Legend of the Spellthief

Logan and Marcus stopped outside the entrance to the Lightbeam guild house, the grand structure signing Logan’s final moments of keeping his failure deep in his mind. His heart beat twice as fast as his throat felt engorged with a rock within it. Taking a quick look at Marcus, Logan returned a reassuring nod and smile.

Walking up to the door, Logan gave several knocks, to which he was greeted with the sight of Debrek, the foyer attendant for Lightbeam. “Logan, Marcus, you arrive a bit earlier than the guildies. Might you wish to wait for them inside?”

“Yes, please. I feel the longer we draw this out, the harder it will be", Logan replied.

“Cassius is one to deal with matters as they arise, that is most likely best. Please, come in”, Debrek said as he opened the door wider.

The pair entered and quickly moved to two seats at the counter that was just next to the door. There were only two other members in the entrance foyer, both sitting on larger sofas reading books quietly.

“Must have been a large raid to take the majority of this guild, and that other one, Harrow was it?” Logan asked.

“A massive forest dungeon, it pops up randomly across the continent. From what I hear it is held within a magical bubble that is bigger on the inside than the outside. Harrow sent in about twenty members, almost their entire guild, and asked for a good fifty of ours. Harrow got the first pick of the dungeon so they’re leading it, or rather they led it.”

“Seventy people? The reward must be massive”, Marcus added with a shocked look on his face.

“At least a gold a head, plus all the loot found within. A few carriage-full takes of components also means a below amount of coin from crafting sales.”

Logan started to sip a tankard of water poured for him as he listened and thought to himself, “Such large quests. No wonder we were short on supply of adventurers during the invasion. I guess that puts into perspective the demand for classed beings.”

“I wager your guild will be getting ahold of plenty of artefacts then?” Marcus asked.

“You’d win that. Cassius and Prevesna get first pick from our guild.”

“Prevesna is your sub-leader, right?”

“That she is. The right-hand woman of Woevenk before he portaled into the demon realm.”

The conversation trailed on for some time, talking about the members of the guild and the raid they had been on. Which led to the door opening wide from the returning guildies.

Hearty cheers and discussion filled the entrance foyer of the Lightbeam guild house, countless faces turning to face one another as they talked about the most recent outing.

“When that Ent whipped past your head, phew, glad I threw my shield at you.”

“I can go a whole year not seeing another vine.”

“Debrek, get the stove on!”

“Need to get my gear seen to tomorrow.”

“I’ll show you that tome I mentioned, over here.”

As the crowd dispersed to local seats or rooms to doff their armour, Cassius approached the counter beside a woman who stood at 5’10”. Her shining gold and silver armour showed that she was a Knight, though it hid most of her trinkets away. Removing her helm showed dishevelled brunette hair that had been tied into a ponytail for possibly too long.

“Logan, good to see you hearty and hale. Have you come to join up?” Cassius asked with a tired smile across his face.

“No, we actually need to discuss something in private if you don’t mind. It’s about something that happened at a dungeon with two of your members”, Logan replied as he stood.

“Then it would be best if I accompany. Cassius, bring that mug with you”, the woman spoke as she looked at Cassius getting a full tankard of ale.

“You must be Prevesna?” Logan asked as he looked at the bright-yellow-eyed woman.

“That is I. From your looks, you’re Logan, the mage who aided my third in the goblin invasion, with you is Marcus?”

“Yes ma’am”, Marcus replied as he stood at attention.

“Debrek, can you sort through these for me?” Prevesna asked as she handed a stack of parchment to the attendant.

“Yes ma’am”, the man replied as he took them and unfurled them behind the counter.

“Store”, Cassius spoke as he held up his hand. This caused a ring under his gauntlet to shine blue, his armour vibrating before being sucked into the ring, replacing his battle garb with that of comfier attire of trousers, tunic, and jacket, an assortment of greens and browns that was just as comfy as the fit.

Walking to the hallway at the back, Logan held back a bit to talk to Cassius, “A new find in the forest bubble dungeon?”

“No, I bought it before leaving. Made it easier to store extra weapons, armour, and supplies. Can hold as much as a carriage.”

“Did the place require that much?”

“I went through a good six backup weapons, wanted to save my artefact blade for the elites. Same for the Knights using up a ton of shields.”

“That normal procedure for larger dungeons?” Marcus piped up.

“Overprepare, and prepare some more, or die with a platinum in your pocket”, Cassius recited, almost as if he came up with the saying.

