Rugged Leather Section sits on the counter, a thick slab of weathered hide the color of hammered copper. Its surface is grainy and uneven, every pore and crease telling a story, as if the animal had weathered sun and rain before it met the blacksmith’s rasp. The edges are torn and irregular, a few score marks crossing the grain like a map of a long road. A light sheen of oil clings to the surface, catching the lantern light and drawing the eye to a stubborn seam along one side. In the lore of the road-weavers, this patch is more than leather—it’s a fragment of journey: hide from a hardy pack mule, stamped by a caravan’s smith with the mark of a rider’s oath; some whisper that the grain remembers a storm at sea when crates slid and the seam held fast. In the workshop, this patch is a reliable anchor. It is the backbone of mid-tier harnesses and sturdy pouches, the kind a caravan guard wants when the road turns treacherous. It binds well with resin and sinew, shaping with rivets into belts that hold a map case and a tool-harrier. For players, it’s a dependable building block—something you can farm from early hides, then trade or save to craft gear that lasts through long journeys or tough skirmishes. Its durability matters in dynamic combat where gear downtime is costly; a well-prepared belt keeps tools in reach as you ride, march, or wade through damp woods. The more you gather, the heavier the weight of a world where every patch is a story and every stitch counts. On market days, the Saddlebag Exchange hums with leather-scented chatter. The Rugged Leather Section sits among crates, its edges catching the glint of sun-dappled stalls. Traders speak softly about condition—how a patch ages, how well it takes oil, how forgiving the grain is under a hot iron. Price isn’t glittering; it’s negotiation forged in practice. A pair of sturdy gloves, a belt that won’t sag, a repair kit banded with rivets—all of these hinge on this single patch. A seasoned rider might trade a couple of smaller hides for a single Rugged Leather Section, or swap stories in exchange for two silver worth of murmured accents. The Exchange isn’t just coin—it’s a ledger of journeys, a place where the same patch has mended dozens of saddles and carried a dozen sighs of relief when a road grew treacherous. And as the lamps burn low, the patch sits back in the counting shade of the stall, not just as leather but as a memory—one that binds the world’s riders to their gear and to the promises they keep at the end of a hard day’s ride.