Legend of the Spellthief

Unlike any other morning, the day that Logan woke to sparked the final trek of his life in a different world. Through previous investigations, this was looking to be the most straightforward quest, at least when it came to preparing his spells. 3+2 Flame, 1 Necromantic, 3 slots for his summons and his Signature Spell of Dimensional Jaunt plus 4 more casts from rings.

A fiery exit indeed, with his new armour and staff his Flame had a mastery of 8, increasing its damage by 70% and making the save to avoid burning even harder. With so much time dedicated to increasing his skills, stats, and level, it was hard to push out ideas of perfecting his spells further as he was so close to the 10 mastery cap. He was happy to just laze on a sofa and not have to worry any longer.

Waking Marcus, the quartet of adventurers and summons made their way to the city gates. The streets continued to be full of life, from traders trying to make a quick sale to repairs still being undertaken around the city after the invasion. As the first to get to the gates from the group, Logan and Marcus discussed their combat style for the coming dungeon, as well as morning rituals to allow Logan to transfer charges into MP without the team knowing.

As time passed the team assembled, creating a large force of varied classes. Araxie and Fleur had changed into similarly red-coloured robes that would provide them with a lesser boost to fire-based spells when compared to Logan’s robes. Uhnarr sported a tall staff on his back with a grey crystal, seemingly the staff that improved Heal.

As asked, everyone was riding their horses. The most unique saddle award would go to Cerall though. It was more like a chair, a tall backrest was attached to the saddle with some footholds near the neck of the horse for him to lounge on. When asked, Cerall mentioned that it allowed him to have his legs up so that he could dismount on either side quicker, though Logan could tell it would also be more comfortable.

Leaving the city gates behind them the group waved to the guards who recognised them, though many merchants waved to Logan on his leave. Spark and Celsius sped up their movement to keep up with the horses, and with their endless endurance they could keep it up easy.

The party formed their horses to guard the casters in the middle, putting Kreya at the back to protect the rear, with Tsuker and Cerall at the front. Since the commotion with the goblins had ended it would be more likely that the team faced adversary on the way to the cavern. If Cerall’s seating arrangement rang true he’d be the first into the fight.

Logan only wished he could teleport the party ahead, but even with teleporting people with their horses underneath them, there were far too many people. At least he could enjoy the leisurely ride along the dirt roads and through the forests. It wasn’t long before the party ventured off the dirt road and into the thick forests, filling the surroundings with the sounds of chirping birds and screaming foxes.

Tsuker brought out a familiar-looking bell, reminding Logan of Dena, to which he attached to the side of his saddle. With every fourth bumpy movement of his horse, it let out a slight ding noise, possibly muted on one half. Logan called ahead to ask what it was, to which Tsuker replied it was a scouting bell that allowed him to more accurately detect enemy presences. Explaining the mechanics of it made it sound extremely similar to Echo Radar, cluing Logan on the breadth of NPC skills.

Alongside the Rogue’s preparation as the group headed into the forest the Wizard Fleur started to chant, “Scouts and spies of the forest, grant me your eyes. Spy Bird.” With the end of her incantation, a small palm-sized bird appeared in her hand, similar to that of a green-feathered sparrow.

Fleur spoke a few words to the bird before sending it off into the canopies above the group. When questioned it was explained that it was a second-level spell that created a creature used for scouting and as an alert system. It had no combat capabilities, outside of seemingly being able to ward off any predators from itself. The bird would stick around for 8 hours so it was a good enough use of a spell slot to keep the party aware of threats.

Hours passed in peaceful riding through the forest, the sounds of the local fauna keeping the party at ease. If you could hear the birds and the prey species, you were generally safe. Most monsters were clunky things, kicking rocks or snapping twigs that sent any prey scattering. However, as the group got further from the capital, the monsters got closer.

The Spy Bird returned to Fleur’s shoulder, chirping in her ear as she nodded her head in response. Translating it to the party she spoke, “It seems like we’re getting close to a camp of crowbolds. They are a couple of stone throws to the south, we can skirt around easy enough, but keep an eye open for travellers.”

In reply, the party gave a mix of “Ok” and “got it” to the Wizard. Logan was put at ease seeing the quality of their preparedness, though it was to be expected of people who had been working as adventurers for several months to years.

