Legend of the Spellthief

Logan and Marcus were close to reaching that desired five completed hunts, unlocking access to the armbands that would lighten the restrictions placed on them. There was no doubt that they would round the day off with a final hunt, taking a contract from the now-busy Jirango who had a fake hunt situation to sort out.

The last hunt before their freedom was to take down a man who had stolen both his wife’s and son’s savings and fled from one side of the capital to the other. It seemed the man was able to change his appearance with the aid of herbs and clothing so he had eluded the minimal guard response to the theft. Since he wasn’t that dangerous, being a classless being, the reward was a paltry 3 silver, with the caveat that the stolen money was to be returned.

With his System map, Logan found out why he had escaped apprehension. He was actually at the docks of the city and not within a proper district. The contract noted the northeast part of the capital, whereas the dock was on the furthest western point. Putting away any thought of ineptitude, Logan and Marcus made a long walk towards the docks.

Marcus had a moment of confusion when they were heading in the opposite direction, but remembering Logan’s tracking abilities led him to not question it. The day moved into the evening as the docks were cast in a lovely orange hue, the reflection of the sun bouncing off the sea beautifully.

The squarks of birds had started to die down as the day did the same, but this part of the city was quite the departure in all the senses. Yells of orders, creaking of wood, the docks were full of sounds that felt more modern when compared to the times that Logan had gone to the fishing docks near beaches.

A smell of fish and sea salt flavoured the air, putting Logan off of spending too much time here lest his clothes absorb the smell for later. The smell would certainly push away guards who would patrol this area, making it a good hiding spot for low-risk criminals. Thankfully a guard was making the rounds and was quickly picked up for witness duty by the pair.

“Dad would have probably liked this place, a short trip on a boat to a nearby beach. That would be like a vacation to him”, Logan thought pensively.

Ending up as the longest search yet, Logan’s mini-map circle continued to get smaller and smaller. The only place they had to search was a boat that was preparing to leave port, a small one that was probably for fishing or travelling along the coast. They couldn’t go far west due to the hazards away from the continent making it near impossible to explore the whole world.

Approaching the boat had one of the fishermen meet the party halfway. “'Ey there, you needin' something, sirs?” he spoke through several missing teeth.

“Hunter business, may we board and search the boat?” the guard spoke ahead of the adventurers.

With sweat dripping down his brow, the fisherman responded, “uh sure. C'mon board.”

Boarding the boat caused it to dip slightly at the addition of three grown men, but not enough to cause any worry. Their boarding didn’t go unnoticed though, as from the small cabin a pair of eyes were glaring from the opened wood-panel window. The mark had spotted the team before they spotted him, giving him ample time to try and get away.

The doors to the cabin swung open, smashing against the exterior wall. A flung stool hit the guard, causing him to fall to the floor. Jumping atop the cabin the thief lept from the boat to the docks to start a sprint away from the hunters. Following suit, Logan dashed up and jumped onto the cabin’s roof. Keeping the mark in his sight.

Raising his hand up he chanted, “Sleep Skystrike”, throwing his hand down as he ended the cast. Spores and puffs of dandelions started to flow across his hand, disappearing and reappearing in the air above the thief. Falling down in a mess of a white pollen cloud, the spell swirled around the thief as it darted into his orifices. A classless being had no chance at saving against the spell, his body hitting the floor in a short slide.

The nearby populace was shocked at the spell, moving away from the sleeping thief and staring at the Spellthief atop the boat cabin.

“Hunter business, don’t worry”, Marcus shouted as he jogged across the docks to the mark.

It was a wonder how the man had escaped for so long, his snoring was loud enough to scare off the last of the evening dock birds. Logan could swear anyone would have wanted him gone with the way his mouth was imitating a boar. Combined with the clanking of metal armour from the guard witness, the trio apprehended the sleeping criminal.

Conversing with the captain of the small boat revealed that the sleeping man had paid for a ferry up the coast to a nearby fishing village. Searching the belongings in the cabin revealed that the man had taken not just the money but several other effects from his previous household. An interesting oval container also clued the pair in on how he had changed his hair colour, a dark cream that smelled of pungent flowers.

