Nora hurried up to the Church's entrance, her cloak drawn close and her breath forming small puffs of mist.

A Clergyman from the Church of Vi'Radia, judging from his cassock, approached her with a smile and asked, "How may the Church illuminate your path today?"

"I understand that the Church offers a service to exchange higher leveled mana crystals for lower?" Nora asked quietly.

"We do," the priest replied, his keen eyes running over the embroidery of her cloak, before giving her a quick nod of his head, "if you'll follow me, I can show you to the Bursar; she'll be more than happy to help you."

Nora followed as the priest led her into one of the side doors in the entryway and then up a short flight of stairs.

She tried to control her nervousness as she kept up with the priest down a long hallway.

Although they didn't revere any particular diety, her family was reasonably pious, each member of the family being allowed their own choice in the matter.

Her grandfather frequented the Church with some regularity, as did her eldest brother, and she didn't want to run into either of them.

At the end of the hallway were a set of stairs leading both higher and back to the ground floor, as well as a door, where the priest rapped sharply, waited a moment, then opened the door and beckoned her in.

"If you've further need of me, I'll be at the door where we met," he assured her, then closed the door behind him as he left, leaving Nora alone to face the Bursar.

"Good morning, and Alm's blessing on you," the Bursar looked up from a ledger and smiled warmly, "how may I serve you?"

Nora felt herself relax.

Of course, the Bursar would be a priestess of Alm, the goddess of Charity.

"I have some higher-level mana crystals that I'd like to exchange for lower-level ones," Nora replied.

"The Church can certainly aid you in this endeavor," the priestess gestured towards a chair in front of the desk, "sit down, and we'll have you sorted soon enough."

Nora sat down primly, with her hands in her lap.

"I'm Carila," the priestess said, "and I'm currently serving as the Bursar for the Church."

"I'm Nora," Nora replied.

"You've my promise of anonymity in this matter if you can swear by Veritas that you didn't come by the crystals you wish to exchange by dishonest means," Carila offered with a smile.

"I swear by Veritas that I didn't come by these crystals dishonest means," Nora replied with a touch of indignation as she placed her pouch on the desk.

Carila looked at a holy symbol that was embedded into the surface of the desk and smiled.

She caught Nora's questioning look and said, "Had you not been telling the truth, the Holy Symbol of Veritas would have illuminated."

Nora nodded slowly.

"A well thought out precaution," Carila said, "it prevents any from accusing the Church of accepting stolen or ill-gained crystals."

Carila opened the pouch on the desk and shook out the crystals before carefully separating them into stacks of ten, pausing to inspect each one.

A few long moments later, she looked up at Nora and smiled calmly, "I swear by Veritas that Nora has presented me with one hundred and eighteen mana crystals, each one the same level, that being forty-five."

The holy symbol remained inert.

"I swear by Veritas that I'm not going to eat dessert this evening," Carila said with a smile, and the holy symbol glowed red for a moment.

"Just a demonstration," she said, "to show how it works."

Nora smiled back at her. Carila had a warm, easy manner that made her easy to like.

"We offer a ten percent increase in valuation for the level of a crystal above ten," Carila said, "so each of these crystals is worth three point five lower-level crystals, which you'll find vary between level one and level six for the most part."

"So," Carila continued, "you'll receive four hundred and thirteen crystals gross, minus the twenty percent tax to the King, so three hundred and thirty net."

Nora nodded. She was well aware of the King's tax in the city, her mother and father often having debated it over supper.

Carila withdrew four pouches from her desk, counting thirty mana crystals out of one before replacing it in a different drawer.

"I swear by Veritas that these three pouches before me contain one hundred mana crystals each, none of them higher level than ten," Carila said.

The holy symbol remained dull and lifeless.

Carila pushed the thirty crystals and the three pouches towards Nora before placing the one hundred and eighteen level forty-five crystals into a wooden box.

