Finally something goes right today. His step was a little lighter as he made his way to the armorsmith in town. He could pick up the rest of the quests at the board at any time, but he wanted to get some better armor as soon as possible. A few of the quests would send him back into the planes and he wanted to be as ready as possible.

The last time he’d been in Grassmere, he’d bought all of his armor from a little old man that had been the armorsmith of that instance. Ethan wasn’t sure what type of NPC he’d find at the forge, but with how eclectic the ones he’d met so far had been, he was sure it was bound to be another memorable encounter. Doesn’t really matter what they’re like, I just need to get some gear and move on.

The ringing of metal striking metal greated him as he approached the open building that was the armorsmith. A tall woman with a hammer in her left hand struck a piece of metal as she formed what looked to be a glowing metal breastplate. BANG...bang bang...BANG...bang bang...BANG...bang bang. The beat of her hammer was rhythmic.

“Excuse me.” The smith didn’t look up from her work at Ethan’s call, she just kept hammering. BANG...bang bang...BANG...bang bang.

“EXCUSE ME!” Ethan yelled louder to make sure he was heard this time over her hammering.

She looked up at him, heavy goggles covering her eyes. She nodded as she turned and quenched the armor in a liquid bath. Steam whistled out and tongues of flame shot out of the basin as the metal rapidly cooled down. She inspected the breast plate as she placed it on her anvil.

“Yeah, what do you want?” The Smith asked as she took off her goggles, revealing cleaner skin that had been protected from the soot while she was working. She wore a heavy brown leather apron over a smock with long leather sleeves. Ethan noticed her left arm looked slightly bulkier under the sleeve than her right.

“Ummm… I’m looking to buy some armor.” He was friendly in his approach as he looked to buy some gear.

“No kidding? I thought you might be here looking for a cooking lesson.” Her rough demeanor caught him off guard. Usually the entire town was friendly to players. Of course he hadn’t been in this position for a while and changes might have been patched in.

“Yeah, no, looking for armor.” He wasn’t sure how to respond to her question.

“What kind you need?” She continued to glare at him.

“Ummm…” Ethan hadn’t actually thought about it. He knew he could wear anything from his class proficiencies, but also the subclasses seemed to favor types other than heavy.

“Are you just here to waste my time?” She looked like she was starting to get angry with him. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable under her piercing stare.

“You know what, do you have like a catalogue or a list of what you have that I could look through? I can see you’re very busy and I don’t want to take up too much of your time.” Ethan had swallowed his growing unease and now just wanted to get her in a more hospitable mood.

She just sighed with exasperation and pointed angrily at a large book on a table to her right.

“Thanks.” He walked over to the book and opened it. Immediately the familiar vendor window opened in his view. It was nothing more than a list of the different armor she had available with prices, quality and armor values.

Ethan took a second to browse through the list of chain mail, scale mail, and plate. She had armor for every slot he could equip and thanks to the lucrative bonus quest he’d found, he could afford most of it. It was only slightly better than his starting gear, but every little bit helped at his low level.

He browsed slowly, time slowed down when players were viewing vendors wares in a town. He could still see her scowling at him though.

While he was looking he pulled up the subclass descriptions. Both of the DPS specs seemed to favor a lighter armor type. Weapon Master looked like it wanted the player to be faster and Battle Rager gave bonuses to speed if he wasn’t wearing full plate. Something to think about in the future. It does say I can wear some heavy armor and still get the bonus so that’s nice.

Ethan decided on what he wanted, but dismissed the trade window without purchasing. Time returned to its normal flow and he prepared to ask a question to the imposing woman.

“You don’t carry any leather armor do you? You just have heavy armor?”

“Do I look like I carry leather armor? Does it look like I have a fucking sewing needle on my work bench? You want leather armor you go to the fucking tanner down the road.” She roared at him, finishing her statement with an exaggerated gesture out the door.

Ethan was now fully terrified of this NPC. He doubted she could actually hurt him, but he wasn’t willing to take that risk.

He quickly brought up the vendor UI again and made a few rapid selections. Plate spaulders, bracers and greaves appeared in his inventory as 4 silver was deducted from his currency.

“Ummm.. thanks I’ll just, just be on my way now.” Ethan stumbled as he escaped the smith’s forge as quickly as he could. She just grunted at him and pulled her googles back on as she returned to her work.

Shaken by the exchange, Ethan walked quickly up the dirt road. He knew where the tanner was located so he didn’t need any directions, he just hoped that the tanner would be more pleasant to deal with than the Smith had been.

The Tannery was located a short distance from any other building on the strip. When he walked inside, the smell of curing leather hit him like a brick wall. Clearly, this was the reason for the isolation. A bell jingled as he opened the door.

“Good afternoon! I’ll be right with you.” A female voice called from the back.

A small woman with short black hair came into the room from a door that led outside. Her hands and her clothes were stained dark, presumably from the dyes and chemicals she used in her work. She even had a smudge on her face like she’d accidentally wiped her face with a dye covered hand.

“What can I get for you today?” She smiled up at him, her demeanor already completely opposite from the smith.

“Hello. I just came from the armorsmith and she suggested this was the place to go for leather armor.” Ethan already felt more welcome in this store, despite the awful smell.