Carrying the man back to the Gerro Guardhouse, Logan spotted the experience for their subjugation of the man flying over his body a few seconds after he had fallen. Another 25 XP for Logan and 5 for Marcus, the guards thus far never entered their party so Logan wouldn’t need to worry about the split getting any worse. As there was only one mark this time the guard was stuck with the duty of carrying the body.

It was strange that Marcus was granted experience for the hunt, though he did aid in the whole intimidation factor by being by Logan’s side. It could have also been because Marcus made sure the target was asleep and tied them up while they slept. It was input of a sort, so maybe the party mechanics were being lenient.

Handing off the mark to the jailors, Logan placed the bag of belongings onto the desk to complete their fifth hunt. There wasn’t any bonus for this mission as the belongings were a requirement, though the additional effects did leave Logan expecting one when he was given the pay of 2 silver for himself and 1 for Marcus.

Updating their signets Jirango spoke up, “And that’s five. You’ve done quick work in getting to that milestone. Not a lot of quests laying around? Or are you just not finding parties to adventure with?”

“Well, the hunts we've done so far have been relatively easy, and we aren’t aiming to leave the city for long periods of time yet”, Logan responded.

“Cleaning the streets is just as noble as clearing the forests”, Marcus chimed in.

“There will be plenty of work for you to be sure, more than this guardhouse can hold. I can ask for the contracts from the others to get copied over here if it will be easier for you?”

“Thanks, if you can. Also, we’d like two public-hunter armbands, please”, Logan spoke as he placed down 5 silver coins alongside Marcus doing the same.

“I can get those for you tomorrow morning, as the handbook should have explained to you, you’ll be able to take on several contracts at a time with that, though we do typically have a limit of five at a time per hunter.”

“Yeah, I got that part. Would be hard to cart five hunts in together, unless they were all executions.”

“Earned yourself a good few weeks at the inn too, going to be taking a break or right back at it tomorrow?”

“With the armbands, we may move into nighttime hunting, tomorrow night should be the first of that”, Logan replied as he looked over to Marcus to confirm.

“Ah. If that is the case the night watch will deal with you, a younger lad named Jivvy does the night shift here. I’ll inform him about you two”, Jirango informed.

“Then I guess we’ll see you in the morning and Jivvy tomorrow night then”, Marcus added.

With their business concluded, the pair returned to the inn. Logan was disappointed that no title had unlocked for him, since five hunts were when armbands unlocked he had assumed it would also come with a title. Worrying it may be due to the beginning days bringing easier titles, Logan planned to use his skill points even more sparingly than he had. However, seeing how the tomes increased in price, he wasn’t sure he would be able to afford all of what he would need as a caster.

Finishing the evening off with food, drink and reading, Logan was able to complete “Silent Step Vol 1”, granting him 25% of mastery experience with the Stealth skill. It was a big jump, though Logan theorized if he went to an area infested with enemies he could get that sort of progression without spending 1 gold.

Logan only had three more tomes to read over, the lexicons of the three major languages spoken on Avanar. It wouldn’t be a boost in power, but it would aid in the diplomacy side of his adventures if he was able to understand those he had to deal with. As the moon rose high in the sky, the adventurers retired to a long night of rest.

The morning started as normal, Clean micks, breakfast, and planning for the day ahead. Marcus went to pick up their armbands and brought them back to the inn. They were made of a thick cloth and leather fabric, coloured silver to easily distinguish amongst normal clothing. A reflective black text was sewn into the armband reading “Hunter” with a symbol resembling a “P” beneath it with a flick on the bottom-left of the letter.

Coming with two pins, one was stabbed into their sleeves near their shoulders and the other to the inside of the armband. Slipping the armband on, it could be moved above the sleeve pin and then slot down and to the right, locking it to any form of a jacket, coat, or tunic. This made it easier to take on or off, depending on the situation, without the need for outside help or taking the coat off.

With their hunter status now becoming official, Logan was reassured that he wouldn’t be troubled as much by pretentious adventurers who thought themselves above him. Though more successful hunts would solidify that position of safety, and so the two planned for the next week of work and study.

This week would be mostly geared towards obtaining the other armband upgrades to ease their time in the capital, earning money for future purchases, as well as coming to grips with how life went for adventurers and hunters. Logan also surmised that another quest might appear during their week in the capital, so he didn’t want to go too far in case he missed it when it appeared. There were also a few more oracles to investigate during their week of work.