"I swear by Veritas that I have exchanged one hundred and eighteen lawfully obtained level forty-five mana crystals for three hundred and thirty mana crystals of levels ten and lower, in accordance with the Church of Harbordeep's official exchange rate, and rendering unto the King the value of twenty-percent of the transaction," Carila intoned.

"And there we have it," she said cheerfully as she removed another ledger from the desk, wrote on the first empty line, and then tucked it back away.

"Mind you spend them well and wisely," Carila smiled and gestured towards the door, "now off to breakfast with you, I can practically hear your stomach rumbling."

Nora blushed and took up the pouches and the loose crystals, storing them in her cloak.

"Thank you," Nora said, and she hurried out the door. Her stomach was protesting the lack of breakfast.

~ ~ ~ ~

Nora strode down the boulevard, grateful for each cross street she passed as the sun streamed up the streets from the harbor to warm the city.

Bob had said that there were two armors directly on the Boulevard near the gate, and she hurried down the boulevard to reach them. She still had a bit more than an hour, but she was worried that she might be cutting it close.

She didn't want to show up without armor, though.

Nora kept up with the bustling flow of traffic as people headed out to get a start on their day.

Fifteen minutes later, she'd neared the wall, and she could see a shop with a mural depicting armor of various designs on the walls and warm light emanating from its windows.

She quickly stepped into the shop and let out a sigh of relief as warm air embraced her.

"Good morning, miss," a middle-aged woman, short and round but with corded muscles on her exposed forearms, called out as she rounded the sales counter and approached her.

"Welcome to Ulrick's Armory," she said with a smile as she looked Nora over, "I'm Marie, and you're my first customer of the day."

She gestured to the shop and asked, "How can I help you this brisk morning?"

Nora glanced around the shop, following Marie's gesture.

Suits of armor were displayed on wooden racks all around, a riot of color, with varying designs, some made of scales, some of leather, and some of bronze.

"I'm here for a suit of armor," Nora said hesitantly.

"Of course you are, dear," Marie said with a light laugh, "you'll find little else here," her smile was warm, and her laugh pleasant, "what type do you prefer, light, medium, or heavy," she gestured in turn to a suit of leather, a suit of scale, and a suit of bronze.

"I'd think leather," Nora replied, not at all sure about that.

Bob had said she needed armor, but he'd not mentioned what kind, although he had worn leather.

"Certainly," Marie nodded towards her. She said, "you've the look of a spellcaster about you, all slender and lovely as you are," she laughed again flexed her arms, "sometimes when I look in the mirror, I'd wish that I'd not chosen so much strength and endurance," she dropped her hands to pat her stomach," and lowered her voice to a loud whisper, "but my husband loves me regardless. He's always ready for a tumble, so I can't complain."

She ushered Nora over to a section of the store that displayed several styles and colors of leather armor, missing the blush that stole over Nora's face at the mention of Marie and her husband taking a 'tumble.'

She knew that the common man held with less decorum than the Nobility, but this was the first time she'd heard someone, and a woman no less, joke about their sex lives.

"Now," Marie said as she turned to place both Marie and the armor in her field of view, "let's have that cloak off so that I can get a good look at you unless you know your measurements?"

Nora shook her head and shrugged off her cloak, folding it and holding it in her hands.

"Ah, you're a light one," Marie said as she scrutinized Nora before moving up to the racks of armor and pulling two sets forward.

"These would fit with the least amount of alteration," Marie said as she gestured towards them, "although none of them would need let out, so you needn't worry that tailoring them to fit would cost additional material."

"But taking them in would add time, and I know you Adventurers, always busy," Marie smiled.

Nora looked over the two suits.

"It matters not which one, all of our basic leather armor is forty crystals, but you should always choose one whose looks please you," Marie said.

One was a sky blue on the breastplate, pauldrons, and boots, with light gray on the exposed sleeves and legs, while the other was a light yellow splashed with bright orange in a star pattern on the breastplate, and bands of the same on the boots and pauldrons.

"I think the blue," Nora said.

"A good choice, although," Marie winked at her, "there's no such thing as a bad choice here at Ulrick's."

