I gathered all my supplies, which after selling all but one beast core, was not a whole lot, and headed out of the Inn towards the Guild Hall. Yesterday, I noticed that there were many different rooms and shops within the Guild, but since I arrived right before closing, it made the most sense to wait until morning before looking around.
Yet, now with the sun shining on the building, this placed looked fabulous, the outdoor bar and grill as I would call it had gorgeous wood pillars, surrounding the entire left wing of the guild, spanning a good half acre. To the right, I saw a large strip of buildings, resembling this worlds version of a strip mall. Assuming this was my destination, I walked into the center building of the guild office and gave a quick head nod to my pal working the front desk, then took an immediate left, where a set of double doors were. Opening them up, I was amazed to see the bazaar type situation. The place was packed, and the amount of stores seemed to go on for miles.
With no idea who to talk to, I did the obvious, I found the biggest store in the place and walked straight in.
The Obsidian Raven: Blades & Armour.
As I walked in, I could instantly tell I hit the jackpot. Yet, also knowing the price tag would be pretty hefty. With foxface's gold in my pocket, I'm sure I can afford a full set of equipment from here, but the second it dipped into my my own earnings, I was going to look elsewhere. It's like when you go to Vegas and hit it big, you have no problem spending your surplus on stupid things, but not when it goes into your pre vacation money.
Upon this realization, my smile must have been noticeable, as a store clerk came and greeted me. He was a tall muscular man, with a well maintained beard,
'How are you doing, young man?'
'I'm new to adventuring, my focus is on magical beasts, taming and hunting them, I'm looking for a full set, nothing to grand'
I decided to be as direct as possible, before they could pitch me whatever expensive items, to make me feel fine about spending a bunch of gold on something worth 1/100 of the most expensive collections.
The man barked laughing, 'ahh not one for browsing are you? Well then let me know your weapon of choice. I'm Dar by the way, Dar Varrush'
I blinked. I figured this was going to come up, but the truth was, I put some thought into it, yet, I could think of no weapon that would best suit me. Yet I knew plenty of what wouldn't suit me.
'I'm in the market for a new weapon. Let's just say swords and blunt weapons don't suit me.'
'you said you are a beast tamer, not surprised those two types don't suit ya. I'd assume you will sometimes be riding a galant steed into your battles, or fighting a beast twice yer size. My friend you need a polearm. Only type of weapons that will suit your ambitions'
I nodded, I knew about the spear, and the pike as but I wasn't sure about any other kinds.
Dar brought me to a specific section of the store, where a collection a glittering staffs with different heads shone. Varying in materials, gold, bronze, silver, even random metals I couldn't determine. Yet the main difference was the tip. Dar had me try a few out to get an initial fit, and after that, we he then took me through each of the different tips and a few techniques, yet the deeper into the testing we got, the further away I got from feeling comfortable.
I mentioned this to Dar. He just smiled, almost pleased at this point. He seemed glad I was going through each and every weapon they had on display and when I got finished with the last one. He looked at me and said
'I think, I have one in the back, it didn't make the display section, as it wasn't deemed worthy enough but I think it will suit you. '
Dar came back shortly after, holding a pure obsidian staff, about the length of of my lacrosse stick, but that wasn't the only similarity, the shaft was also built in a hexagonal prism. I smiled in delight. I played lacrosse back in high school, it had been years since then but this staff felt just the same. Dar noticed my smile.
'This here, is Ravenrush. An obsidian naginata, and it's my pride and join. I built this myself. The blade is retractable, meaning at first, it seems like a normal short staff made for monks but when the fight turns deadly, you can turn it into a naginata'
Dar inserted a tiny bit of mana into the staff and a blade shot out the top. This was similar to a katana, and when I saw it, I remembered where I heard of this weapon before, it was used by some female samurai. After Dar handed me the weapon, he had we run through a few drills, and this weapon felt perfect in my hands. After trying a varying amount of different weapons, I knew I'd pay the entire 30 gold for this weapon.
'I'll take her; Ravenrush. What's the damage.'
'Son, I was not telling you the entire truth earlier, this is a weapon from the back, but it was one I crafted myself. A while back, one of my daughter's asked me to build her a weapon just like this before she went off on her own journey. Ever since then, I had been spending a few hours a week working to make one that surpasses her original. I'm not contracted by the store, so I can't sell any items through it. But you said you are looking for a full set. If you wouldn't mind spending some gold on it, I'd throw in the weapon free of charge.'
The price tag on a few of these weapons were in the 50 gold range, this may be of lower quality but it still would have been atleast 30 gold I would have guessed. Atleast in this market.
'I have 30 gold to spend, if you can find me some light armor that matches the staff, for under that price, you got yourself a deal'
' I know just the thing' in a way that made it seem like this man had just played me for a fool.
Yet when he returned, I was extremely impressed, he brought out a full set of light armor, which was still on a mannequin, into view, and started to become the avid merchant, I knew him to be. The armor was dark gray, almost black just like the staff he had just sold me, but it also had specks of green running throughout it. Siya pointed this out to be the color of admantite. An extremely rare and magical metal.
'This right here is the best deal we have in town, it's been on the shelf for a while, so the owner marked it down. It will run you exactly 30 gold, all of Foxfeet's bets, if the rumors are true, which judging by the number of times I heard it, odds are it is.'
Ahh this was Dars angle, he was trying to get a high commission off of me, and I'd be damned if I wasn't gonna have atleast some give back.
'So you heard about that huh? I guess the raven on my shoulder was a dead give away? Was the staff, actually named Ravenrush?'
Dar nodded enthusiastically, of course, I even carved the name and my signature onto the bottom, which he showed me. This made me trust him again. Dar was a good guy and if this blade was as fierce as he was a sales man, I'd be happy.
'I'll take the armor, but i want you to throw in a little something extra, for not being completely honest to a future long term customer,' I smiled
'Let's hear it'
' I want you to make a miniature staff, for my partner, Ronin, and maybe a robe and hate to go along with it' I then pointed to my mouse friend, who was standing on had been standing on his hind legs checking out all this store had to offer.
Dar was unfazed by this request. He smiled some more.
'You got yourself a deal, I got a room in the guild, room 405. It's a good sized room, and even allows me space to work. Come on over in about an hour and I'll have the gear for your mouse, and I'll clean the staff for you as well. Your my first true customer, besides my close friends and family. I'll gladly take the request to outfit a beast companion. I got one myself. You will meet him later. Now let's get you cashed out for that armor.