Saern’s Fine Swords

This shop stands on the southeastern corner of the meeting of the High Road and Burnt Wagon Way. It’s an old, massively built stone place with bars on all the windows, crenelations on the flagstone roof, and a narrow exposed, iron-bound door overlooked by arrow slits—-in short, a miniature fortress.

It holds a large stock of swords, including a few made by Szwarharba the Swordsmith, the famous craftsman of Tethyr, who before his death some 90 winters back had learned how to forge blades that could be bent around almost in a circle without breaking or becoming permanently angled out of true. Swords are not made to fit the user here, but they are sharpened (including overall lightening by shaving the blade thickness). The large selection means that most shoppers will be able to find a sword that is reasonably suitable to their reach and strength. A good long sword costs about 20 sp, including the 1 sp city fee, and a fine dagger about 4 sp.

Few clients know the quietly polite owner of the shop is a warrior, and fewer still know he has invisible weapons stashed all over the shop in plain view ready to defend himself with. One is a sword of dancing and another is a sword defender. The shop has at least three staff on duty at all times—-one of whom is an out-of-uniform city guard officer, who notes the names and descriptions of those who buy particular weapons.