Nothing like the smell of money in the air. Eudut thought happily to himself as he made his way through a town that was basically in the middle of nowhere as far as he was concerned.

Stonewall, an unremarkable place that was five days from its nearest gate, didn’t have much to offer, even if that could be appealing in its own way. With only a hundred days till the beginning of the end of the world, there were plenty who might want to escape there as if any amount of distance would truly be safe, but those who cared about such things had plenty of different communities to choose from, many of which were even further from any marked invasion point.

As for him, well he was of a similar mind, though for different reasons. Eudut didn’t believe for a second that anywhere in the world would keep him safe from what was to come, all he cared about was ensuring he lived just a little longer, and in as much comfort as he could.

It was with that frame of mind he had gone out there, eager to make money from the connections he’d made out of the information he had.

Connects that are easy enough to make if you just have the eye for it. He thought smugly. An unaligned awakened craftsman is rare enough, but when you look a bit further it's easy to see the money that’s floating around him. I know he’s got a connection to Anailia so putting two and two together it’s easy enough to guess he’s the one responsible for the braces that all of the passive magic holders are going around with, and considering the rumours of the vampires it wouldn’t be a shock if he was involved with that as well. Add to that all of the patents I was at least able to confirm came out of this general region and it’s not hard to guess that there’s plenty of tantalizing ideas going on in his head. That just leaves me to take one or two for myself and he won’t even notice.

Eudut was no craftsman, he lacked a single crafting-type skill to his name, but what he did have was infinitely more valuable as far as he was concerned, and more rare than any simple skill like smithing, alchemy, or enchanting. He’d been born as one of the winners in life, coming into the world with one particular blessed skill that was rare enough that there wasn’t a certain way to train to acquire it, anyone else who wanted it needing to rely on luck as they wasted who knew how much effort trying to gain something that might never be in their grasp. Eudut was a born mind reader.

He’d learned from an early age how to put the skill to use, picking out the people who liked him to help him get farther in life, identifying what others didn’t like about him so he could act in a more appealing way when he needed to, and other, less savoury tasks as well.

With a skill that handy there really wasn’t much need to indulge in any crime, but it sure made it significantly easier. Combinations to locks, where spare keys were hidden and getting to know if anyone suspected him. Sure, it wasn’t necessary, but it gave existing a certain flair when he could already have anything he wanted with just a little work. The risk that maybe he would be caught adding that touch of excitement to an already excellent existence.

Though there’s not much to worry about in this case. He thought with a grin. Hard to prove you’ve stolen an idea after all.

As much as he enjoyed the life he’d lived, he wanted to spend however little of it remained in relative peace, and this was an easy enough way to do it. All it would take was getting any ideas and plans that existed in the craftsman’s head and selling them to other, richer ones who would be able to put them to use, letting them patent them as they saw fit while he walked away with a lump sum.

Of course, doing it once wouldn’t be enough, but it would be a good start on his quest to enjoy his remaining few years to their fullest without the risk of being stuck in a jail cell for who knew how long.

And it all starts here.

He’d gotten directions to the shop easily enough and now there he stood in front of its door, carefully sculpting his expression for just a moment before he opened it up and went inside.

There was only one man in there as far as he could see, and Eudut could tell in seconds it wasn’t the one he was looking for. He may not have had the exact species of the craftsman, but he’d gotten a description, and they sure weren’t a yeti.

“Looking for something?” The man asked, narrow eyes pointed at him as Eudut continued to smile while he opened a path between their minds.

“I heard there was an awakened craftsman here, I was hoping to meet with him,” He said, continuing as he felt the yeti’s mind respond. “There’s an item I’m hoping to have made and I’ve travelled far hoping he might take my order.”

“Mmh, he’s in the back, give me a minute,” The yeti said as he walked off, all as Eudut did his best to maintain his expression.

Scary! Who feels so aggressive just being asking if someone is around? He screamed in his head, life flashing before his eyes at just how prepared the other man had been to act if he’d instead said he was going to try and hire him. How did anyone else trying to hire him act to get a reaction like that?

He didn’t get an answer as the other came back, a comparatively smaller man with him who matched the description he was given perfectly, and as the yeti went back to his forge, the new man walked over.

“Hi there,” The craftsman said brightly, holding out a hand. “I hear you’re interested in commissioning something?”

“I am indeed,” He said. Unlike the first, the one before him now seemed far more reasonable in comparison, and significantly less intimidating as well. It was only as he was reaching towards the hand to take it while he opened the path between their minds that the thought was betrayed.

As soon as he peeked into the thoughts of the other before him, what he found wasn’t the mind of a man, but a monster. Worse than any hydra, Eudut’s thoughts were assaulted by hearing over twenty things at once, some simple streams of thought, others things that could have been words but nothing from allspeak, but worse were the sounds. Broad, terrible noises that combined with primal feelings in a way that he couldn’t understand but left him shaking as his skull felt like it was going to split.

It took longer than it normally would to realize that only some of the pain was his own for having to deal with it, the rest was coming from the thing in front of him, each thought filled with it and projecting it out to the world around him.

“Uh, hey, are you okay?” The thing asked him, face looking concerned, but if there was anything like that in its thoughts they were simply too full to tell. “You’re kind of bleeding. Give me a minute, I’ll grab you a cloth.”

As the thing took a few steps away he put a hand up to his nose, feeling the blood run down it but even that ended as an afterthought compared to the last, most horrifying bit of all in his head. That there was still more to go.

Deeper down, past the point he could read where lower levels of consciousness took place, it felt like something moved, taking notice of the doorway in its head, and without any conscious choice on his part he moved, instinct forcing him to leave the shop he’d gone to for what felt like such a meaningless bit of money compared to his life as he left his legs ready to break from the force he’d put them under just to get a little farther away, the path between their minds broken but the feeling of touching the mind of a monster not leaving him with a hint of peace.