Note: [] Denotes a Skill, a Supernatural ability granted by a {Class}, |Feat|, or Life experience
It was a cold morning that day. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, which meant that Adrian had been out and extinguishing the streetlamps for 3 hours now, after having gone to bed equally late, thanks to having refilled and ignited all the lamps and firepits around the town. It was his job as someone with the {Lamplighter} class, and he was given the Skills by his class to make things easier, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get exhausted.
One by one he drew the flickering flames of each lamp into himself, mindlessly, until on the second to last one he screwed up. A small spark flew from his hand, and upon meeting the lamp’s flames caused a small explosion which shattered the glass covering of that lamp. “
Not again…” Adrian mutters, before extinguishing the flames and continuing on. “Lord Kinglin is not going to like this…” Adrian sighed as he headed back into the manor where his employer lived.
“This is the third time this week!” Lord Kinglin scolds. “If this keeps up I see no reason why I shouldn’t just fire you and pick up some other orphan, Surely they would do a better job than You!” Adrian shrinks into himself, afraid of losing his job and place to sleep, crappy as they are. “I’ll do better.” Adrian meekly replies. “Oh really? Then stop wrecking my holding’s lamps! They don’t grow on trees, they’re quite expensive in fact! Get another from Mr. Gleiss, out of your own money this time, if you keep making expensive mistakes like this then by the gods they are coming out of your paycheck!”
The lamps in question were of a fancy, but delicate, stained glass design, which shone beautiful displays of color onto the streets at night. Made by a local glassworker, their cost and extravagance was always at odds with the poverty and squalor that surrounded them in the poorer districts in which they were often installed. The cost of buying one would eat into Adrian’s already somewhat limited savings, if it wasn’t completely beyond them.
And there goes getting Nina a nice winter festival present… Adrian grimaced at that thought. Nina was one of the {Maid}s of the castle, and one of Adrian’s close friends, who often offered him leftover food from feasts and worn out blankets and bedsheets during the winter to help keep him warm.
More importantly, last year, when he was moved out to an old renovated part of the stables, she had helped him clean the place up and make it somewhat livable. Maybe Geoffery has some odd jobs for me, or Nina.
The servants of the castle had an… Interesting arrangement, thanks to their positions, the other two servants he was friends with would often catch wind of odd jobs that needed doing around the town, or in Geoffery’s case, as a {Cook} would need a hand scavenging up some rare ingredients. The three were somewhat outcasts even in the small number of servants that worked at Lord Kinglin’s Manor.
Ducking down to check the kitchens he saw that Geoffery was out, probably at the market buying ingredients for tonight’s feast, the Lord’s extended family having arrived to meet with Kinglin’s new fiance he had become engaged with last year. Thankfully he had also left some leftover breakfast and a note, the former of which Adrian happily sat down and ate, needing a pick me up after working in the cold for several hours.
After eating he continued on his way out of the manor, back into the damn cold... Nina presumably had [Unseen Servant] active at this time, judging by how he kept forgetting to look around for her on the way out.
Adrian quickly headed to the renovated portion of the stables which served as his room, retrieving his savings and counting them up. Upon doing so he realized he would almost certainly come up short, so he scavenged around and packed some of his more valuable possessions into a bag to see if any of them would be worth enough to make up the difference.
Upon arriving at Gleiss’ glass shop on the other end of town, he found out that no, none of his possessions would be worth enough, unless it was all of them together which wasn’t exactly tenable as that included all his good clothes and keepsakes, and the process of making the lamp cover would take much of the rest of the day. However, Gleiss was willing to start work with his bag of stuff as collateral and the money he had as a first payment.
To make up the rest, Adrian, still very tired, proceeded to the adventurer’s guildhall, to check the quest board for some missions he could do to make up the difference. As he entered he faintly noticed that the guild hall was emptier than usual, but tired as he was, he was far more focused on just getting the quests and getting this over with.
As a {Lamplighter} he didn’t have the combat Skills to take on any missions that required actual combat, but the minor agility boost from his Skill [Street Rat] and his useful active Skill [Climb] would let him handle tasks which would require him getting to some remote or high up area to grab something or survey a place.
So he picked up a task to go gather some Clingstar fruit on the side of a nearby cliff, one to go check an area near the first for monsters, and one to carry a package to a remote house a bit outside the town, the best paying mission, but oddly buried, placed awkwardly, so it fell off when he unpinned his other missions to take them to the front desk and register that he was going to do them.
While the other two would be time consuming, this one was on the other side of the town from them, but would offer enough money that he could DEFINITELY get Nina something nice, and also replenish his savings and maybe even get some monster material gear and get out of the dump of a town he was currently in. Interestingly, it didn’t have the signature of who issued it on the mission sheet, having a stamp instead, not itself unusual as groups or those who wanted to stay anonymous would often do just that, but it wasn’t one he recognized, an owl with a branch from an oak tree in its claws.
