As Bjorn was being escorted back to the palace he had plenty of time to himself. His escort didn’t seem to want to talk to him, either that or they weren’t in the mood to talk regardless. This gave him plenty of time to go over the notifications that had piled up while they walked. The first few were exactly what he expected, the last few however were not.

  You have advanced your skill level in stealth, reaching skill level 15. You will now be 60% harder to spot while stealthing.

  You have advanced your skill level in archery, reaching skill level 29. Damage from arrows you shoot is increased by 43.5% over base damage.

  Congratulations? You have advanced your skill level in: Torture. Reaching skill level 7. The pain that you inflict upon helpless individuals is increased by 28%

  Level up!

  Level up!

  Level up!

  You are now level 12, you have 15 (base 12) attribute points to distribute. You also gain 20 talent points to spend.

  Three levels for how little he did during the raid was insane. It had to be Gram’s ability to funnel xp to certain members of the war party. He had to ask Gram about that. He thought that it was good, but nowhere near as good as it was. On top of all of that he could finally start to gain talent points again, he was about to grow as an alchemist by leaps and bounds again.

  Bloodroot Spriggan Taproot had leveled up. It is now level 8. It has +8 natural armor and increased regeneration. Your health regeneration has decreased by 8%

  The Bloodroot Spriggan Taproot that is attached to your body has passed a minor threshold in its development stage It has grown into a Bloodroot Spriggan Sprout. It had gained the following benefits: Essence Drain, Increased growth rate.

  Seeing how the Bloodroot Spriggan Sprout is attached to you, you also have gained the ability: Essence Drain.

  Essence Drain: When an opponent is at your mercy and can not fight back you are able to drain the remainder of their life force. Part of this life force is given to you in the form of healing, and the other part of this life force will be given to both you and the spriggan sprout as experience to aid in your growth. This allocation between healing and experience can be changed.

  Gawd Damn. This ability is insane. He was wondering how it was possible for him to catch up to Kairon’s level 43 to be able to do something about him, and to do so in 9 months from now, the task seemed almost impossible. Especially seeing how he had spent a year and a half in the Eld to get to level 25. That was accounting for the fact that the year and a half was filled with so much bloodshed and death that it almost seemed impossible to replicate on such a large scale.

  Now he had an answer. It would take some time and testing to find out what it could really do, as well as how well it would work. Honestly he wasn’t sure if a creature on death's door would allow him to siphon 100 or 10,000 xp off of it. That was one thing that was obnoxious about the Eld. Sometimes it gave exact numbers detailing out how everything in the system worked. Other times it was vague on how new powers would work. It was bullshit, almost like someone or something was lazy with how these descriptions were being made.

  He was getting side tracked. Now that he had this amazing power he knew just who his first victim would be, he just had to find a way to get at the man. He plotted his revenge as they walked back to the palace. He was so engrossed with his plan making that he barely noticed the walk back to the palace. His thoughts were only interrupted when they made it to the main gate.

  That was where his guards left him after he was through. The first place that Bjorn went after he was through was to Adriana’s room. He had an idea and wanted to know if it would work.

  When he drew near he could see a light underneath the door. Apparently she hadn’t gone to bed and was waiting for him to return. He approached the door and knocked. On the other side of the door he heard rustling and the sound of a body hitting the floor. He was worried and was just about to open the door when it was flung open and he was met with the disheveled look of Adriana, her hair all a mess, and her clothes rumpled.

  “Your back!” She exclaimed before throwing herself through the door and embracing Bjorn in a hug.

  He stood there awkwardly for a second and patted her on the head. “Erm. Yes, I am.” He detangled himself from the excitable young woman. “Quickly let’s go inside. I have a question to ask you.” Bjorn said and he began looking down the hall. He was starting to think that what they talked about here in the palace wasn’t being listened to. The only problem is that he had no idea what a wiretap would look like in this fantasy world.

