Legend of the Spellthief

The sparks of metal grating onto more metal danced in the air as Logan parried another blow from a goblin’s sword. Clanking and clanging filled the area with the sounds of war and desperation as the adventurers fought back against the goblinoid threat at their door. The air itself was almost aflame as the body heat from the warriors and the intensity of nearby flames caused the local area to become hell-like.

Cuts across both Logan’s and Marcus’s frames wore them down, and the Devout could only use Healer’s Caress so many times before having to resort to proper healing magic. A kick into a scout’s leg to topple them, a staff smash into a face to disorientate another, the pair were doing well to mess with their foes to catch a break between rushes of reinforcements. Celsius and Spark did their best to resist the almost endless foes charging down the small elementals.

“Marcus, we need to break off and regroup”, Logan spoke between a slash at a goblin.

Catching his breath Marcus replied, “Got it, that house over there should have some good cover.”

“We’re good to take a sprint too!” Celsius added.

“Your lead I shall follow”, Spark ended.

“Force, Force, Force”, Logan chanted in succession.

Aiming his blasts at the nearby hobgoblins to have them fall onto the smaller goblinoids allowed the party a small stretch of time to make a tactical retreat. The explosions of grey energy still found it difficult to penetrate the magical barriers, but there were a few enemies that hadn’t received the same treatment. They were easy enough to pick out, leaving the gang to dash towards a nearby building.

Behind them were countless encroaching green and brown masses, followed by spells being flung by the spellcasters who could have appeared earlier. Bashing his shoulder into the door, Marcus entered the building with ferocity and held the door for his allies. As Spark’s arcs passed the doorway, Marcus slammed the door shut.

Breathing heavily and wiping sweat from their brows, both Logan and Marcus had seen the worst encounter to this point. Minutes upon minutes of endless fighting. Three hundred was such a paltry number in Logan’s mind at this point. The elementals showed no signs of fatigue, taunting Logan to his stamina being drained through protracted combat.

“Orb of all I call to thee, Pondress heal your children. Heal Grasp”, Marcus chanted as he placed his hand on Logan’s shoulder.

The 36 points of healing were more than welcome after the numerous pinpricks of the lower-levelled foes and the culmination of larger strikes from the stronger foes. Clicking his fingers and scanning the local area, Logan found the building to be deserted of any creatures aside from his team.

“Marcus, how are you holding up?”

Taking a look through the cracks of a window Marcus replied, “A fair few steps above terrible, but not long before I fall down to that point.”

“I hear that. I need to get to that entrance and do something to halt their arrival.”

“How so? You don’t know the alterations that the other magi used, do you? Any sort of wall will fall in a short time like before.”

“Actually, I did learn it. Not totally, but I can pull off a Sustained spell. I think I can only do it for Gaia Wall though.”

Thinking about when he saw the earlier mage block off the gatehouse with a higher-level spell, Logan’s system updated to inform him he had partially learnt the Sustained alteration, though it was going to take a bit extra from him. It was an incomplete form and restricted to the type of spell he saw it used on unlike when he saw earlier alterations.

A Gaia Wall normally lasted a number of seconds, normally less than ten. Logan estimated it was one second per Casting Class Level, similar to other duration effects. This would only equate to fifty seconds of a blocking wall but it would give a good amount of time to hold off reinforcements for the troops to deal with what was already here.

Confirming with his System, Logan was able to use his absorbed spell charges in place of spell slots for paying Sustained’s cost. Absorbing another 3 Flame and 1 Lightning from his elementals brought them to 1 and 2 MP respectively. At least it would, if absorbing the Lightning hadn’t failed and shocked Logan for 8 damage.

“Fuck”, Logan exclaimed as he shook his hand.

“Sorry, Logan!” Spark called out as he hurt his creator.

“It’s fine. There’s a 10% chance that can happen”, Logan explained as he shook his hand around. “That’s bad if it works the same for ally spells. I gotta get that skill higher”, Logan planned in his head.

Attempting another time, Logan got the second shot of Lightning, bringing Spark down to 1 MP just like his brother. With the use of two Healer’s Caress charges that had come off cooldown, the party prepared to storm out the building once again.

Logan headed the front as he shot out Force micks to those he could see that lacked barriers, which weren’t many. Celsius used Ember Shard against those with barriers as the elemental attacks bypassed them without issue, while Spark and Marcus paired up against those closest that had barriers active.

With a leap, Logan jumped on top of a hobgoblin’s corpse and lept again, kicking off of another’s shoulder. Jumping, again and again, the Spellthief made his way to the hole in the wall. Dragging his hand over the rubble-filled flooring he chanted, “Gaia Wall, Sustained”, to which a large mound of rock shot upwards 30' wide and 10' tall.

