“See anything you like laddie?” The bushy browed dwarven blacksmith asks, his voice course like ash.

My eyes trail over the array of fearsome swords stacked in wooden racks. Each of them clearly a weapon, but all forged in such a way as to also be a work of art. “They’re beautiful.” I reply slowly, entranced by their fierce shimmering dance the forge’s firelight plays across their bodies.

“What’s caught your eyes?” The dwarf asks. Then he cozies up to me, uncomfortably close; he smells of soot.

“The swords.” I stammer, and take a short step away to regain my personal space.

His eyes peer into me and he leans closer again. “Which swords, laddie?”

Which swords? My eyes drift from one sword to the next. There are shortswords, longswords, broadswords, and falchions. Swords that curve and swords straight and true. Even swords with ghastly looking serrated edges. “All of them.”

“Dazzling aren’t they? If I do say so myself.” The blacksmith smiles and takes a breath before shifting into a practiced salesman voice. “Well, did you want one? Someone with your taste would suit the dragon sword, or perhaps you’d rather one made of ifrit quills.”

“Dragon sword?” I peer at the shimmery white blade the dwarf is gesturing at. “That came from a dragon?”

“Came from a dragon?” The blacksmiths eyes crinkle with mirth. “That there is a sculpted dragon tooth.”

A sword made out of a dragon’s tooth!? Then if it was made from a tooth the dragon must be huge. That’s freaking awesome! Roaming across the battlefield with something like that. Slicing through hobgoblin after hobgoblin. Fire and ice whirling out of my fingertips. World reknowned Swordmaster Reed. No! Dragon Knight Reed, adventurer and hero. Yes. Something like that would really suit me perfectly!

“Why don’t you try it.”

I jolt from the blacksmiths voice, he’s once more edged just a little too close to me.

“Ahh… Sure. Okay.” Unwilling to waste the opportunity to once more get out of his sooty reach I step forward to the rack. I reach out and grasp the handle firmly. It’s cool to touch. Cool and comfortable. It feels right. My other hand grips the blade. With a light tug I wrest it off the rack. It’s far lighter than I expected. I give it a tentative slash and it rips through the air with an intimidating whistle. “How much!?”

“For the Dragon sword, that'll be at least two-hundred gold coins.”

“Two-hundred gold coins!?”

-2 Health Points: Slashing damage.

I wince and look down at my hand. It’s bleeding. Just from touching the edge?

“Careful laddie.” The dwarf laughs. “It’s sharp. And made of the strongest stuff I’ve got, won’t ever dull on you. Don’t even need to bother with a whetstone, trust me if you try you’ll only end up cutting right through it.”

“It can cut through stone?”

The dwarf shrugs. “If your strength is high enough.”

I hastily, yet extremely carefully, put the sword back in its rack. Two-hundred gold pieces I mean damn… Talk about out of my price range.

“You don't look good, laddie. Perhaps a cheaper one might suit your fancy?”

I sigh. “What’s the cheapest sword you’ve got?”

The dwarf’s face quivers, but no hint of his feelings enter his sales voice. “That longsword on the far left. It’s forged from true steel. It's the cheapest sword I've got, but of course don’t let that fool you. Everything in here is a fine work since I made it.”

I take the longsword of the wooden rack upon which it sits and hold it out. Heavy, I can only assume that’s a good thing. I run my finger along it and quickly draw blood. Sharp too, definitely a good thing.

“That suits you Reed. Matches your belt.” Laela quips, while dexterously flicking one of the smith’s knives around her fingers.

“How much?”

“Twenty silver. twenty-six with a sheath. And don’t bother bartering, this isn’t the fish markets.”

Twenty silver, huh? Something to save for I guess, once I’ve paid off my debts… “Thanks, I’ll definitely come back for it.”

“You’re not interested in buying?”

“I’m interested. I just can’t afford it.”