  They went inside and he saw a where a blanket was sitting on the floor in a heap right next to the couch. Apparently she hadn’t waited up after all.

  “I tried to wait up for you to return but I got tired and it was just so warm.” Adriana said with a yawn. “How did the raid go?”

  Bjorn began to quickly move through the room, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, only that he knew that he would know it when he saw it. He wasn’t entirely sure could spot it as he didn’t know enough about enchanting, he was only sure that there had to be a way to record audio with magic.

  Adriana moved to the couch and took a seat, her eyes following after Bjorn as he moved through the room. “What are you doing?” She asked.

  Bjorn ignored her second question and instead started answering the first question. “The raid went well, it ended up being exactly who we were looking for. The only problem was that some of them got away. My guess is that only a few of the members of the organization were actually at the hideout. I know for a fact that there was at least one. I found and captured Zain.” Bjorn said.

  Bjorn found what he was looking for, he may be being paranoid but he didn’t want to take the change. Sitting on the desk right next to the window there was a small bowl filled with colored crystals. They looked to be just used for decoration but they seemed odd enough that he didn’t want to take a chance. In a story he read back on earth magical worlds sometimes had recording devices made out of crystal. So he picked up the bowl and put it into his bag of holding.

  Adriana seemed to be more interested in Bjorn’s actions than she was in his words. “What was that for?”

  “I think they may be recording us and I don’t want them finding out about your third Ability..”

  “Why? Don’t you trust them?”

  “I did. But they are starting to act the same as they had when I was here last. They are starting to think they know what's best for me and instead of doing what I need them to do they are starting to act in their own interests. This is probably because of the fact that skilled workers are disappearing from the city, but either way it is happening. But you having a third Ability is the type of secret that needs to be kept secret from everyone.” Bjorn said as he finally moved over to the couch and took a seat.

  “Anyways getting back to the matter at hand. We raided them and some of their members were there, at least Zain and Gnack. Gram fought Gnack and kind of lost? I don’t know, he was pretty beat up but he probably would have won in the end. Gnack created a way to escape and he did. They are taking a tally of everyone who was there and everyone who died and they will get that information to the duke and myself as soon as they get it.”

  “So if they escaped what does that mean?”

  “It means that our time in Blackrock Bay is about to come to an end. But that isn’t why I have come here and disturbed your sleep, I wanted to ask you. Do you think you could use that ability on the spriggan itself?” Bjorn asked as he held up his hand.

  Adriana looked skeptical. “I don’t know. Maybe. It is not considered a part of you now? If I use the ability on the hand won’t it just take the experience from you as well?”

  “When we first tried that is what I thought, now however I am starting to think that even though it is a part of me it is still its own entity with its own mind. For now the mind is so underdeveloped that it only follows my directions. But what happens if it continues to grow? I think it is possible for you to use your ability on the spriggan without it taking away from me.”

  “Alright, it’s worth a shot, might as well try.”

  “You don’t have it on anyone right now do you?”

  “No.” Adriana said and she closed her eyes. After a few moments she opened them again. “It worked!” She exclaimed excitedly. “I used it on the Spriggan and it worked.”

  Bjorn sat back on the couch at the implications for this. “I have something to tell you but it will have to wait until we leave the city. This is massive for both you and myself. At the very least we should use your Ability on the spriggan to slow down its growth and let me get far enough ahead of this ticking time bomb.”

  Adriana got a very self satisfied look on her face. Until this point she had mostly been a burden on Bjorn, now however she was capable of actually helping him. Pride blossomed in her chest at that knowledge.

  “I think every time you are able to, you should use your ability on the spriggan.”

  “Gladly.” Adriana answered in a smug voice.

  There came a knock at the door. The satisfaction on Adriana’s face disappeared and was replaced by a look of confusion. She made eye contact with Bjorn briefly before getting up and heading to the door. When she opened it there was a servant on the other side of the door. He was holding a platter with a note on it that had a single word. “Come.”

