Confident they were ahead of the main raiding party since they passed them outside the adventurers' hall, Logan and Marcus made the long 30-minute journey to the west. Through further talks with Marcus to make sure that they wouldn't be facing other teams in the forest, or avoiding competition to the main party, the Devout informed Logan that for most quests if an adventurer or party takes a quest parchment, then only they can do the quest unless they went missing.

It was written in the long rulebook of the adventurers' society, never to hunt and kill other adventurers unless they were wanted by the authorities. Self-defence was acceptable, though there were magics to tell truths from lies that halls could use to settle these disputes. Tinte was a relatively small hall, in comparison to larger settlements, so their use of “truth magic” was rare.

Since the raiding party took the quest to take down the troll, others were not allowed to attempt the quest until that party had been found dead or gave up on it. With 10 people in the party, it would be very hard to pull any shenanigans either, so safety in numbers meant they could hunt without issue.

While the rules were solid on what could and could not happen, Marcus did hear rumours of people subverting the rules to get their way. Loopholes, destruction of evidence or killing witnesses. The Devout had little worry for the troll raid party, however, so the duo could loot the cave with an easy mind.

Arriving at the outskirts of the western forest, both of the adventurers could spot signs of invasion and destruction by the troll. Trees laid across the floor, large circular dents across several as if a massive club or fist had hit them down. Footprints the size of a man's torso led deeper into the forest. From what Logan could gather, a troll stands at around 10' to 15’ tall, so it would be hard to miss.

Hugging the exterior of the forest, the two went around to its northern edge, hoping to not follow any trail left by the troll in case it patrolled around. Unsurprisingly, the forest was incredibly quiet, devoid of any avian animals or their chirping. The troll had disturbed this lush green area greatly.

When they were satisfied they were far enough away from the troll's path, Logan and Marcus began using Stealth to infiltrate the forest, hiding against the tall tree trunks. With higher Agility, Logan was more sure in his Stealth skill as well as that of his ally, though generally, they were able to spot enemies before they got spotted themselves in the past.

Finding the kills of goblins past, the two ignored deer or rabbit remains, the main goal of the cave in their mind and the troll's presence hastening their progress.

A few minutes of stealthy intrusion later, the pair were surprised when they came across a small band of surviving goblins. Rushed tents were set up of scavenged cloth, a small campfire with only cinders remaining in the middle. Scanning the area, Logan could find 3 scouts and 2 muscles. With his new dagger, he was positive a single strike would bring down any scout, though the muscles still gave him pause, needing at least 2 strikes each if his Agility aided his damage.

“Those goblins may cause issues down the line if they pull the troll over or ambush the raid team. How are you at climbing trees, Marcus?” Logan asked, planning to take down the small camp.

“It may take me a while, but I have climbed a few when I was a teen”, Marcus replied, looking at the goblins in curiosity.

“Take this and climb that tree, cover me from above, fire at the muscles and leave the scouts to me”, Logan instructed, handing his shoddy knife to his ally.

“Alright, give me a minute or two”, Marcus accepted, taking the dagger in hand.

Marcus moved over to a tree a few feet away, it had a long branch about 15 feet upwards with a good line of sight on the camp, if not for a few trees blocking the sides. As his ally began the climb, Logan used Stealth to get closer to the camp, about 2 trees ahead of him until the clearing.

“Unlock Multi-Backstab”, he commanded his System, a confirmation popping up alongside the class skills window. Confirming his choice with a “yes”, the skill unlocked with a new window describing its uses.

“Multi-Backstab: You gain 1 more use of the Backstab skill, each charge of Backstab has its own cooldown”, it explained to Logan, at tier 1 it seemed he could place more points into the skill to gain more charges, but it lacked any mastery bar so it was one he had to invest into rather than learn over time.

Breathing in and out, Logan prepared himself for combat, to start he would try to dwindle the numbers before they recognised his location. Leaning around the trunk, he held up his open left hand, the right holding his new dagger.

“Force”, he chanted, a wave of energy radiating from his shoulder through the palm of his hand as it exploded towards a scout, blasting it in the head for 6 damage, its body sliding and dragging the grassy floor as it left a dirt trail. The other goblins stood up at attention, from both the sound and sight of an attack on their band.

“Force”, lining up for another scout, Logan shot a barrage of energy at the second enemy, hitting it solidly in the face, the power causing teeth to fly as it was pushed to the floor. The remaining goblins darted their heads all around, trying to see where the attack was coming from, the final scout rose its hand to point towards Logan's location.

