Legend of the Spellthief

His body still recovering from the wounds of his encounters about two hours prior, Logan realised he was still covered in dirt and blood from battle. While the dirt seemed a commonplace accent to the villagers' clothing, the blood was quite out of the ordinary. Finding a local water pail, Logan was able to wash off some of the discolourations from his attire. “Don't want to give a bad impression at a library”, he decided.

In his earlier investigations, Logan was able to find that the village of Tinte had a single library to its name, located within the northern part of town, almost at the city walls. Not many villagers seem to frequent the place except for purchasing storybooks to read to children.

Arriving at the establishment, it resembled a small chapel-like design, with a large triangular arch in the front. Only slightly bigger than the nearby houses, it seemed as though not much funding went into its construction or management. A dull reddish-brown colour was washed over the woodwork, peeling away to reveal a pale-brown underneath. Two large oak doors were closed at its entrance, small drawings of fading away books could be seen on their frames. Sparse glass windows let in light around the sides and front, though were covered in age-old dust.

Placing a hand on the door, Logan pushed it inwards, entering into the library proper. A wave of musty paper, dried ink, and a smoking pipe hit Logan, irritating his nose at first. Creaky floorboards, radiating their sound to nearby bookshelves, the building was definitely old and unused. Several bookshelves laid out in front of the knowledge-seeking Spellthief, categorized by their contents like fiction, theory, history, and classes.

A pseudo-hallway was made up of bookshelves that eventually led to a circular desk, sat within the middle was a crusty old gentleman. Clothed in a large brown robe, with its hood raised, Logan could only make out the lit-up wrinkles and freckles across the man's face, his eyebrows wiry and silver.

Walking to the counter, the floor continued to creak, as a draft was following Logan's movements. The sound and cold air awoke a sleeping librarian, whose head lifted to see a slightly old adventurer.

“Urrr”, he let out a weird confused moan, followed by two coughs that let out dust. “A customer? Been a week since someone entered my domain”, he continued, an elderly voice croaking out in a joyous tone.

“Hello, sir, I take it you're the librarian here? I was interested in some class and magic tomes”, Logan put forth to the almost-prune man.

“Frabjous day, a sale! Yes, yes, we have those tomes. Over there, they are clearly marked, just pick out what you wish and bring them to the counter here lad”, the old man instructed, a smile showing his lack of half his teeth. He raised an elongated finger that trembled at the motion, pointing towards a far row of bookshelves.

“Thank you, I shall have a look. Are you the only worker here?” asked Logan, worried about the responsibilities placed on a man who seemed to be in his 90s.

“Yes, just me left. Only Bobcu and his books”, the man introduced himself, causing guilt to fall on the adventurer's heart. Getting a better look, Logan saw frail and pale brown eyes, almost grey, set in his sunken sockets.

“I'll try to be quick, kind sir.”

Taking the directions from Bobcu, Logan went over to the instructed row of books. As Bobcu said, the books all had titles across their spines with the shelf frames marking individual classes or spell levels. As Logan moved his hand across the shelves, he felt a small humming from the wood. “Is this wood alive? Or maybe enchanted to stop thievery?” he pondered.

After some time had passed, Logan ended up with 3 books. “Roguish Intentions”, “Magi's Magick Vol. 1”, and “Tinkering Beginning”. The first was a class tome for Rogues, the second was a starting manual on beginner spells and alterations, the last was a skill tome for the Trinket Craft SKoL. While he couldn't open any, seemingly locked by magic, each book had a synopsis on the reverse sides.

“These should do, for now, all valuable to me, especially this crafting tome since I got a recipe for ‘Gobbo-Ear Necklace’ from my first quest”, Logan calculated.

Since the books didn't list any prices, Logan brought the three to the counter where Bobcu awoke again, startled by a customer.

“Ah, a thrice purchase, let me look over your selection”, the delighted librarian asked. Placing the books in front of the old man, he brushed his hand over their covers and flipped through a compendium at his side.

“Hope you got plenty of coin. ‘Roguish Intentions’ costs 25 silver, ‘Magi's Magick Vol. 1’ costs 10 silver, and ‘Tinkering Beginning’ costs 8 silver”, Bobcu laid out the prices to the wanting mage.

“I wish I had saved some money now, though I wouldn't even have enough for the cheapest”, Logan cursed in his head.

“Do you happen to rent books at all?”

“Pah! You rent a house or a person, not a tome”, the librarian laughed back at the clueless Spellthief.

