Richard managed to pull the hardened leather armor over his head while sitting on a bench in the leatherworking shop. It was made as a single piece with holes for his arms and head, and it was almost completely inflexible; they apparently made these by molding them into shape and then letting the leather harden. Richard could see how it might work to deflect a blow. Jehan helped to tighten the straps on Richard’s back, and Richard stood up to see how it would feel.

WARNING: The armor you are wearing is heavier than your current strength can support. Dexterity penalty: -2. Stamina point cost of all actions multiplied by 3.

Richard shook his head. “I’m afraid this isn’t going to work either. Still getting a weight penalty for wearing this.”

The first place they’d gone in town was to the leatherworking shop to get Richard some boots, and Jehan had suggested to Richard that it would be a good idea for him to buy some armor as well, in case he needed it. Richard agreed, but so far wasn’t having much luck.

“I’ll talk to the gentlemen to see if he has anything that might suit you better” Jehan said.

I’m glad he’s doing the talking for me. I really wasn’t looking forward to the look I would get if I had to ask if they had any armor for someone with less than 3 strength.

The shopkeeper came back, carrying something but shaking his head.

“This is the only thing I have that is lighter than that armor and that would give you any protection at all, but I have to tell you, if you’re expecting to go into battle I wouldn’t suggest you rely on just this…”

Jehan put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. The young adventurer here is the kind that relies on speed and cunning. It’s all I can do to convince him to wear any armor at all.”

Finally, the shopkeeper was convinced to let Richard see what he was holding. It was a brown leather vest with several inches of cotton padding under it.

“This might help you if someone tries to punch you in the stomach, and maybe it’ll slow down a hunting arrow or a short knife, but it’s not going to stop a sword.”

Richard nodded, and tried the vest on. It was a much more flexible material, with strips of leather quilted together over thick padding, and it buttoned in the front. It was quite warm, was much easier to wear than the hardened leather armor, and when he stood up and walked around in it he didn’t get any warning notifications this time. The shopkeeper went back to trying to convince Richard to wear some heavier armor, but Richard just paid the man 4 silver for the boots and leather vest and left.

Jehan walked Richard around the town, leading him to their next destination. Right after the attack on the inn, most people had fled back to their homes, but within an hour people were back out on the streets. It reminded Richard of the stories he heard about London during the bombings in WWII; as soon as the bombs stopped falling everyone just went back to their routines. Amazing how people can adapt to anything, even monster attacks.

The next place they stopped was a tailor's shop, and Richard got a green tunic he could wear under the leather vest and a hooded brown cloak for two more silver.

Everywhere they went, people wanted to hear what had happened down at the inn, and every time Jehan happily repeated the story, every time describing Richard's actions as being heroic. Finally, when they were alone, Richard had to ask him why he was doing this.

“There's a lot of reasons to get you a reputation as a hero, Richard.” Jehan said. “There are going to be times you have insights, understand things other people don't, and it might be really important that they listen to you then.” He paused and lowered his voice. “Also, at some point, when you're ready, it's likely you're going to want to go public as being the Champion of Ikar, for one reason or another. When you do, your deeds and the stories about you will help to increase faith in Ikar, just like legends of other champions have.”

“Is that what this is about? You want to convert more people to worship your god?”

Jehan raised an eyebrow. “Where do you think the divine energy comes from, which let me cast those divine spells to protect us earlier, or which grants you gifts as Champion? If people have more faith in the gods, then they can do more to help us, to protect and guide humanity.”

Richard thought about this for a minute. “But if you talk about me like I'm this great hero, people are going to expect me to do heroic things. They're going to count on me to do heroic things. And you know as well as I do that I'm not ready to go fighting orcs or whatever. I've learned a few basic skills but I'm pretty sure that any competent opponent would still take me apart.”

Jehan nodded. “I understand. I remember your list; I know people who can help you train and get ready for the trials you have ahead of you.”

Richard let Jehan continue to guide him around town, and the next stop they made was back to the adventurer's guild. Richard was glad to see that neither Hadrain nor Teodric were in the guild this time, he did not want to deal with either of them. As before, everyone in the guild had some idea that a monster attack had happened in town and wanted to know what was going on, and Jehan repeated his story again, animated and lively, again extolling the heroism of Richard. Richard tried to avoid rolling his eyes. At least some good came out of it, since the person at the bounty hunter's counter apologized for not believing Richard earlier and paid him both for the 4 abominations he killed down by the creek and for the 3 more he killed in town. (Richard tried to split that with Jehan but Jehan refused to take it.) The bounty on killing 7 of the warped men was worth another 35 silver, which Richard was glad to have since he'd already spent much of the money he'd gotten earlier.

Achievement earned: Bounty Hunter(intermediate)-Earn 5 bounties for slaying monsters. Bonus earned: +1 DEX

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

After that, Jehan looked at Richard. “You haven't even had a chance to rest after that fight, have you. You're looking tired, and you probably haven't recovered your SP yet. Want to rest for a few minutes before we leave town?”

Richard shrugged. “I suppose. So long as it's not an inn.”

Jehan laughed. “Fair enough. Have you ever seen a temple of Ikar before?”

The temple of Ikar was small, located between two houses in a residential part of the town. The building was a fairly narrow, white, rectangular building with a tiled roof that came to a high triangular point at front. There were stained glass windows with strange designs on them.

As soon as Richard walked in, a strange sense of peace descended on him.

You are on holy ground blessed by Ikar. +25% rate to recovery of HP, SP, and MP.