A few moments more passed as the party shifted slightly to the north to avoid unneeded confrontation with the crowbold camp, though it only did so much. Tsuker’s body jolted as he spoke over to the leader Fighter, “Cerall, two right, ground.”

Cerall’s body tensed as he rolled off his horse to the right, it was true when he said his seating allowed him a faster dismount. As his feet hit the grassy floor his body started to shimmer before he rushed to the right, the blast of wind pushing his horse into a loud neigh.

During his use of Rush, Cerall drew his shortsword and slashed out at the end of his skill-assisted charge. A loud craw was heard as his blade cut deep into a humanoid crow creature, its chest bleeding profusely from the deep cut, before it could retaliate Cerall brought down a red-hued sword into the head of the crow, the body jolting all over as its brain was pierced through the skull.

Cerall’s blade turned to a yellow hue as he rushed to another crowbold hiding behind a tree. The slash cut through the air as a spray of red came from the other side of the trunk, the tree blocking the body of the crow from the party but showing off the effects of the Fighter’s barrage. A loud thud hit the floor as the second foe was felled, two strikes for the first and a single for the last.

With a forward joust of his sword, Cerall removed the blood and colourful display of his combo skills. Logan had his body sideways on his horse, arms raised to fire at the monsters, but like his fellows, he didn’t have the time to aim and shoot before Cerall dealt with the issue.

“All clear”, Cerall called out to the party.

“Confirmed”, Tsuker added as he manually dinged his bell.

Fleur gave out a quick whistle which summoned her Spy Bird to give it additional commands. By the time she was done Cerall had brought the two corpses to the horses and the party.

As Logan looked over them he saw them to be around 5’ tall, if they were standing. Covered in black feathers, the crowbold had a large beak on its head that he wondered if the change from a normal crow to a monster gave it a taste for humans. Its arms were long wings that went down to its knees, the plumage near the tip being furled and curled, as if they were used as makeshift hands.

With the corpses, Cerall had also retrieved a couple of bows and arrows, though the bows had thicker limbs and the arrows had two grooves across them, possibly made to allow for easier firing by fingerless creatures. Logan moved to harvest the bodies, knowing their eyes were the only common component from them.

“Look like scouts or hunters to me, think we just happened on their path?” Kreya asked the team.

“My bird says there aren’t any others around”, Fleur informed.

Flipping through a satchel at one of the corpse's sides Logan pulled out some strips of crispy meat. “Looks like these two were either going far or they’re on a trip as a group.”

“Any of you remember any crowbold quests at the hall?” Cerall asked.

“There were a few, a couple of days back”, Araxie said.

“So, we deal with them and it’ll be a good foresight or an interruption for another team. I say we ignore them”, Tsuker announced.

“We took out two of ‘em. Leave it I say”, Kreya continued.

The rest of the votes pushed the party away from the issue, so they took what they could from the two they had already felled and carried on. Logan pondered the engagement in his head, since the populace didn’t have a proper grasp on the experience mechanic at play they didn’t see any foul in taking out enemies as Cerall had done.

Though this would stagnate the growth of those who were slow to act, or casters in general, since each class had their own speciality Logan could only guess it evened out eventually. With how casters could deal with large waves of foes with their spells on their own, a party of martial-focused classes could do the same. It wasn’t uncommon for casters to go solo on easier quests to rake in their own income.

Continuing on into the night the party finally reached their first stopping point as marked on their map previously, long discussion had already gone through on where they could stop along the way so it was an easy decision when it came to rest. With the elementals and Spy Bird in play, with another casting of it, the party were all free to sleep with no one on watch.

Logan and Marcus had their sleeping bags sat at the edge of the camp, the main reason was to help Logan go about his very early morning routine. The party discussed previous missions over a small campfire, Logan gathering that adventurers of rank 8 had at least six months of work behind them, with Tsuker at rank 12 having close to a year of experience.

The massive gap in timespans was a clear sign to Logan that his progression would come under suspicion if he were to go the route of making his own portal to leave. He had gained the same level as Tsuker in a month, rather than twelve. Reaching the thirty-seventh day on Avanar Logan wasn't going to see the second month with how close he was to find his exit. If he was reported missing the police should still be on the lookout.

