“The missus got ya whipped good, ha.” Jabs Kerrith, the aging dragonkin butcher somehow cheerfully energetic despite the early hour. I roll my eyes at the man as he packs up the cuts of pork and bundles of sausage that Sierri sent me to retrieve. She’s making breakfast for the both of us, so I bravely volunteered to gather the few missing ingredients. Even if that means enduring the snow and repeated insinuations that we’re a married couple, I’ve long given up trying to correct them.
They never listen anyway.
“I think it’s lovely that you run errands for your wife. My dear certainly tries, but he’s quite forgetful.” Agnes cuts in, giving the man a consoling rub on his back as he sighs and shakes his head.
“I don’t forget that often.” He pouts as he finishes tying up the cloth bundle and sliding it across the counter of his stall to me. I fish out a few silvers to pay as I spot his kids darting past the hanging meat and crates piled up in the back of the open shop.
“You forget a lotta things dad.” Chimes in their oldest judging by the foot he has over his sibling.
“Mhm mhm. Like the twine and the nails and the bread and and and ummm… and lots of stuff!” Rambles the smaller one as he bounces around his father with unrestrained energy.
“Oof, I guess I do huh. Well what can ya do.” He shrugs with a rueful smile, pocketing my coins while he ruffles the little one’s hair.
“Would love to stay and chat, but I have to get back soon. See you around.” I rush out, hoping to avoid getting pulled into a long conversation while freezing my non-existent tail off, though I have the good sense to wave goodbye to Agnes and the children.
“Bye miss Miirx.” I hear in chorus from the kids.
“Goodbye Dear.”
While turning on my heels and holding the bundle tight against me, I’m able to catch the start of a very awkward question before bouncing out of earshot. “Hey mom, if there are two moms, which one has the baby?”
Bits of frost have started collecting in my hair by the time I spy the steep grey slate of Sierri’s roof. Jorn had stopped me outside the markets to update me on my woodworking order and I got distracted catching up with Lydia since I haven’t been by the tavern in ages.
I must have run into half the neighborhood on my way back.
There’s no real rush since neither of us work on Sol’s Day, but I’ve most certainly missed out on Sierri’s cute waking mumbles by this hour.
“Having fun out in the snow?” I hear her call out as I push open the heavy wooden door and cross into the warm and divine scent of freshly baked bread. A slight squeak of the hinges has me adding a mental note to oil them onto the never ending list of maintenance tasks I keep.
“Fun and snow don’t belong in the same sentence.” I grumble as I shake the ice out of my hair and hang up my cloak. “Was catching up with old friends, did you know Sarah started apprenticing to be a baker? I swear she was no taller than my knees just yesterday.”
I’ve just finished getting my boots off when I see her adorable face poke out of the kitchen doorway. Her hair is a mess and there’s traces of flour on her apron and cheeks, a sure sign she rolled right out of bed and into baking.
An idea must have popped into her head that she couldn’t get out.
“Have you got the sausages? I want to make biscuits and sausage gravy, it’s all the rage along Midland’s coast this season.” She asks, but it takes a moment for my brain to catch up as I’m stuck on admiring how beautiful she is when focused on something. “Liz? You there?”
“Ah, sorry a pretty woman distracted me.” She rolls her eyes, but I can’t help but smirk at the small bashful smile that goes along with it. “Yup I got your things right here.”
After handing over the package I settle myself against the kitchen wall, warming my chilled bones by the oven fire while occasionally fetching an item or two for Sierri as she whirls around the kitchen space. As I watch her settle into a rhythm my mind wanders over to the previous day and the king’s ransom worth of legendary metal I was gifted. There are so many designs and so little material to work with that I have trouble deciding on what to make, but eventually my thoughts catch on one. An interlocking set of full plate armor, starting with the simpler pieces to get a feel for working with the metal. Reading up on how to work with it will only get me so far.
“Looks like you’ve got plans for today.” Sierra says, suddenly appearing in front of my face with a wooden bowl of food and a subtle smirk.
Was I lost in my head for that long?
“Ah, yea it seems that way.” I respond while rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly. Her smirk transforms into a wide grin as she shoves the bowl into my hands and gives me a quick peck on the cheek.