The inside of the temple was in some ways familiar to Richard, but in some ways strange. It had long rows of benches all facing forward, much like temples Richard had seen on Earth, and it was currently empty. Light shone in through large stained glass windows on the side and back of the temple. The first thing that Richard noticed was the three statues in the front of the temple. The statue on the left was a white marble sculpture of a man wearing a jester's costume, standing on one leg and holding two juggling balls in each hand, and the sculptor had managed to carve him in such a way as to make the marble look surprisingly animated and lifelike. The statue in the middle was a tall, thin man wearing a black cloak that covered his body and a hood that hid most of his thin, angular face; sharp eyes looking out under the hood seemed to see everything. The third statue was a man with broader shoulders, wearing a long trench coat. The trench coat was open, and Richard could see that under it the man was wearing what looked like a suit and tie, and he had a wide-brimmed hat on his head. The statue had a long-curved mustache that extended several inches from the face and came to a point on each end.

“Those are...Ikar.” Richard said. Pretty accurate too, especially if the sculptor never actually saw Ikar the way I did.

“Yes. These are the three Aspects of Ikar The Many Faced.” Jehan's voice was deep and echoed slightly in the small temple. “The Jester, The Vizier, and The Gambler.”

He paused. “This is a good place for you to rest. You should recover your stamina more quickly here than elsewhere, and it's a good place to meditate and think.” He paused. “If it's all right with you, I have a few things to take care of, I'll be back in a while.”

Richard nodded, and Jehan left him to his thoughts.

Richard slowly walked around the outside of the empty temple, looking at the artwork. Every window had an elaborate stained glass pattern, with a stone engraving hanging underneath describing the scene.

The first glass pane had four scenes. In the first scene, a king was shown standing in front of dozens of people who were being hanged. In the second scene, a man was shown standing behind the king, whispering in his ear. In the third scene, the same man was shown pointing a finger at the king and denouncing him in front of the royal court, and in the fourth scene the king was shown on the chopping block, about to have his head cut off by the executioner.

The caption underneath the window read “Champion Wyndell manipulating and bringing down the Red Tyrant.”

Seems like a strange subject for religious art. Richard thought.

The next window had a scene of a man leading a group of dark-cloaked raiders appearing from behind some bushes and ambushing an army from behind while the army was trying to cross a river. The third window showed a man with a crazy grin sitting at a table with a general, throwing dice, while a city burned behind him; that one was called “Champion Ivan the Mad gambles for the fate of the Golden City.” A fourth one seemed to show someone fighting against several demons, with a flaming sword in one hand and...is that really a pie in his left hand?

Richard realized as he walked around the room, with a sinking feeling, that all of these seemed to show former Champions of Ikar doing deeds which were still spoken of as legends centuries later. They overthrew kings and fought armies and changed history. There's no way I'm going to be able to live up to that.

He walked over to one of the benches in front of the statues. He didn't feel like thinking about this anymore, so he just closed his eyes and relaxed, let the peaceful feeling in the temple return to him. He thought about Ikar, thought about what had happened earlier that day, thought about what it meant to be in the temple of a god who he had personally met just a few days earlier. After a few minutes he didn't think about anything, and just relaxed. He could feel the muscles in his shoulders he didn't even realize were sore relax, and felt the tension drain out of his body.

Some period of time passed, he wasn't sure how long. It might have been an hour, it was hard to say. He stayed in that peaceful state of mind until he heard the door open and close behind him, Jehan had returned.

You feel closer to Ikar. +1 to Humor, +1 to Cunning, +1 to High Stakes.

“How are you doing?” Asked Jehan.

“Good.” And Richard did feel good, his whole body felt refreshed. “I, um, just got points in the virtues of Ikar.”

Jehan nodded. “Yes, it is wise to go to a temple when you can, to read religious texts, and meditate on Ikar's teachings. That's how most people develop their religious path.” He looked around. “While you were meditating in here, I made something for you. Consider it a gift.”

Jehan handed Richard five throwing knives. The throwing knives were fairly small, only about 4 inches long each. Each knife was made from a single piece of steel, with a short curved handle on one end and a blade on the other.

“You...just made these?”

“Well, I already had made the knife blanks earlier, so it didn't take too long. I just figured it'd be better if you had something better weighted than that dagger to throw if you're going to make a habit of throwing knives at people.”

“Thank you.” Richard almost offered to pay him for the knives, but decided it would probably be rude, especially if these were supposed to be a gift. He held the knife experimentally, trying to get a feel for the balance of it.

“Oh, and speaking of gifts, I also got you something to carry them with.” Jehan handed Richard a leather strap that went over his left shoulder and hung down to his right hip and had 5 small leather knife sheaths across his chest, as well as a larger one that would fit his dagger. “You can wear this baldric under that leather vest you got and it shouldn't be too obvious that you're carrying the knives.”

“Thank you again. Did you make this as well?”

Jehan chuckled. “No, I asked the leatherworker to make this. I pulled him aside and asked him quietly while you were trying on armor, so that it wouldn't ruin the surprise.”

Richard nodded. He turned and looked back at the stained glass windows. “Is that the kind of thing you expect me to do? Is that why you're giving me so much help? Because I have to be honest, I think there is a pretty good chance you're going to be disappointed.”

Jehan shook his head. “I don't know what I expect you to do. Not everyone who's a champion of a god ends up doing something big and flashy. Some people become champions in times of peace and never end up in a position where they need to do anything like that. And of the champions who try to do something big, not all of them succeed, either. Some of our stories are about champions who have tragic endings. There aren't any guarantees.” He paused. “But I must be honest, looking at the world today, I don't think we're heading into a time of peace.”

They stood there for a minute, looking at the stained glass window together.

“Anyway, enough of that. Let's go meet up with Evelyn, I know she's been worried about you.”

With that, they left town through a gate on the north side, opposite the gate Richard came in.