Greimalk
Newbie
Tal walks slowly through the gloom towards the distant flames. He hears the booming of the craftsman at his forge, creating some new piece of armor or weapon with his worn hammer. Sweat dripping from his feathers in the immense heat, Tal steps within the circle of light cast by the mighty fire of the forge. He spies skilled Hamish raining thunderous blows upon the blazing red steel of a fine new longsword. As the last rolling crash of his hammer falls, Hamish looks toward the shadow standing at the edge of his molten world with a silent question in his eye's.
"I do not mean to disturb your labors my good friend Hamish, but I would speak with you about a interesting request"
Sweat running down his bare arms, he waves Tal toward his scarred work bench as he plunges the glowing sword into the quenching bath. Wiping his scarred hands upon a nearby cloth, he moves casually to the bench, not once uttering a sound. Tal draws forth from the shadows of his cloak a small cloth wrapped item and places it on the bench; drawing back the fabric for Hamish to see the item hidden within. As the light from the fire touches the item a rippling shine of metal glows across its surface. Exposed on the cloth lies a leathery scale; half the size of Hamish's hand, brilliantly red and flecked throughout with fragments of metal.
Tal speaking quietly says "I recently met a man traveling on the King's Road who after a belly full of drink told me of a beast who had died nearby from the swords of an Orc scouting party. They had died to the last striking the creature many bleeding wounds." Looking around cautiously Tal continues "This traveler came upon the site within a day of the battle, little remained of the Orcs to loot from but the creature lay nearby within a cave well hidden but for the blood trail. Venturing slowly and carefully he found the creature laying dead within its bone strewn cavern and about its body lay some of its scales. Fearing more such creatures or other predators, he quickly snatched up a handful of the scales and fled, hoping to make what profit he could from the encounter".
Pausing for breathe and a quick look around, Tal resumes his story, "The traveler walked for two days before I met him; exhausted and fearing that the creature would hunt him down from the grave because of the stolen scales. He quickly offered to sell me the scales for a kingly amount, which you know well I cannot afford. After many drinks from my skin of mead we agreed to a more reasonable price and he continued down the road, lighter of the scales but heavier from my last remaining coins."
"From the travelers directions I drew a map to the location of the battle and after gathering as much equipment as I could, set forth to locate the remains of the creature." I will not regale you with the details of my journey, but know that I went slowly and carefully, so that I could avoid as many of the predators and hazards as were described by the frightened traveler. I eventually found the sight of the battle; nothing remained of the Orcs but a few bones and a few rusting sword fragments. Of the blood trail there was no sign; rain or some other natural occurrence had hidden it completely. After searching the area for more then a day I was sorely tested to return home to Parson's Breach; a worn out traveler with but a few coppers to my name. As I sat down against a shelf a rock to rest my tired feet, what do I see but a small cave opening partially buried by a rock slide and hidden within a corpse of bushes. Hoping against hope, I lit my torch and slowly made my way into the cave and as it was exactly described by the traveler, here lay the creature. Wasting no time, I gathered as many scales as I could from the cave floor and from the carcass till my packs were full.
I returned but last night from my adventure and have barely slept at all for the ideas and plans that have been spinning in my head for the uses of these scales. I would make you a gift of all the scales my friend Hamish for a simple request; fashion me a suit of scale mail which will barely scratch the contents of my packs and the rest are yours to deal with as you see fit.
Do we have a deal?
"I do not mean to disturb your labors my good friend Hamish, but I would speak with you about a interesting request"
Sweat running down his bare arms, he waves Tal toward his scarred work bench as he plunges the glowing sword into the quenching bath. Wiping his scarred hands upon a nearby cloth, he moves casually to the bench, not once uttering a sound. Tal draws forth from the shadows of his cloak a small cloth wrapped item and places it on the bench; drawing back the fabric for Hamish to see the item hidden within. As the light from the fire touches the item a rippling shine of metal glows across its surface. Exposed on the cloth lies a leathery scale; half the size of Hamish's hand, brilliantly red and flecked throughout with fragments of metal.
Tal speaking quietly says "I recently met a man traveling on the King's Road who after a belly full of drink told me of a beast who had died nearby from the swords of an Orc scouting party. They had died to the last striking the creature many bleeding wounds." Looking around cautiously Tal continues "This traveler came upon the site within a day of the battle, little remained of the Orcs to loot from but the creature lay nearby within a cave well hidden but for the blood trail. Venturing slowly and carefully he found the creature laying dead within its bone strewn cavern and about its body lay some of its scales. Fearing more such creatures or other predators, he quickly snatched up a handful of the scales and fled, hoping to make what profit he could from the encounter".
Pausing for breathe and a quick look around, Tal resumes his story, "The traveler walked for two days before I met him; exhausted and fearing that the creature would hunt him down from the grave because of the stolen scales. He quickly offered to sell me the scales for a kingly amount, which you know well I cannot afford. After many drinks from my skin of mead we agreed to a more reasonable price and he continued down the road, lighter of the scales but heavier from my last remaining coins."
"From the travelers directions I drew a map to the location of the battle and after gathering as much equipment as I could, set forth to locate the remains of the creature." I will not regale you with the details of my journey, but know that I went slowly and carefully, so that I could avoid as many of the predators and hazards as were described by the frightened traveler. I eventually found the sight of the battle; nothing remained of the Orcs but a few bones and a few rusting sword fragments. Of the blood trail there was no sign; rain or some other natural occurrence had hidden it completely. After searching the area for more then a day I was sorely tested to return home to Parson's Breach; a worn out traveler with but a few coppers to my name. As I sat down against a shelf a rock to rest my tired feet, what do I see but a small cave opening partially buried by a rock slide and hidden within a corpse of bushes. Hoping against hope, I lit my torch and slowly made my way into the cave and as it was exactly described by the traveler, here lay the creature. Wasting no time, I gathered as many scales as I could from the cave floor and from the carcass till my packs were full.
I returned but last night from my adventure and have barely slept at all for the ideas and plans that have been spinning in my head for the uses of these scales. I would make you a gift of all the scales my friend Hamish for a simple request; fashion me a suit of scale mail which will barely scratch the contents of my packs and the rest are yours to deal with as you see fit.
Do we have a deal?