- Day 1 -

Spending the day reading through “Lexicon of Ava” revealed that Logan would need more than the normal eight hours, as the language was deep and complex. He understood most of the words, though fully wrapping his head around it would take another day.

The apprehension hunts of the night comprised of:

A man that was known for forging signatures and documents, but had evaded capture due to his contacts.

A woman that had stolen funds from her place of work and fled into the lower quarters.

A couple that had faked one of their deaths to earn their “undead insurance” and were on the run after getting paid.

A group of four classless that were taking advantage of new adventurers and stealing their gear.

A classless who had murdered his brother, though it turned out he had been framed so was set free after the debacle back at the guardhouse.

A flurry of hand-to-hand blows, chops to the back of the neck, a Sleep spell here or there, and Marcus using his staff to knock out those closest to him. Taking down classless was a simple task for adventurers of their skill. Logan removed the reservation on his summoning spell, allowing him three second-level spells a day, aiding in the ability to use Sleep or Dimensional Jaunt.

With each hunt, Logan noticed the truth circle at the Gerro Guardhouse getting dimmer and dimmer. Inquiring about it with Jirango revealed that they only had so many charges before needing to be recast. It was an expensive ordeal, but it saved money and time having to go through courts and the like.

It wasn’t foolproof though, as classed beings of sufficiently high rank or resistance could ignore the effects of the circle. Those of rank 10 and higher typically could avoid speaking the truth even with several applications of the circle. Higher-tier circles were possible but more costly.

With the evening of work over, Logan had completed 27 quests with 6 for the adventurers, 11 villager quests, 10 hunter marks. Logan earned 16 silver, with 7 for Marcus, and at ten hunts they both bought up spellcaster upgrades to their armbands for 5 silver each, which added the reflective black lettering of “Sp” next to the “P”. That would allow them to use spells while not hunting without worry, except for identification, summon, and teleportation spells.

Logan gained 175 XP, Marcus gained 35. Two of the marks came willingly, so no XP was granted for those.

- Day 2 -

Logan completed his first lexicon, familiarising himself with the majority of the Ava tongue, alongside its slang and common terms. Through reading it, he also now understood some of the letters and symbols he had noticed to this point, being the Ava alphabet as well as signs. Symbols like “Demon’s Entry” which was found on certain shops and inns of a combined “Y” and “K”, which was their version of allowing vampires to enter their building.

Logan had also spent some of his spare time investigating more of the past oracles from his history book. Finding two more, what he could assume were partner NPCs, led him to find that they were also alone in their time on Avanar. However, the second did mention that his oracle was searching for others in the hopes of “going home” which resonated with Logan somewhat.

Gathering up the final hunting contracts that had to deal with classless beings, since Jirango had brought some others over from the other guardhouses, the pair got stuck into work with their apprehension hunts:

A trio of gashriek that had hunted down several humans and murdered them in their homes. Logan did feel bad at this mark, due to the speciesism he noticed, but they had still killed innocents.

A gang of four humans who had worked alongside Saeka to steal rations and food. Interrogations were going to hopefully get to the bottom of their racket.

Yenwa, the man who had framed Gail Ren for the theft of tomes. It turned out that Gail was attracting the attention of a woman that Yenwa was in love with and moved to remove the obstacle in his way.

A charlatan alchemist who was selling fake potions.

A classless guard-in-training that stole the training equipment and was on the run.

Logan was becoming quite apt at using his hands and feet to take down those way below his power level, with Marcus spotting attacks faster and faster. Even though the two no longer needed guard witnesses, they did ask a few here or there to aid in carrying unconscious bodies to the guardhouse.

With some of their work, they had also gone above and beyond when finding stolen goods, fake items, alongside information. When it came to their pay Logan was gifted, at his choice, an Alchemy tome by the name of “Gaian Touch” and a Throwing tome titled “Swift Toss”, both being valuable rewards.

Earning 30 silver, Marcus getting 13, they had reached the fifteen mark milestone in a time that even made Jirango smile. He mentioned how he remembered previous spellcaster hunters doing similar work, identification spells being incredibly useful in hunts. Handing over 20 silver, Logan ordered his armband be updated to allow him to keep his summons active in the capital alongside an update to allow him to teleport at his discretion with the letters “Sum” and “Tp”.