And so, a humble orphan turned {Lamplighter} would unknowingly take his first steps towards infamy. Departing to harvest 10 pounds of fruit from a cliff face, then check a swamp for fairy activity. As he exited the Guildhall, a bit more perky than before, he didn’t notice a rather shady group exiting the Guildhall as well.
[Climb] was a useful Skill, Adrian mused, as its glowing lines ran from his shoulder, down his arm and into the cliff face. It was rare enough among those who took quests to make decent money from missions which required its usage, not being common with the classes which typically became adventurers.
And what really made it valuable was stuff like Clingstar fruit, a reagent in the alchemical formula for healing potions, growing from an uncommon vine which clung to the sides of cliffs in massive sheets. As an ingredient in an item used extensively by all adventurers, it was incredibly valuable for how relatively easy it was to get for someone with the right skills.
Unfortunately, given the way they grow on the side of a cliff, they were a pain to harvest, the process requiring a lot of time and effort, as you had to cut open the tough pods they grew in one by one, then pry the fruit out and put it in your basket or whatever else you’re using to carry them.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Adrian didn’t really mind though, benefit of being a {Lamplighter} he supposed, his fire skills giving a boost to his mental fortitude, letting him resist trauma, yes, but also letting him do repetitive tasks like this for hours on end with little harm. 3 hours of clinging to a vertical cliff face and prying small fruit from their pods later, he had done it. 10 pounds of fruit pried off the wall of a cliff and ready for use.
Carefully he proceeded on to his next mission. Which required him to go to an indicated set of vantage points, from them he would be able to safely check various parts of the swamp for monster activity. Unfortunately, there was monster activity, and one noticed him. Thankfully it was both a rather weak monster and it only noticed him after he had checked the last point. Unfortunately, the blasted thing ended up chasing him all the way back to town, where the guards scared it off.
Turning in his haul of Clingstar fruit, Adrian was then faced with his least favorite part of monster activity survey missions, giving a report of it. Thanks to the threat of malicious charisma users, monstrous or otherwise, such missions required him to go through a full mental influence check, a time consuming, confusing, and frustrating process.
Answering all sorts of questions, recalling passwords and responses to nonsensical predetermined passphrases, describing in incredible accuracy what he did and when, and finally getting checked over manually. He understood the reasoning of course, if this was gotten wrong or the person doing it deceived, then people could die, wandering into an area with monsters far deadlier than they are prepared for, or worse, something big enough to threaten the town could slip it’s way too close and wreck the whole area before anyone could respond.
Heading back to Gleiss, he retrieved his possessions and paid the glassworker, grabbing the lamp covers and heading towards the mansion. As soon as he saw the mansion however, he instantly knew something was wrong, because he couldn’t see it, the mansion wasn’t there and there was a LOT of smoke where it should have been. Afraid of ruining the expensive lamp cover he didn’t run, but he did speed up as much as he felt was safe.
The Manor appeared to have burned down, after being attacked, judging by the way the front gates were torn open, and all the blood. In the gate were standing two people he recognized, Nina and Geoffrey, standing there staring at the smoldering rubble that was their place of work in a stupor.
“Why world, why did you decide today was the day you’d fuck up my life!” Adrian exclaimed, exhausted and fed up with his day. Startled, the two turned around. Nina especially seemed very relieved and happy he was OK, though she showed it more through her actions than her face. Her face was as composed and calm as ever, as she ran up and hugged him warmly with tears faintly visible in her eyes.
“Oh thank Laksi, you were just out. We thought you were out on an errand, but we weren’t sure about it, or if you hadn’t come back during the attack. Nina here came and warned me not to go back to the Manor, that it was under attack. But she couldn’t find you. She was worried she had missed you inside the manor, thought you might be dead for the last few hours, probably would have blamed herself if you had actually died.” Geoffery explained. “Now that you’re here, uh. Any clue what to do and where to go? We’re kinda out of a job.”
Patting Nina on the head and trying to calm the stoic {Maid} down Adrian replied. “I don’t know whether to be happy I no longer have to put up with Kinglin and his damn fiance, or sad I’m out of a job.” They stood there in silence for a while, taking in everything that had happened.
Adrian eventually sighed. “I’ve got a mission to go deliver a package, it looks to be paying ridiculously well, how about we do that first, then we can figure out our next move with some money to spend.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Geoffery said. Nina let go of Adrian and nodded, calmer. “I concur, I may know a place we could hide out at if the people who attacked the manor come after us, but some money would open up many options.”
The three quickly took inventory of what they had before heading off to the guildhall. Thankfully, Adrian had nabbed his good sets of clothes, more expensive keepsakes, and generally all the things he had that he valued. Nina had managed to grab several sets of clothes for Geoffery and herself with her skills [Unseen Servant] and [Maidery of Shadows] a family Skill formed of countless other skills and feats being fused together, improved, and passed down. Together with the rather impressive agility bonuses from her skills and much smaller strength bonuses from the same, she was able to get her favorite broom, Geoffery’s knives, and a couple sets of clothes, along with a bit of money and a few valuables to sell.