“Ah, damn.”

“Language.”

“Sorry, is there any way I could get these cheaper or pay in instalments?”

“Nope, that isn't how we treat literature. You either own it totally or not at all I'm afraid.”

“Ok, well can you keep these aside for me? I should be doing another quest tomorrow, so I may have the funds then.”

“I can do that, sure. I doubt someone would desperately need them anyways.”

Sighing in regret, Logan began to leave the library. He gave a defeated wave to Bobcu who had already gone back to his nap. “I wasn't expecting tomes to be so expensive, at least they are compared to what money I can bring in right now. I should aim for that spell tome first to try and clear that additional objective, but I don't know if I will be able to”, Logan deliberated.

Returning to the adventurers' hall, Logan saw similar faces to before, around fourteen people sat at the different tables. Moving towards the quest board, Logan looked over it for quick and easy jobs. Since there was no limit on how many he could take, he took any he thought he could do within the day. The staff member sat atop the short podium listed them all down, though had an investigative look on his face.

“Downtime ey? Don't see many adventurers take those jobs”, he stated to Logan, a quite bemusing mage.

“Yeah, I've had enough killing for a day and these people look like they need help”, Logan responded, the staff member nodding his head in reply. With quests in hand, Logan made his way out the doors once more to the late afternoon sun. “Let's clean up house”, he stated, making a note to use Identification where he could.

The first quest on his agenda was an assortment of deliveries, both letters and parcels, between the buildings of Tinte. Due to his Agility attribute, Logan was perfectly suited for this task. Running from place to place, Logan handed off the materials, civilians thanking him for his work. It took a solid hour of running around, stunning the client with his speed. A simple starter task, which landed him 3 copper.

1 silver, 10 copper. 2/10 quests.

Afterwards, Logan gave his legs a rest and moved onto his arms, the client asking for someone to help clean their house. Given the tools by said client at their home, he set to work dusting, tidying, and wiping down a small shack with only 4 rooms. It didn't require much force, but with an 11 Strength Logan could handle more than most classless civilians. It took him another hour for this quest, though its pay was lower at 2 copper. He was treated to a sandwich from the client, which filled him with the energy to continue on, and surprisingly a bit of healing was included.

1 silver, 12 copper. 3/10 quests. 14/22 HP.

A descending sun turned the day to evening, the village taking on its beautiful orange and brown hue. Meeting with another client, Logan was asked to help some less fortunate villagers with doing maths and tax work. Due to Logan's past work as a personal assistant, he could do this kind of stuff in his sleep. The questioning took a while, but with mental maths, the whole job was done in 20 minutes. Given a bonus, Logan was paid another 3 copper for his assistance.

1 silver, 15 copper. 4/10 quests.

Now on a roll, Logan jogged to the next client. This job was more involved, requiring Logan to track down a missing pet cat. Using items from a worried mother and son, Logan unlocked a new skill “Tracking”, which he promptly utilized to find the cat. It took an hour, but Logan was able to find the feline trapped in a nearby well, he was able to coax it into the bucket and pull it back up. Licking its saviour's face all the way home, Logan handed the pet back to its family. A life saved, 2 copper earned.

1 silver, 17 copper. 5/10 quests. Tracking SKoL unlocked.

As the last quest of the day, due to the sun starting to set on the horizon, Logan was tasked with helping an elderly shopkeeper move a shipment from one end of the village to another. Lacking a vehicle, Logan had to do it all manually, ending up at 2 hours of work. Paid 4 copper for his work, Logan felt the stress on his limbs mounting. Although another reward came to Logan, in way of a new title.

“You have gained the ‘Friend to Tinte Residents’ title.”

“Friend to Tinte Residents: As recognition of your aid to the little folk of Tinte, with no grand reward on offer or amazing items to be had you offered a helping hand. The villagers of Tinte are more likely to know your name and wave to you as you pass. All villager quests have their monetary rewards increased by 5% (minimum 1 copper). You have gained 1 skill point to distribute”, the window explained, adding another new section and title to Logan's status.

With sweat covering his body, hard work in his past, Logan wiped his face with a cloth. “Paying off already, the money wasn't amazing but getting a new title is more than worth my time”, he rationalized.

1 silver, 21 copper. 6/10 quests. “Friend to Tinte Residents” title obtained.

Handing over all his quest contracts, a light surprise hit Rubené's face, a look that had almost become the norm for her.