“Force”, another volley of arcane might planted into the chest of the final scout, leaving a deep punching wound in the fatty torso of the green pest. Being taken up from its feet, the goblin flew against a nearby tree before sliding to the floor. Marcus then began his assault, a single bolt flew past the head of a muscle, the Devout not used to firing from high ground. With their foe in sight, the two muscles started to run at the tree Logan was hugging.

“Force”, aiming at the closest muscle, a fist of energy hit its shoulder, slowing the goblin's charge, allowing its ally to pass him. A few feet away from the tree, Logan let out a final blast at the leg of the muscle “Force” he spoke as he hopped to the side. With a much higher Intelligence, the mick was able to knock the muscle off-balance, starting to tumble to its face. Dashing forwards, Logan grabbed the goblin in a headlock with his left arm, before driving his blade into the goblin's back.

“Backstab”, a piece of text confirmed, Logan dealing a meaty 13 damage to the muscle as it seized up and wiggled in his grasp, before slumping to its final corpse form. Dropping the body, Logan swiped his blade out to clash with the mace of the muscle he had previously hit, making it so the attack was unable to hit him.

Another bolt soared through the air, hitting the muscle in its other shoulder, taking 3 damage from the Devout's new archery. Recoiling from the shot, Logan was able to slash at the muscle one final time as it fell back to the floor. A clean encounter with no damage to the team, though cheesy tactics did a lot of the hard work for the two.

An easy 555 XP for Logan, 70 XP for Marcus. As Marcus climbed down from the tree, Logan took the initiative to harvest the goblin ears and pick up the clubs and maces. Nothing was of note, so it was all tossed into the communal loot bag at Marcus's back. “Much easier than when I was level 1 and 2”, Logan chuckled to himself. He had expected the goblins to react a bit quicker, anticipating he would need more than one Backstab, but he still had one charge while the other went onto its cooldown.

Thinking on the calculations behind his Force mick, Logan surmised that it probably had a base number of 1 and added 1 more damage for every 2 points in Intelligence past 10. He could test it later on, when time was not against them, by taking his trinkets off and putting them back on to see the damage difference.

With Marcus meeting back up with Logan, they exchanged loot, Marcus taking back the bolt he had missed. Pressing onwards, the duo made their way deeper into the woods with Stealth to aid their travel.

Reaching the large clearing where the tall hill was situated, Logan could see a day-old battlefield. Several goblin corpses laid across the floor, limbs were torn off or bodies chewed on. While it was a sombre sight, he was thankful there was no sign of the troll, the cave entrance was too small for the troll to fit comfortably, around 7' tall, just enough for the hobgoblin two days previously.

Using Clean, Logan made sure his team would be harder to smell as they used the tree line as far as they could before going into open ground. Utilizing Tracking, Logan searched for signs of the troll, his scan showing that the troll had recently moved eastward. Marcus loaded his crossbow ready for battle, following behind Logan, both reaching the cave entrance that still showed signs of his quest the other day.

Peering into the cave, the two saw it to be incredibly dark, any chance of torches inside were diminished with the inhabitants all dead. “Light Ally”, Logan enspelled, calling his friend back into life. Telling his summon to stay 5 feet ahead, the trio entered the cave.

The smell of blood, spoiled meat, and faeces wafted from deeper in, the goblins not being the most sanitary of creatures. Some corpses of goblins were found across the rock hallway, as well as the arms and legs of humanoids. The stone was of a dark grey, with moss, dirt, and grass growing all over from the hill above.

A few minutes passed as the long hallway ended at a large oval room with a domed roof reaching up to 12' or so high. Scratched rugs were laid across the floor, half of them missing parts or covered in mud. Damaged chests, boxes, and bags lined the walls, most likely taken from adventurers or travelling merchants. From the dome room, three paths led off in a Y design with a line down the middle.

“Plenty of containers to look over here”, Marcus said, following Logan into the middle of the room.

“Hopefully they didn't soil all the loot. Keep an eye-” Logan began until he was caught off by the yells and chatters of goblins.

From each corridor came a charge of troll survivors, 2 from the left, 4 from forward, 3 from the right, all of them were muscles who left the scouts to fend for themselves against the troll. Some looked injured, but all were angry, moving to attack the adventurers in their den.

“Marcus, get to the entrance and support!” Logan shouted, getting into a fighting position.

