Legend of the Spellthief

Entering back into the first house that Logan had slept at felt quite strange, with new owners the place seemed different than when he came here 3 days ago. Hanging pelts from various monsters and animals, soaking fangs and eyes, the place looked akin to the component shop beside the adventurers' hall. Several works were set up at the dining table, with thread, needles, alongside various other tools.

When the use of Identification, Logan could tell they gave varying bonuses to Trinket Craft. Looking over the components, the identifying Spellthief could tell that if the thugs wanted money they could have easily taken the components and sold them off, there was a good six or so silver laying around in materials. “Either a specist attack or they only wanted information about their forest village like one of the thugs mentioned”, Logan surmised.

“Honey, Logan is here”, Punissa called out. Forletta soon appeared from upstairs, bringing down a box of crafting supplies.

“Ah, Logan, good morning. It's been a busy morning cleaning this place up after last night, but we got it done. We're about to get down to some commissions”, Forletta informed.

“I can help with the cleaning if you need it, I got a mick for it”, Logan offered. The gashrieks happily accepted the assistance as they set up the table for the day's work. A Fantasia Spellthief got to work using Clean on the house, cleaning both normal dirt as well as bloodstains.

“Waters of everclear, wash away all dirt. Clean”, Logan would chant over and over, making sure to stay in character around other people.

The next few hours were taken up by Logan examining how the gashriek would work with the components, turning them from monster parts to fully functional trinkets. Even though they were both classless, they were still able to weave spellforce into the items, though it was a long process full of chanting and focused concentration. Combining crushed herbs, shavings from fangs, liquids from eyes, and threading furs together, the trinkets required a plethora of materials.

A lot of the items they were making seemed to be for classless folk, slippers that aided in keeping their wearer warmer in winter, gloves that never tore from thorns and garden work, masks that helped in acting on stage. Logan unlocked several recipes, though with their uses being more mundane they wouldn't be much help to an adventurer. After a few items were completed, a new skill unlocked with a window to describe it to the Spellthief who felt like he was back at school.

“Like the Harvesting skill explained, higher tier components increase the chances for higher tier items, it jumps up quite a bit. It's a shame that hobgoblin ear was high-quality, I could have probably made a good item from it. No matter, eventually my spells can take those down with ease… If I haven't escaped by then”, Logan contemplated, seeing new avenues for power open up with the unlocking of Trinket Craft.

With the day heading into noon, Logan had learnt all he needed to from the gashrieks, they also handed him a few strips of parchment that instructed on how to make a wolf fang ring and bastarn eye earring. The first would give him an Agility boost, the other a boost to his Constitution. Logan hadn't encountered a “Bastarn” though, he would have to investigate that later.

Thanking the gashriek couple, the Movas were surprised at how quick the young Spellthief picked up on the techniques, offering later lessons if he needed them. Along with the skill window, Logan's System informed him that he could only get so much mastery from the same teachers, and he had gained all he could from the Mova couple.

“I shall be heading to the hall, gonna check if there are any quests I could take on that will bring me to any creatures that have these components. I wanna try my hand at making something for myself. Thanks for all the instructions, it was a valuable experience. I may stop by again at some point, but if you need anything, I will be at the Dogslop Inn most nights”, Logan explained to his gashriek friends.

“We wish you safe travels on your quests today, Logan, you're welcome here any time”, affirmed Forletta.

“Yes, if you're ever down on luck or need a place to stay, we do have that spare room”. Punissa added, enticing the adventurer to stay over.

“No, I put you out enough as it is. I don't want to be a bother. I will see you around”, Logan declined. He had been independent ever since he graduated university, with his mother's passing he always felt a burden on his grieving father. Moving out a few months after the funeral, he would visit his dad's house a few times a week but would spend most of his time at his apartment.

“People have their own troubles to deal with, me included. Don't over impose, offer a helping hand where you think it's necessary”, he recited to himself as he left the house, giving a farewell pet to Spike.

Leaving the house, which wasn't too far from the adventurers' hall, Logan thought over what was in their house and the income that brought. “They easily afford rent, probably bring money back to their village. So that attack had an agenda other than money. That only justifies my actions after the fact, I didn't know in that instant, only a belief”, he ran over the events of the last night, the murder of two men still weighing on him.

Passing through the open doors of the hall, Logan saw a few more adventurers than normal at this time of day, easily 30 were sitting about the tables or taking quests from the board. Quite a few people were lined up at the far counter, with three staff members on hand to deal with the overload on incoming and outgoing quests. Logan spotted Rubené who was hard at work. “I hope she gets a break soon”, he wished.

