The road to Arcadia[Closed}

[Julius Kailas]

Julius had been searching for the ideal shield for months, it was seeming to be impossible to find a smith up for the task. Then one day everything seemed to change, he was talking to a member of the merchant guild that hired him a few times in the past,  he knew of a blacksmith that makes fantastic armor and weapons. He rarely took custom orders unless it proved to be a challenge to make, oh boy was Julius' idea a challenge. He spoke with the guild master, the two had came to the agreement that they will give Julius a ride there in return he would aid in protecting their caravan. With each stop along the way Julius became more excited about the shield.

It was a long two months since they started this trip, he had one more stop which was Arcadia. Julius sat in the wagon making yet another doodle of the shield, playing around with designs on it when he noticed the caravan slowing down, they only stopped for the night or if there was a problem. He jumped out the back when it came to a stop, he didn't hear the sounds of battle so they weren't under attack. Looking ahead he saw a small group of the merchants huddling over something while the hunter and mercenary guild members were inspecting the surroundings. From what he could tell there was something in the road, weather it was an object or person he didn't know, the young woman that was riding in the same wagon as him walked up behind him and asked what was going on. "I don't know, from what I can tell they found somebody or something in the road. It's best that you get back in the wagon for safety, I'm not sure if this is an ambush set up or not. I need to head towards the rear to make sure the others knows what's going on." Julius had began to jog towards the back of the caravan with an eye to the woods near by, so far they haven't had anything major happen and he had hoped to keep it that way. He stopped to tell the hunting guild member of what was happening and to keep an eye out for anything that looks out of place.

[Julius Kailas]

Julius thought he saw something move in the forest edge, placing a hand on the hilt of his blade he began to go check it out until somebody from the front started to call him over. He sent somebody from one of the hunter guilds to check it out while he went to see what they wanted. It was a girl in a fancy dress laying on the ground, she was still breathing and looked unharmed so she had collapsed on the road. There was still the question of where she was from or going wouldn't be answered anytime soon, it would be too dangerous to just leave her, Julius wagon was the least occupied so he would be watching the girl. He knelt down and picked her up carrying her in both arms, he found her to be cute so he wondered why was she alone. As he made it to his wagon he shifted her so she was resting on his shoulder so he could climb in without having to set her down. He looked at the other two that were previously riding with them and told them to relocate to another wagon only to be questioned why. "We found this woman laying on the road unconscious, the others deemed it would benefit her the most if we took her to Arcadia with us. Since we do not know who this woman is, it would be wise to keep her with as few people as possible in case she awakes and tries to attack. Now hurry, sooner you get to another wagon the sooner we move again.[/move]"

Once the two were situation elsewhere the caravan had began to move once again, Julius felt like he would be a creep if he just watched her sleep so he took out his little sketch book again. Looking at the first few pages, they all were filled with shield design ideas and he felt it was time to doodle something else to pass the time. He looked at the sleeping beauty in front of him and began to draw her face, by time he finished drawing her head she began to wake up. Opening her eyes she began to panic, last thing she remembered she was running toward Arcadia and now she was in a wagon with a strange man. Julius saw her trying to jump out of the back of the wagon so he grabbed her arm "Calm down, everything is okay. The owner of this caravan is the Glimmering Gold Merchant guild, we came across you in the road so we're taking you to Arcadia with us." reaching in his small bag he brought out a biscuit and extended it towards her "I was saving this for later but you can have this." The girl had stopped squirming and snatched the food from his hand and began to eat it, he took out his waterskin and handed it to her. She gulped it down as fast as she scarfed down the biscuit. She noticed the sketch he started of her, thought it looked good and the two began to talk. Recognizing some of landmarks of sorts around them Julius knew they were almost to Arcadia.

[Julius Kailas]

Once the caravan had reached Arcadia Julius had received his payment and parted ways with everybody. He scouted the black smith shops in the city, it seemed as if there wasn't one he had deemed worthy enough to get his gold. There was the suggested blacksmith but he wasn't exactly sure which stand was his, when he had almost gave up hope he knew he found it. Those weapons and armor had looked magnificent, he could see why he was refereed here. He walked up to the man, slammed the sketch that he liked the most along with a bag of gold on the table. "I don't care how much it cost, I would like you to make me a shield that looks like this." He looked around at the shields and they all looked curved... He didn't want it to be curved, it didn't look as cool like that. "Also, if you could. Please don't curve it like all of the others."

The smith looked at the sketch, it looked like it would be difficult to make. Much more the reason to start pounding some iron and steel. "First off, judging by the size of that bag you barely have enough to pay for it. Secondly, I dont have to accept your money or job request if you're going to waltz up to my stand making demands of which you don't understand. If you were to take a direct blow from an axe or another heavy weapon you can very well break your arm, the idea behind the roundness of the shield is so you can parry the attack leaving them open for a counter attack and your arm in one piece." Julius had felt like such a fool after the smith responded, he apologized for his rudeness. It was quite possible he was too excited for the shield.

[Julius Kailas]

"Do you plan on using the shield in you left hand or right hand?" "Left hand sir!" Julius responded. "Also, is there a way to build a sheath for my sword into the shield?" The smith smiled "You're just trying to make this as difficult as possible for me aren't ya? Leave the sword you have on your waist here with me and I'll see what I can do. If I'm able to pull it off that sword would be the only one to fit in there properly. I may end up having to alter the design a bit to make it work right, if you don't like the end result I'll buy it back from you at a third of the cost to make it. Those are my terms, take'em or leave'em." Julius nodded in agreement, the smith then told him to check back in a week before calling over two of his assistants, one was to aid in the work and the other to run the shop. Julius had left to wonder around Arcadia, he remembered some of the things his mother had said about the city but they had rarely left home. The other times he had been here he hadn't spent much time wondering the town, he went from one job to the next. He had spent all of his money on the shield, he was going to have to find odd jobs that didn't require him to fight anything with his sword, the advantages of being guildless was he didn't have to be picky on what jobs he took.

[Julius Kailas]

Julius had spent the week performing odd jobs to help fund his stay in Arcadia, mostly doing physical labor since he was without his weapon. The time had finally came to go check out the shield, he almost ran to where the smith was located he was that excited. The smith was just as eager to show it to him when he arrived, he took out a large wrapped object, pulling off the cloth it reviled his shield with the sword in the built in sheath. "Go ahead, try it on." The smith pushed it towards Julius. He almost snatched it up before the smith let go, it was beautiful. He slid his arm through the strap and grasped the handle as he lifted it, it was so light yet sturdy feeling, it was everything he had hoped for. "I love it, you live up to your legend." The smith let out a laugh and disagreed with the rumor of his legendary smith skills. "If I need any weapon or armor made, I'm going to spend my gold here." "Another customer for life, that makes two of us happy. Now, come around to the back. I'll show you how to use a shield properly since you seem to be a novice, no offense." Julius had followed the man to receive his instructions. After a while he had departed from Arcadia in search of a guild.


~fin