new outfit

Upstairs, you stare at the clothing on the bed.  “Okay, I wasn’t expecting that,” you admit.

The formalwear is interesting-looking, for sure, but it’s the armor that catches you.  The coat of scale-mail over segmented plate is heavy-looking, but touching it reveals that it’s as light the lamellar.  It must be something other than steel.  The coat drops down to below your knees, almost like a duster jacket.  It doesn’t come with pants or a skirt, but you can see little loops on the formal uniform that suggest the armor could be worn over it.

The formal uniform is a riot of color.  The base is green, with layered red and green trim and piping.  The over-tunic is the deepest green color you’ve ever seen in clothing, with a loose, flowing sleeve that reaches almost all the way down to your fingers.  It’ll be hard to wear without dragging through food, that’s for sure.

The headgear is pretty amazing, too.  The helmet is shaped vaguely like Cenderian military gear, only lacking the visor you’d expect on knightly helms.  The formalwear doesn’t have a headpiece, at first glance, but when you lift it up, something falls free.  You pick it up…

“Is this a tiara?” you ask incredulously.  You squint at the narrow gold filigree with a sapphire in the middle.  “It is.  And it’s enchanted!”  You set it on your head, and the air around your body shimmers for an instant.  You try to wave your hand through it, but the shimmer follows your body before vanishing.  “… A shield?” you ask in wonder.  “Is this a shield?”


(con’t)


You grab your spear and try to prick your finger.  The blade bounces off.  “… Oh wow.  This… is the helm shielded too?”  You put the helm on and set the tiara aside.  You try the bladepoint again, and the same thing happens.

You thumb the Gem.  {This is AWESOME.}

[Ha ha ha!  I’m so glad!  Let me know when you find the mask.]

{Mask?}

[Keep looking.]

You fumble through the clothing and pull out a little bundle of fabric.  Unfolding it, you see a glimpse of white porcelain.  When you pull it out, though, you nearly drop it.  {What the hell is this?}

[What you wear into battle under the helm, instead of a visor,] Asa says.

You stare at it in revulsion.  {Yeah.  That’d be pretty scary.}

The mask just fits over your face, and it snugs into the brim of the helmet, which holds it in place well.  The mask is completely featureless, except for two black crystals over the eyes and a white crystal over the mouth, which is the same color as the porcelain.  The eye crystals and mouth crystal all let air pass through, you know, it’s how the Shadows can breathe in their sealed helmets.  The part that’s repulsive is the little ring of shiny red paint around each circular eye crystal, giving the effect of empty eye sockets, eternally leaking blood.  It’s such a sharp contrast to the elegance of the war panoply and almost playful formalwear that it’s honestly a little shocking.  {When did people need these masks?} you ask.

[The closing days of the Collapse, when the Empire had died completely and it was every man for himself,] Asa says dolefully.  [Any luck, you won’t need it.]