  “If you both would follow me.” He said and gave a small bow. Soon they were back in Dornan's little meeting room. He was sitting by himself with a sheaf of papers in front of him.

  “Ah I'm glad you could make it. If you could come over here we can go over the report from Gram. I just got this in.”

  Bjorn and Adriana made their way over to the table. In front of Dornan was a very detailed description of the events of the night from multiple sources. The final count was 41 of the bandits dead. Only 2 of the initial combat force died. There were also 25 men dispatched to the underground tunnels to make sure there weren't any escape routes. As it turned out there was and all of the men down in the tunnels were killed. The reports didn’t know exactly what happened yet but it looked like they engaged the fleeing bandits until Gnack escaped from Gram he then decimated the force from Blackrock Bay.

  Of the all of the bandits there were only 4 who matched the descriptions of the ones that Bjorn gave. The first one was obviously Zain which Bjorn detained. The next one was also obviously Gnack as he fought against Gram. The next one was Sonia the Aasimar she escaped with Gnack when he fought their way through. The last one was Tslla the Argonian. He was killed by one of the assault forces. They tried to subdue him but he was actually hit by one of the bandits in the back and he ended up dying not long afterwards.

  The news that Tslla was dead was a blow to Bjorn. He wanted to get his own payback against the man who held down Meira as she was being raped. He was mad, livid. As Dornan continued to read off the reports Bjorn contemplated hunting down and killing the man who killed Tslla but ultimately decided against it. It wasn’t the man’s fault that he was robbed of his prize.

  Of the 41 dead it was estimated that 12 to 15 escaped. On top of that 4 were captured and were being taken to Gram’s guardhouse jail to be housed there until Vilgaforts and his spies had a chance to interrogate the men. They expected results in a few days.

  There are hundreds of city guards currently searching the tunnels trying to cut off the escaped bandits but so far there has been no luck. It is difficult to track them down as the tunnels that run under Blackrock Bay stretch on for miles in every direction and many of them are still unexplored. They don’t have the manpower to properly protect every part of the city.

  “I suspect that they were in the process of pulling out of the city or they had left a token force of their more important members to oversee affairs here. After further inspections into what was held in the warehouse it looks like the type of goods and resources that I would expect a new village to take. I strongly believe that they were the ones behind the disappearances.” Dornan finished reading Gram’s report and set down the papers.

  He leaned back contemplative slowly stroking the chest length beard he was sporting. “I don’t know what to make of this. I think Gram is right that they are most definitely going to leave the city now. Especially seeing how they now know that we know about them. I wonder why they split up. They were without a doubt taking some of our best crafters and builders, but to what end? What was their reasoning behind taking them?”

  “Maybe to set up a village somewhere?” Bjorn asked.

  “Yeah you could do that anywhere and without as many skilled workers. Why risk us finding out and catching on to this? It just doesn’t make sense to me, why risk it? From your descriptions they don’t seem like the kind who doesn’t mind forcing people into labor against their wills. The people they were taking were just too high profile.”

  “I don’t know, but before they came here they were at an abandoned temple. Maybe they know where others are and are trying to set up a town or camp so they can excavate others. After all, I am pretty sure most of the items within were powerful in some way.” Adriana chimed in.

  “Maybe. I need to write to the capital and to the king. I think he should be aware of the potential threat. If you will excuse me I have much to do.” Duke Dornan said in a dismissive tone. Bjorn and Adriana got to their feet and made to leave. At the door Dornan’s voice called out. “Oh and Bjorn, don’t forget to return the gear you borrowed from the armory. It belongs to the city. The master at arms will be expecting you.”

  Bjorn bit his lip from retorting and instead of answering he just left the room, closing the door behind him. Once they were alone back out in the hall Adriana spoke. “What now?”