“Got it!” Marcus acknowledged, running to the hallway they had entered from, lining up his crossbow.

The first goblin to reach Logan came from his left, a leaping mace attack was easily dodged and retaliated with a slash across the back, leaving the now dead goblin to fall to the floor. One more came charging from the forward hall but was halted slightly by a bolt to the knee, Logan following it up with a “Force” to its face, supplanting a carpet with its still corpse.

Two muscles flanked Logan, one hitting him in the back for 3 damage, the one in the front getting parried by the Spellthief. Twirling around he landed a Backstab into the left muscle, having it slide off the blade to the floor as its leg began twitching. Backstepping, Logan made some distance from the remaining muscles, another bolt hitting a far back muscle that had yet to enter the fray.

Leaning down to a crouch, Logan rolled past the muscles that had now clumped together into a grouping of 6. Rolling and sliding with his leg, Logan threw out a “Force” to hit another muscle as they all whipped around to face the agile foe behind them. Keeping the initiative, Logan kicked forward with his foot, kneeing one muscle in the face as he slashed at another, dodging one mace swing but getting hit with the other.

Bolt after bolt came shooting into the room, half of them missing the easy clumped targets. Deflecting a mace hit, Logan struck into a muscle twice, it falling to the floor as he kicked another in the stomach, driving his blade into its lowered head for another kill. A mace hit his hand as he drew his blade back, jumping back he let out a “Force” to push another to the floor. Combined with the bolts, 3 more goblins were slain.

Having taken a few blows, Logan became more defensive and evasive, as he kept hopping and rolling around the wide room. Thankful he wasn't impeded by trees, the Spellthief could let out “Force” after “Force” while crossbow bolts continued to assist his micks.

A combination of magical blasts and iron-tipped bolts ended the fight with the already wounded goblins, the last 3 adding to the piles across the floors. Marcus, making sure no more were left, went up to Logan to heal him for 4 points with Healer's Caress, leaving the Spellthief on 27/48 HP. Experience started to pop up around the bodies, signalling the end of the ambush within the goblin's treasure trove.

With a reward of 1,458 XP, 180 XP for Marcus, the Spellthief had completed another additional objective as his level raised to 5.

“Level up! Gain: 8 HP, +1 Str, +2 Agi, +1 Con, +2 Int, +1 Wis, +1 Cha. You have 1 attribute point to spend”, the window explained, as usual, confirming Logan's progression. Placing his point into Intelligence yet again, his new ring meaning he could focus on unlocking the System further, Logan confirmed his attribute point allocation with a “Yes.”

“You alright there, Logan? Took quite a few bludgeons”, Marcus asked, sweat on his brow and worry in his eyes.

“Bit sore, but I'm mostly alright”, Logan reassured, now sitting at 37/58 HP.

“You must be higher than rank 1 at this point, you took so many hits from those goblins. I've seen knights go down with that many blows.”

“Maybe, but I don't want a reassessment too soon, if I broke that 27-day record in 5 it would put a spotlight on me.”

“It would be quite the show, I heard of adventurers in the capital gaining ranks in weeks and even quicker, so it wouldn't be as surprising there”, Marcus continued.

“Weeks huh, how about a single day”, Logan thought to himself.

Picking themselves up, the two began gathering the maces and ears from their foes. This time, Logan was able to gather 2 common ears, allowing him to attempt crafting higher tier necklaces, though since each necklace took 5 ears the increase was minimal. After looting the goblins, the two gave a good look into the corridors leading off from the dome room, sending the sprite down them to scan for more foes.

Thankfully, it seemed like they had finished off the tribe, any more stragglers would for sure be out in the forest or nearby plains. With Marcus on guard, Logan began to look over the containers that had accumulated in this room.

A few minutes passed, the containers proving difficult at times to open due to broken latches and locks. In total there was 27 silver, 34 copper, miscellaneous weapons of low level and tiers, some half-destroyed armour, alongside some trade goods like cloth, leather, and metals. One item of note was a copper wristband with designs of balls of crimson flames and azure lightning bolts going across it. At the clasp underside, there was a depiction of a large dark blue tornado with amber eyes. Identifying the item led to failure due to its level but Logan was able to see its further stats as it was in his possession.

Logan almost dropped his jaw, incredibly pleased that he decided to come to this cave. “An amazing item, something to free up my slots! It has a value of 1 gold piece, so to buy it I would need to spend around 2 gold. That's 200 silver. It is lucky we came here before the raid team, if they found this place I would be out of pocket quite a bit”, Logan calculated, beaming with excitement that even Marcus could see.

