My team, well, not really my team but the team I was part of hid in the rubble of a collapsed building. We were getting ready to assault one of the Son's of Autumn outposts. This would hardly be my first encounter with the Church as most of us called them. I had plenty of old scars to tell of the fierce fights.Over the months we had steadily pushed the Church back. The acolytes of the church would throw themselves into battle with a singular determination. This made them a dangerous foe to fight but also a predictable enemy.Our goal today was to draw out the garrison force and eliminate them. While I wasn't the strongest or most capable fighter in the slave ranks, I had made a name for myself. When I let my rage out I could dominate my section of the battlefield.My other plans had to be put on hold. Mostly because I never found the free time to work on my crafting. The fighting seemed to be non-stop. When I wasn't fighting I was training in the arena or protecting Sharla. This had

With the council's demise, it was time to consolidate power for Sharla's father. For that reason, anyone loyal to his faction was kept close at hand. Anyone with an ounce of brain matter kept their head down during this time. I was freed from my patrol duties, and even guard duty as Sharla met with her father most of the day. Her not seeing a need to keep me to guard her now that the council was dead.It was time to try and set the first part of my plan in motion or at least attempt to.What better place to plan the downfall of the Black Dragon sect than the apartment of the sect leader's daughter. Nobody would be stupid enough to come in unannounced. And if Sharla returned she would expect me here anyway.I got to work testing combinations of runes with the one I got from the Kin Kla-ra. Alone the rune was middling at best. It seemed to cause the wearer to grow about ten percent. While that might interest the people who invented Viagara, it didn't interest me. I needed the rune to af

At this point, I didn't trust anyone completely. So I made some preparations before our meeting. To prepare, I needed to make a trip to the Bazaar, which currently sat at the far edge of the city. Nobody controlled that area but both sides would send in raiding groups to try and kill off people coming and going, to prevent them from gaining more gear. The only reason it stayed sort of neutral was its out of the way location.This one remained open all the time so I could hoof it there and back during the night. Even better I had Bella. I stopped in at the patrol building, to check the map of active patrol groups. Nobody questioned why I was there, this was a normal occurrence. I mapped out the path I would take to avoid any unwanted attention. Then headed back to wait for night.When Sharla was fast asleep, I snuck out and headed to the closest border. I knew I couldn't exit via the gates so I had to do a little creative escaping. I looked over the ledge of the ten

I waited in the dark alley, my new armor securely fastened to my body. It looked almost the same as my old armor from a distance. I would only be wearing it for this and other clandestine transactions, at least until my plan was complete. It would stand out too much otherwise. It did a great job of keeping me warm though. I looked at the stats again.[Rune Crafted Trubar Brigandine][Quality: Superb][Armor: 25][Slashing resistance: 40%][Stabbing resistance: 40%][Blunt resistance: 25%][Cold resistance: 65%][Heat resistance: 35%][Magic resistance 55%]This metal-reinforced leather brigandine was crafted by an intermediate crafter with excellent materials, each plate was painstakingly rune crafted to improve the protection and resistance of the armorOverall I was more than happy with the results. The black fabric was sewn to make the whole piece look like padded armor. It took a b

I startled awake as a boom echoed across the city. It was morning but I could still hear the occasional fighting in the distance. Bella was laying down on the other side of the room, looking at me. I stood and stretched my sore muscles. I had to stop as my side gave me a twitch. I reached down to feel the spot Obidiah had hit me. My new armor was dented in, and my armor was not providing nearly as much in the way of protection as it should.The gem still held a charge, but the power could no longer flow along the runic pattern to provide the shield. I carefully removed the armor to inspect the damage.There was a fist-shaped imprint in the lower right by the rib cage. Three plates were cracked. How the man had managed to crack mithril with a punch, through multiple barriers and a damage ward was beyond me. I checked the armor's stats to see how bad it was.[Mage-Bane Brigandine][Quality: Fair - Damaged][Armor: 25][Slashing res