“Been busy today, Logan. That's a lot of villager requests, we only have a few left”, she gave a bow to Logan, her voice becoming sincere. “Thank you, normal folk are often forgotten about by adventurers. The ones with classes far outmatch the classless when it comes to labour and intellect, so their help is greatly appreciated”, she thanked Logan.

“It's alright, Ru, I had some spare time today anyways”, a flustered Logan replied. Raising her head, her eyes met Logan's with a thankful tear.

“Classed individuals aren't always so kind to the classless. So even if you had other reasons for helping, it still means a lot”, she continued. Logan, feeling kind of awkward in this situation, tried to play it off cool.

“Well, I'm going to be heading to the Dogslop Inn for the night, I'll be here early tomorrow as I got invited to a group for a quest.”

“Yes, I saw it noted. You'll be facing down the goblin band led by a hobgoblin. I wish you well, If I don't see you before you set off.”

“Thanks, I'll need it. Have a good night, Ru.”

“You too, Logan.”

Logan waved off Rubené as he exited the adventurers' hall, some of the other adventurers calling it a day also. Making his way to the south side of town, Logan found the Dogslop Inn as recommended by Jrizan. Around three times the size of the nearby houses, wooden windows were closed up, orange light seeping through the cracks. The woodwork was a clean coffee-brown with a sign of a fizzing tankard.

Pushing open the inn doors, Logan was led into a small entrance hall, a few tables and chairs set up to the sides with a few patrons eating nighttime meals. At the far end was the innkeeper, a tall burly man, at 6'8". His pecan-brown hair was short, small tufts flowing over his forehead and ears. Dressed in a clean brown shirt and black jacket, Logan could have mistaken it for this world's version of a suit. He also sported a pair of black trousers, a long white cloth tucked into one side.

Strolling up to the counter, the tall man grew a smile on his face, showing a full set of teeth, if a bit yellow.

“Welcome to Dogslop, you here for a room or meal?” he inquired.

“A room for the night please, breakfast included”, Logan supplied.

“Great, that's 5 copper. You can call me Coach”, the innkeeper responded, picking a key from the shelf behind him. Flicking 5 copper to the counter, Logan was handed a key with a small piece of wood attached, burnt into it was the number 6.

“You're in room 6, got a good window of the adventurers' hall from there. The bath is down the hall on the 1st floor. Breakfast starts at 5am and goes through 8am, it's normally soup or stew, but you can pay more for better.”

“Thanks, the name's Logan, by the way, Coach.”

“I know you from Wallace, the name of Logan has been spreading around. You helped my cousin find her cat today”, Coach informed.

“I guess the phrase with this ‘Wallace’ character is common”, Logan noted.

“Oh, yeah, trapped in a well of all places. Glad I could help.”

“You're doing good work around here, Logan. Stay enough times at my inn and I might think about a discount.”

“I'll keep that in mind, but for now I'll focus on a good night's rest. Been a long day”, Logan returned. Coach gave a farewell to Logan as he took his key to the first floor, climbing a staircase hidden behind a nearby door. Finding his room, Logan made sure everything was in order.

A wooden window, that was previously locked, opened up to a sight of the village and the adventurers' hall in the distance, the sun now no longer in sight. Looking over his room, Logan was treated to a solid wood frame bed with a straw and cloth mattress, atop which sat a cloth duvet and a feather pillow. A nearby wardrobe had a clean towel in it, as well as some shoe brushes.

Taking the towel from his wardrobe, Logan took a well-deserved soak in the bathroom. The tub was made of waxed tortilla-brown wood. Two taps were attached to the wall, possibly connected to water towers nearby. Turning one tap, a spew of yellowish-blue water came out into the tub, thin tan steam coming from the tub. “Strange colour, but it'll have to do”, Logan accepted.

Disrobing and soaking in the waters, Logan felt his body cry out in joy, his muscles relaxing after a day full of fighting, moving, and honest work. Without proper plumbing and heating systems, the water was merely warm, probably due to hot rocks or something in the tower. “Ah, that's great. I don't think a bath back home ever felt so rewarding”, Logan exclaimed. Taking a nearby block of animal fat, Logan washed himself.

After cleaning, Logan returned to room 6, planting himself on the bed with his clothes hung up in the wardrobe. “It's gonna be another long day tomorrow, though mostly travelling and avoiding enemies. From what I can gather, the party will be doing most of the work and just relying on me for the hobgoblin. They must think my daggers are just for harvesting. I can't complain too much I guess, I am getting a boost from this, or at least I hope I will be”, Logan pondered, thinking to the next day.