Plugging up the hole caused several thuds and yells of pain to occur on the other side, the goblins being grappled by the vines of the wall alongside smashing their faces into it. It wasn’t insurmountable if they were able to fly, but climbing over it would prove difficult with the writhing hands of flora.

With his own Gaia spell and a Flame charge, Logan’s spells continued to dwindle in this elongated brawl. However, with the hole blocked up, if but for a short time, the guards and adventurers were able to take down the current forces on this side of the wall. Screeches above signed more goblinoids being ferried into other parts of the city, though their purple hexagon spheres showed them to be protected from mundane projectiles and Force micks.

Dashing forwards, Logan stabbed into a hobgoblin with his Spellthief’s edge, twirled around to stab another with his off-hand ashin dagger, and jumped over the newly-made corpse to double-strike into a final hobgoblin. Four sets of Backstab text rose from the blows as Logan helped fell three more of the harder enemies.

Nods of approval from his allies were quickly followed by their movements to help the others around them. Utilizing the flanking opportunities at his disposal, Logan darted from foe to foe, cutting at backs, calves, and heads. The guards were more than thankful for the aid, Logan’s strikes being the last requirement for the death of the enemies faced with adventurers.

Marcus made good use of his most recent training, his staff strikes hitting true and getting through many parry attempts. Spark moved quick and zapped alongside the Devout to make short work of the weaker goblinoids. Celsius stood tall atop a pile of rubble, shooting out countless Ember Shards at far targets, especially the goblin archers that were pelting the allied focus with arrows.

As the minute passed, the goblins’ numbers fell rapidly and exponentially. Ganging up on the overwhelming masses proved incredibly useful, with the Gaia Wall even killing a few more goblins that tried to get through on the land route.

Dampened by the sounds of battle, a hushed round of footsteps approached the encounter from the west, revealing a sect of Devouts that were glowing in white and golden lights. Ending a chant of their own Logan heard the end of it, “velko. Battalion Recovery.”

A reverberating sound erupted from the floor upwards, endless holy lights flowing from the ground, coiling around the humanoids’ legs and around their bodies. Wounds were stitched up, skin was cleared of green and yellow puss, and the troops were revitalised. Logan and co also received the same treatment, his allies getting to max HP alongside Logan who had received 55 healing.

A guardswoman ran over to the Devouts who were nine in total, circled to aid in the defence against any direction. “Thank Pondress a healing sect is here. The wall has been repaired, but not for long. Our forces could do with enhancement magics”, they started to explain.

Logan then shouted over those who were finding rest in the lull of combat, “The wall is about to break!”

Guards and adventurers alike stood tall, weapons readied and aimed towards the wall that divided them from oncoming forces. As Logan stated, his spell crumbled away with dead bodies on the other side falling with it. Further goblins stampeded and clambered their way through the newly reopened breach.

“It’s never-ending!” an adventurer spoke with worry in his voice.

“How many are there?” a guard shouted in anger.

As if to answer the disheartened state of the troops, the Devouts lined up side by side and all chanted together, “Gaia Skystrike”, with their hands aimed at the skies and thrown to the floor. Mounds of earth formed in huge chunks to then be hurled down into the enemy reinforcements, taking down many barrier-protected goblins.

Swaying their hands from left to right, and vice versa, the Devouts continued the attack with spell after spell. Showing off the high reserves of MP they had, the goblins were decimated before they even proved to be a threat. Some got through, though were quickly dealt with by the grouped up troops.

Logan was about to give some aid to the troops but was stopped mid-run by another window appearing in front of his face.

“Goblin Hero Krekka has entered the event. The goblin forces are bolstered by the sight of their leader.

Any goblin that is within 200 feet of Krekka gains a +5 bonus to all attributes.

Defeating Krekka early will cause any remaining goblins to become shaken at the loss of their leader, suffering a -5 penalty to all attributes and fleeing as best they can.”

Alongside the window alert, Logan’s map opened up to show a large red circle that showed Krekka’s approximate location. Flying across the map it seemed he had either flown over or teleported to a deeper section of the city.

Logan’s heart started to race, almost as fast as his mind did. Thoughts swirled around as he weighed up the pros versus the cons of going after Krekka. He had already failed in keeping the gate unbroken but was damn sure he had killed the one hundred required foes of his quest. Remembering he could check his quest, he pulled it up to confirm both were indeed as he thought.

The last additional objective was to play a major part in defeating the goblin hero. He didn’t need the winning blow or to even do it alone. Remembering the rewards for completing the previous quests’ additional objects enticed Logan to at least attempt getting the third.

“Marcus, Celsius, Spark”, Logan called out.

The team members turned their heads to their leader, finishing off their most recent foes they grouped back up.

