“I think I’m good on both fronts.” Lucas approached the counter and leaned forward, trying to peek over to see what was happening. As he did, a giant, six-foot-five-inch-tall man shot out from underneath it and loomed over Lucas. The large, bear-sized body leaned forward, causing the counter to creak and strain beneath his weight.

The man’s face was covered with black ash and soot, and grey hairs shot out in all directions, giving him a wild and desperate visage. “So, I see. Well, I’m Willmarth, and this is my shop. As you can tell, the armors are all there in the front. Find your size and bring it up here for me to inspect. Gotta know how much to charge that Baron, after all, and which armor size to replace.”

Most of the time, you could just grab a piece of armor, and it’d automatically adjust to fit as long as you were the right race. Since this was a quest designed specifically around his appearance, however, Lucas didn’t want to take the risk of letting something go awry with the automated process, and he took the time to find something his exact size. As he started browsing through the selection of chainmail hauberks so long that they could double as both shirt and skirt, iron helmets, studded leather boots, pants, gauntlets, and a tabard with the Imperium crest on it, the man began talking to him again. “You know,” the blacksmith continued, “I actually wanted to be a soldier too. Got the shoulders for it and the weapons. Was going to be a good one too, I tell you.”

“Did you get injured?” Lucas asked, guessing at the reason as he found a set of armor that looked like the right size. He appreciated the fact that each armor had chest, waist, and height measurements noted next to it for the purchaser’s convenience.

Congratulations. You have reached level -64.
You now have 30 stat points available to allocate.

“Nope,” Willmarth answered. “Nothing so glorious as that. I didn’t get to take a wound in battle, need to quit after I knocked up a few women—like our good Baron—or even have the small dignity of retiring unharmed. No, that Baron thought he was being really kind and wouldn’t let me in. Said that, since my dad died to a trap door, and his dad died to a trap door, and his dad’s dad died to a trap door, he wouldn’t let me in. Said he couldn’t lose another one of us Willmarths to a simple door and that it’d be better if I just did something simple like make armor.”