Gremorian Shriekhide

"You want the finest clothes money can buy, you go out and kill a shrieker. Make it back alive, and we'll negotiate a price."

— Dorin Percival of Mudwater Glade, pixie

There is no hide in all the world as fine as Gremorian Shrieker hide. Soft enough to flex in all the right places yet tough enough to stop a blade more than once, its the sort of thing one wears when they would prefer a natural death that doesn't involve being eaten alive. There are, of course, problems with Shriekhide, the main two being its source--deadly flying beasts that can drive a man to madness with a single piercing scream, a long beak like a serrated blade, and the hide which protects near as well in life as in death--and the knowledge of how to process it, which is only possessed by those miserly bastard pixies in the glade south of Ashmouth. I'd almost say you're better off just wearing steel. Almost. I suppose when it comes to staying alive, though, almost doesn't really cut it.

Properties

Material Characteristics

The hide is a dull grey leather, covered in iridescent scales about the width of a grown man's thumb nail. It's damn near impossible to get the hide off the beasts without the tail, so it's rare enough to see a suit of the stuff without a spiked tail dragging behind, but a lot of the better warriors prefer it that way, say it's just another weapon. I think it looks a burden, myself, but to each their own.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Each of the scales is surprisingly smooth, like perfectly sanded wood, and cool to the touch, a bit moist, like dewy grass on a spring morning. I tell you, the stuff is marvelous in heat, but I wouldn't take it out in the cold. That same moisture tends to freeze in colder climates, makes the armor a bit stiff in the joints.

Geology & Geography

Gremorian Shriekers are found in the hills around Gremora. They like to hunt around that area, which is why most of the sane folk have moved their livestock indoors. You can see them waiting, if you're patient, ready to grab up an easy meal when the beasts are taken out to pasture. You know, most places you only have to worry about wolves and thieves. I swear by all the stars in the sky, you'll never see me as a shepherd in Gremora.

Odor

It smells a fair bit like the smell you get running a whetstone along a blade, something sharp and metallic, hard to really pin down, but you know it when you smell it.

Taste

I wouldn't if I were you.