Not only girls like shopping.

Five minutes later, John, Old Fred and Ilis were standing around the counter at the shop part of the smithy. John had pulled out the leather he had got from the boars and Old Fred had produced the gear John had given him to put a price on. Ilis, on the other, hand was tinkering with something she pulled from her back pocket.

“Before we get down to the trading and such, are you going to tell me what that was about at the forge?” John asked curiously, looking from Ilis to Old Fred and back.

“Aye, lad, of course. I broke one of my hammers on your dagger. You are going to pay me back for that one, lad.” Old Fred’s bushy eyebrows frowned as he sighed softly. “‘Twas one of my favorite hammers, forged it meself when I was just a tyke. I never expected Stygian Steel to be that hard to forge. Bloody metal is cold as Khione’s buttcrack, it is!”

Ilis snickered softly as she fastened a bolt on her latest invention. “Uncle Fred, what part of ‘a metal only mined at the shores of the Styx’ makes you think it’s easy to forge?” The lady dwarf then looked up from her invention. “And don’t bullshit John either, that hammer? You forged it yourself? Don’t make me laugh, you would never use those precious artefacts of yours on something like this! You didn’t even take them out when forging Miranda’s gauntlet,” Ilis reprimanded her uncle, pulling out another piece from her back pocket and starting to put it into her little invention.

John, hearing this, stared at Old Fred intensely, his eyes boring into the dwarf causing him to blush and cough awkwardly.

“Oy, laddy, ‘tis nothing personal. I need to make a living too, ye know!” the good natured dwarf tried to explain himself.

“Oh, sure you do, which reminds me. You can have your bow back. I found a new one,” John casually placed the bow he got a few days ago on the counter, Old Fred’s eyes twinkling with interest as he looked at John’s shoulder.

“You found a new one then, did ya? Any chance you can give me a look at it too? You have no idea how interesting these items you bring back are to a poor old dwarf like me.”

John snickered as he pulled his bow from his shoulder, placing it on the counter next to the old one. “Of course. And I don’t mind you trying to make a buck, Fred, just don’t give me a sob story about your hammers, ok? I actually felt bad about it,” John mumbled while scratching the back of his head.

Old Fred roared in laughter as his callous covered hands picked up the new bow. “Don’t worry, lad, I won’t do it again, ye little bugger.” The dwarf’s eyes turned serious when he brought the bow closer to his face. “Ebony, interesting,” he mumbled as he licked the wood. Then he proceeded to feel up the wood, studying it with a magnifying glass. “Very fine craftsmanship. Do you know who made this?” The dwarf’s eyes glowed with excitement as he looked at John.

“A bowyer working for Gaia apparently. But, anyway. I suggest we move onto the main reason I came here. I need some new supplies for a hunt I need to undertake. Jack and Toph both gave me a vision, and you know that means hunting grounds,” John explained.

“Already? Aye, you are a fast one, kid. Hmmm, well, whaddya need? Weapons? Ammo? New gear? Old Fred has ya covered! Who needs the blimming Abyss Auction or Netherlands Trading Company when you have your trusty neighbourhood dwarf to buy from, right?!” Old fred answered with a theatrical wave at the shop.

“Uncle Fred, you are embarrassing yourself,” Ilis mumbled as she gave a small gear a drop of oil. She didn’t even look up but gave a sidelong wink at John who was enjoying the little family banter.

“Well, I need one more weapon according to Gaia, a few sets of ammo, a climbing pick, better protective gear, food, a rope and some traps. I hope you can help me with that?”

“Aye, of course! Though what would be the fun in selling you all of it? You still have that wood and quartz right?”

John sighed but nodded, raising his eyebrow inquisitively as he answered. “I do, why?”

“Well, I‘ll sell you everything you need except for the ammo and traps. For traps you will need to negotiate with your private engineer, remember? And about that ammo... Nothing is better fer a hunter than to use his own ammo! You will be crafting it yourself, hopefully ye will not use one entire ingot for one silly little arrow this time!” Old Fred smacked him on the forehead with a small strip of wood he produced from somewhere.

John scowled as he inched back, rubbing his forehead as he nodded. “If you can sell me some more quartz and enchanted wood, then I have no problem with it. Thanks for looking out for me after all, Old Fred” John smiled as he patted the dwarf on his shoulder.

“Don’t ye dare get all feely on me now, lad, business is hard! Like a golem in a tank! So let’s do this! The things you brought back were worth about one thousand and five dollars, that is with the money you still owe me for the gear subtracted of course. Food will set you back a tenner, field rations are cheap, not tasty, but cheap, and ye can always cook a prey in there if ye find a safe spot. So don’t worry about those. Climbing pick will be a hundred bucks, good quality, won’t break unless ya slam it onto a creature’s skull of course. The quartz and wood together will be two hundred bucks; I will guarantee ye have enough to make the amount of ammo you need for that price.”

Old Fred then walked through the store, tossing a sturdy rope at John. “Fifty bucks, strong rope, non enchanted, not needed either; if someone tries to sell ye magical rope, they could as well sell ye magical beans; sometimes technology produces better stuff than magic, and rope is one of those cases.” John barely caught the thing and put it on the counter, before walking after Old Fred, deeper into the racks of gear. Old Fred produced a climbing pick, which John recognized because of those Lara Croft games where he had used exactly one such thing to smack many an enemy’s head in.

“Field rations are stored somewhere else. Will grab them while you are crafting, alright, lad? Then now, let’s take a look at some gear. The stuff I provided you with is the most basic gear I stock. Do ye want an upgrade, or do ye want something like gloves or a set of shoulderpads? Never understood why people want shoulderpads, but hey, to each their own,” the dwarf mumbled on as he meandered through the filled racks of gear.

“Hmmm, I guess it’s better to get a new cover than to replace something right? Can you maybe show me some gloves?”

“Right this way, lad.” Old Fred pulled John up to a display case with three sets of gloves.

. One set was composed of simple leather gloves, completely made out of a dark brown, scaled leather. The second set consisted of a leather glove which left the finger tips free and a glove with a small pocket sewn atop of it; both of these were made out of the same red, smooth leather, indicating that they were a set too. The final set in the case had a glove that only covered the three middle fingers leaving the pinky and the thumb free, while the other glove was again one that completely covered his hand; both of these gloves were made out of a sturdy looking, dark green, scaled leather.

As John looked the gloves over, Old Fred explained them. “These are the best items I have in your current price range, unless you want to put in more of course.” As John shook his head the dwarf continued, “The brown set is made from basilisk scales, has a small resistance to petrification magic as well as keeping you surprisingly well insulated. The red ones are made from a chilean fire python, nasty buggers; they are somewhat fireproof and have a small pocket for throwing weapons in them. Not exactly what I would recommend to you, but we have enough hunters who go the Arnold route, my lad.”

Old Fred then opened the case. “The ones I would recommend to you instead are the third set. Miranda herself hunted the feathered snake that these gloves came from, arrow straight through one eye, out the other, dead on impact. They are prime archery gloves, my boy; put the three fingered glove on your drawing hand and the full glove on your bow hand and you will be golden. They give you a bit more versatility, as it won’t cut into your fingers when you draw your bow for extended periods of time.”

John cast Observe on the pair of green gloves, nodding with a smile as he said, “I’ll take them, thanks a lot, Old Fred.”

Item: Snakescale gloves
Rarity: Uncommon
Description: A set of archer’s gloves made by Old Fred for an archery focused hunter, the gloves fit around the wearer’s hands tightly but not unpleasantly.

Properties: Medium armor, minor wind resistance, +1.5% bow draw speed ,+5 armor
Restrictions: None