The Legendary Monster Layer!

After the practical shopping—the critical utilities that would bring the burrow out of the stone age—Ari set off with Lori and Renna to check out the equally as practical, if less mundane items of interest.

The adventuring district.

Now, Ari might not have much use for armor and weapons—not the kind Lori and Renna could use at least—but she still found herself excited. Maybe she couldn’t live a ‘regular adventuring career’, but she could do so vicariously through her friends. Plus, Ari was a good resource for Lori and Renna. She wasn’t some experienced adventurer, but she’d prepared for it her entire life. She knew what sorts of items, effects, and stat bonuses would be useful on each of their classes.

So, appliances taken care of—and set aside to be picked up when Ari, Lori, and Renna returned to the burrow—they set off to handle their perusal of adventuring goods.

It was the second of three portions of shopping they would be doing today. The third portion would be … the oddest bit. But that would happen later. Probably without Lori and Renna.

Ari kept their shopping to the busy parts of Molehill’s market. That way, she figured, there’d be less chance of someone taking interest in them. As Ari had hoped, nobody had paid much mind to Lori and Renna so far. The few faces Ari had recognized from the guild had given her a nod—and Lori and Renna a nod—but hadn’t outright tried to speak to them.

Which was normal. Everyone was busy with their own affairs, and Ari wasn’t especially popular in Molehill—she’d only been here a week or so. In fact, she was feeling more and more silly at how her paranoia had been just that. But better cautious than not, right?

Even reassured, though, she kept to busy spaces. Places the shopkeepers were occupied with other browsers, so idle smalltalk wasn’t likely, and thus wouldn’t raise suspicion over Lori and Renna’s inability to answer seemingly harmless questions.

Which meant Ari had found herself in the sturdier portion of the market, the districts meant for the non-transient merchants: paved streets filled with well-made buildings, rather than the colorful stalls and stands and constant shouting for attention that Ari usually mingled in.

There were pluses and minuses to that—to being in the part of the market that had deeper roots. The stalls tended to be cheaper, even if they had less varied wares. Well-established buildings like The Iron Emporium, the first of their visits, catered to a wealthier sort of clientele—the sorts of adventurers who didn’t need to scrounge for the best possible deal.

“Maybe I was wrong,” Lori said, impressed, appraising a steady leather cuirass mounted onto the wall. “There is a reason to interact with your society.”

She spoke the words quietly to Ari, knowing a statement like that would draw bewildered looks.

Ari [Inspected] the item.

===

Imphide Cuirass

— Req. Level 6

— +8 Defense

— +3 Attack

— “Stubborn Tenacity” - Upon dropping below 50% HP, gain an additional +6 defense.

===

For a level six item, it was impressive. Which was, Ari thought, why it was featured so prominently on the wall. Ari’s eyes wandered down to the price tag, and she made a choking noise.

“What?” Renna asked.

“Nothing,” Ari said. “Just … wow. So expensive.”

“Is it?”

“I guess not really,” Ari said, though reluctantly. “Just, compared to normal wages … the prices I’m used to seeing.” Ari’s sense of ‘expensive’ was still warped, coming from a no-where town like Tark, and always scrounging the cheaper parts of the market. “You could probably afford it, if you wanted.” Though, with each of the Menagerie—and Ari—only receiving a tenth of the group’s total earnings, Lori wouldn’t be able to buy much more than that.

“Is it worth it?” Lori asked.

“I mean … I’m not really the person to ask.” Though maybe better than Lori and Renna, her opinion wasn’t the most informed.

“The merchant, then?”

“Well, he’d obviously say yes,” Ari said, amused. “He’s trying to make a sale.” Plus, minimizing Lori and Renna’s interactions was still a goal. She chewed her lip as she appraised the cuirass. “I’d figure buying a few cheaper pieces would go farther than spending everything on one. Stuff like that,” she gestured at the cuirass, “is for people who don’t have money problems.” Ari was probably exaggerating … the equipment wasn’t that exceptional, nor was the price tag. Actual well-to-do adventurers, much less nobility, could afford much better, and whole sets of it.

But pricey for Ari’s group, even considering their lucrative dungeon run. They’d made good money, but also had a lot of things they needed to spend it on.

“And we’ll be past level six pretty quick, I think,” Ari added quietly. “We’re leveling a lot faster than we ought to.” A normal adventurer might be able to get weeks or months out of this cuirass. In just the past half-week, though, Ari had gone from one to five … so the ‘life-span’ of a low-level piece of equipment was much smaller. Made the deal even worse, viewed from that perspective.

Lori hummed, considering the cuirass. Ari had told Lori a hundred times that her money was hers to do with as she wanted. If Lori decided to buy the piece of armor, that was entirely up to her.

“Well,” Lori said. “No need to decide now. Let’s keep looking.”