“Found something good over there Logan?” Marcus inquired, seeing his ally finish the looting.

“Yeah, this item is worth all the trouble. If we had gained nothing else, I would still be happy.”

“Wow, that looks expensive, maybe an ordered item to the capital? Might want to hide it under your tunic sleeve.”

“Good idea”, Logan accepted, putting the wristband underneath the sleeve of his tunic, tucking it into his glove so it wouldn't easily get shown. Since he had no access to summoning magic, aside from his Light Ally, it had no immediate effect but when he finished his book and unlocked second-level spells he would be immensely thankful to have the item ready.

Splitting up the coin while they had the time, Logan wanting to wait for Healer's Caress as well as for the raid team to take the attention of the troll away. Logan gave 9 silver and 2 copper to Marcus, adding his own money up to a total of 19 silver and 89 copper, giving himself the 38 copper from the previous goblin encounters after Marcus refused any more. “Practically have 27 silver in pocket, I could buy more tomes with this or better equipment”, Logan calculated.

Using Clean, checking equipment, and making sure the other corridors lacked any importance, the pair waited around for a short break. The corridors led to makeshift rooms, though they were just dead-ends fashioned with pieces of cloth and straw. Marcus used his skill to heal Logan up to 41/58 HP.

“The raid team should arrive soon if they aren't already in place. Let's make a move, but dart if we see that troll”, Logan instructed, commanding his Light Ally to lead the way out of the cave.

Walking a bit faster than they had entered, though still using Stealth, the duo found their way to the exit. The wide-open field hadn't changed since they had last seen it, but the horizon now had signs of black smoke billowing upwards. Noting it as the raiding party versus the troll, the two stalked back to the treeline to leave without any intervention.

Hastening their steps, Logan and Marcus circumvented the signs of smoke but were still able to hear yells, roars, and blasts of magic in the distance. Logan didn't want anyone to know they had looted the cave, for the worry of people wanting a share or to steal what they had gathered.

Snaps of branches and the collapse of another tree shook the forest, what little remained of the animal life scattered about the wilderness. Without a good line of sight, neither Logan nor Marcus knew who was winning the bout, but with ten or more adventurers on the quest, they were sure the raid would win in the end.

Eventually, the sounds of battle weakened as Logan and Marcus found the edge of the forest. Prints of a marching band could easily be seen entering into the forest across the dirt floor. With their deed done for the day, the duo continued away from the forest and back to the village, not wanting to tussle with a troll.

Returning to Tinte, Marcus was able to use his skill 6 more times, bringing Logan to 53/58 HP. With three spells still prepared, the two could easily complete a quest that day, but with hitting the level objective, Logan had plans to finish off his spell learning and looking into money-making methods. Selling the reclaimed weapons, armour, and other items from the cavern, Logan made another 5 silver and 4 copper, which he gave 16 copper off to Marcus, leaving the Spellthief with another 3 silver and 8 copper, bringing Logan to 22 silver and 98 copper.

He quickly checked up on his main quest to make sure it updated, as well as to see how far along with the gold objective he had come to this point.

With not even one-fifth of the gold objective completed in 4 days, Logan's fear of that objective being impossible felt even more appropriate. He would have to either rob a bank, rob the hall, or go around killing adventurers if he were to think of completing that objective. All options were out of the comfort zone of Logan, so again he put that objective far into the recesses of his mind.

The pair still had 1 common wolf fang, 4 shoddy wolf pelts, 1 common wolf pelt, and 1 high-quality bastarn eye left in their communal bag, along with the 12 shoddy goblin ears and 2 common ears, though even those would not bring in much money when compared to that goal. Logan also had plans for the pelts, since his armour was falling behind his level quite a bit.

Since he still had an alibi for the day, Logan sold the common wolf fang for 8 copper, giving those funds to Marcus to sort his equipment out, replacing lost bolts and improving his gear. Logan felt bad and would try to enforce money onto Marcus where he could. The Devout had earned more money in two days than he had in several weeks working for the church as a healer.

Wanting to take a short break during the afternoon, the pair returned to the Dogslop Inn. Marcus handed Coach 7 copper for the room, getting the usual room 6 key in return. Marcus took a short soak in the bath, alongside a nap, while Logan worked to finish reading his book.

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