Chapter Ninety One - 091Fifteen minutes later, Felix found the smithy. A wide but squat building, built of dark, heavy stones, it was unlike the rest of the mostly wooden buildings around them. The roof was tiled with red clay, and a lacquered sign hung from a peg above the door. It featured a series of squiggles below a huge furnace filled with a blazing white flame.
Obvious enough, Felix smiled. If it weren't, the plume of dark smoke rising from a large chimney would have been.
The door opened on well greased hinges, and immediately Felix was hit with a wall of sound. Inside, the air was filled with the scent of char and hot metal, an odd mineral note that Felix couldn't quite place. And it was very warm, at least twenty degrees hotter than the summer air outside. It wasn't uncomfortable to Felix, not exactly, but he was very aware of the heat pressing against him like a big blanket. The one and only room of the smithy was divided into three sections. The first was what Felix would call the customer area, where people like him waited or browsed through a selection of arms and armor along the walls. And there were plenty of those. The left wall had suits of chainmail and scalemail, even a fully articulated set of plate, all made of shiny steel. The right wall was covered in swords, hammers, spears, halberds, and many others that Felix could not name without aid of his Eye.
Two counters divided the room, one on the left and one on the right, each seemingly dedicated to armor or weapons. Beyond them was the real show, where several Dwarves labored over anvils and steaming barrels of liquid. Perhaps six or seven of them were packed into the work area, each focused on some portion of the smithing process. A Dwarven woman, perhaps five feet tall with brilliant red hair, crowed as she lifted a piece of metal from her anvil and stuck it into the large forge in the back. Said forge dominated the entire back of the building. A white fire blazed in its depths, and even from the front of the shop, Felix felt the threat of its heat.
Turning toward the front, the red-haired Dwarf smiled at him. "What can I help you with?"
Felix started, caught staring at the white flames. He smiled in turn and nodded. "I couldn't help noticing your forge. The fire is beautiful."
The Dwarf paused and quirked her head to the side. "That's different than the usual lines I get."
Felix blinked and immediately blushed as he suddenly noticed the smith's fully covered but curvy figure. "What? Oh, no. I'm-uh--"
"You Humans, always so easy to crank up," the Dwarven woman laughed. She waved at him. "Don't worry about it. I could tell you actually appreciate the forge itself, not the sweaty Dwarven gal heaving around hot metal."
She winked at him and Felix decided he wanted to die, just a little. Clearing his throat, he focused on looking anywhere but at her. "I uh, Jacinda sent me to see you. Said you could help me get some armor."
"Jacinda, eh?" A rougher voice came from behind him, and Felix turned to see another Dwarven woman walk into the smithy with a heavy burlap sack. She had dark brown hair and darker eyes, and was even shorter than the redhead. "You got money, right? That old softy is always sendin' us charity cases!"
The burlap sack hit the ground with a muffled thump Felix could feel from six feet away. The dark-haired Dwarf eyed him up and down, clearly not impressed. Felix smiled at her.
"Yes. I have money. Plenty of crowns. I'm--"
"Crowns?" The dark-haired Dwarf grinned, and Felix felt a twang of apprehension over his bond. She eyed him and his clothes up and down, though she frowned a bit at his canvas jacket. "You've money to spare, right? Or did you spend it all on your fancy clothes and satchel?"
"I have--" he narrowed his eyes. "I have enough."
The dark-haired Dwarf laughed, not unkindly. Then she paused. Her eyes were arrested by his feet, and Felix realized she was looking at his Far-Afield Boots. "That metal...how'd a boy barely past level 15 end up with those boots?"
Felix fought hard not to show his surprise. What did she see when she looked at him? He Eyed himself, something he hadn't considered doing before. He felt a strong resistance and naturally didn't push past it.
Name: ???
Race: Human
Level: 15
HP: 194/194
SP: 153/188
MP: 220/220
Lore: Humans are multitudinous on the Continent. They are statistically weaker than most Races, especially at lower levels.
