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The Alienage in Denerim is not what you'd call a nice place to live, but it's calm, and it has some nice scenery. Enormous tree, shanty-huts, that sort of thing. And the people are always interesting.
One of those interesting people is standing shadily on a street corner and looking at nearby elves. One of his hands is in his pocket. He's unusually dark for someone in Ferelden. Unusually human, too, though he's hunched over so that it's not immediately obvious. And he's muttering to himself, which is a sure way to make people not want to look at someone.
The things he's muttering to himself aren't the ravings of a madman, though. "Not her, I'm sure she'd just rupture... couldn't get him... promising. Excuse me, young man?" he quavers in the voice of an old beggar. "Spare a silver?"
Duncan manages to-
Duncan manages to extricate himself, and hustles Tev along very quickly to an armory. "Bron is an excellent man to have by your side in battle, much less excellent to have by your side when you're trying to leave a tavern. Or a four-star restaurant, as the case may be."
Duncan manages to extricate himself, and hustles Tev along very quickly to an armory. "Bron is an excellent man to have by your side in battle, much less excellent to have by your side when you're trying to leave a tavern. Or a four-star restaurant, as the case may be."
They enter the armory. There are numerous weapons, and also armors! "So, is it a sword you want? And should we get you a suit of something or other?"
Duncan hefts a sword demonstratively. "This is a sword. An old classic. Good at killing things without much fuss." He puts it down and picks up an axe. "Axe. Good for the burlier warrior. Use it to absolutely ruin some ogre's day." Finally, he grabs a mace. "Mace. Smash."
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Sword, axe, mace. Sword, axe, mace. Tev eyes these three possibilities.
"Sword," he decides.
"Sword," he decides.
Duncan gravely hands him a longsword.
There is a longer sword behind him. It is unclear why he has given the smaller sword to Tev when there is such a large sword available.
There is a longer sword behind him. It is unclear why he has given the smaller sword to Tev when there is such a large sword available.
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Tev looks between the longsword and the... longersword. He looks at Duncan. He tries to think of how to ask the question.
Duncan follow's Tev's gaze and raises an eyebrow. "Do you want the greatsword? You wouldn't be the first Warden to wield a hilariously oversized sword in one hand, Jahenna'd be thrilled to have a companion in the ancient and noble art of overkill."
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"I like the look of the greatsword," he says. "The longsword's all right too, but I don't know, it seems a little... small."
"Jahenna uses one as an off-hand companion to her overcompensation utensil. I'm sure you'll get along famously." He takes the greatsword off the wall and swaps it out for the apparently undersized weapon in Tev's hands.
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He snorts at 'overcompensation utensil'.
The greatsword is slightly awkward to lift one-handed, but Tev gets the hang of it pretty quickly.
The greatsword is slightly awkward to lift one-handed, but Tev gets the hang of it pretty quickly.
"We may want to lop a bit off the hilt," notes Duncan. "Actually, we might want to get it replaced entirely... hm. I'll see about getting one of Jahenna's old swords for you, they're all exquisitely balanced and perfectly constructed and all that. She's finicky about that kind of thing. But this'll do as a practice blade until then."
"Good, good. What kind of armor would you like? Lighter keeps you mobile but it won't protect you so well, heavy will keep stuff out but it's hell to maneuver in."
"We'll go with leather. Lightest available. Unless you'd rather just go without entirely, which may be an option given your preposterously magical shield."
"Sounds good." Duncan purchases a suit of leather armor and a greatsword, gets the smith to lop an appropriately sized bit off the pommel and put in a more appropriate pommelstone, and hands them over to Tev. "Congratulations. You are an appropriately outfitted Grey Warden recruit."
"Excellent. You should. Is there anything else you'd like? Some crystal from Wonders of Thedas you stared at with your nose to the window as a child or something? There's not usually this much shopping, but we've come this far."
"Well, I'm going to have to stop in at the Wonders to get more crystals of that horrible drink Jahenna likes so she doesn't bisect me for calling her back into service. After that, we can get on the road."