“New orders, boss?” Celsius asked in a ready stance.

“Yeah, the leader of the army has made his way into the city. We’re to go help in taking him down.”

“The leader? That tall, commanding goblin? Let us hope for good teammates in that encounter if we do aim to bring him down”, Marcus responded.

“Is it wise to challenge such a foe? Would it not be proper to allow the veteran adventurers to do so?” Spark asked.

“It was a commandment from you-know-what”, Logan half-lied.

The team looked at one another, acknowledging that this was something similar to the quest to take down Dena. It was hard for the elementals to even think about going against their creator’s whims, but Marcus showed signs of pause as he looked around the battlefield.

“Don’t worry, this won’t be a one-on-one deal like last time. We can all work together. We better hurry though, he is empowering his troops”, Logan spoke as he looked in the direction of the goblin hero.

Nodding to one another, the team rushed off to the west. Logan’s spell charges would last long enough to follow into the fight if nothing got in their way.

As if others had the ability to scan for enemies, or the goblin hero was making quite the ruckus, Logan noticed several other adventurers darting atop the rooftops. Skill cries of “Piercing Shot”, “Arrow Volley”, “Axe Hurl”, from the heights calmed Logan somewhat, hoping those skills could penetrate the barriers of the goblinoids.

“Logan!” a male voice rang out from above.

Following the voice was a shadowy form falling to the floor and landing with a roll to a run alongside the party. Pulling back a hood revealed the Rogue to be Tenn, whom Logan had quested with back in Moella.

“Tenn, glad to see you”, Marcus spoke as he leaned over in the team’s hasty movements down the road.

“And you. You lot heading towards the big bad? Some magi noted a strong force had moved westward”, Tenn informed as he kept pace with the party.

“We heard the same. How many are going to take it down?” Logan asked.

“Not a lot, I saw four or so. The army was setting up a perimeter around the gatehouse due to the invasions at the blasted parts. They aren’t expecting much more teleportation so deep.”

“So it was teleportation, the leader wasn’t dropped in from the sky beasts?”

“What I was told. How’re the slots and spellforce? You lot good to take on the leader?”

“I have five first-level spells left at my guess”, Marcus calculated.

“My summons have a single spell each, I got five, mostly Necromantic.”

“I saw you got a new one, a summoner Grasp expert, nice combo”, Tenn replied as he looked at Spark.

“Greetings to you, sir Rogue.”

“He’d do well at court I’d wager.”

“Any plans or information about their leader?” Logan asked as he hopped over a broken cart.

“The magi warned about several magical signatures, so the enemy has plenty of trinkets. Without looking at the creature it’s hard to tell if they’re a spellcaster though.”

“We’ll have to keep an eye out for funny business then.”

“Watch out!” Marcus shouted, interrupting the others.

Throwing his arm to block Logan, the party came to a stop as they darted their heads around. Marcus pointed skywards as a corpse fell to the floor, accompanied by a goblin that had jumped from the rooftops. Standing tall, the goblin looked different, more humanoid than monster. Long ears dangled on each side as if they were broken, the left one bit as usual.

At around 5' tall the creature was tall for a goblinoid, but much thinner and well-toned in the muscle department. At its sides it held two long scimitars with jagged tips.

“Shit, they have fomins”, Tenn announced as he got into a fighting stance.

“Identify”, Logan commanded in his head as he always did. Though, as if he was seeing Jirango again, the goblin’s own eyes glowed yellow in retaliation. A shockwave shot through Logan’s eyes into his head, dizzying his vision for a few seconds. All he could scan was “Goblin fomin - Goblinoid. Level 10.”

“Logan, eyes up!” Tenn alerted as he darted in front of the Spellthief.

Two clanks of metal were heard ahead of Logan as Tenn deflected two throwing knives from the fomin in front of them. Grinning to reveal jagged, bloody teeth, the fomin cackled slightly. Pointing at the corpse before it, the fomin opened its mouth.

“Halp, mofer”, it spoke in a mocking imitation of what could only be assumed to be the corpse’s last words.

“You bastard!” Marcus shouted.

“Mono eh mono, come hyse”, the fomin retaliated as it moved two fingers in a taunting manner.

“Logan, Force the roof”, Tenn commanded as he ducked down a bit.

Looking upwards, Logan saw what Tenn was implying. A part of the slate rooftops had been damaged, and another hit would cause some of it to fall on the fomin. Throwing his arm upwards Logan called out, “Force”, a wave of grey energies forming in his shoulder and vaulting towards the space above the goblin.

Ducking and moving into a blocking stance, the fomin seemed to anticipate an attack against him and not the environment. The roof above exploded from the impact of the spell and released a volley of sharp slate on top of the goblin, piercing him over and over.

