>>5921790 >>5921793 >>5921794 >>5921804>seek out better gear and armorSince the last battle has left you without a weapon, and since a weapon is a rather important determinant of the length of one's mercenary career, you decide to spend your time searching for an adequate replacement. Freminister is a trading outpost and lacks a significant military presence. It has walls high enough to deter all but the most prepared of enemies, and then they would have to contend with the garrisons of two separate forts, only quarter-day's journey away. As it is a trading town, however, Freminister does have a sizable market, and there are armorers from around the way who come here to ply their wares. You shall not find masterworks among their offerings but the selection is varied enough.
After speaking with several of the merchants, you come to understand two things: first, sixpence will only get you so far, the best equipment is priced in crowns and the most you can presently afford is one or two pieces of armor and a weapon. Second, the key factors to consider when choosing equipment are mobility, reach, and skill. A full suit of armor (far beyond even the bank of your captain) makes one more or less invulnerable on the battlefield, but it must be tailor made if you intend to move around in it, and requires considerable skill--not even to handle, but simply to put on and keep in working order. On the other end, there is the gamebson and the aketon and the padded surcoat, which one puts on as easy as clothes and which any good needlewoman can repair with a bit of thread and cloth--though, of course, one gives up invincbility. Between these extremes there is hardended leather and mail shirts and helmets.
For weapons, there is the spear, the weapon of choice of lord and lout alike for it's ease of use, long reach, and as you were able to demonstrate in the battle previous, deadly utility. Those with the good fortune (suprisingly well-correlated with good birth) to fight mounted will opt for the lance, but, as one armorer explains, "the longer the shaft, the greater the skill". To direct such a weapon on the back of charging beast seems entirely miraculous. The sword is the second choice of the noble, being the symbol of their power over the peasant, for it is useless against their own kind but can slay the unarmored rustic with a mere touch. It is a favorite in their tournament games (though the lance is always first, being closer to the demands of battle) and demands the greatest skill. It is perhaps the only weapon in which skill alone may determine the victor, saving, of course, the likes of archery.
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