Expanding on his story about having travelled for a while before registering helped to hide his quick increase in power, alongside the goblin invasion providing a more understandable leap in strength. It was a common case for many of the adventurers who took up the free reassessments given from the goblin quests after the invasion, that they found their ranks had increased due to the sheer number of enemies.

Araxie the Sorceress did bring up a valid point though, making it a sort of complaint, saying that the nobles often had an easier and faster time at increasing their rank. Due to higher quality gear as well as a full array of trinkets they could complete far more quests than the lower class. Outside of equipment they had hired help and family friends in their groups, and since NPCs didn't get experience reductions it would only help them.

Discussion carried on until the party headed to sleep one by one, the personality splits of Logan keeping watch as the group slept the night away.

Awaking to an early beeping alarm in his head, Logan rose an hour ahead of the other party members. This was to practice his new tactic of transference to increase his spells per day whilst in a party. The Spy Bird had ended its duration, so Logan didn't need to worry about that looking at him as he took Celsius away from the camp.

When at a good distance Logan absorbed 10 spells from his flame elemental and used Charge Transfer to convert the charges into 5 MP. It took Logan three sets of five minutes, due to only being able to hold four charges at a time. Afterwards, he sent Celsius back to the camp to swap with Spark, where Logan did the same. Leaving Celsius with 3 MP and Spark with 2 MP, the summons would be more used for their skills and body block capabilities.

With his normal array of 3+2 Flame, 1 Necromantic, 3 Summons, *4+1 Dimensional Jaunt, Logan now had 10 MP at hand to spend across any of his spells. If he had the second tier of Summon Horde he could have summoned up a third ally, but it would take some time for them to get to the point of granting Logan any further MP. With this MP, Logan had over doubled his normal spells for the day, bringing him in line for a normal Wizard of his rank.

Using an elemental as a lookout made this tactic rather safe, combined with Echo Radar searching for any other forces nearby. This was how Logan would keep up appearances in the cavern, it couldn't really be done any other way due to the time limits on his charges. Unlike the 2 MP from his periapt, this MP would last until the next morning.

Returning to camp after a half-hour of preparation presented Logan with his party still deeply asleep. He wouldn't have expected otherwise, as Spark would have made some noise if so. The extra half-hour was spent looking over his expanding status windows, half to say goodbye to this life and half to prepare if he were to get a last-minute skill point.

Eventually, the party all woke up to a night that had little in the way of interruptions, most monsters with any intelligence would see a grouping of 8 plus horses and elementals and leave them be. Those crowbolds were more than likely in the wrong place and the wrong time, or assumed the party were much weaker.

Clearing their camp, the party saddled up once again and continued on to the cavern that was another two days out. Chatting with his allies Logan was sure that none were aware of his early-morning sojourn away from the camp so he was confident he could do it closer to the dungeon and be fine.

This day brought a sight different from the last, a smaller party of five adventures who were hunting down tree lizards for an alchemist back in Gauntlet. Discussing with the party revealed their bodies made fine elixirs for regeneration or to clear up skin conditions. With Identification, Logan saw them to be from levels 1 through 3.

Some of the lizards could fight back, as well as wolves often hunting them, so adventurers would be a better choice than a classless gathering party. The forests were rife with dangers aside from the quests, so it really came down to those with classes to gather these materials.

Saying their farewells the two groups split, Logan was put at ease seeing adventurers getting along instead of cutting at each other for easy coin in the wilderness. It reminded him of his time hunting wolves in the communal hunt back in Tinte and the time when he formally entered into a party with Marcus.

Outside of the encounter with the other party, Logan's group had little in the way of resistance this time. Wolves didn't risk engaging eight horses, and their pack sizes weren't large enough on this side of the forest to mitigate that fear. With the distance from the crowbold camps, the party were also safe from that threat.

Another night of rest led to another day of travel, though this time Logan didn't do his MP routine as he wouldn't really need it, at least in his mind for their traversal. On the last day of their movements through the forest, the party were able to see the large mountain where the Frost Monarch's Cavern would be located in greater detail. The first sign of such was the temperature, a biting coldness in the air alerted the party to their proximity to the dungeon.

The seers had spoken about how this cold was brought on by the resurrection of the Ice King, and since it was only a few months away it was no surprise it got into the low centigrade numbers. Steam shot out from the nostrils of the horses while the party wrapped scarfs around their own mouths to dampen the sharpness of their own intakes of air. Celsius and Spark both let off streams of white mist behind them as their bodies were much hotter than normal.

