“What a display of junk,” Arthur grumbled as he stared down at the items before him. There was a reason this NPC was called the Tinker, and it wasn’t just because he could do enchantments on items and fix things up, but because of the wide array of items he had.
At least the man had sorted them out into various sections. Books and scrolls in the top left, various trinkets right next to it including jewelry of various forms, cooking items and other utility work including a coil of rope and small pouches after that. Then, moving down were the smaller weapons, everything from throwing daggers to darts and spiked ball caltrops and what Arthur swore was a grenade. Not that he’d actually seen a real one, but it looked like a grenade, with its cylindrical body, handle and pin.
The smaller weapons took up much of the space, along with various knives of varying length. Or spikes. Or things about a foot long, including a sap and cudgel, one of which Arthur was certain was just a bunch of lead balls stitched into a leather hide.
Useful, cheap and quite effective. He’d seen them on the streets occasionally, at bars of a certain reputation when a knife and blood was less desirable but one had to deal with the regular rough clientele. Didn’t want to kill them though, or else you’d never have any customers.
Down the cart, tacked on the end were the display for weapons and bulky goods. Much fewer than the rest of his items, including a couple of packs, leather water bottles, a drinking horn from a creature that Arthur was certain not a cow, a couple of swords, a mace in the shape of a sword and a large hammer. Then, two polearms – a guandao and a trident.
He obviously ignored the trident. Whoever thought that was a good fighting instrument was a fool. Great for spearing fish, horrendous balance otherwise and just as prone for your weapon to get caught and twisted out of your hand as you doing it to another.
It was one of those anime or comic book weapons that looked better than it worked.
The guandao was pretty good – the large, curved blade on the end was great for smashing through armour, chitin and just sweeping attacks. You did not want to be on a horse if you were facing someone who knew how to wield one of those – or conversely, wanted to be on a horse to use it. Much like the naginata though, which is really was similar to, it had a major disadvantage.
It couldn’t thrust, and because it needed to sweep to attack, tight quarters were not where you wanted to take the weapon. Pretty much the reason why Arthur specialized in the spear, because he could always shorten his reach and thrust tight with it if he needed to. Though, depending on how tight things got, it could just as easily be dagger time.
"You have decided, yes?" Dovgrey asked, coming around at last.
"No." Arthur frowned. "You said there was armor?"
"Oh, nothing that pretentious. Around the other side," Dovgrey said, waving him to the other side of the cart.
Rather than being laid out, the contents on that side were still seated inside the enclosed cart but the storage compartments all opened so that Arthur could peer within. He could see a bunch of makeshift bits and parts for weapons in a few of the locations, lots of clothing including desperately needed underwear and socks in another, and then outer coverings of every kind. His gaze tracked over the contents, then glancing at the turtle while reaching out and receiving a confirming nod, he began to sort through them.
Not too long before he found what he had been looking for, pulling out the stretchy one piece jumpsuit. He raised it to the other, frowning a little at the warmth emnating from the suit itself, the tightly woven black-blue material almost seeming to pulse as he held it.
"What is this?"
"Underarmor, of course." Dovgrey blinked languidly. "Perfect to stop chaffing. It also has other properties." A hand raised and waved and a notification appeared for Arthur moment's later.
Complacent Mimic Underarmour of the Fool
Effect: Self-repairing, self cleaning, auto-sizing. Provides minor defensive bonus, resistance to cold and heat. Bonus to stealth. Can grow.
Caution: Mimic must be fed regularly
"This isn't clothing! It's a monster," Arthur protested.
"It's both." Dovgrey blinked again, looked surprised at Arthur’s objection. "It is a self-repairing form of clothing and armor. Will last you years, can grow with you as you travel and is in your color preference of choice.”
“Black? I actually like wearing more colourful clothing, you know?” Arthur said. Nothing wrong with a good purple or red or green shirt. Made you stand out, in the sea of blue and blacks, especially when you went clubbing. “But it’s the Tower. Black works.”
“Yes, yes. You like being clean too, right? Well the mimic will help keep you clean. It’ll make all the dirt and blood vanish,” Dovgrey said.
“You mean eat it from me, ah.” Arthur shook his head, folding it back. “What happens when I get wounded, will it try to eat me too? Because I’m not into that.”
“Eh, you just have to train it properly.”
“And how would you do that?” Arthur asked, curiously. He had to admit, the abilities of the clothing was great, but being eaten by your own clothing was not the kind of ending he envisioned for himself. At least, not by a mimic.
Okay, so he was grinning at the lurid thought, but it’d been months. He wasn’t a monk.
“You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll thrown in the acid and the brush too.”
“Acid?”
What came next was rather vivid description of how one trained a mimic not to eat oneself. It involved self-harm, careful placement and then the punishment via the application of acid to said mimic. Normally, such training took months, “But, it’s a complacent mimic. So it’s already been trained and fed properly, it’ll only be a few hours.”
“Of bleeding. Which is how you feed it.”
“Exactly! Easy enough for a Climber, right?”
“No.”
“Come now, Climber Arthur. I told you I’ll give you a discount, so for you, only eight floor nine stones. Cheap, right?”
“No.” Arthur instead started picking out normal clothing including new sets of underwear and socks. Not too many, but even a couple of new pairs were worth it.
“I’ll throw in the mundane clothing.”
“Tak mau!”
“And help you pick from the rest of the items, to fit your budget.”
Now Arthur hesitated. That was the kind of offer that was hard to resist. Sure, he could try to look over the items available, figure out what he wanted and peruse it all, but this was, sadly, not a game. Things he picked up didn’t necessarily come with a game prompt, not unless the Tower was being generous – or Dovgrey. A lot of the junk here was mildly enchanted or made of special material, so it wasn’t just a matter of looking for Tower made items.
"Fine, I'll take it." Arthur also reluctantly named the amount he was willing to spend. He still eyed the damn mimic especially when Dovgrey shoved the cloth into his arms, but he had to admit, the properties it had was really attractive. It just might eat him, which was why Dovgrey probably was desperate to get rid of it.
Or, was playing the part of a merchant desperate to get rid of it. Sometimes, trying to work out the intricacies of all that hurt his head. Which was why he ignored the entire thing for now. He had more important things to concern himself about right about now.
Like buying more stuff!