Before being able to say more, the group had arrived at the same room that Logan and Marcus had their interview in previously. The two stones lit up the room and cooled it to a calming environment as usual, though the air quickly became tense as everyone sat down.

“So, what befell our guildies?” Prevesna asked directly, pulling out a ledger from a drawer of the table.

“I was gathering a party to take on a dungeon to the east, I overprepared in the case of ranks, but it apparently was not enough. Cerall and Tsuker were amongst our members, they both were killed in the dungeon, and subsequently eaten or torn apart…” Logan reported.

The air definitely grew thicker as Logan spoke of the events, Cassius’s face becoming sullen and Prevesna’s eyebrows becoming more diagonal.

“Which dungeon?” Cassius asked succinctly.

“The Frost Monarch’s Cavern, three days ride to the east.”

“What killed them?”

“Two huge ice yetis, that weren’t noted in the intel. They appeared in the entrance which was reported to be cleared.”

“Cassius. You have my leave if you wish”, Prevesna announced as she turned to face her ally.

“Logan, do you still have the dungeon in your name?” Cassius asked directly.

“Yes, I-”

“Please, give me command of it.”

“We both want revenge too”, Marcus retorted.

“Then you can still come with us. But this is a guild matter now”, Cassius replied as he stared at the Devout.

“Alright. I’ll hand it over to you, it’s only right you get to do this”, Logan relented.

“Thank you.”

“When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow, I need to sort out a sortie and the quest details.”

“That’s fine, if there are only six of us I can teleport us all to the dungeon in around six Dimensional Jaunts”, Logan calculated.

“It’ll most likely come down to that number. Now, please, take your leave”, Cassius replied directly as he was visibly holding back his anger.

Logan and Marcus stood and bowed before leaving the room. Prevesna oddly took a backseat to the conversation as she wrote in her ledger, though it was certainly to let Cassius handle the situation.

As the door shut behind them, the pair heard a massive slam in the room as well as felt the building shake slightly, Cassius no doubt had punched a hole in the wall.

Walking out of the hallway towards the exit, Logan and Marcus were treated to several glances as the other guildies discussed what had just happened in that room.

Logan’s palms were sweaty as were his knees weak, Cassius could have killed him in anger easily but he made it out alive. The best of outcomes had arrived as Logan was given another chance at the cavern, and with Cassius at the helm. He knew the Fighter was at least level 20. But how much higher was he?

The Spellthief could only curse that the atmosphere didn’t really allow him a longer conversation with the leader, to ask what items he should prepare. If he were to be at the back and supporting, as Cassius was no doubt going to lead the charge, Logan decided it would probably be best to update his armour, weapons, and spend a good number of coins on spell slot potions.

Selling his previous fire salamander's coat and Bowen daggers, Logan was able to purchase variants that were made for adventurers of level 14. They were made by the same crafter, though the intensity of the spellforce weaved into the materials was higher, making them stronger and more durable.

There wasn’t much point in upgrading his staff as the increase from 10 to 14 granted no benefit to his spellcasting. When it came to the Spellthief’s edge, sentimentality lost out against the damage difference of his newer daggers, so that was put back into the recesses of his inventory.

Logan could have bought a couple of new trinkets for his attributes, however, their price points soared higher as you went into the better variants. It would cost him 6 gold for just the one, and he would only get 1 extra point in the said attribute.

Meeting back up with Ahren, Logan unloaded some of his spare herbs to get some cheaper potions. Buying up ten first-level pots, and ten second-level pots, Logan had a nice stock of extra spells in his pocket for if he needed them in what would essentially be a boosted dungeon.

A “boosted dungeon” being the term used for when stronger people cleared a dungeon for you, yet you could still reap some rewards from doing so.

Marcus bought up another manual for Extended Enhance, while Logan spent 3 gold on Sig-Immediate Spell Manual 1 and 5 gold on Sig-Clutch Spell Manual 1.

With all their money spent, or at least enough that they couldn’t make much more worthwhile purchases, the pair returned to their inn to read their new skill tomes.

Bolstering his already empowered teleportation spells, Logan got the additional benefit from the first skill that it allowed him to Silentcast Dimensional Jaunt without actually knowing that Alteration fully. Since Logan already quickcasted without MP cost, this also meant he could silentcast without MP.