Taking the opportunity of distraction and attack, Tenn kicked forwards as he left behind him a wave of wind. Activating his Dash skill, alongside entering into Logan’s party, Tenn slid to the side of the fomin, slashing out with dual-daggers. Logan could see his ally’s Backstab skill at play, digging deep into the right arm of the goblin, causing it to drop its blade and lose the use of its arm.

Dropping to a kneel, Marcus shot ahead with his crossbow, Celsius letting loose an Ember Shard. Spark darting after the Rogue but was much slower than a skill-user. The fomin retaliated with its left arm, swiping around its back to Tenn who ducked under the attack. Tenn’s movement was met with a knee to his face, clenching his teeth together as he took the momentum into a backflip.

Another swipe missed the back of Tenn as he landed his hands on the floor, pushing off just before the fomin could kick them away. Bringing up his daggers he blocked a scimitar strike, only for another to come down and catch Tenn’s right blade with the teeth and disarm the Rogue. His dagger flew behind the fomin towards Spark who hopped to the side to avoid it, jumping onto the back of the goblin and straddling the foe.

Electric shocks scattered across the fomin as Spark’s body started to crispen the goblin’s skin even more. Kicking forward, Tenn let out slash after slash into the fomin’s chest, followed by a Force from Logan into the back of its leg. Falling to a kneel, the fomin’s face was met by a straight dagger strike through his right eye and into its brain. The fomin yelled out in pain at the strike, clawing at the arm of Tenn, but a twist of the blade ended any further resistance.

Convulsions of the fomin were followed by Tenn retrieving his dagger, the fomin falling to the floor dead. Breathing a sigh of relief, Tenn moved to get his other dagger back. Sadly, the disarm left a large cut in the blade, it wasn’t going to survive too many of those.

“If they have fomins, this war is going to turn quick”, Tenn spoke as he took a scimitar for himself.

“Not one for brute force it seemed, could they prove a bigger threat than the hobs?” Logan spoke.

“Your ability got countered yeah? Fomins are made through fights with adventurers, they drink our blood and gain our power. If they have them in the opposing army it is a clear sign they might have blood mages amongst them. They are much worse than hobs, at least any hobs I’ve fought.”

“So that’s why you went with using plenty of skills”, Marcus added as he looked over the party for wounds.

“Kill them quick, that’s the advice I was given. They have a skill similar to dash, and with two mages I was worried he could kill either one of you with it. We’ll have less to use against the leader, but we’ll be alive when we get there.”

Kneeling down to the corpse of the adventurer, Marcus checked for any signs of life. “Pondress nestle this one in the after”, he prayed.

The sounds of combat in the distance continued to roar onwards. Cries of pain, yells of orders and skills, explosions of spells and artillery fire. A soundscape of death and destruction hugged the party on all sides. As if to add injury to the wound of the war, another window popped up for Logan.

“Krekka has feasted on enough adventurer blood that his power has grown. He now bolsters his allies by +6 within 250 feet.”

Looking to his allies, Logan spoke, “We need to hurry, if they do have fomin in their army it'd be best if we take down their leader and lower their morale.”

“Right, we’re probably behind some others since we got stopped like this. Let’s go”, Tenn replied.

“Use this if your weapon breaks”, Logan called out as he faintly threw an ashin dagger to Tenn.

“Thanks, a lot of my thrown daggers are still in corpses”, the Rogue replied as he caught it deftly.

Returning to their sprint, the group pressed onwards. It wasn’t long till they were able to see the destruction wrought by the leader and his cronies. Buildings saw more damage from magical blasts, corpses lining the streets that led up to the sight of Krekka. Logan could hear combat up ahead, adventurers trying their best against the goblin hero.

Sliding around a collapsed building, the party got a sightline on the conflict. Krekka was drenched in blood all over, a large blade in hand that had fleshy remnants of his foes sliding off its edge. Seeing him up close, Krekka was garbed in thick black leather armour with steel plating over his elbows and knees. His fingers visible, Logan counted ten rings in total, bracers of gold on each wrist.

A leaping adventurer brought down a shining-red sword to Krekka, the hero deflecting it easily and changing the direction of the adventurer’s jump. Following his parry, Krekka slashed out again, cutting the top half of the attacker away from the lower half. Two thuds onto the floor led to another adventurer charging from behind. Bringing up his leg, Krekka kicked into the flanker’s stomach and then hopped into a pinning kick to the floor.

Striking his blade to the floor, Krekka split the foe’s head down the middle. Dragging his sword upwards brought the severed brain-half of the head with it, Krekka taking a massive bite out of the meat as he swiped the rest to the floor. Looking around, the hero’s eyes locked with Logan, a pit forming within the Spellthief’s stomach.

“Fuck.”

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