They decided the best option was probably to split up, sell the valuables and pick up the package, then group up again to deliver it. Geoffery went off to go sell the valuables they had… scavenged, definitely hadn’t stolen them. While Adrian and Nina went to pick up the package, a small tube, with something that sounded like a bunch of small metallic objects inside and with strange markings covering its outside. After meeting back up they started off to their destination as the sun began to set.
It was more enjoyable than it would have been alone, Adrian thought. Reminiscing over old memories and discussing all the stuff they no longer had to put up with now that Kinglin was dead. Soon though, they arrived at their destination. An abandoned shack outside the Town walls, well outside them. Unfortunately, it wasn’t abandoned anymore, and its current inhabitants weren’t too pleased about the intrusion.
A pack of wolves now made the area home, a desperate and mangy one, who surrounded the intruders to their domain. Their eyes seemed to glow in the evening light, all around the trio eyes gazed upon them, from the trees around the grassy path to their destination, and out in the open, ahead of them and behind them. Normally they wouldn’t harm humans, too risky, but these wolves are hungry, they haven’t eaten well in days thanks to being penned in on all sides by other packs and the domains of larger predators.
“No no no no” Adrian mumbled, preparing his [Spark/Absorb] Skill, in [Spark] form, a mote of fire coming to life above his hand, before he repeated the effect in his other hand, deterring the wolves, for now. “Well this is a problem” Geoffery said, drawing the largest knife from his set, hopefully [Knife skills] would let him at least put up a bit of a struggle.
Nina, not knowing what else to do, took out her broom, and pushed her [Maidery of Shadows] Skill’s effects into it, not caring as the sting of low level Skillburn traced glowing lines on her and the broom she was using. She adjusted her grip, grabbing her broom down near the bristles and holding it like a sword, pointing it shakily at the beasts.
For a few seconds, everything was still, then the Wolves moved. Four wolves jumped in to attack. On instinct Adrian hurled one of the sparks he was holding, and by the will of some unknown god, it hit, causing the wolf to burst into flames. The now very much on fire wolf howled in pain, falling back from the foe which hurt it so.
A pair of wolves charged at Geoffery, who reacted by stabbing one in the eye, the knife moving exactly where it needed to go to do so with incredible fluidity. The second wolf hurtled past him on its charge, skidding on the ground for a second, before flipping around and charging again.
Barely able to get his knife from its place in the Wolf’s eye, he did the first thing he could think of “[Julienne]!” With an exclamation he activates his primary active skill, targeting the skull of the wolf jumping him.
From an outside perspective, what happened next was bloody and instant, the Wolf's face had a series of glowing lines trace across it, before being divided up, it’s jaw falling off as the muscle and skin that connected it to the skull is shredded, and it’s trachea is destroyed beyond any hope of repair.
Surprised by all the pain, the animal doesn’t bite or claw Geoffery for a brief moment, as it collapses to the ground in pain, enough time for him to finish it off with his knife.
As all of this is happening Nina reacts as a lot of people probably would if something jumped at them while they were holding a stick, she wacked it with her broom. But Nina’s skills combined to generate an incredible amount of force as the broom whacked the wolf across the chest, deflecting it to the side with a sickening crunch. Turns out, since cleaning is governed by Dexterity, Nina possessed incredible speed, combined with skills that boosted her speed with cleaning tools, like brooms, and increased the durability of said tools, and you have a recipe for a broom moving fast enough to make a skull explode like a watermelon dropped from a tall building.
The burning wolf, decided to get revenge around this point in time, charging Adrian again. Adrian responded by hitting it with his second [Spark], causing the flames around it to explode, crushing the wolf’s internal organs and creating a magnificent burst of flames.
The rest of the wolves, in response to watching three seemingly helpless humans proceed to burn, stab, julienne, bash, and then EXPLODE, their packmates to death, ran, quietly, but terrified. They ran like a gateway to the underworld itself had opened up and it’s heralds were coming to take them.
Meanwhile, the Trio of former servants were stunned at how quickly they killed their way through a group of wolves who should probably have killed them. “Well. That was unexpected.” Nina remarks, before seeing the wolf she clobbered start to move. “Geoffery, mind finishing this one off?” Geoffery moves over and ends the already wounded animal’s life as humanely as he knows how to, by Pithing it, driving his knife cleanly into its skull, ending its life instantly.
“... Alright, well, didn’t expect to survive that.” Adrian remarked. “Let’s drop off this package and get this over with.” Entering the shack they found it to be a lot less dusty than expected, indicating that someone has been using this place for things like this for a while. Checking the instructions for the quest, they lifted the indicated floorboard and placed the package into it, noting while they did so, that there were several other packages, each with their own strange markings.
The journey back to the Town was thankfully uneventful, as was their walk to the guildhall to turn in their quest. “So Nina, where’s this place you know where we can hide out for a while?” Adrian inquired.