Legend of the Spellthief

Logan ran his hand through his hair, scratching his head near the back as he walked down the road to the fifth hunt of his second lot. His thoughts of death had brought him back to the evidence given during his mother’s death, the drunk driver that had crashed into his parents' car on their way to his graduation. The man had just driven off without trying to offer aid, if he had, Logan’s mother could have lived.

He remembered how long it took him to get some sleep after that had happened, it was a dreadful time that Logan wasn’t even sure he was fully over 4 years after the fact. He still hated the thoughts of that time. If he had never gone to university, his parents would have never taken that trip. If he failed to graduate, or if he quit, they would have come another day.

If he never went to the dungeon, then Tsuker, Kreya, Araxie, Uhnarr, Fleur, and Cerall, would all still be alive. Marcus would not have had to go through the torment of temporary death. Even if he were able to get what remained of their bodies out of the dungeon, it would be near impossible to revive them.

Moving on auto-pilot while he fought with the thoughts in his head, Logan eventually got to the location of his last hunt. As the circle shrunk, the Spellthief was led to a set of large cellar doors. Reaching down Logan pulled on the handles to reveal a dimly lit staircase. Descending downwards he saw a sign on the right wall reading, “close the door behind you”.

Logan removed his hunter armband and placed it into his inventory, dragging out a scarf in return. Wrapping it around his neck and pulling it over his nose to hide his more distinguishing scars, Logan then pulled his hood over his head. This was probably not a place to advertise himself as a hunter, nor his true identity if it led to a larger complex he couldn’t handle.

After following the sign’s orders, the Spellthief proceeded onwards until he found a single sconce lighting up another door made of metal with a section near its top to be slid open. Logan gave three solid knocks on the door and awaited a response, it took a few seconds for the metal cover to slide open and show the mage a set of green eyes.

“Password?” the eyes asked.

Giving the man a quick Identification revealed him to be a level 5 Fighter, most else was hidden aside from his background as a bouncer.

“I was told Kartos would let me in”, Logan replied as he spoke the name of the eyes.

“What? Who… wait”, the eyes responded as the metal cover slid back. A few moments of shifting locks later and the door opened to reveal a muscly man who was covered in thick grey leather armour and spikes on his gauntlets. “Dealer or buyer?” he asked while eyeing up the bag on Logan’s back.

“Buyer”, Logan said confidently.

“Fine. Tell your ‘buddy’ to stop giving my name out, would ya?” Kartos said as he moved to the side to let Logan through.

Walking by Kartos compounded Logan’s theory that this wasn’t going to be a safe place, as the door was hiding a large underground tavern and trading area. Full to the walls with rough-looking individuals and unlawful trades going on.

“Yeah, this kid thought he was gonna have it easy as an adventurer. One duel after another and he’s been in my group for the past 10 quests”, one man said.

“Past the bakery here, this alleyway sees good traffic. Take an empty bag to fill with the coin you bring in”, said another.

“I can get you those for cheap, just don’t ask where they come from”, a female voice spoke.

“Fight’s on!” one of the bartenders shouted from the far side.

A few of the patrons stood up at this and made their way to another staircase at the back, a sign next to it said, “Fight Pits”.

“Shit, did I find a part of the under markets?” Logan worried to himself. Tugging down on his hood he made his way to the bar.

“Poison, blood, or booze?” a bartender asked as he walked up to the new patron.

“Booze”, Logan replied as he eyed up a list of drinks on the back wall.

“Caster ay? I got some reshott here”, the man said as he poured a mug of it, “5 copper.”

Logan placed the coins on the counter and took the mug. “That’s meant to be a silver a mug. If they don’t buy it themselves that’s quite a profit anyways.”

Logan remembered seeing reshott at other taverns, a type of vodka that was made from combining grain and a breed of blue strah herb. It had a weird sensation of clearing one’s mind to aid in casting spells, whilst also getting you hammered. He also remembered that Yetveka complained it was getting harder to bring in, due to robbery on the roads.

