Like a haystack needle II

Chitin does not know armor. Nor does he understand money, beyond "coins are shiny," so when he decided that he wanted some armor he asked Draven and me to go with him.

This was a good choice on his part. While I wear very little out of personal preference, I understand armor. More importantly, I know it.

Chitin was already overwhelmed by Cloudbirth; when we began shopping, he became like a child locked in a confectioner's store overnight.

Trying to narrow things down didn't help at all. "Do you want bezainted? Jazerainted? Chain? What kind of chain? Striped, or banded? Would barred work? Doubled? Do you mind heavy, or would half-heavy do? Can we even find somebody who's willing to make half-heavy around here?"

Chitin had no words for what he was looking for, but at the very first armorer we visited, he found his heart's desire: he pointed at a polished steel cuirass and said, emphatically, "That." No need for the rest of the pieces in the suit, or for the chain under it, or the felt under that, or the silk under all of those; he wanted the big piece in the center.

Eventually, he found a cuirass that was big enough that it might conceivably fit on him. (It was fitted for somebody else, of course.) And so, out of curiosity, he asked to put it on.

He hated it.

It was too heavy; he was looking for something lighter. (As was I, incidentally.) So we went through a dozen neighborhoods, comparing quality and prices and asking about custom work and so forth.

Eventually, we found what we were looking for. The man dealt in Cloudborn steel and the quality is reliably good. And, most importantly for Chitin, the cuirass was light enough. Light enough that I could see myself buying armor made from it.

The price was six hundred down, in platinum.

I once saw a ship unloading a cargo of spices, and knowing what I know now that cargo was easily several dozen Cloudborn steel breastplates, all tailored to fit Chitin perfectly. But in coin? Nobody has that kind of money. That's a dog's weight in platinum coins.

The price was inflated.

It had to be. We came over as being completely clueless ("But what kind of Moonsilver blend are we talking here? You can't just ask for a Moonsilver blend, there's no standard ratio so they'll sell you normal steel marked up seventy times. Would you like oryargyr, then? How about half-heavy, with the light rings straight steel? Starmetal? What the hell is that? I don't deal in Starbone. You'd have to do that custom order and pay extra...") - and we were. So he marked us up for it.