make a shape that still allowed you to do so while not impending your dodging. On top of that there were a few times where you moved like you wanted to catch my hand, each time you stopped yourself in the middle of your motion and either evaded the swing or caught it on the shield. Based on that I figured you actually wanted your hand free while fighting. It looks like I made the right choice anyways, now you are able to use your new hammer in its two handed form more often without worry.”
Alaric thought for a moment. “It sounds like you know your stuff, you are right at least about the free hand. I was taught how to fight with a buckler. I can’t say you are right about pulling my arm in for dodging, but I will trust your judgment.”
“The edge of your shield is made of pure moonstone, that and the material of the shield itself is where the largest part of your money went. That wood is actually rare, it comes from the ronnel tree. It is a tree that is known for its difficulty to cut down, it has fast regenerative properties. Its wood is also fairly hard to work with because of that. Any damage done to the wood itself should slowly fix itself, it might take a few days but it should repair itself.”
“I’ll take your word for it, I don’t know if it's worth what you said it is, but I did promise you payment. I will take your word as a craftsperson that you haven’t taken advantage of me.” Alaric said.
“She didn’t.” Bjorn said. “It does exactly what she says it will, and it is made out of what she says it is made out of. That is for sure ronnel wood.”
Ella turned towards Bjorn and gave him an appraising look. “You know what ronnel wood looks like? Impressive, I’m sorry, I dismissed you as someone unimportant when I saw you. You have my apologies.”
Ella’s words got a few brief laughs out of Meira and Tayla. Bjorn shot them a dirty look which shut them up. “Be that as it may, Alaric you have nothing to fear.” Bjorn said through gritted teeth.
Alaric pulled his coin purse from his belt and pulled out a single gold coin. He flicked it at Ella, it arched through the air and was deftly caught by her. Quickly she made the coin disappear. “I will ignore you questioning my character, I am glad it is up to your satisfaction. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get home to Yanda. I only came in today because you were going to be here to pick up the shield.” As she was speaking she was deftly maneuvering the party out of her shop.
When they were all on her doorstep she shooed them to get them further away from the door. She followed them out of her shop and closed then locked the door behind her. Unceremoniously she pushed herself past the friends and made her way down one of the alleyways out of the small square.
“Well now that we got your shield, do we want to try and make our way out of town?” Bjorn asked. “I don’t fancy getting drafted into the defense of Blackrock Bay.”
“I second that.” Tayla said.
It was over an hour to get back to the Glittering Goose and retrieve the rest of their stuff. With heavy packs on their backs they said their goodbyes to Kent and made their way through the streets. For the first time in days there were signs of life in the streets of Blackrock Bay. There were a few heavily armed citizens walking through the streets, going this way and that. For the most part it looked like they were making their way towards the guardhouse in the lower ring.
Walking right past it they made their way down to the gate. To their dismay though the gate was closed and there were 10 heavily armed guards standing in front of it. As they approached the guard with the fanciest helmet raised his hand. “Halt.”
They complied, stopping in the middle of the street 20 feet away from where the guards stood with their hands on their weapons, which weren’t drawn yet. “State your business.” he continued.
“We are trying to leave town.” Alaric said, stepping forward putting himself between the guards and the rest of the party. He had his new shield strapped to his arm but had it down at his side for the moment.
Shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but there had been a no leaving order that came down from the duke himself this morning. If you had left yesterday we wouldn’t have stopped you, but unfortunately we aren’t able to let you pass. You look like capable warriors though, if you report to the guardhouse I am sure someone there might be able to help you.”
Meira stepped forward. “We aren’t from here, we don’t live here, we were just passing through. We heard of your conscription, and we have no obligation to fight for this town. We just want to peacefully leave and put this all behind us. Your problems are not our problems.”
A sympathetic look crossed the guard's face. “Be that as it may, I have strict orders to not let anyone pass me. I also have orders to direct anyone who might be able to fight to the guardhouse. As a matter of a fact I was also ordered to have someone escort you there.” The guard made a gesture with his hand and two of his guards stepped forward.
“If you would follow me, we will get you to the guardhouse and we can sort this out. I am sure Captain Gram will be able to find a task for you. After all, if you have the strength you have an obligation to defend those who cannot.” The gnome guard said. Her and her partner started to direct them back into the city.
The guard they had been talking to called after them. “I am truly sorry for this, but I hope together we can get past this trial and emerge victorious!”
Slowly dragging their feet they followed after the gnome, heading back into the city making their way towards what felt like their doom.