Legend of the Spellthief

Arriving at the Eventa estate on foot, Logan was treated to the view of a large carriage array parked outside the walls. A few merchants were making notes in books while others were checking over crates. The jingling of glass bottles and the creaking of wood painted the scene as one highly invested in commerce.

A familiar face, at least to Logan, approached the Spellthief with a wide smile, “Hail, Logan. We’re working together again it seems.”

“It’s a nice coincidence”, Logan replied as he shook the man’s hand.

Logan had worked with this merchant in the past, well, he had helped the merchant recover some of his lost goods. Working as a hunter meant that Logan was well known amongst people of mercantile professions, as they were the most common to be robbed of their goods.

“We got plenty of crates ready to ship off. I’ll tell ya, it’s nice not having to pay out the bank for protection and food to ferry these everywhere”, the merchant laughed, pushing his brown cap back up as it slipped over his forehead.

“You got the manifests and maps for me?” Logan asked with an outstretched hand.

The merchant handed a booklet to the Spellthief, Logan thumbing through it quickly as he stopped on a few pages that had been bookmarked.

“You’ve got storage trinkets, right?”

Logan nodded.

“Good, this should be speedy then. Here are our merchant permits”, the man continued as he handed a set of folded pieces of parchment, “Show those to the stores you’ll be delivering to and then unload in their storehouses. You will also be bringing back payment, so put the permit of each transaction in the lockbox they hand you, signed by the client.”

“Armin Eventa mentioned that people were attacking your caravans, fanatics who hate vampires. Will I see any in the settlements?” Logan asked as he pocketed the papers.

“There have been some troubles at the front doors and stores, yeah. Since you’re a hunter, you have the authority to apprehend them as you see fit. A lot are just barking, so I would tell you to not kill them if you can help it.”

“The smaller settlements will lack prisons, right? Should I just leave them in the streets?”

“Confiscate their weapons and leave them, if you’re unable to bring them back to the capital. I know you can only take, what was it, four people?” the merchant asked as he scratched the side of his head.

“I can take eight now.”

“Ah, of course, Armin did mention he was giving you another tome.”

“Am I good to start?”

“That you are, since we’re saving money on this we’ll also be giving you loan units of periapts. Each one should give you a Dimensional Jaunt, right? We can loan you two, at the end of this we’ll need them back”, the merchant added as he held out two periapts of mana.

“I have one of these too, thanks”, Logan accepted as he took the necklaces.

After ending their conversation, Logan climbed into the back of one of the carriages. The cloth tarp hid the interior well enough, especially the wealth that was inside. Crates stacked on top of each other, with the faint smell of blood and… mint? They were probably perfumed or something to aid with the smell.

In the back of this vehicle Logan was hidden from sight, so using his inventory system didn’t come with any issues. Though he did use Echo Radar ahead of time just in case there was some sleuthing individual in here with him.

After gathering up as many crates as he could, Logan left the carriage, activated his periapt of mana for 2 MP, and looked to the skies with his eagle’s eyeglass. Referencing his maps and notes, Logan warped into his centre and blasted high into the skies, far from the capital. Another teleport had him warp 40 miles away.

Spells prepared for the day:

1st (6): 1+3/3* Flame, 1 Frost, 1 Gaia, 1 Infuse, 1+2/2* Lightning, 1 Necromantic.

2nd (5): 4/4* Dimensional Jaunt, 1 Haste, 1 Sleep, 3(+1) Summons.

3rd (4): 1 Air Blast, 1 Flame 2nd, 1 Invisibility, 1 Necromantic 2nd.

Signature: 1/2 Dimensional Jaunt.

Apparating within a small town, dirt brushing to the sides from the eruption of wind, Logan stood tall and looked around. Just as he was investigating the town, the inhabitants investigated him.

“Who’s that?”

“See that armband? That’s a hunter.”

“What criminals we got ‘round here?”

Ending his gaze on a larger store, Logan walked to the wooden establishment. Opening the door wide had the wind come in with him, showing him a well-stocked shop. Shelves were full of vials, weapons, armour, bags, rope, all the things an adventurer would need.