Eyeing the mirror at the bar, Logan was able to identify several other patrons, many had names that were tied to the bounty board, though he wasn’t about to start a fight with so many people in this place. Several were also up to level 8, and without seeing the Fight Pits he wasn’t sure that was the highest level here.

The Spellthief was able to spy his target, a level 2 Rogue who had been seen fleeing a store after some of its wares had been taken. In a group of two level 3s and a level 4 Logan was sure he could take the party, but who knew how many others in here would help him?

Waiting for a few minutes, nursing his drink, Logan kept a close eye on everyone he could. Hoping any would leave within his sight, just in case, there was a different exit than there was the entrance.

“See you lot tomorrow, got a quest in a few hours”, a man said as he stood from a table.

Following the man with his eyes, Logan saw him enter a room and then heard the shifting of wood from a ladder. Finishing his drink and following, Logan entered the same room to find it rather cramped. It was essentially just a column heading up with a ladder. Climbing it led him to a small walkway to another door.

After opening and passing through the door, Logan found himself within an apothecary. Logan quickly exited the building to the city streets, a sigh of relief as he got away from quite the dangerous locale.

“That was close, good thing no one recognised me”, Logan thought to himself.

With his last mark in a place he couldn’t exactly fight within, Logan had only a few choices available to him. He could wait out his mark and apprehend him when he left the under market, or he could inform the guards. There was no telling how long his mark was going to stay in there, could be minutes or hours. The Spellthief also theorised that dealing with the under market right now might disturb later plans.

Deciding it best to talk it out with someone else he made his way back to the Gerro Guardhouse. The rising sun brought the man into the full morning as his teleportation landed him at the tower of the guardhouse.

After a long slide down the ladder, Logan entered the main hall of the guardhouse, another of his marks passing through the doors to the jail area. Replacing Jivvy was the usual grey-haired Jirango who was drinking a fresh cup of coffee.

“Ah, Logan, heard you’ve been doing a hell of a job last night and this morn. Are you bringing more good news?”

“Yes, and possibly no. My last mark is a no-go, but the reason for that is I found a portion of what I believe is the under market”, Logan explained as he placed his last contract back on the table.

Jirango’s eyes went wide at the mention, his last sip of coffee going down harder than usual. “What? Are you speaking the truth?”

Explaining the details of his visit to the tavern and trader area, Jirango got a better idea of what Logan had found. “It certainly sounds like you have, indeed, found an under market”, Jirango said.

“What do you want to do about it? I thought it best to talk to you before taking any action”, Logan continued.

“The brightest idea you could have ever had, Logan. We need to tread lightly and carefully. If we rustle the nest too many cockroaches will scurry away before we swipe the net down on them. I need to converse with some others about this. Let’s sort out your current contracts before I do that though.”

Logan handed in his other contracts and explained the incoming bodies, most of which had arrived. Getting paid 100 silver on the nose for his contracts and finding an under market, Logan’s bonus was certainly quite high for the work he had done.

It was going to take some time for Jirango to sort out this new development, so he was going to call in a temporary desk manager, in the meantime, Logan had some free time for himself. Taking the opportunity, the Spellthief returned to his inn to attempt another nap. Planting himself harshly onto his bed, he put in as much effort as he could to get knocked out.

Two hours passed in restlessness. Logan’s shut eyes only let his mind wander towards the last words of his allies and the cries of death in their demise. Rolling to land his feet off the side of his bed, Logan slouched over as he rubbed his forehead. Another Clean mick on his hands to remove whatever stains weren’t there. His head raged with the command of, “Shut up”, to push away the sounds, but they did little to dampen them.

Pushing up from his bed, the Spellthief decided to return to activity, at least then his mind could be occupied. Recalling the face and voice of one of the under market patrons, Logan made his way to the G-Hall to see if the victim was going to face yet another duel-forced quest similar to what he had.