Moving to the quest board, making sure not to bump into any other adventurers, Logan looked over the quests up for grabs today. He still had 2 villager quests from yesterday, though they had wide timelines for completion.

Scanning the quests, Logan had an idea pop in his head. “Identify”, he commanded in his head. A few seconds went by as he saw rolling ellipses across the parchment pinned to the wooden board. Eventually, the information written on the pieces of paper were translated into individual windows, noting their difficulty, recommended party level and size, rewards, locations, and more. The windows held more information than the parchments gave, and if they came with drawings of items or monsters Logan was able to gain some further information into those to boot.

One particular quest stood out, to reduce the numbers of brown wolves near the village roads leading southeast towards Noma. A drawing of a wolf revealed them to be level 3 monsters that could be harvested for 2 wolf fangs and a wolf pelt. The quest was noted as a medium difficulty to Logan, even if the parchment suggested teams of 2-3 with ranks of 2+.

“My spells are over 3 times stronger than before, at least from what I can tell, so I should be able to one-shot wolves with a spell each now”, he calculated. The quest in particular stated that around 20 wolves were needed to be killed, and each kill would reward 8 copper each. Since it was an open quest to all hunters, Logan only needed to show proof he had killed wolves in the form of their fangs. “I could just show off 3 kills, but actually kill more on my own for crafting”, Logan mused.

Logan was only 779 experience away from level 4, since he had gained 330 XP from his first wolf kill he had hoped that 3 more would help him cover that gap. With his dagger doing between 2-5 damage, with whatever his Agility added, Logan was confident that with a Backstab and a follow-up strike or two he could possibly bring down other wolves if it came to it.

“Sir, I'll be helping with the wolf hunting”, Logan said to the staff member on the podium.

“Call me Chestan, Logan. That's alright though, will you be hunting with that party you had yesterday?”, the man on the podium responded.

“If they're about, maybe.”

“All noted. Good luck, Logan.”

“Thanks.”

Leaving the adventurers' hall, Logan thought of his tools next, he would need a better knife for Harvesting, noticing the gashrieks had tools that increased their chances of making higher tier items led him to believe there would be better tools for gaining the components. Making a quick stop by the local markets, Logan identified several items on offer before landing on the best he could find.

“Trophy Hunter's Knife: A knife designed to easily gut your kills, making a fine trophy for your wall or components for use in crafting skills. When used with Harvesting you gain 5% for obtaining each tier of component.”

Sitting at 5 silver it was quite expensive, but the bonus would be worth it in the end. With the use of Haggle, Logan brought the price down to 4 silver and 8 copper. Bringing his total money down to 1 silver, 38 copper. Counting out the money was a pain, bringing Logan back to his childhood where he handed over his pocket money for sweets.

Along with his new knife, he found a set of tools for Trinket Craft, using Identification once more.

“Beginner's Trinket Tools: Numerous tools for Trinket Craft, allowing the user to make magical items. When used, the probability of crafting each tier of trinket is increased by 2%”

They were cheaper at only 2 silver, which Logan bargained down to 1 silver and 6 copper. Along with the two tools, the bartering Spellthief also bought a new large sack to carry the pelts within, since his backpack only had so much room in it. Buying up one for 3 copper, he had all he needed.

With his tools acquired, Logan packed up his things and headed out of the gates he had entered through half a week ago. One of the guards nodded to Logan as he passed, muttering “Logan” at the adventurer. Logan politely nodded back to the guard, possibly a villager who knew of his help to the classless.

Curious, Logan identified a few of the guards. A mishmash of both classless and classed, the walls being mostly manned by Fighters who probably specialised in archery. No one was above level 3, though with their quantity, they probably made up for that lack of strength.

Loading up his System map, Logan saw that the wolves he needed to deal with weren't as far out as where he had crash-landed, only around 30 minutes away on foot. Thinking it would be nice to have a higher level weapon, he remembered another warning that had popped up during his Identification spree. The Spellthief wouldn't gain most of the benefit from higher-level weapons as their statistics would be lowered severely, he also was not proficient in the use of bows so would need to spend time learning that proficiency with prolonged training.

“Forced into close range, except for spells. When these 7 days are up, I will have to see how long it will take to get proficiency with bows. Firing atop trees sounds like a great strategy against the enemies that cannot fly, climb, or attack from afar”, he theorized. Picking up the pace, he hurried on to the quest location.

