Chapter 5-27
The village of Backhorn – estimated population 1500 – is largely similar to many of the ‘dungeon towns’ in the Lost Angels region. The notable exception is that, unlike many similar towns, the associated dungeon is located outside the town, at the nearby Delver's Guild Academy.
In Backhorn’s case, the Delver's Guild plays a role much like that of one of the Families, as the Academy is the single largest employer. Many of the guards, and nearly all of the Academy's staff, live in town. The remaining economy is largely agricultural. The only establishment of note in Backhorn is an outpost of A–Z Emporium, which primarily caters to the students of the Academy with a broad selection of Tier 0 and some Tier 1 equipment.
- Fodorick’s Lonely Traveler – Guide to LA’s Townships and Minor Attractions
Zaire and Jayce had picked out new light armor sets, Raylan had the set of Level 5 I’d originally wanted, and I of course had the far-too-expensive commissioned armor. The orcs hadn’t found anything that would fit them, and their armor matched their current Level already, so they had only picked out a few mods each.
I realized that none of the others, aside from Raylan, had picked out any weapons when the Knife Fighter started looking to see if they had ammunition that would fit his pistol from the dungeon. I walked over to admire the display of pistols, every one of them far more finely crafted than the junk I’d been given back in Sunland. As Arlo stepped up besides me I frowned, recalling that he’d claimed his family was responsible for giving out those cheap pistols.
“Many of these are my family’s products,” he told me, “though I see a few cheaper imitations as well.”
“Ha, you have a good eye young Mr. Hammersmith, as expected!” Samuel had followed us over, bumping one of his younger employees out of the way and taking his place.
“Not everyone can afford Hammersmith quality, unfortunately, so I must cater to their needs as well!”
Arlo nodded slightly, conceding the point, and I continued to look over the weapons. There were several sizes available, and from the tags they came in Level 1, Level 5, and Level 10 versions. When I asked Samuel about the missing Levels in between, he explained that most people didn’t upgrade their pistols regularly. They tended to buy one for a kid who had just finished the Tutorial, then upgrade occasionally when they’d outgrown the old one.
I had to remind myself that the main customers for these weapons were probably civilians who didn’t expect to use them very often, and not Delvers.
Why not Delvers, though? I haven’t seen anyone carrying a pistol around the Academy that I can recall… Once we hit Tier 1, maybe they figure everyone can learn a basic Bolt Spell or two, but for Tier 0… Hmm.
I looked again at the top of the display, where there were two huge pistols with oversized handgrips and trigger guards. Identify.