A few other customers were browsing at the same time, but the counter was free for Logan to approach. On the other end stood a middle-aged woman in a leather gambeson over villager clothes.

“Aye, what can I do yer for?” she asked as she chewed on leaves.

“I got a shipment for you”, Logan replied as he held out the permit for this town.

Taking the permit, the woman read over it quickly, “Hoo, blood, we were running low on that. So where is it?”

“Stored”, Logan replied as he raised his hand to show the back of it, almost as if demonstrating his trinkets, “Can I unload it into your storehouse?”

The woman’s eyebrows raised in surprise, “Sure thing, Mr Mage”, she spoke as she lifted part of the countertop and opened a side door, “I’ll get yer payment ready.”

Passing the counter and moving into the backroom, Logan closed the door behind him. A wide room littered with half-opened crates, cracked barrels, and bags. The store clerk needed to hire a cleaner.

Finding a good enough corner, Logan clicked his fingers to check for onlookers and then unloaded the delivery for this place.

When he was finished he left back to the storefront, “All done.”

“That was quick, much faster than when we get caravans”, the woman spoke as she pushed a lockbox across the counter, “Here’s the payment.”

Logan placed the newly signed permit into the box as instructed and put it into his bag, “Thanks, have a good day.”

Looking to the sky, Logan teleported high and back to the capital.

This continued throughout the day, until his periapts, absorbed MP, and spell slots were all used up. At the end of it all, Logan was paid a gold coin for the day’s work.

While he still had other spells to use, they were for emergencies, in case there were strong haters of vampire kind. There was still the danger of an errant quest coming his way by part of the systems that brought him to Avanar, it was around the time one normally popped up, but then, that was on a timeline without Amalia in the mix.

Spending the evening hunting criminals, Logan brought in a few more coins though in a slower manner without his teleportations.

A group of young classless men harassing the homeless population, Logan refused payment from the homeless after apprehending the ruffians.

Tracking down some stolen elemental hiring documents, Logan also found the woman who had stolen them, a level 4 Wizard who came in without a fight.

A level 1 Fighter traitor who had killed his team in their camp.

With the few hunts done, Logan went to sleep.

The next day was a lot of the same. Teleporting to the skies, and teleporting to the settlements. Logan had yet to see the anger towards his deliveries, but then he wasn’t around long nor were his goods on display like a caravan. When his deliveries were done he accepted some more hunts.

A level 8 Wizard making unsanctioned undead from nearby graves, he was more of a hassle to deal with, but had little HP as a caster so Logan got him down with a well-placed Backstab Flame.

A level 2 Sorcerer giving out false divination readings for a high price, Logan was able to find his stash and return most of the ill-gotten coins.

A classless woman who had stolen a horse from the stables and fled the city with it.

Another gold coin from his deliveries, and some extra for his hunts. A good bonus came the way of his retrieval of the coins from the “diviner” hunt. A handbook for some more micks to add to Logan’s repertoire.

Reading over it, he learned Boom Voice, Intermitt, Magic Sigil, Minor Morph, and Temper-rate. In order they let him increase the volume of his voice up to three times, ignite or extinguish mundane flames, create magical writings on surfaces, minorly affect an object’s aesthetics but not its effects, and increase or decrease the temperature of an unattended object from boiling to freezing.

The fake diviner probably used a few of these in their scheme to make themselves look legitimate.

The following day Logan took a quick visit to Amalia to pay her two gold for a range of daggers, way more than what they were worth but enough to push her into the last objective after she learnt her skills.

The Guardian had found some work and apprenticeship under a local smithy, working on several skills to craft gear. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, though some of that might have been due to the fact she could use spellforce in the creation of items, making it a magical sight to behold.

Warping around the local settlements had Logan continue his previous endeavours, the stock of crates shrinking with each day. It was possible he was going to be able to get it all done a day early.

On his third settlement of the day, however, Logan found his first signs of dissenters for the vampire species. A group of adventurers with levels 1 through 3 ambushed him as he left the store.

It was an easy thing to get around, Logan was far beyond what they could do.