“Oh, Linda? She’s awful. I hope she wasn’t too rude to you.”

Ethan just nodded, still a little shell shocked from the earlier encounter.

“I’m sorry honey.” She looked genuinely apologetic at what she assumed he’d been through. “Well, my name is Gloria. Look around and if you have any questions I’ll be glad to help you.” She pointed at a similar book to what Linda the Smith had had on her own table.

Ethan opened the book, again bringing up the UI and the slower flow of time. He already knew what he was looking for and didn’t have to take too much time in making his selections.

“I think this is going to be everything.” He’d bought leather body armor with short sleeves, fingerless gloves with studs on the knuckles, a new battle harness, a better belt and a new kilt. She didn’t have anything for his helm slot so he was still missing a piece of armor. But if he had picked Battle Shaman he’d be considered wearing mostly medium armor and would get the higher speed bonus.

It cost him double what he’d spent at the amorsmith but since he was only getting leather armor it was more cost efficient.

“Okay deary.” She took his hand in hers and patted it in a motherly fashion. It reminded Ethan of his own mother and a knife twisted inside of him as he remembered her coming birthday. “You come back if you need anything else.”

Ethan thanked her as he left her shop, slightly glad to be able to breathe fresh air again.

His next stop was the tailor. He just needed some simple undergarments. His starting underwear wasn’t particularly comfortable, just simple cloth briefs. He had always been a boxer guy in real life. Even with the soft fur lining he knew his leather armor would begin to chafe after some time wearing it.

The sun was starting to set as he made his way to the last vendor he needed to visit that day. A familiar metal ringing echoed from the building he approached. BANG..bang bang..BANG.. bang bang...BANG... bang bang. Ethan was already hoping the weaponsmith would be more friendly than Linda the armorsmith had been.

A short, lanky man looked up from his anvil as he walked into the shop. His arms were so thin, Ethan was amazed he could swing a hammer at all.

“Just a minute sir, I’m just about done here.” The smith returned to the blade he’d been working on, hammered a couple more times and quenched it. Ethan was already reminded of his interaction earlier.

The man set down his hammer and tongs, took off his heavy gloves and approached him.

“Name’s Caldwell. I’m assuming you’re in need of a new weapon?” Caldwell dusted the cold iron flakes from his hands and apron and reached out to shake Ethan’s hand.

“Yep that's what I’m here for.” He smiled, this Smith was much friendlier than the woman from earlier.

“Excellent! Now what’ll it be?” Caldwell looked him over appraisingly, “I see you’ve already got an axe, might you be wanting a better one or are you thinking about a completely different weapon?”

Ethan hesitated. He hadn’t actually thought about it. He’d used a heavy hammer as a Paladin, but he didn’t particularly want to swing a massive iron hammer. A sword could be fun, he thought about carving his way through his enemies. But, on the other hand, he’d felt powerful with his great axe. The feeling of the axe head crushing the wolves he’d fought earlier came back to him and he realized that an axe was exactly what he wanted. Strangely, using a one handed weapon, or a pair of one handed weapons, didn’t even occur to him.

“I think I’ll go with an axe.” He was confident in his choice.

“Excellent, well look in the book and pick out the one that speaks to you.” Caldwell gestured to another similar tome to what the last vendors had had.

Time dilation in effect, Ethan looked through the axes. It didn’t take him long to find exactly what he wanted. A single bladed battle axe. The head had a slightly curved blade almost a foot and a half in length with a triangular four inch spike sticking out the backside. As soon as he saw it, he knew it was the weapon for him. At 5 Silver it ate most of what he’d gotten earlier in the day, but it was a nice upgrade for him. He knew his guild didn’t have anything in their vault that he could use when he got to town so this was an investment he could rely on.

With his last remaining silver he bought a stack of 10 more throwing axes. They weren’t a huge upgrade over the ones he already had, but if or when he lost those at least he’d have back ups.

Right as he hit accept on his purchases golden light shone from his axe and air whooshed around him.

“Ahhhh. You’re a lucky young man. That axe got upgraded as you bought it.” Caldwell looked positively giddy at what he’d just sold.

Ethan inspected his new weapon:

Frozen Battle Axe

Quality: Magic (crafted)

10-18 damage

2-4 cold damage

Durability 80/80

5% chance to slow target on hit

His jaw dropped open. He hadn’t even heard of weapon upgrades proccing like this in the starting town. He knew it could happen in Startesgarde or any of the other larger towns. This axe was now worth at least quadruple what he’d paid for it. Combined with the necklace he’d gotten, he was certainly stronger than he’d ever been starting.

Unlike his armor, Ethan wasted no time in equipping his new weapon. A white mist seemed to fall from the axe head and he hooked it into his harness.

“Thank you, so much.” He stammered out a thank you to the shorter man, still in awe of his luck.

“Ah, ‘twas not a thing. Must a been the will o’ the gods that blessed you with that beauty.” Caldwell bowed his head at the invocation of religion. “Now you be off, I bet you’re aching to blood the blade.”

Darkness had fallen and the lanterns had been lit in the street. Ethan passed the message board that he knew had a stockpile of quests he needed to start, but he was hungry and wanted to get back to Ye Olde Dog and Pony for some dinner.