Since these two skills were tied to the Signature Spell skill, he could swap the skills to a different spell every time he levelled up. This would have been invaluable for when he achieved third-level spells and the like, though with his exit fast approaching he wasn’t going to get to see that.

There was also the fact that both of these skills had a second tier of mastery, increasing their effectiveness further. Logan was unsure if the second tier of Sig-Immediate Spell would actually aid him though.

“So, tomorrow is the day”, Marcus spoke up as he lifted his head from his tome.

“Again, yeah. Cassius should be able to take that place all on his own, so we’ll be fine”, Logan replied as he turned to look over at Marcus on his own bed.

“I meant that tomorrow is the day you leave.”

Logan paused for a moment before responding, “Yeah. I should be able to accept my portal at my leisure, so I doubt it’d be instant.”

“A final farewell moment. I suppose your torch is one I’ll have to carry on alone.”

“You’ve grown a lot since meeting me, and with the knowledge I’ve given you I am sure you’ll do fine.”

Marcus swivelled to the edge of his bed, “I died last time we went to that cavern. I was getting close to the end of what my following pace allowed me, the cavern will be as far as I can take you.”

“To use your own words, I couldn’t have progressed as fast without you to this point.”

“I still feel as if I could have done more, or kept up better.”

“You’ve done great within the limitations you’re put in.”

“It’ll eat at me when you’re gone”, Marcus spoke as he stood from his bed, “Logan, let us have a match.”

“What?” Logan replied as he stood too, “You know we’re 6 ranks apart, right?”

“My handicap will be your used-up spells, and that you can’t use your ‘normal’ powers.”

“I suppose we’ve never truly fought or tested one another.”

“So you’ll accept?”

“Let’s do it.”

Leaving to the road outside the inn, Gaemo following behind, the pair faced off against one another at a 20-foot gap. The guard who was refereeing the fight rose his hand as he announced the start of the fight.

“Dimensional Jaunt”, Logan mentally commanded as his body warped out of existence.

Appearing with a wind blast behind Marcus, the devout threw out his hand and dragged it across the floor to his back, “Gaia Wall”, he chanted, erecting a large wall of stone and vines that whipped out to grasp the Spellthief.

Logan backflipped off the wall as it formed, the vines barely grasping at his coattails. As his feet slid on the floor below he was just able to throw his head to the left as he saw a shadow above him. A large spike of earth had been Skystriked into his new location, Marcus’s hand thrown from the sky to the floor as he jumped after his ally.

“He’s aggressive!” Logan thought energetically.

Marcus drew up his new dagger as he clashed with Logan’s, Logan could feel the slight difference in Strength as Marcus was abnormally distributed in that area. “Enhance Strength, Enhance Agility”, Marcus chanted twice as his body glowed blue and green, his movements becoming quicker and deadlier.

Marcus now eclipsed Logan’s Strength by 10 points, though fell behind 10 in Agility. Logan could easily parry his friend’s attacks but felt the power in each. With a spinning kick, Marcus also drew his staff as he dual-wielded dagger and staff, letting loose with a flurry of close slashes and reaching bludgeons.

“Gaia Skystrike”, Marcus called out again as he pulled inwards, his dagger falling to the floor as he opened his hand.

Logan dodged to the left as a shard of earth missed him and headed towards its caster. Marcus dodged similarly but shortly, grabbing onto the spike, spinning, and tossing it at the Spellthief.

Logan clashed the shard of earth with his dagger as he deflected the spell but was surprised at how ferocious his friend had become from his time hunting other adventurers. Had he made a mistake keeping him at range to this point, or was it from his training with the guards?

The compounding handicaps of his lesser spell pool, lack of Spell Absorption, and that Marcus knew how Logan fought made this a much more interesting fight.

Logan commanded in his head for his final ring teleport, not wanting Marcus to foresee his cast. Warping out in a wind blast, he appeared in front of his friend as he anticipated a retaliation to the back.

Instead, Marcus knelt down low and jumped upwards, his leg muscles forcing him an easy 10’ in the air with a flip. Aiming his arms down he chanted, “Aqua Shot”, causing a torrent of water to rain down onto Logan from above.

Redirecting his spell upwards, Logan shot off his final Flame Ring as his fires collided with the waters, creating a rush of steam to fill the small area the two were in.

Marcus was obviously going all-out, knowing he didn’t need to save any spells for the night. Logan was similarly not going to go too easy on his friend, who was wanting to test the gap between them.

“Force”, Logan called out, shooting a grey orb skywards to pull away to the steam.

