Blood-sweat Hauberk

Description

Whether constructed of mithril or tanned leather, the most important step in crafting a blood-sweat hauberk is the removal of all impurities. The metal to make the rings, or the leather from which the armour is created, are extensively treated with beggar's lye to ensure the highest possible degree of purity is achieved.

This armour comes with an obvious cost - the wearer is left physically exhausted by the experience of burning the venom out of their system. In the right circumstances, however, it can be a life-saver. The Navarr were the first to devise these sets of leathers in response to the poisons of the Vallorn, drawing their tradition of ritual blood-offering. They were often made with a convenient slit in one sleeve where the wearer could make the cut without ruining the garment. Warriors who often need the power of this armour while battling the Vallorn are occasionally nicknamed Gore-Cuffs due to the inevitable bloody stains they bear.

When first introduced to this form of armour by Navarr Brokers, most other peoples were leery about making use of them, lacking the Navarr's attitude to blood. However, some apothecaries adopted them as protective clothing while at work in case of small explosions and accidental poisonings, leading to the nickname Herbalist's Hauberk. Particularly paranoid political figures have been known to wear these almost constantly, including rumours that one Draughir Cardinal of Vigilance, Antonia Constanza di Sarvos, took to wearing her Blood-Sweat Hauberk as a night-dress.

Rules

• Form: Armour. Takes the form of a suit of light armour. You must be wearing this armour to use its magical properties.
• Requirement: Any character can bond to this item.
• Effect: Twice per day you may use 5 seconds of appropriate roleplaying that includes a self-inflicted cut to remove the VENOM condition from yourself. Using this power is very painful; it feels as if your blood is on fire and this roleplaying effect takes several seconds to fade.
• Materials: Crafting a blood-sweat hauberk requires eleven measures of beggar's lye, and five ingots of orichalcum. It takes one month to make this item.

It was past dark in the tavern again, and the woodcutters were telling tales of death again. Narrow escapes, and the deadly breath of the monster in the trees, and how they'd once had to leave someone behind.

I remembered one night a time ago, when they'd been telling the same tales and wizened old Karys looked up from her embroidery and leant in close and whispered "Oh, they imply they know it all, but don't you listen to them my bright boy." She jerked her head to where one of the woodsmen was recounting the tale of the plaguewulf. "What do they really know about poisonous air? Next time a brand comes through, you ask one of them about the deep woods and the things that live here, and the poisonous air."

Next time a Navarri striding came though the vale, I asked one of their warrior-artisans about poisonous air, and what to do about it. In return for furs and leather, she taught me how to burn beggarwood, and what metal to use to make a mesh, and I spent every spare moment making myself what they called a blood-sweat hauberk. A good thing to wear if you're fighting Vallorn-monsters, she said, and she told me there'd be a price to to pay for using it.

On the night of the blood moon we'd gone out hunting in that bit of the forest where old Marushka had fallen, I was decked out in my new armour, ignoring the others' funny looks. The plaguewulf came down on us, and the poisonous howling took a few, and it burned me but it didn't kill me. I was barely ready for how damn exhausted using the hauberk made me, but I kept myself on my feet and put the last axe in through its face and brought it down. It tore my guts as it fell, but I didn't die.

Next time, the end of the woodsmen's tale had been about me, and how I'd been just a normal warrior, with not a spit of magic to call on, but I'd still been able to fight when I should have been dead. I caught old Karys chuckling but she smiled at me and gave me the shirt she had been embroidering all Winter, the shirt she'd meant for Marushka.

So that's why I wear a thick-furred animal-pelt round my shoulders now. Cos I earned it.

It's a good story, is that one.