Arriving at the forest, Logan was a bit annoyed at what he saw. Tracks led into the portion of the forest closest to the village, left by boots and sabatons. “Other adventurers are here, I better keep my distance if I want to use my skills”, he reflected, resolving to head further away. The area for the wolf quest was quite large, larger than his first quest against goblins.

Separating far enough that he no longer found tracks, Logan used Clean to mask his scent and began to Stealth through the forest. Tara's Dagger in hand, he made sure to stay sharp in a forest full of monsters that had almost killed him on his first day. With 32 HP over his previous 8, he was sure he could take a few more hits but wasn't too happy at the fact that wolves were pack hunters, the solitary one that hunted him before being a rarer occurrence.

Using Tracking, Logan could find evidence of wolves nearby, both from paw prints and scratch marks across several tree trunks. It wasn't long till he found a pair of brown wolves dining on the carcass of a deer, their brown fur covered in blood from the latest kill. Wanting to get a better idea of their strength, Logan inspected them for a while. “Identify”.

“Brown Wolf - Lupine. Level 3: 18/18 HP, 0/0 MP. The most commonly hunted creature of the lupine species, with a brown fur coat. At around 2 feet tall, taller on their hind legs, wolves often hunt in pairs and packs of up to 6, it is uncommon to find a singular wolf on the hunt”, the window explained to Logan.

“Shame they don't have weapons, I can't estimate their damage values”, Logan sighed. Since there was a pair, he would have to take a hit, at least that is what he accepted would be the outcome. Planning to take them both down, he would use a spell on one and Backstab the other. Thinking to his System, he commanded that the spell would not use his Backstab skill, which it accepted.

Since his Flame spell was his strongest he wanted to save that for an emergency, however, both Lightning and Frost would only do so much damage on a grasp. As he was speculating about his battle tactics, a new idea popped into his head. Either through his intellect or his Intelligence attribute aiding his plans, he remembered that Force now did around 5 damage. He could climb a tree and repeatedly fire at the wolves from a safe vantage point.

It would take a longer period of time, but Logan had plenty of time left to him. “Fight smart, not hard”, he thought. With the aid of his grip gloves, Logan ascended a tree a short distance away. It took less time than previously, but a few minutes would still pass until he was on a stable branch.

Thankfully the wolves were still in the area, and he had a good angle on the creatures. Double-checking his surroundings for any adventurers, he raised his arm and chanted “Force”. A wave of energy flowed from his body, through his arm, and erupted in a sound wave towards the first wolf, hitting it with a solid punch into the back for 5 damage.

A loud yelp was let out by the brown wolf, who darted around, his partner doing the same at the sound. Another round of Force hit the wolf's head, which caused it to become stunned as it was pushed to the floor, failing the Strength saving throw. Its ally, now scared, ran off to leave its partner to his doom. Force hit the prone wolf in the stomach, having it yelp out once more as it tried to stand and run away, but one final volley hit it in the side as it began to turn.

Heavily bruised and bleeding, the brown wolf fell to the floor in a loud thud as it was propelled by Logan's magic. Affirmative text appeared over its corpse, confirming a dirty kill by the Spellthief.

“Less than the first kill, so being above or below affects their reward. Looks like maybe 5% per level difference?” Logan deduced. Putting the smart Spellthief at 5,531/6,000 XP, his hypothesis of 3 wolf kills was confirmed, even if the previous experience had been reduced slightly.

Waiting for a short while, Logan scanned over the immediate area of forest, awaiting a return of the partner wolf. “How far did it run? Is it going to come back and ambush me if I go to harvest his buddy?” Logan worried. Though he did not want to spend the rest of the day in his tree perch, so he climbed back down.

Moving over to his kill, Logan looked all around and used Clean on the wolf corpse, himself, and the carcass of the deer. “Make it hard for that wolf to smell any scent to find its way back”, he hoped.

Picking out his new Harvesting dagger, Logan got to work. Cutting at the gums, he pried out the two largest fangs, both of shoddy quality. With his skill usage, he had an innate knowledge of where to cut the wolf to get its hide, it was strange as if he could see the lines overlaid on its body as well as having something guide his hand.

The wolf pelt took 5 minutes in total to remove, to his surprise he got a common quality as his first try. “Beginner's luck, the knife is already paying off”, he praised. Logan was thankful that the wolf's partner wasn't too faithful, no enemy had intruded on his looting process. Sheathing his tool, Logan stalked the forest once more in search of another wolf.

