Knowing we were going to have to face the dragon's breath at some point, our King Joey the First has appointed our court's wizard to create an armor that would be able to withstand such intense flames. I, on the other hand, was tasked with writing the details, so we could recreate the armors.
The first idea we had was to contact the dwarves. We have kept relatively good relations, and due to their working with molten metal, they were bound to have knowledge about what we could use to protect ourselves.
They showed us several samples of various, highly worked minerals, and demonstrated their properties in their giant forges. Immediatly, one of their materials, looking a lot like quartz, called our attention: they put it into one of their forges, one with dancing white flames. We could feel the heat from several meters away. After it spent 10 minutes in it, they carefully took it out and then to our disbelief grabbed it with their bare hands. There was no sign of it burning them in any way. At first only a few of us dared to touch it, but it didn't feel hot at all. They called it "light quartz". We do not know how they made it, but they ask a great price in magic items for it, meaning that the fabrication must be quite difficult. However, for dragonslaying, only the finest materials will do.
We immediately moved to testing the material. First, we designed a small shield, completely made of the stuff. We borrowed several Night Adders that were being used for fireshows by a local circus, put a big log on the ground, the shield on top, then had the adders spit fire at it. No burning at all on the log, promising.
We then proceeded to several other tests, revealing some flaws of light quartz. First, we tried wearing it, and it is rather stiff, not easily bent. Secondly, we tried slicing a small piece with a knife, and it is a bit too soft, being rent quite easily. If a small knife can tear through it this easily, they would be like butter to a dragon's claws.
Thus, we looked for a way to reinforce the material. First, we tried to simply make it cover a sheet of steel. However, this didn't solve the flexibility problem. Furthermore, rips through the layer of light quartz led to heat being able to penetrate through the steel. We had to get a new piece of wood. Obviously, we will also need to change the quartz that had been ripped through.
Our second attempt was to instead combine the light quartz with another material we used for our firefighter's clothing, a very fibrous material called asbestos. While it was pretty good at heat protection, it did not reach light quartz's level in that respect. However it had several desirable properties. By weaving it around the light quartz, we obtain a much more resistant material, as the fibers (partially) stop cut. Furthermore, we can pad the joints with it, further augmenting flexibility.
Hence we created a sample armor, completely covering the body. For the entrance, we decided on a simple set of buckles in the back. Several flaps would help cover this layer. One problem this raised was the lack of visibility. We added two eyeholes, with a special glass that was on the dwarves materials' list.
Then came the real test. A willing soldier donned the armor, and the adders spit fire. Overall, the soldier is fine, at least from the fire. However, there was little air inside the armor, and once closed, the soldier had only a few minutes of air supply.
We decided to create a small opening on the back (outside of blast range), easily closed or opened through a system of strings inside the suit. Pushing a switch inside the hand pulls a string, closing the opening, and pulling it pulls a string on the other side, opening it again. It did well in testing, easily used by the soldiers, little hot air getting in the suit, even when not knowing when the adders would blast The suit resisted a special test with a full blast from all sides, which left the room quite hot.
Overall, while bulky, this armor should protect us from the dragon. A shield, done in a similar fashion, can take the brunt force of the blasts. We advised the soldiers on how to get in the armor, closing the buckles so as to let the flaps overlap, the usage of the opening, and the weak points in the joints and the back, writing their comments in a manual for future use.