Spinning around the man at the front, Logan landed a chop into the quarry’s neck to knock him out. Flipping over another he tapped their back and ignited them in a torrent of embers. Grappling a swinging arm of a woman, he twisted it, stepped around and kicked her foot, spun her over and punched her back to force her to the floor.

The final two dropped their arms and began to run, but Logan halted them both with Force blasts.

Gathering up their gear, Logan tied up the bodies with some rope and teleported them with him back to the capital.

Handing over the assaulters, and selling off their gear, Logan made an extra 10 silver for his day of deliveries.

With so many hunts until he would get any more skill points, Logan decided to spend some time on this day to clean up some villager quests, literally with the first.

A local tavern was going to play host to a large influx of travellers, so it needed to be spick and span for their time there. Logan spent some time using Clean all around.

Another fungus issue with a water tower, leading to a round of Force and Clean micks to make the stores cleaner.

Clearing out an infestation of small rats in a local bakery.

Finding a missing daughter, though it turned out she had tried to elope with her lover and she got lost on the opposite side of the city.

With a day of work done, Logan hit the hay and fell asleep instantly.

Waking to the fourth day of possibly six, Logan made his way to the estate to continue his deliveries. However, this time he was met by a man fully hidden under a large black cloak with its hood hiding most of his face.

At around 6’8”, the man tilted his head down to Logan as he spoke through a fanged maw, “Logan, I presume? I’ve come to offer my thanks.”

Logan peered under the hood as he looked up, the man’s eyes were hidden behind goggles, but he knew that the man was a vampire, “You have me at a disadvantage, I don’t think I’ve been told about you.”

Holding out a gloved hand to shake, the man continued, “Sirn Alton, pleased to meet you.”

Logan knew that a “sirn” was this world’s version of being knighted, a step above normal nobility and one below being royalty, and another below the King himself.

Logan shook the hand and responded, “It is an honour to meet you in that case. I take it these blood deliveries are benefiting you as well?”

“A secondary effect that sweetens the winds towards me. As kin, vampire-folk are rather considerate of the rest. I smell you have an air about you similar to ours, am I mistaken?”

“I am not a vampire, no, but I have taken one step into demonhood”, Logan informed, knowing the man probably could tell either way.

“Then we are cousin-kin. I shall not take more of your time than I need. I merely wanted to inform you that I am to back your new proposal at the Congress.”

“Oh”, Logan was a bit startled but remembered to show deference, holding his right hand over the left side of his neck as a salute or bow, “Thank you very much, Sirn.”

“Tis not an issue. I also abhor the law and its chains that are commonly placed on my kind from blaggards”, Alton replied with a bit of bile in his words.

Removing the hand from his neck, Logan continued, “It did not take much convincing on Armin’s part then.”

“He and I are old friends, in fact, I probably would have accepted if I lacked an investment. Many merchants shy from the blood trade due to… ill contents of the trade.”

“I dealt with a few the other day—” Logan began before he was cut off.

“I heard, and interrogated, such. Those malcontents are to be executed. Truthful magic pulled their misdeeds from their mouths”, Alton said with even further anger in his voice.

“Death drainage?”

“Yes.”

Logan had heard of this style of execution before, a vampire would drink all of the blood of a living target, killing them quite slowly but not as painfully as some other execution methods since they lost all feeling.

“I suppose I might be bringing in more for that fate with my final deliveries.”

Alton sighed, adjusting his hood and goggles, “Tis a sad outcome, for ones so full of life, and coin in their veins”, realising his words he coughed, “Let us not dwell on it. Here is your signature sheet”, he ended as he held out a folded parchment.

Opening it up, Logan saw a few names already signed onto it, including Armin Eventa and his wife, Alton, and a few names he didn’t recognise. “Thank you again, I shall see about getting this filled in.”

“I shall remind you that a sirn’s signature is worth two votes, depending on the sizes of the guilds you commission they may also grant up to two.”

“Will you be contacting other nobles, sirns, and royalty for signatures?” Logan asked optimistically.

“No. It is better that I don’t ask those that I don’t have a guarantee on. If people know of a potential voting point they can build cases against such things. I trust you know of like-minded people who would not do such in your search.”

“I’ve a few in mind.”

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