This time it wasn’t for any good reason outside of power, Kreya had some sort of plausible and acceptable reason to aid her family, even if it wasn’t much better than conscription.

Reaching the G-Hall with another use of Dimensional Jaunt, Logan scanned over the streets from a rooftop. He was easily able to spot the man he heard in the under markets, a level 5 Fighter named Bistc, the name had a weird inflexion on its end. He was in a group of level 4s and an 18-year-old man who looked as if he was being used as monster bait. He was only a level 2 Fighter.

“Hey, hey, hey. Shanin. You’re not busy, right?” Bistc asked as he jogged to the side of the man.

“I am. I am going to go scouting for herbs”, Shanin replied timidly.

“Scavenging more like. All the best places have been scooped up. How about you come with us, we need someone to draw monster attention again.”

“I’ve already accepted the quest.”

“Quit it.”

“But-”

Shanin was cut off as Bistc grabbed the man’s bag and dug out his harvesting tools.

“Hey, get off!” Shanin yelled, attracting the attention of onlookers.

Logan darted from his rooftop viewing and ran in front of the victim, his hunter armband facing Bistc. “That’s assault and theft, hand back what you just took and leave this man alone”, Logan demanded.

“What’s this? A caster defending a newbie? Get outta here”, one of Bistc’s companions laughed out.

“Kick his ass, Bistc”, another goaded.

“You accusing me of assault and theft? Mighty high charges there, caster”, Bistc said with an intimidating gaze, though less intimidating as he had to look up to Logan who was 3” taller.

“I’m not going to ask again, it’s that or a hunter’s arrest”, Logan pushed.

The group laughed as Bistc looked back at them, he quickly lashed out with a right hook which Logan dodged, grabbed his foe’s arm, pulled him in a circle, and threw him to the floor in front of his buddies.

A few gasps and cheers came from a slowly forming crowd that began to watch over the scuffle. Bistc’s friends helped him to his feet, though his face was now beet-red in frustration.

“You fucker! I challenge you to a duel!”

“On what basis?”

“On the basis, you just fucking threw me to the floor, we all saw it!” The man yelled as he threw his arm to gesture to the bystanders.

“I could just knock you out and take you to the guardhouse. I am sure a truth circle will empty your pockets less painfully than I can”, Logan retaliated.

“Oh, big man caster thinks he can take me on? No fucking way. Guard! Over here!” Bistc retorted as he flagged down a passing guard.

“Is there a problem here?” the guard asked.

“Yes, ma’am, I am challenging this man to a duel, here’s your pay”, Bistc informed more politely as he put coins into the woman’s hand.

Logan sighed, either way, he was going to deal with Bistc and it seemed it was going to go this way with how people were gathering.

“My demand is that this fucker is going to help our quest, for free, and that guy behind him to boot”, Bistc issued as he pointed at Shanin who was now hiding behind Logan’s protective coat.

“Fine, my demand is that you hand over all the money you have, your weapon, and are subject to a truth reading at the guardhouse of my choosing”, Logan laid out.

Bistc could only return a wide grin, “A bit much don’t you think?”, he started to look through his pouch and count up, “I got 48 silver and 1 gold on me. If you pony up that on your side too I’ll accept.”

“A level 5 has that much in their pocket? I guess as a leader he brings in more, under market deals as well”, Logan thought. “Fine with me.”

Discussing the normal details with the guard, the pair moved apart for the guard to announce the duel and that the populace should back away.

“You won’t catch me off guard like that again”, Bistc called out.

At the call to action, the fight commenced.

“Axe Hurl”, Bistc called out as he quickly drew an axe from his belt and underhand threw it at Logan.

Logan dodged to the side easily, as did some civilians behind him. Dashing forward Logan threw out two of his own daggers, Bistc deflecting them easily with his drawn shortsword. Logan let out a wave of Force at the Fighter before getting in closer, Bistc slashing down into the mick to disperse it, though damaged his blade heavily in the process.