Stumbling onto a new sight, Logan was able to oversee an encounter between an adventuring band and a pack of five wolves. The adventurers were four strong, three being Fighters and the final one being a Devout. Standing at levels 1 and 2, the group weren't overly strong but came prepared with good armour and weapons.

The swordsman had short black hair, his clothing a mix of brown leather and shining metal plates. One of the spearmen was a fiery redhead, clothed in darker brown leather with no metal at all. His ally spearman had long black hair tied up in a ponytail under his metal helmet, the rest of his body coated in metal plates. Whereas the Devout in the back wore flowing brown robes with red orbs dotted across them.

Sneaking up to a tree trunk, Logan watched as the team worked in unison to overcome the lupine threat. The Devout in the back used a crossbow to aid his teammates, only having 1 MP meant he had one Heal a day. Two Fighters were using spears to attack at reach, the last using a shield to carry pouncing wolves atop to stab at with his shortsword.

Combining their efforts, the spearmen were able to pierce and hold wolves together, avoiding any retaliation, though it left them open to the other wolves in the encounter, getting claws in on the adventurers. “Fading fast, should I help?” Logan considered, though seeing a Heal from the Devout recover one of the Fighters, they had taken down two foes to make it an even 3-on-3 melee bout.

Crossbow bolts combined with spear lunges brought another wolf down, the swordsman disorientating his foe with a shield bash. The last wolf lunged at the other spearmen who got a heavy bite into the shoulder, retaliating with a forward pierce of his spear that pushed the wolf off.

The spearmen now operating together were able to bring their second wolf down, a bolt combined with a sword slash finishing off the last wolf. “Got there in the end, though they probably don't want to head-on with their injured and lack of healing”, Logan surmised.

With the battle concluded, the team sat to rest and clean up their wounds, the Devout asked to harvest the bodies. “Even Devouts get the short end of the stick”, Logan angrily observed. Confident the party would be fine, Logan decided to return to his own hunt, heading further eastward to get away from other parties.

Approaching a small pond within a short field, Logan was able to find a lone wolf sipping at the waters. Thanking his ability to find a loner, Logan approached to get some experience into his skills. As he got close, Logan sadly snapped a twig, alerting the wolf as its head and ears perked up. Lunging forwards, Logan landed a solid Backstab into the wolf's back, dealing 8 damage to his quarry.

Letting out a growl, the wolf did a jumping twirl to face the offensive Spellthief who drew up into a fighting stance. “Only 8? Damn, expected a bit more”, Logan cursed. The wolf did a leaping bite at its attacker, though Logan was able to roll to the side, far out of reach. Sliding with a bent leg, Logan let out a “Force!” to the wolf, knocking it off balance but not to the floor, bringing it down to 5/18 HP.

The wolf had the intent to flee in its eyes, but saw little room for it, deciding to continue the fight against Logan. Darting forward it started to bring up its mouth for another bite, front legs outstretched for a combined claw attack. Moving into the attack, hopeful his dagger could end it, Logan struck upwards into the underside of the wolf's jaw, piercing into its mouth. Dealing a solid 6 damage, the wolf crumpled into a corpse atop Logan who fell back with it.

“Close, but unscathed. The next item on the docket is a new weapon”, Logan planned, pushing the corpse off of him. Making sure there were no more wolves about, the drinking spot possibly being a highly visited locale, Logan began to draw the corpse a few feet away. Using Clean, Logan started his routine once again.

Gaining a shoddy and common wolf fang, Logan spent the next 5 minutes carving out a shoddy wolf pelt. Cleaning up the components, he placed them within his bigger bag, double casting his Clean mick to make sure the pelts did not give off a heavy scent. “One more wolf and I hit level 4, I'm interested to see the improvements to my attributes this time”, Logan thought ahead, getting his gear ready for another fight.

As he began to move to the north part of the pond a loud crack of wood was heard off in the distance, as well as yelling from humans.

“Run! He's outta spellforce, leave the dead weight!”, a low-pitch voice cried out.

“Someone is in danger!” Logan realised, transitioning into a fast sprint in the direction of the sounds. Crashing out of a brush of leaves and twigs, Logan saw a body on the floor tussling with a brown wolf, a few more darting into the forest. Looking at the adventurer in danger, Logan recognised the red and black clothing. “Marcus!”

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