Cleric's Reinforced Scale Helm of Rata Sum

Cleric's Reinforced Scale Helm of Rata Sum gleams with interlocking brass scales, each plate hammered smooth and edged in pale silver that catches the lamplight. A teal enamel stripe runs along the brow like a wary eye, and the vents in the crown pulse with a quiet, insistent warmth when the wearer’s prayers rise. The helm’s surface bears a constellation of tiny sigils—runes of warding and resolve—so faint that they seem to hum when the air is still. It is not a showpiece for display cases alone, but a piece worn by those who mend the wounded and steady the charge in the heat of battle. The scales overlap with the precision of an Asuran clockwork, yet the helm sits with the soft weight of tradition, as if the clerics of Rata Sum hammered in not just metal but centuries of discipline. Forged in the shadow of the University’s glittering towers, the Cleric's Reinforced Scale Helm of Rata Sum is said to have been tempered by breath and beacon-light—the product of a rare alliance between engineer-warriors and healing-priests. Legend speaks of a cleric-priestess who walked the corridors of wax-lighted libraries, guiding mages and medics alike through plague fog and siege smoke. Her creed was simple: protect the mind as well as the skull. So the smiths weaved scale plates with crystalline threads, crafting a helm that could shrug off shrapnel and curses, while the sigils whispered encouragement to the wearer’s nerves when the air crackled with fear. The result was not merely a helmet, but a promise that even in tyranny’s roar, a single cleric’s focus could hold. In actual play, the helm feels like a hinge between faith and function. It sits heavy enough to remind you of your duty, yet not so heavy that you lose the nimble reflexes a healer needs when a frontline line breaks and allies stumble. Worn by those who lead prayers and line-of-sight buffs, it becomes a focal point in a chain of kept alive and kept moving. Its protection frees the hands for staff and sigil-making, while its aura—whether it’s purely ceremonial or metaphorical—offers the wearer a steadiness that translates into faster decision-making, cleaner heals, and braver retreats. Prices drift through markets as surely as the wind through Rata Sum’s glassy spires. In conversations at Saddlebag Exchange, I’ve watched the cleric’s helm traded for stories as much as for coin. A pristine piece fetches a valuation that reflects its maker’s pride and the wearer’s courage; another driftwood relic bears the memory of a legendary vigil and a price tag to match. Traders speak in hushed tones about the helm’s role in memory, about how a piece of armor can become a reliquary for the battles it survived. And so the Cleric's Reinforced Scale Helm of Rata Sum continues its quiet vigil, passed from one healer to the next, a wearable legend that binds the old city’s craft to the ever-changing wars of the present, its scales catching dawn and dusk alike, as if to remind those who wear it that protection—of body, and of mind—remains the noblest shield.