“Well go on then, we both know that’s all you’re going to be able to think about. Just return my dish after you wash it.” Quickly shifting the food to one hand I wrap her waist with my other, leaning in to give a deep kiss to the giggling woman that borders on heating up a bit too much before we finally part lips.
“Love you, and I absolutely will.” The words spilling out from me as I quickly make for the front door.
“Love you too, have fun!” Sierri shouts from the other room as I try to figure out how to get everything back on with one hand before realizing I can just put the food down. I practically sprint out the door before finally getting a good look and sniff of the meal she made for me, almost immediately regretting not sitting down to eat. Browned bits of sausage in a thick smooth white gravy give an intoxicating scent of spice and meat that mixes perfectly with the fluffy buttery biscuits. I have to hold back untoward noises as I speed down the cobblestone streets toward my forge, indulging in the hearty breakfast. It almost makes a gal wish she’d learned to cook, but I was always more partial to molding metal over dough so it was simply not my path to take.
I wonder if Sierri ever has these thoughts.
An image of the small dragonkin woman stabbing someone with a knife and admiring how sharp it is comes unbidden into my mind, eliciting an amused snort from me.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
By the time I’ve made it through the winding market district to my forge my entire focus has shifted back to crafting the perfect armor and it’s a miracle I remembered to clean out my dish before I started. The fires of my furnace blaze to life in an inferno of heat as I set the enchantments to the hottest temperatures, enough to melt stone and any mundane metal in moments. Immediately I run into my first issue, the bars take far too long to heat up and refuse to stay white hot for long. To make matters worse when I do start to hammer out a form it’s like working with cold steel, resisting every attempt to shape it. I suddenly understand why my ascendant bonus included an additional four strength, I’ll need it to work with materials of this caliber.
Where once I played the part of dragon, now I must become one. My roars shake the foundations as I hammer with all of my might, several anvils splitting open throughout the process. The air is blistering and cuts through my innate resistance as sweat evaporates in an instant. I even have to move my quenching barrel outside the space before it ignites from the ambient temperature. Every strike of every piece is meticulously planned out in advance, as much as can be with the razor thin time limit. All of the sections have to be worked on simultaneously to keep them hot, rotating them through the furnace as I move from piece to piece.
The finer details and runes threaten to break my sanity, no lathe will survive contact with the adamant and my enchanted mithril tools shatter against the metal. My first creation ends up being a chisel purely out of necessity and even then the amount of force needed for the smallest dent is enormous. Etching precisely while hammering like I'm breaking down a castle wall requires a level of concentration that strains my mind.
As I near the finish for several parts I start on the most dangerous step. The final quench has to be done with a specific mixture of oil and greater acid elemental essence which has me downing health potions to survive the explosive and lethal flames. Without this step the metal will remain raw adamant rather than the indestructible adamantine.
With the metal curing I'm now on the tightest time limit of the entire process. Once it sets, any imperfection will become permanent, yet if I rush I risk marring the finish. Not yet being impervious does not make it easy to work with either and even my enchanted Starstone wheels are ground down more than the metal. It all becomes worth it as I finish polishing the final piece knowing I’ve made something truly amazing. The heavy weight of divinity presses down to bless my work as if in agreement.
It’s a masterpiece, from the elegantly curved great helm to the painstakingly smoothed polish of the obsidian black metal plates. I’m afraid to even identify it, to have it be judged by the divines, but I gather my courage and do.
Guardian Angel - +5 Adamantine Fullplate
Blessed by the god of crafting himself Barthias, this legendary Adamantine armor was forged by the Divine Armorsmith Eliza Maugth Miirx in the fires of Dragonforge pass. It offers unparalleled protection to the wearer and the ability to escape death’s grasp. Once per day when the wearer would be brought below one health they are instead reduced to one health.
Armor Class Bonus: +11
Dexterity Cap: 0
Check Penalty: -3
Speed Penalty: Medium
Strength Bonus Req: +4
Category: Heavy
Group: Plate
Damage Reduction: 15
I’m stunned by the description, a plus five is the realm of fairy tales and artifacts, not to mention the ability to survive an otherwise lethal blow.