Strength: Stronger than average for level.
Weakness: Slower than average for level.
The amulet doesn't just hide, it gives me a fake ID! That's cool. He was annoyed that he hadn't thought to check before. When he realized the Dwarf was still waiting for an answer, he cleared his throat and thought fast.
"These old things? A dead aunt left them to me. She was crazy but she had some nice things." He smiled and, distantly, he thought he could hear a muffled scream of rage.
"Crazy huh?" The Dwarven smith straightened up and narrowed her eyes at Felix. "She didn't tell you what those were?"
"No? Are they valuable?" Felix played it as dumb as he could. Of course he had no idea of the boots' value, but as a reward for defeating the Maw? They had to be special, somehow. "They're quite comfortable, which is all I care about. Any armor I have I'd like to tailor it around them, if that's possible. Though if you have something better, then..."
Deception is level 6!
"Better?" The smith sputtered before obviously mastering herself. She pursed her mouth and looked to her side, at the redhead, who nodded. "We can figure something out."
"Indeed we can!" Said the redhead brightly, before putting out her hand. Felix shook it, surprised at the gentleness of her grip. "I'm Eldruna, and this hag is Rafny."
The dark-haired Dwarf spat to the side, still eyeing his boots.
Felix smiled and looked around at the room. "Nice to meet you both. You own this place? It's amazing." He pointed to the armor and weapons on the walls. "You made all of this?"
"Oh yes, with our own two hands. I work on armor, while Rafny does the weapons shaping." Eldruna beamed, clearly pleased at his compliments. She gestured to him and pursed her lips. "Do you have an armor Skill? Light Armor Mastery, Medium, like that?"
"Oh, no. Never worn the stuff. Figured I'd change that." Felix shrugged. "Dangerous world out there."
"Never worn--" Rafny raised an eyebrow. "You a mage?"
Felix opened his mouth, paused, and then nodded. "Yeah. More Mana Skills than anything else."
Eldruna frowned, eyeing his shoulders and torso. "Hold still, I just have to..."
Like she's grabbing a handful of air in front of Felix, she tightened her fist and threw it to the ground. A shaky image formed from heat haze and smoke, slowly steadying into a holographic replica. Felix gawked in surprise, and his replica did the same thing. It's like a mirror spell.
"Illusion magic?" He looked to Eldruna, who nodded with a smirk.
"Just a bit. Armorsmithing Skill called Smoke and Mirrors. Quite useful for figure out a customer's needs without all that measuring and changing." She flicked her hands to the side and suddenly illusory Felix was wearing a set of chainmail. "No, that's no good. Metal doesn't quite suit you."
She flicked again, her hands moving through options so fast his double appeared to be wreathed in smoke and flame. Ringmail, scalemail, splintmail, even half-plate and a full set of articulated plate armor. Nothing seemed to satisfy Eldruna's eye. She pelted him with a series of questions ranging from his favorite foods to his flexibility. Each question was clearly of some importance to her, though Felix couldn't tell how. Eventually the questions blurred as much as the illusory options, the late afternoon sunlight filtering in through a high window and distracting him. It reflected off something metal and flashed golden across his eyes, leaving a deep blue afterimage that persisted no matter how he blinked.
He suddenly felt...uneasy, for some reason. As if something were brushing gently against him, something he couldn't see or even really sense. He tried to put it out of his mind, steady himself and listen, but it continued. Lingering. Like a--
"You look strapping, fer a Human. You a Guilder?"
"Hm? What?" he blinked the blue and gold flashes from his eyes and played back what Rafny was asking. "Uh no. I'm not."
"Tch. Shame. Coulda used a Guilder to get us some supplies from the Domain." A steady rasp came from her hands, busy as she was guiding a whetstone along a short sword.
Felix blinked, coming back into the conversation completely. "The what?"
"Domain?" Rafny gave him a lopsided smile. "Big fuck-off lair beneath the city? What, this your first day?"