“Ahh.” The smiths face softens. “A new adventurer. Well until then, you’re more than welcome to come around anytime to check-up on the craftmanship.” Then the smith finally steps away from me. “And what about the rest of you, find something you like?”

Layla turns to him with a grin on her face “I’d say so, yeah.” She wields a couple of nine-inch daggers picked up from a neat rack by the counter. She studies them in the light, and they glimmer brilliantly. “How much for these?”

“For those lassie, nine silvers.”

“That much?” Layla asks shocked.

“Aye.” The dwarf nods. “They’re forged from the remains of iron golems hunted in the capital dungeon. Not just regular iron. Not to mention the cost of coal carted down from the far north.”

Laela frowns. “But, if it’s not true steel, shouldn't the iron be cheap?”

“It would be. If it didn’t require an A rank adventurer to hunt the golems. Trust me, nine silvers is already a bargain.” The dwarf grins. “Besides, you're paying for a masters touch.”

Leala rolls her eyes. “Are any of these made from regular iron?”

“The three at the end are true steel, but I can already tell those won’t do. None are nearly as sharp. That’s why you picked them isn’t it?” The dwarf grins.

“You couldn't do seven silver?” Laela pouts at the smith.

The dwarf rubs his chin. “You’re all with him?” The dwarf points a scarred finger at me.

“Yeah.”

“Well…” He hums. “We could work out an arrangement. If you would be interested in selling your future monster loot to me directly, I could make some concessions.”

Graem standing idly by the warmth of forge interjects. “Sorry, smith. We're not looking to sign any exclusive contracts for now. Perhaps we could talk about this in the future.”

The dwarf smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Suit yourself lad, then it’ll be nine silvers for the daggers-”

“Also this,” Gorm calls out, cutting the dwarf off mid-sentence. Then he steps up to the dwarf and violently plonks a huge two-handed hammer before him, the floorboards creaks as they strain under the hammers weight.

“Ahh. Now this is a fine piece of work.” The blacksmith smiles. “For that it's going to cost you twenty-six silver.”

Gorm nods and takes out his coin purse.

“Wait a minute Gorm.” Layla says lifting her arm to stop him. “Let's see what Jaed wants first before we settle on any items at the current price.”

“You’re welcome to wait lass, but I already said didn’t I? No discounts.” The dwarf sternly mumbles. Laela sighs, and Gorm once more starts emptying out a surprisingly full coin purse.

Turning to Jaed, I find her running through a variety of martial art stances and forms with a long metal glaive in hand. To her credit in her focused state, she appears completely oblivious to the gazes of everyone else in the store. Finally, after another few well practiced stabs and swings Jaed puts the glaive down. Then, red-faced, whether from exertion or embarrassment, turns to our watchful faces.

“The glaive costs sixteen silver coins. Would you like that lass?” The Blacksmith asks.

Jade nods.

“Right and will that be all then? The blacksmith asks, and when no one disagrees he continues. “Great. Will you be paying together or separately?”

Laela turns to the group. “Individually, I’d say?”

Gorm and Jaed nod in response.

“Good. Nine silvers for the daggers, twenty-six for the hammer and sixteen for the glaive.”

As they pay Graem drags me out of the warm smithy into the chilly morning air. “They look excited don’t you think, Reed?” Graem grins at me. “It seems time to put these brand-new weapons to the test.”

I look back through an open window, inside the smith still counts the coins while beside him Laela is already sharpening and polishing her daggers, Gorm is struggling to lift his hammer one handed over his shoulder, and a bit out of the way Jaed is once more going through the motions of some elaborate and formidable looking martial art.

“Yeah. It seems so.” I can’t help but smile. I might not have the awesome dragon sword, but I have something better, strong reliable teammates. And anything that makes them stronger, makes me stronger too.

I turn back to Graem and find him staring off into the distance, towards the dungeon under the hill. “Then back we go,” he states seemingly more to himself than me. “Let’s find out what we can really do.”