Opening up his status and windows, he began to peruse his next skill choice. “I gained a skill point due to that villager title, only question is what to spend it on. I could go for the Multi-Backstab to increase my uses of Backstab, but that won't help tomorrow and it won't help me in further group activities. No SKoLs jump out at me just yet, there are plenty of gathering skills though the unlocking of those seem simple, the crafting ones would be useful but again I could just unlock them by trying”, continuing the scout ahead, Logan's eyes begun to feel heavy.

Before he succumbed to slumber, Logan landed on an interesting class skill that could help him out. “Micks? Magical tricks that require no resources. Low effect but repeatable. Could be exactly what I need to stay relevant in combat! It even comes with 3 starter micks” he exclaimed, pressing the skill and accepting his choice.

Reading over his new abilities, Logan was somewhat pleased by the usefulness of the first two micks, the third granting him a persistent means of damage via magic. As he finished reading the final mick, another alert popped up.

“The Spellthief class skill ‘Dagger Toss’ is now available for purchase”, it read, showing a new line branching off from micks towards a darkened hexagon. The short description read that it combined the use of the Force mick and throwing one's dagger to attack foes from afar. “That could be useful, since it combines a weapon and a mick it probably does more damage. But right now I can't get it, I will remember it for later”, Logan accepted.

Making notes of his new abilities, Logan used the clean mick on his clothes. “Clean”, he commanded out loud, his clothes shuffling a little in the wardrobe as the dirt was peeled off like dead skin and tossed aside. “That'll save time and money on cleaning my gear”, he thought.

Next up was his new summoning mick. “Light Ally”, he chanted. A small ball of light swirled around in his hand as a small sprite appeared, looking similar to a small ball with a face it blinked up at its new master. “Hello, can you fly up to my face?” Logan asked the sprite. With a rotating nod, the sprite flew up to his face, almost blinding him in the dazzling display. “Ah, too close, back up a bit”, he requested. The sprite followed the order and flew a few feet from Logan. “Well, those are simple to use. I think Force will have to wait for tomorrow, don't want to incur any penalties at this inn”, Logan surmised. “Dismiss Light Ally”, he commanded, and his sprite disappeared into golden dust.

More and more options opened up to Logan as he continued to investigate the depths of his skills and status. But for now, Logan needed his rest, for tomorrow was a big day. Dragging on his underwear after using the clean mick to dry himself, Logan laid in the more comfortable bed, shut his eyes, and through the magic of sleep, he time travelled to the next morning.

Awaking to the sound of a personally-set alarm, Logan's mind was ablaze with an annoying ringing. Jolting his eyes open, he saw a shaking window with a timer stating it was 6am. “Alarm off”, he commanded, the window disappearing. A groggy Spellthief dragged himself from his comfy bed, his hair a mess from the pillow. Using two casts of Clean, he made himself presentable for the day.

Clothing himself, Logan moved to the ground floor, sitting at a table. A few other customers were also up, digging into bowls of stew. The aroma of cooked meats and vegetables made the drowsy Spellthief's stomach growl. Noticing a new customer awake, Coach came over with a bowl of stew for Logan, placing it on the table with a large wooden spoon.

“Good night's rest I hope”, Coach asked.

“Yeah. Just wish it could be longer”, Logan responded, letting out a yawn and stretch.

“Well, enjoy your meal sir, and I hope your questing goes well today”, Coach wished. Taking his room key from him, Coach moved back to the counter, cleaning some utensils from finished guests.

Digging into the meal, Logan found it to be quite thick and filling, the broth tasting salty and of cheese. Slurping down the remains with a raised bowl, Logan thanked Coach, stood from his table and used a Clean mick on his mouth to brush his teeth as he walked out the inn. The bright morning light attacked Logan's legs as the sun rose on the horizon, blinding many people heading east.

Walking over to the adventurers' hall, Logan prepared 2 casts of Flame and 1 of Lightning. Checking his status he saw he recovered 8 HP from sleep which brought him back to max health. “Now, is that how much I recovered in total or was it capped at my max? Also what is that calculation… the System probably wouldn't tell me if I asked”, Logan deduced.

Reaching the front doors, he walked through the doorway, quickly he saw the trio that had invited him sat at the closest table to the door. Noticing him arrive, they stood in unison with raised hands, greeting the mage. With a final check over their gear and bags, the newly formed party walked out the doors of the hall, on to their next quest.

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