Logan made a claw motion as if he were going to use a Grasp alteration, to which Bistc saw and anticipated, piercing forwards with his sword. However, Logan’s claw was but a feint as he dug in his feet and jumped back, “Necromantic Shot”, he chanted, numerous black tentacles whipping out from his forearm and shooting outwards into a fooled Bistc.

The tentacles pierced the Fighter over and over, dealing 38 damage. Logan pulled on the tendrils as they began to dissipate and caused the Fighter to stumble slightly.

Skipping forward, bending down, and then leaping into a frontflip, Logan landed his hand into the back of Bistc and chanted again, “Necromantic Grasp”, to which his arms exploded into a shadowy claw that bled Bistc deep with the common Backstab text appearing with it.

Bistc had a major 78 damage dealt to him with the enhanced spell, continuing his downward spiral of health at 48/86 to -1/86 as Logan commanded his spell to be Safecasted.

Landing with a thud on the stonework, the onlookers watched for a few seconds as the loud Fighter was felled in two spells, and failed to even land a hit. A few more seconds passed before the guard announced Logan as the victor, to which some of the crowd cheered. Experience slowly appearing above the body though only to Logan’s eyes.

Logan stood up and used Clean on himself as he approached the unconscious body of his foe, taking his winnings and picking the body onto his shoulder. He gave a look to the friends of Bistc as if to say, “Got a problem with that?”, to which they flinched back a bit and started to walk away, just like the crowd started to disperse.

“S… Sir?” a voice called out behind Logan.

Logan turned around to see Shanin with glee in his eyes, the man who now stood up straight wasn’t much shorter than Logan at 6’. “You good there?” Logan asked.

“Yes, sir, thank you for your assistance. But why did you…?”

“Assist you? I just hate scumbags like this guy. Feel free to take back your tools and do your quest. He shouldn’t be harassing you anytime soon”, Logan replied offhandedly.

“Can I repay you at all? I don’t have much, but I am a good runner and scout. Those lot used to use me to bring monsters into traps.”

“Not needed”, Logan cut off as he turned to walk away again.

“I don’t like staying in debt, sir. How about I give you any extra herbs I may find?” Shanin asked as he jogged to catch up with Logan.

“Fine, you can drop them off at the Gerro Guardhouse, say they’re for Logan”, the Spellthief relented.

“Will do. Thanks again”, Shanin called out as Logan pressed on.

It wasn’t that Logan didn’t want to talk to the man, but he felt a tinge of selfishness as a larger part of taking down Bistc was his hatred of the duelling rules and how people abused them. Combined with the fact that Bistc could gain some insight into the under market, under the pretence he was being apprehended for assaulting someone.

Logan only had three teleports left in the day, two from his rings and one from his remaining MP, so he felt it best to reserve those for emergencies or for the end of the day. It certainly allowed him more time in the day to get things done, though his day was much longer than usual due to his inability to sleep peacefully.

Returning to the Gerro Guardhouse, Logan planted the unconscious body of Bistc in front of the counter that the temp was sitting at.

A middle-aged woman whose wrinkles painted her as older than she was, possibly only doing this for some easy coin or being called out of “retirement” to give her something to do. Seeing the body, and Logan, she spoke trembling, “What’s this? Are you the Logan sonny that JJ told me about?”

“Jirango? Yeah, I’m Logan. Is he about?”

“He is meeting with some officials in an office upstairs, want me to take a note for you, sonny?”

“Yes, please.”

Logan explained that the unconscious body was important to their meeting, and to have him holed up in a cell until Jirango could process him properly. Alongside that, he made note of the assault and theft that would warrant at least a month in the prison.

Since Jirango would be tied up for some more time, Logan felt it best to check in on Marcus’s status at the church. He was going to have to think up how to bridge the whole death, revival, and current state of affairs with his partner in the meantime. Logan’s head was a mess, would it just be best to tell the native of another world that he was from Earth and the deities kidnapped him?

--- *** ---

I am Logan.