Sereck entered the small room and shut the door behind him. Glanmaple was not a large city, but at least the inn had a variety of rooms to choose from. This room was facing south, allowing for plenty of daylight to enter without making the room overly warm.
Slowly, Sereck began to remove his plate armor and place it on the small table in the room and the bed. It was dented in multiple places, and some of those dents pushed heavily into the scales underneath, making removal painfull. For the millionth time, Sereck wished his dragonborn hide had been composed of tougher scales so he could wear lighter armor. Looking at one of the large dents in the front, his mind went back to the battle that caused the damage….
“Kernosh is down and needs your help paladin,” Sereck hears being called out from behind. Sereck risks a look back, and sure enough, the other dragonborn is down. But the warrior in front of Sereck is dodging all his attacks and Sereck knows if he turns his back, this fighter won’t hesitate to put a blade in it. Serecks dragon breath had taken down two of this fellow’s goblin companions easily enough, but this warrior was a strong one. And since Duncan had taken out the hobgoblin already, it was only these last four that needed taking out. Sereck had also seen in his momentary look that the sneaky member of the team, Orrin, was carefully trying to bandage up Kernosh. Sloppy work, but he was at least trying and accomplishing more than Sereck at the moment. Sereck decides to try again to take out the enemy, using a long swinging strikes with his great axe…and misses again. Sereck grunts in disbelief and takes another step back, to get closer to Kernosh. He might have to take the hit to stabilize his ally. For a brief moment, Sereck wonders if he should have just taken the hit to heal his companion instead of this attack and step back approach. But there will be time, what could possibly go wrong, especially with Orrin already there. Suddenly two of the remaining goblins appear surrounding Sereck. And as if they had trained just for this attack, all three come in at once. The hit on his head dazes him, as the other two sword thrusts penetrate his armor. Sereck swings his great axe at the air in a vain attempt to hit anything, misses, and falls to the ground in a loud thump with his axe nearly taking off his own leg. The sounds of battle echoes in his ear as he vaguely glimpses the goblins walking over his fallen body as they move in on his companions…
Sereck shook off the image with a shiver. It was the first time he had ever fallen in battle. He had been close many times, but this time his life had been totally dependent on the survival of the others. Not the type of feeling he liked. His decision to keep fighting had also proven nearly fatal. Sereck learned latter that Orrin had no idea what he was doing, and his attempts, although valiant while on the battlefield, had been of no help at all. Bandaging cuts means nothing when the patient has blood pumping out of other openings, a harsh lesson indeed that almost cost Kernosh his life. If not for the stubborn dwarf and the others, the world would be missing two more of the dragonborn. That was totally unacceptable.
Removing the rest of his armor, Sereck began cleaning both it and his axe. A mix of blood, sweat, and dirt infused in oil are all wiped off the armor until it shines, displaying the almost unseen markings covering the armor. Before anything could be properly repaired, it had to be determined exactly what needed fixing, and that required the removal of all the accumulated materials after a week’s travel and battle. Sereck rolled the pieces of loose leather between his scaled fingers. A couple of the leather straps were cut, points where swords had penetrated his defenses. His axe was in fine shape, it only needed sharpening. Memories of his axe swinging over the heads of the enemy fighters passed through his mind again, as Sereck flicked his tongue angrily and set the axe down on the bed, fine indeed. The armor was in good shape, nothing he couldn’t fix on an anvil himself. But his fighting technique, well, that would require a bit more attention.
Sereck spent the morning at a small smithy close to the inn. The cost or renting his tools was minor, as the man had heard about his groups adventures and was quite happy to let him use his workshop. Of course, the blacksmith obviously thought this meant that the paladin wanted to hear about the man’s many adventures. Most of the stories seemed to involve angry horses and their uptight owners. Sereck did his best to laugh when it seemed appropriate and nod as statements ended with a slight inflection of the voice. Some small children came by to watch, probably not a large enclave of dragonborn around here, so they seemed fascinated by Sereck’s appearance. Soon enough he finished with his armor repair, not a smooth repair job but otherwise fit for use. Taking advantage of the grinding wheel, he added a keen edge to the axe as well. It was at this point he thought he should give a slight show to the children, as he stepped out into the street and, making sure he had plenty of room, went though a few maneuvers with the great axe. It felt good to use the weapon without his armor, and the children soaked up the show and gave approval with small appreciative sounds. Going back inside, he donned his armor and decided to take some time to think about his fighting technique. He thanked the smithy, threw a handful of copper coins into the street to distract the children, and made his way to find his new steed.
The horse was one of the largest he’d seen in town, it looked like a large draft horse that a farmer would use in a field. It was a good thing too, because dragonborn are not known for their light builds. It took only a few moments to bridle and saddle the horse. He added a few water bags to the saddles, some additional weight for the horse to worry about. Another few coins to the stableman to ensure fresh straw would be laid down before he returned, and Sereck was off for the forests outside the town.
The ride was a pleasant one, if not overly fast. He didn’t want to injure his new steed before it had gotten used to the large load on its back. Finally, Sereck found a nice open clearing with some dead trees off the road and away from town. Tying up the horse and ensuring he knew his surroundings, it was time for Sereck to train. His dragonbreath seemed to be one of the attacks that did the most damage. Kernosh had explained how he had increased his attack range, so it only made sense that Sereck should do the same. Hours past, as Sereck practiced the breathing techniques that Kernosh had mentioned, as well as the proper way to shape his neck and head. Finally, he was ready. Moving towards the grove of dying trees, Sereck concentrated and released his lighting breath attack. Ozone filled the air as energy passed through the dead trees, flinging parts of bark and wood into all directions. Some of the smaller parts burst into flame, while others just smoldered a dark red. Sereck paced out the damage, checking to see how far and wide the attack had managed. Not quite as far as Kernosh’s, but close.
A grin appeared on his face, this would do nicely. Retrieving the water sacks, Sereck doused the area to ensure no fires sprung up after he left. He spent the next hour working through his other melee attacks with his great axe, testing to determine if any of those should be changed. Eventually, exhausted, Sereck sat down and had a small meal thinking over the day’s events. He wasn’t as bad off as he had thought. The breath weapon was really the only change, other than if another ally were to drop in battle; he would be there to assist. Those two changes would have to do. Sereck did his best to clear up the area before he left, and road back to town. The day had been a productive one, and he was now restless to get back on a quest to test his new fighting methods.