Logan stretched tall as he looked over the chaos that was the cavern. Numerous bodies littered the floor, from those who put up a fight to many who were so low-levelled that they granted him no experience whatsoever.
“Now, let’s get some questions answered”, Logan thought aloud as he kicked the saeber who tried to transform to his side, “Marcus, mind healing them to consciousness? I held back on those blasts so he is still alive.
“Sure, only just to waking. I doubt they can put up much of a fight in their condition anyway”, Marcus laughed as he placed a hand on the sabertooth.
The saeber jumped awake with a growl that quickly turned into a low rumble within their body, their face took on a look of disgust with a hint of worry. “So I yet live. You want to turn me parrot?” he spat.
Logan crouched down to look at the saeben in their eyes, “If you’re not a parrot, you will certainly wish you became one.”
The saeber growled again, but it seemed more restrained this time, “Fine. Ask your questions. Set me free when answered.”
Logan poked the saeber’s forehead, “Don’t get ahead of yourself”, he spoke as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “There’re plenty more who can answer for you.”
“Grr. Very well.”
“Who sent you and why?”
“None of us know that. We took the job from a contact in the under markets. A gold per head of your guildies, and a platinum for any of the leaders.”
Logan took on his own sneer.
“Apparently there are some in the bellies of the world that want your guild disbanded, and they got one below of an agenda against you in particular, Phasing Hunter”, the male saeber retorted, trying to paint this particular saeben with the upper hand, or paw.
“Anything else you think you’d benefit from telling me?” Logan asked, holding back bile in his speech.
“A lot of people took up the contract. It was a first-come-first-served kinda affair. My lil’ band here was on the small side.”
Logan looked back, “67 people, for, what, 4 gold and 2 platinum? That’s only 3 gold a piece. Not worth it I’d wager.”
“No. I calculated those below rank 10 wouldn’t live. Seems threatening your guildies doesn’t overwrite your no-killing rule.”
Logan instantly picked a dagger from his coat and held it at the saeben’s throat, “It’s not a rule. Think of it more like a guideline.”
“Right”, the saeben replied hesitantly, “There’s more.”
“Speak.”
“Another group, full of rejected mages, are using scrying magic on your lot. We bribed them to find those four. Who woulda guessed you had some protection on them, thought those rocks were a bluff.”
“What part of the under market did you pick the job up from?”
“It’s not in Gauntlet. After those raids, a lot of the people in ‘em scarpered to the forests and other settlements. Even in the m—”
The saeben’s speech blurred out as if someone had turned the dial on a radio. His face was a mix of confusion and fear, and then his eyes turned fully red like a butcher’s window after a heavy cut. With a thud, the saeben fell to the floor, dead.
“Fuck. He was speech-cursed”, Logan cursed as he stood up in fury.
“Seems the trigger was whoever he was about to get loose-lipped about.”
“M what though? It could be so many things, even the MT.”
“He mentioned rejected mages, maybe they are like Darius? They want to get in the good graces of the Magi’s Tower association with your power?” Marcus guessed.
Logan tutted, “That’s what I am hoping against. I don’t need another screwy mage looking to cut my ear off.”
“I hear that”, Marcus said under his breath as he rubbed his neck, “what do we do with the others?”
Logan looked over the unconscious bodies, he was quite adept at leaving people alive with his skills, “If I convert the last charges of Devastation Flame I can have enough to Teleport all of them to the Gerro Guardhouse.”
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Several casts of Teleport later, the duo had moved all the unconscious bodies of the oppressors to the guardhouse. It would lay out Logan for the rest of the day, but it was worth it if he could gather any further information.
“Half of these are wanted… you didn’t pick up the contracts, however”, Jirango instructed.
“Sorry about that, but we got attacked by the lot. Closer to say they attacked my guildies though.”
Jirango shook his head slowly as he scribbled a note on his book, “Well. Good thing you picked up those contracts then”, he spoke with an implying tone.
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Logan smiled, “Good indeed. Now, I was wondering if you could ask them some questions when you’ve processed all of them.”
“About why they attacked your guild? Was it a specific attack?”
“Their leader said as much. Apparently, the under markets don’t like how we attacked them. But also, I feel as if there may be other reasons for this particular hatred towards VIP and myself.”
“Do you have any leads?”
“The leader said the client was unknown, but he did make mention of other groups intending to attack mine. Some mage group, and more.”
“We’ll see what we can gather.”
“Thanks. I will talk to my guild, increase their defences a bit.”
Jirango then raised his hand, “Before you go. I need to update your signet and give you your just rewards.”
Logan smiled again and shook his head slowly as if he understood the joke. In total, Logan had completed another seventeen hunts for apprehending these people. Their bounties weren’t necessarily high, but it all added up. It was a bonus on top of not getting in trouble for taking work out of others’ hands, but then that was a bit more of a formality than a hard-set rule in Jirango’s eyes.