Flat damage reduction is a property of adamantine, but I’ve never seen an amount as high as fifteen before, not to mention it being all damage types. How will I even sell this thing? Should I even sell this? No, something like this could only be gifted to someone I truly believed would deserve it.
Having finished my creation with a feeling of immense satisfaction, the entirety of the day’s fatigue I'd been holding back crashes down on me. I’d been working non-stop since the sun came up and I could feel it in the stinging pain in my muscles and the heavy droop of my eyes. I doubted I would even make it to my house to sleep, let alone Sierri’s, so instead I dragged myself and my new armor into the storage area where I had a small cot set up for days like these. Dropping myself down into the soft cotton I rested my eyelids for only a moment and then I was out.
“Liz! Wake up!” I rouse to the muffled sounds of Sierri’s frantic shouting, barely raising my head as my tired eyes stayed stubbornly shut.
“Sierri? what’s going on?” My tired voice grumbles out, pushing in as much volume as I can so she’ll hear. The flicker of light breaks in as the door swings open and I see a harried and panicked Sierri catching her breath while leaning on the door frame. Her expression sends a jolt through me, bringing me to attention in an instant as I hop up out of my bed. She crosses the room in a hurry and slams into me in a desperate hug that squeezes me tight.
Something is terribly wrong here.
“Skypeaks soldiers!” She cries out, her face still buried in my chest as if she’s worried I’ll disappear if she lets go. “We’re under attack, I barely made it here in one piece. Liz they killed Kerrith, he-he was right next to me and then-”
She doesn’t finish her sentence, just grips me tighter in her arms. Even though I know what she’s saying, my brain refuses to comprehend it, refuses to believe someone I’d been talking to only this morning is suddenly gone. Slain by a soldier that shouldn’t be anywhere near here, let alone inside of the city. I feel hands grasp either side of my face and I look down to see Sierri staying right into my eyes, fear and sadness, but more than that determination. There’s no need to ask what she’s planning, I already know, she didn’t just come here to check on me though a part of me wants that to be the case. Regardless of what my disbelieving brain thinks, there’s only one course of action I know I must take and with a quick peck on the lips we break and fly into action. My first thought is to get her outfitted in the adamantine armor, the best possible protection I have, though there’s one major issue.
“Liz, sweetie, that’s not a me-sized armor.” She says incredulously as I drag it over to her, the armor having well over a foot on her height. There are adjustments, but she’s right, it’s so far outside her build that she wouldn’t be able to wear it at all and the only thing I can do is curse myself for lack of foresight. I can only hope that the enchanted mithril plate armors are enough to protect her, fortunately several are well within her measurements.
We take turns helping each other equip our plate armors before I gather two particularly nasty swords from my storage for us. In all it took maybe five minutes, but both of us know that’s five minutes too long with people’s lives at stake. I run a quick once over to see if there’s anything in my status that could help me.
Eliza Maughth Miirx
Class: 10 Smith / 10 Master Smith / 1 Divine Armorsmith
Race: Half-Human / Half-Dragonkin
XP: 122,000 / 480,000
HP: 194 / 194
AC: 42
Attack Bonus: 7
STR: 25 | +7
DEX: 13 | +0 (Armor Penalty)
CON: 16 | +3
INT: 18 | +4
WIS: 10 | +0
CHA: 11 | +0
Fortitude: 32
Willpower: 21
Reflex: 29
Skill Bonus
Arcana: 31
Athletics: 31
Crafting (Smithing): 56
Lore: 25
Traits:
Ascendant (Divine Armorsmith)
Fire Resistant 5/- (Racial Trait)
Darkvision 30ft (Racial Trait)
Feats:
Crafter:Smith (Novice / Apprentice / Journeyman / Master / Legend)
Magical Imbuement Weapon (+1/+2/+3)
Magical Imbuement Armor (+1/+2/+3/+4/+5)
Enchant Armor (Common / Uncommon / Rare / Very Rare / Legendary)
Enchant Weapon (Common / Uncommon / Rare)
Equipment:
Guardian Angel - +5 Adamantine Fullplate
Flametongue - +3 Mithril Longsword
Not a single combat feat.
For the first time in my life I’m regretting putting everything I have into smithing, but there’s no point in dwelling on it. I’ll just have to trust my equipment and enormous strength.