Marie quickly stripped the armor from the rack and headed towards the counter, leaving Nora to follow.

"What enchantments and of what level would you like on the suit?" she called over her shoulder as she laid out the armor on the counter.

"None," Nora said quietly.

"What?" Marie looked up and blinked, pausing from loosening a buckle.

"I'm not yet level one, so they'd do me little good," Nora explained with a blush.

"What do you need armor for if you've not taken a path yet?" Marie asked in astonishment.

"I'm going to be Shepherded to level five," Nora said, "and the Shepherd said I ought to have armor."

Marie gasped, and the armor slid from her hands and fell to the counter as she raised her hands to cover her mouth.

She leaned over the counter and lowered her hands as she quietly whispered, "A real, honest Guild Shepherd?"

Nora nodded slowly, wondering at Marie's sudden change in behavior.

"Here, in Harbordeep?" Marie asked, her voice rising back to normal volume.

"He just registered last night," Nora said, "and he's going to Shepherd me this morning, so I hope to have the armor sorted quickly."

"Just you?" Marie asked quickly, "And you said you've not taken your first level yet?"

"Yes, just me, and no, I've not," Nora said.

"Gods be praised," Marie exclaimed, "how much is he charging you?"

"Five crystals an hour, so twenty crystals," Nora responded uneasily.

She wasn't certain where this line of questioning was leading, but she was getting nervous.

Marie shook her head and smiled before turning her attention back to the armor, her hands falling into practiced motion as she unbuckled straps.

"A real Shepherd," Marie shook her head although she sounded happy, "there hasn't been a shepherd in Harbordeep since my grandfather's youth."

"Alright," Marie had finished unbuckling straps, "I'm going to hazard a guess, meaning no offense, that you've never worn armor before?"

"I haven't," Nora replied, eyeing the complicated buckles and straps with trepidation.

"Well then, follow me 'round the changing curtain then," Marie laughed again, "wouldn't want some lad walking in here and swooning if he saw you half-dressed."

Marie led her to a room made of hung cloth, and Nora hesitantly took off her dress.

"Alright, so the first thing to know is that you never want to tighten your straps until you've gotten the whole lot on you," Marie explained as she showed Nora how to slide the chest plate on, followed by the pants, which buckled up and inside of the chest plate, then the sleeves, which did the same, and the pauldrons, which buckled atop the chest and the sleeves, and finally the boots and gloves, both of which buckled onto the pants and sleeves, respectively.

The helmet was another story, as her voluminous curls refused to compress enough to allow her to force it onto her head.

"You've such lovely hair, dear," Marie said after they'd both given up on the task, "but I'm afraid I'll need to tailor this helmet a bit."

"I can have it sorted for you by tomorrow morning," Marie said as she led Nora back to the counter.

Marie frowned as she saw that Nora was holding her dress and her cloak.

"You can shrug your cloak back on, but it seems to me that you've no pack or satchel," Marie said.

"I don't," Nora confessed, "can I buy one here?"

Marie nodded and walked back behind the bronze armor display before returning with a sky blue satchel that matched her armor.

"Another two crystals for that, which will see you at forty-two crystals total, fifty-one after the King's tax," Marie said.

Nora nodded and counted out fifty-one mana crystals from a pouch she withdrew from her cloak.

"Now hurry along; you'll likely want breakfast before you start your delve this morning," Marie said.

"I should have enough time; thank you so very much for the armor and showing me how to wear it," Nora said, stuffing her dress into her satchel and giving Marie a smile as she turned to head out of the shop.

"Be careful, and come back when you're ready to have the armor enchanted!" Marie called out.

As Nora exited the shop, she heard Marie exclaim, "Orson! Come up front; you need to get armored up, there is a Guild Shepherd in Harbordeep!"

She shook her head. Bob's status as a Shepherd would already be posted in the Guild, so others knowing wasn't any real concern.

As a ray of sunlight struck her face, she smiled, noting that her armor was quite a bit warmer than her dress, and hurried back up the boulevard, eager for a bite of breakfast before she went into the Dungeon.