32 quests done: 6 adventurers, 11 villagers, 15 hunters. Logan gained 250 XP, Marcus gained 50.

- Day 3 -

With new books in hand, Logan spent eight hours reading both to completion, gaining the Alchemy skill and improving his Throwing skill. With each book, Logan saw his Reading skill also slowly increasing. Daydreaming of a day where he could finish a book in minutes, he snapped out of his train of thought as it came to work.

With no more classless beings to apprehend, at least when it came to what the Gerro Guardhouse had listed, the two moved onto the lowest-ranked classed beings. Due to how the combat would function, having few enemies and quick fights, Logan kept Celsius out of the confrontations and focused on his other second-level spells.

Picking up the apprehension hunts they moved onto subduing:

Two Fighters of rank 1 that had stolen their families' money and items to pay for their starting equipment.

A rank 1 Knight that had beaten up a Wizard for not joining his quest, it was outside of a duel and kept secret by a group of other adventurers. Logan and Marcus brought in the whole gang of eight, though they would only be imprisoned for a few months, the Knight in question was going away for at least a year.

A rank 1 Rogue that had overestimated his sneaking skills and was caught stealing from a local alchemy shop.

Three rank 1 Devouts that had been bullying nearby classless into needlessly hiring their healing services at a church.

An assumed spy that had been constantly scanning people and making notes. The rank 2 Sorcerer was caught with a 100-page diary of notes written in code. Several other items were also taken into evidence.

The difficulty had taken a slight step up, but with only fighting classed people of level 1 or 2 Logan didn‘t have to worry much about taking damage. At the handing in of his final quest, he was happy to finally see a title pop-up in front of his face.

“You have gained the ‘Hound Hunter’ title.”

“Hound Hunter: The first distinguished form of hunters, as a hound your nose is sharpened to track down criminals wherever they may hide. Lawbreakers have started to hear your name in the criminal networks, whereas on the other side law-abiding citizens have grown to feel safe in your presence.

You are awarded 5% extra money (minimum 1 copper) from successful hunting contracts and can more easily intimidate others. You have gained 1 skill point to distribute.”

Keeping the skill point in reserve, for now, Logan would check out the library at a later time to see if he could just find tomes for the skills currently on his bookmark list. Picking up the total pay of 24 silver, with 10 for Marcus, Logan paid 10 silver for the final upgrade to his armband for a while, allowing him to use identification spells and abilities as he wished with the letters “Id”. Though it did not give him permission to use it against officials, law persons, and nobility.

Yet again, the pair were given some small bonuses for doing more than what was asked, especially when they brought in the whole gang of bully adventurers. Marcus was offered some training by the guards, a cheaper alternative than using a normal martial arts school and possibly a better experience.

Logan had the pick of a few options but ended up getting a “Necromantic Manual 1”, which was a specialized tome to increase one’s mastery with the spell. It was in their evidence and lockup room, and since it was just gathering dust alongside Logan not wanting any of the items he had returned, it was the best choice for the Spellthief.

37 quests done: 6 adventurers, 11 villagers, 20 hunters. Logan gained 927 XP, Marcus 170.

- Day 4 -

Finishing the Necromantic tome in a few hours, which improved it to tier 4, Logan and Marcus decided to have a day to break the routine. Marcus was going to investigate the martial training offered by Jirango, whereas Logan was going to take on a group of bandits outside the city. This hunt in particular would better suit Logan to go alone and utilize his Stealth, as well as using Essence Absorption as it was an extermination request.

The hunt involved quite a number of foes, ranging from rank 1 to 3, including a few spellcasters. The spellcasters, in particular, were of importance to Logan as they were a way to progress his spells at a faster rate, and a wayward attack from Marcus or the inability to stealthily knock them out would wind up with him missing out on the absorption.

As the marks were outside of the city a far way, Logan bought his first mount on Avanar. A beautiful brown horse named Carmen cost him 15 silver, plus 5 copper worth of feed for the day trip. Talking with Yetveka, Logan was assured his steed could be looked after at the inn’s own attached stables with feed paid for by the hunter’s association while it stayed there. With the number of hunts Logan and Marcus were handling it wasn’t an issue for those services.

Charging off into the distance, Logan made his way to a much longer hunt. One that could test him, if only a little bit. Fighting people 6 levels lower than he was would be easy, right?

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