With the rush of white moving away, Logan saw the glint of a blade head his way as Marcus lunged for a stab. Dodging it again, Logan hit his knee into Marcus’s elbow to disarm him. The dagger flew high, and had Marcus twist into a strange roll as his left arm grappled Logan’s leg, dropped his staff, and spun his lower body upwards as he landed a backwards right foot into Logan’s head.

As the two came tumbling to the floor, Logan kicked off, rolled on the floor, and slid to his feet as he backstepped. Marcus pushed on the floor and did an expert rolling flip to a hunched standing position.

“Learn that at the guards?” Logan called out teasingly.

“This too”, Marcus replied as he pushed his hands into his pockets and threw out two daggers towards Logan.

The Spellthief deflected both with his own dagger with ease, though what came next were the golden chains of Chain Guard as the words left Marcus’s lips. Before they could fully form around Logan he mentally commanded “Dimensional Jaunt”, teleporting to a nearby roof.

“Marcus has been drinking MP potions, no way he had that much left. I’ve only got 3 myself, and no more teleports”, Logan calculated in his head as he raised his arms.

“Force”, Logan called out over and over, pelting the city streets with orbs of grey energies.

Marcus dodged a few and deflected others as he kicked up his staff from the floor, but was hit by many more.

Ducking and dodging, Marcus charged at the building and kicked upwards to land on a stack of crates, and again to the roof itself. Spinning his staff he blocked more Force micks as he closed the gap again.

Swinging out at his friend, Marcus failed to land a hit as Logan was far too adept at fighting in melee as well as much faster. However, the Spellthief could feel a tingling in his arms as the weight of each blow was taking its toll.

As Logan blocked another staff strike, he stepped into it, grabbed onto the staff with his left arm and elbowed Marcus in the face with his right. Kicking into Marcus’s leg and kneeing his hand, Logan disarmed the Devout of his final weapon and threw it off the roof.

Going onto the offensive as his foe had no weapon, Logan swiped out with his dagger at Marcus. The Devout did his best at dodging, but took hit after hit as he began to falter on the roof.

Marcus balled up his fists and began to retaliate with unarmed strikes, throwing in spins and half-turn kicks. Unbuttoning his robe he threw in jumping high kicks and the like to vary up his attacks. Logan only took a few blows, trading far more slashes.

Jumping backwards, Marcus quickly touched his chest as he chanted, “Heal Grasp”, to surround himself in healing yellow lights.

Logan replied with his own mental chant, “Dimensional Jaunt”, warping in and out behind his target. Grasping onto his friend’s back for the first time he chanted again, “Flame Grasp”, as he used his slotted spell.

Through his unbuttoning, Marcus dragged his arms into his sleeves and rolled out of his robe, leaving it in Logan’s grasp as it went up in flames. Marcus tumbled on the rooftop as he turned to face Logan in his undertunic, fists raised and heavy breath in front of his face.

Logan looked at the burnt robe in his hands for a second as he had to do a double-take of what just happened. With a chuckle, he threw the robe off the roof and squared off against Marcus again.

“If it wasn’t for that handicap… damn”, Logan quietly spoke.

“Feels like a good even, right?” Marcus replied with laboured breathing.

“I didn’t expect you to restore your spellforce”, Logan said with a smirk.

“Can’t make it easy for you”, Marcus replied again with his own smirk.

Logan gave another chuckle before charging forwards, lunging forwards with his dagger against the raised fist of Marcus. Instead, though, Logan kicked off the floor and flipped behind his quarry with his other hand aimed at him, “Lightning Shot”, he chanted as bolts of blue crashed into Marcus’s back.

As Marcus fell to a knee he threw back his own arm backwards, “Gaia Shot”, he chanted as he let fly a shard of earth that hit solidly into Logan’s chest, protruding in front of his eyes and he fell back slightly.

Sliding his leg across the roof, Marcus kicked into another charge at Logan. Logan let it through as he spun around the arm to the back of Marcus and landed a solid stab into his ally’s back.

Circling his other arm around Marcus, Logan caught his friend before he fell to the floor, the last blow taking his opponent to unconsciousness.

The crowd below cheered as a victor was finally made at the end of quite a flashy and acrobatic fight. Logan drew his blade out of Marcus’s back and sheathed it, looking at his friend whose body was inhaling deeply in its rest.

“You’ve put in effort for two”, Logan said as he picked his friend up.

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