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Returning to the guildhouse, Logan gathered what guildies were at home in the foyer. There were around thirty present, including the four Logan had rescued with Marcus’s aid.
“It seems some unsightly individuals are targeting guilds, ours included. They want to disband and take what they can get from those in better standing. Until this issue is dealt with I will ask that all groups stay vigilant, and where possible team up with others. If you’re normally a quartet, combine with another to make an eight-member team. Keep your tracking rocks handy and use them if traitors attack you.”
“There’s more than the ones who attacked us?” one of the survivors asked, their expression less cheerful after the news.
“From what I could get out of their leader, yes. I’m working with the guard to sort this out, but it may take some time.”
“I will be speaking with Twain Dagger too”, Marcus added.
“We’ve worked together in the past, and even with two members down they are still quite strong as a guild.”
Maira, Golden Death, then spoke up, “I’ll look into this too. I know a few people in the guard who might get access to information the guardhouses might not.”
Logan nodded, “Thank you, Maira.”
“Suppose we can do work in town for a while”, another guildie suggested to his team.
“Time for some reading”, a mage added.
Slowly, the gathering dispersed, rather accepting of the news, as bad as it was. There was always something else to do as an adventurer, and with a guild at your back, you had more luxury than most.
Logan similarly had other tasks to see to. From working on new trinkets to brewing up potions and items for later use. These two tasks were on his to-do list anyway, they just got pushed up a bit with recent events.
The next few days were filled with crafting and training. Mixed in were visits to Pogo for Logan’s gradual, though hastened, mastering of Spell Absorption. It was a slow process due to the level of spells still having a chance for failure, and thus no mastery experience, but after a few days he was able to increase his mastery to tier 7.
The increase in the chances of success seemed to slow down, though, as he only gained 5% for 5th-level spells. Logan did have an idea for this issue, but it would take a few more ingredients. The items Pogo handed over would speed up the process, so Logan was able to complete it within his downtime.
Buying up supplies from the markets, and taking a trip or two out of the city to Track and Harvest some creatures for components, Logan spent quite a few hours making a pair of gloves.
As they were a new creation, Logan dubbed them Spellswindlers. A pair of light-blue fingerless gloves that had the guild symbol etched onto their backhands. Within the palms were swirling vortexes of white, grey, and black lines, like a tornado of magic that had the eye within the centre of his palm. The vortex’s design swirled as if animated, flowing with magical power.
Slipping the gloves on, Logan felt like his hands were finally as they should be, clothed and homely. It was as if they were naked their whole life until they met these gloves, a strange relationship that romanced his Spellthief powers. Aside from the connection, the bonuses they granted were grand.
While worn, which he would pretty much always be, they increased the chances of absorbing spells by 10% and an extra 10% for each level below ten. With the 55% base chance on 5th-level spells combined with the 60% from the gloves, Logan had an automatic success with using Spell Absorption, sans any effect that would come into play against him.
With a wholly new creation, Logan grew a little worried about the other PCs making items catered to their own powers. He only had so much time between System quests to make these kinds of improvements, how much time did the Below PCs have? There was also the idea of rules in play for PC versus PC that he had yet to encounter himself.
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Another important task was seeing to the protection of his guild and its inhabitants. Exiting the guild, Logan placed a red crystal at each corner of the building and dug a bit into the stony roads. With hands apart, Logan began to chant under his breath as the entire building started to glow red, green hexagons appearing all over it as the protective barrier was being affected.
“Essence of rock and mortar, protect us from the wind and rain, essence of magic, protect us from prying eyes and ears. Blast away those who are not invited, and relinquish to us our privacy!” Logan spoke as he thrust his hands at the building, magic pouring over it.
The hexagons shone a bright white before returning to their normal green hue, a slow roll of red flowed over the hexagons like waves on the ocean before the barrier turned back to the usual invisible design.
Countless sensors appeared all around the guildhouse for a few seconds, some cracked and disintegrated instantly, others broke more slowly, while others hovered in defiance. The speed at which they were removed showed the power of those who created them, the latter being a concerning sight for the guildmaster.
Eyeing the final sensors, Logan rotated his arms again, “Begone from my sight, have my visage removed from yours. Blind thy eye and curse thy mind!”
The sensors cracked and fell apart into nothingness in turn, though the ritual cast would only work on one sensor at a time, causing Logan to redo the task four times.
Thankfully, no sensors were found inside of the building. The barrier that Logan and Marcus had formed when they bought the building had done enough to stop their presence inside, aside from any that followed the guildies. Logan checked all of his current members for sensors, and each task took a good ten minutes to complete. It was much faster than before, but still a lengthy process with the thirty members at home.
Quite a few had sensors around them, either from family members or clients who were following up on work, but a few did have unknown scrying magics placed on them. Logan could remove all the ones that were out of the ordinary, and even a few that the guildies didn’t know were on them from their families.
Annoyances dealt with, Logan had to prepare for a round of dungeoneering from his other obligations. At least the hearth and home were now protected.
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