Vacation in Stormhome: Around Highwash > Pinnacle > Belgeth

I head over to the Belgeth district in Pinnacle to browse the shops some. All sorts of stuff to look at here with a lot of rare and interesting things scattered about. Pricy stuff so I’m pretty much only looking. The good thing is, we Tabaxi are rare on Khorvaire (rhymes 🙂 and I’ve got decent enough clothes that I’m not immediately kicked out. I keep my eye out for anything that might possibly be from the Dhakaani period and to see if they’ve got any Xen’drikan wares. As far as the Xen’drikan stuff, I would be thrilled to find that something from the Biting Ant clan had made it here, but I’m not really sure how well setup that whole trade deal went. Khyber, if I find someone really into getting stuff from Xen’drik I may try my hand as a broker. Er, probably not though. Sounds like too much planning.

Nothin’ from Dhakaan era but I do come across some ceremonial armor that appears to be from Xen’drik. Looks like it’s made of what appear to be ankylosaur plates and tree-dwelling raptor feathers, and is sized for one of the reclusive tribes of ‘Old Scales’ (dinosauroid-Lizardfolk). There’s also a Grung spear and headdress. Grungs are some nasty frog peeps that use poison but it looks like the spear is well cleaned. This place seems to have a significant quantity of Valenar pieces, more than anything else, but I’m not really interested in that.

Still, that Lizardfolk armor is pretty cool. I want to look at it but before I give the shop keeper any idea that I might be a buyer I come straight out and tell him, that I do not have the funds to purchase this item but want a closer look if they’d allow it. I do add in that, “if it helps with your decision, I am with the Department of Archaeological Studies at Morgrave University. I assure you I will handle it with the utmost caution and respect, as it deserves.”

Crazy enough, this works. Well, that and he actually knew I was “that Tabaxi anthropologist.” I knew there weren’t many Tabaxi on Khorvaire but this is pretty cool… I think. Either way, it gets me a look. It’s then that he adds, “maybe you’ll know something the ambassador didn’t.” Hmmm… ambassador huh, gonna have to look that person up. Anyway, the suit of armor seems custom-sized, fitting snugly to a creature no less than nine to twelve feet tall, and wraps in whole across the torso, with a skirt-like bottom falling from shortly below the approximate (and nonexistent) navel to the knees, and greaves-and-sabatons and bracers-and-gloves melded to three-clawed feet and hands. The tail is wrapped similarly to the torso, and features a series of spikes on the second half, turning it thoroughly into a secondary weapon. The helmet is most closely shaped to a creature with an allosaur-like head, judging as best I can – Certainly a toothy maw, at least. The construction is of a collection of banded plates from an ankylosaur, quite possibly more than one, layered over one another like snake-belly scales, banded together underneath with a plant well-known for its tensile strength and usefulness as a tether. Beneath that is a layer of furs, worn thin and down to leather in many places that have high-contact, and in such bare spots are impressions of raised osteoderms. The armor would be perfectly serviceable, were the starting-to-brittle-away plant-bindings to be replaced, and in fact, the armor in many places bears marks of battle – Scuffs, scratches, tooth-and-claw marks, and even a few places where a blade cut into, but not through, the keratinous plates. Along the edges of the plates are occasional brown-red stains, though it is unclear if that is from the previous owner or an enemy. Perhaps most curiously, the feathering and decorations seem to have been added after its original creation. Whether this was a reward or a grieving memory is unclear. The construction is obviously inspired by the chitin banded armor that many of the desert Drow use to form heavier armoring out of their scorpions, and I’d have to guess was likely a result of some pieces of that armor falling into the Lizardfolks’ hands. Of the symbolism of the different feathers, patterns, or colors that are in it, however, I’ve no idea.

The fellow seems a bit amused that a purveyor of fine artifacts and oddities would not be up to date on how best to identify them (I’m not really an artifact hunter, I’m a people person). Anyway, he nods as I explain what I know, and notes that if the bindings are replaced it should be serviceable, a selling point, for some, though for authenticity’s sake he’d need to source the same plants. The influence of the Drow is a curiosity he was not aware of. He opens a file and notes it down, and thanks me for freely sharing the information. He tells me that apparently, the swirl-zigzags are meant to be representative of couatl, as are the feathers, but has little else to offer that I didn’t pick up on.

I say, “Ah! Couatl. Okay, I can see how that imagery corresponds. Very interesting! I’ve not dealt much with couatl or draconic imagery but did get a brief crash course when working with the Ghaash’kala of the Demon Wastes. It is a topic that I am interested in researching but, as you know, can be one that consumes a lifetime of study.”

Shopkeep, “So I’ve heard. It’s why I try and get experts in for a look,” The shopkeep chuckles, with a nod. “If you settle down here in Stormhome, someday, I might contract those types out to you.”

Me, “I would be happy to help. However, I’ve no plans to settle down right now. Although, Stormhome is quite nice, so it’s always a future possibility.”