Black Soul Condor shield prototype 1 field test has been authorized, The Merchant is to find a candidate to sell the shield to.

A single royal spy is to follow the candidate and report their assessment.

“Hello hello hello! I have a wonderful prize I’ve been waiting to sell to you in particular!” The Merchant was an older man, what hair he had left was gray, his skin was loose and heavily blemished, his nose was long and disfigured from being broken after a few too many deals gone wrong.

“I didn’t expect to see you outside of town, old friend! What oddity do you have for me this time?”

The candidate was a younger man, 22 years old, an adventurer, the kingdom looked down on them, but sometimes they had enough uses to either bolster forces or poking around when no one asked and find something worth noting.

“A shield, I don’t know where the seller got it from and he wouldn’t say, but it will block for you! The man sold it to me since he made enough to retire on with this shield on his arm. 80 silver only!” The Merchant slipped it on his arm. The Adventurer swung at the old man and the shield nearly tore his arm out of the socket blocking the strike.

“I guess it does work, you might want to get your arm checked out by a healer though.” he took the shield off of the merchant’s arm and tossed him a pouch with the coins.

The adventurer then set off for his quest, reports of bandits harassing travelers for their coin.

The adventurer took a simple brown cloak from his travel bag and put it on to hide his armor and weapons.

He walked back and forth for nearly a day between the 2 villages that reported the bandits before they struck. He was angry, he wanted to be back at the brothel before it got dark out with a cup of ale by his side, it was dusk and they only now decided to jump him.

They weren’t exactly new at this either, they noticed the way he walked, the bulges on the cloak, they knew he wasn’t just a random traveler. An arrow nearly caught his neck, he raised his arm to block it, the shield increasing his speed.

The adventurer grinned as he felt the shield moving to help protect him, best 80 silver he ever spent, he thought, a knife from a silent and partly cloaked assailant made its way towards his armpit, a common weak point in armor.

He noticed too late, he overextended his spin trying to get a look at them. The shield stopped his momentum and deflected the blow, he felt something sprain in his arm caused by the sudden stop, but it saved his life, he struck the would be assassin with the shield, knocking her out.

Then he chased towards the archer, a young girl maybe 14, filthy, the bandits were sisters.

Their village was lost, caught up in an orc skirmish.

They didn’t have much other than their fathers enchanted cloak and the skills he taught them, the children of adventurers most often end up as another adventurer or a bandit.

He kicked her hard in the chest, she felt blinding pain shoot from her chest, her ill maintained leather chest piece came loose revealing her budding womanly chest. He stood over her with a lustful gaze.

“I guess I might not need to visit the brothel after all.”

She tried to scream but the air had been knocked out of her lungs, he slowly crept towards her, grabbing her leg and pulling her closer to him

“If you’re good I might even let you two go.” he was never going to do such a thing, the bounty was for their heads and proof of banditry.

She pulled a small dagger from its sheath and stabbed it at him, he tried to block it, but the shield pulled at him, sending the dagger deep into his throat, it then unstrapped itself and sat next to the girl.

She breathed a deep painful breath, air finally returning to her lungs, they weren’t punctured at least, he dragged herself over to her older sister, the shield rolling on its edge alongside her like a pet.

Once her sister was awake she panicked seeing her sister covered in blood until she realized it must’ve been from the adventurer.

The younger sister explained what happened, the magic shield saved her for some reason, betraying its master. The older sister tried to put it on her arm, it resisted until the younger asked it to help her sister.

The spy watching the whole thing was in a state of complete disbelief.

He reported every thing that happened and decided to let the shield stay with the girls, it seemed to have grown attached and it was invaluable data.

Soul, I am soul… why am I soul? Piece taken from me, parts given from the one who took.

I must protect… I think I had more, but now I just know protect, protect my new mother who holds me tight… protect sisters? I have sisters? I must have them, need to find them, want to be with sisters.