It wasn't long before the party saw the mountain through the trees, which were lacking their normal foliage. The floor has turned to a hard mud with a sharp loss of any grass to boot, tree bark creaking in the wind as they contracted against the harsh temperatures.

"Below, this place is freezing", Cerall cursed.

Pulling out a small black rock and crunching it in his teeth, Tsuker replied, "Work'll heat you up soon enough."

Marcus took out similar rocks and threw one to Logan, "Chew on this, it'll keep you warm."

Following the Devout's lead Logan popped the rock in his mouth and crushed it, as he did so he felt a gravelly substance shoot out and down his throat. It gave off a weird sensation of medicine when he had the flu, heating and cooling him at the same time. As it hit his stomach he felt his hairs stand on end as his body overflowed with interior heat.

"Much better than soup", Logan joked.

The rest of the party had their own ways of keeping warm, either through additional clothing or magical items. It wouldn't completely remove the issues of a colder climate but it would certainly make it much more bearable.

It wasn't long before the Spy Bird returned to the party, squawking at Fleur who had created it to be their eye in the sky.

"The mountain has some monsters near its base, around the entrance. Seems like at least three blue goblins", Fleur explained to the team.

"How's the run-up? Clear or tree cover?" Logan asked.

The bird squawked to which Fleur translated, "A good fifty feet or so of clearing from the trees, though they don't offer much cover due to the leaves being gone."

"If it's just three blue gobs I can take them out, they aren't much stronger than muscles", Tsuker announced.

The party began to dismount their horses and prepare their gear as they discussed their next steps.

"We don't want the interior alerted before we're ready. Fleur keep the Spy Bird high while we all attune to our staves", Logan commanded.

The party abided by Logan's orders, the casters who had them attuned to their magical staves to improve their casting of particular spells, though they were all Flame aside from Uhnarr who had a staff to aid his Heal spell. A half-hour passed before they were ready, the bird returning to state that the situation hadn't changed.

With the casters prepared, Tsuker and Logan scouted ahead together, moving between the thinning trees until they had a sightline on the base of the mountain. It didn't take long for the pair to see the grandiose design of the mountain and the large maw that peered into its interior. As Fleur had stated Logan spotted three blue goblins who he used Identification on as usual.

“Blue Goblins - Goblinoid. Level 3: 16/16 HP, 3/3 MP. This blue-skinned goblinoid has found its home in colder climates or in the presence of colder clientele. Imbued with the frosty powers of their homes, blue goblins often make use of chilly attacks and are more resistant to it to boot. They aren't much taller than other goblins at 3 and a half feet tall though their clothing is often more encompassing with tunics and trousers.

Skills: -.

Spells: Frost.

Resistance: Damage ?, Earth ?, Fire -25%, Holy ?, Ice 75%, Lightning ?, Shadow ?, Water?, Wind?.”

"How's it looking, Logan?"

"You're right, not much stronger than a muscle."

"Alright, I'll take 'em out. Keep your eyes on my back", Tsuker replied as he stood up.

Drawing up his daggers, the Rogue pulled his hood over his forehead and got into a crouching position. "Shroud of Shadow", he muttered. Claws of shadow crept from the Rogue's back around his limbs and face, the shimmering darkness blurring his form until it was completely invisible. The only way Logan knew his ally was still there was the footprints in the mud.

Echo Radar found it difficult to track Tsuker's movements, his dot on the mini-map fading in and out every so often. One of the goblins in the distance shook violently before becoming still and then falling to the floor, seemingly stabbed in the neck. His allies did not notice a thing, the second falling to a stab into its spine, and the last jumping in fright before a dagger landed in his eye.

Tsuker appeared shortly after, his skill seemingly lasting ten or so seconds. He waved at Logan who replied with a thumbs-up before returning to his leader.

"Scan anymore around here?"

"No", Logan replied as he snapped his fingers, "nothing outside of us and the animals."

The pair quickly returned to the rest of the group and sorted out their horses by the healthier trees. Fleur sent her Spy Bird on a circle of the mountain's base for any other hostile while the party moved to the maw to solidify their further plans for the dungeon.

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