Dragon armor is SO tough that it lasts and lasts and lasts for ages and ages!

Nevermind: it was the "Dragonbane" 2-handed sword. Damn dark rooms.

I saw a dragon and mammoth fighting, and the mammoth beat it down in no time, so dragons are getting killed out there without my help. I've also seen giants kill a dragon. So, some lucky smith finds the body loots it, makes some armor, He then struts around, showing off his fancy armor and gets killed by bandits. The bandits stash it in a chest to wait until the local guards forget about them and you find it. There, problem solved.