  “You heard the duke. I am to return this armor as it belongs to the city. Other than that it is late and there isn’t much for us to do tonight. However in the morning I have a plan that I need to set in motion. It will take a few days to get to fruition but I think it needs to happen.” They began walking down the hallway heading out of the duke’s wing of the palace. “I think you should go to bed and throw yourself into your studies for the next few days. I was told by Ryker that the golem will be done in 4 days so we will be leaving once that is done. Try to learn as much as you can during that time, as I doubt we will ever return to this city.”

  Adriana nodded. “What is the plan?”

  Bjorn looked around the palace with a shifty expression. “Have some faith in me, it will take some time and I don’t think I should speak it out loud here.”

  “Sounds good.” She said with a yawn. They made it to where she would break off and head to bed while Bjorn headed to the armory to return the gear. Bjorn made his way to the armory and when he got there he unceremoniously stripped the armor off and deposited it on the table where the master at arms stood with his arms folded. He then returned the weapons, all expect for the arrows. Of those he returned 5 of the 30 he got initially. When asked about it he said the others would be back at the warehouse as he had fired them all. The man gave him an assessing glare but when Bjorn didn’t break he accepted the answer. This left him with 24 of the moonstone arrows.

  From there Bjorn made his way to bed and in the morning he finally set his plan in motion.

  On the morning of the fourth day Bjorn arose early. Not much had happened over the last few days, he got bare minimum information from the Duke regarding the status of the hunt. The only main thing that he managed to get out of the duke was that there was no sign whatsoever of the bandits. Which was to be expected.

  He made his way down to the dining hall and asked for a large portion of food. He had a massive breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, and biscuits. Even with his reduced need for food he still ate more than his body really needed. This would be his last breakfast in the palace. He asked for several more portions which he stuck into his bag of holding so that he and Adriana could have good food on the road occasionally.

  By the time he was done it was still early morning so he made his way back to the room where he emptied all of the clothes out of the dresser into his bag of holding. He then went to Adriana’s room and did the same for her clothes.

  From there he had his next stop, he made his way through the palace to the alchemy lab. Where he found Skarit hard at work. “Skarit.” Bjorn said.

  The runic looked up from what he was working on. He took in Bjorn’s appearance. “So I take it you are going to be hitting the road today.”

  “You guessed right.”

  “If that is the case I have a few things for you. The first thing is this.” He pulled out a small book from under the table and handed it over to Bjorn. “That is the complete analysis of my tests on the spriggan. Everything I have found so far about the wood that makes up your hand.”

  Bjorn started leafing through the book and it looked like there were tons of detailed notes about the experiments the alchemist ran through with the wood.

  “The next thing I have for you is this.” He pulled out a rack of vials. There were 25 of them in total. “I wasn’t fully successful in finding something that would stop the growth of the spriggan, these should stunt it’s growth for a bit. Don’t worry I included the recipe in the book of how to make them. It just might be difficult to make them on the road, on top of that I used some rather rare herbs to make what you have in your hands. It’s not much but it is something.”

  Bjorn was almost choked up at the obvious work, dedication, and care Skarit had put into making this remedy for Bjorn. He started to speak but the runic put his hand up to stall Bjorn.

  “Finally the last thing I have for you is this.” He stood up and held out his hand. Bjorn took his hand and Skarit held it firm while he shook it twice. “I wish you the best out there. I don’t know why but I get the feeling like this will be the last time I ever see you. I wish you luck and a good rest of your life. It was a pleasure to know you as well as get to do alchemy with you. You truly are a wonderful person.”

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Bjorn couldn’t hold it back and dropped Skarit’s hand he pulled the man into a rough hug and held him for a few seconds. They pulled back and Bjorn left his hand on Skarit’s shoulder. “Thank you. You have done more for me and taught me more about alchemy than you will ever know. I sincerely thank you.”

  After his goodbye with Skarit Bjorn made his way to the enchanter’s table. He had to pick up his golem from Ryker. When he got the the section of the palace the door was closed. Bjorn knocked on it, when no one answered he knocked again. And then again. Finally annoyed with the lack of someone answering the door Bjorn tried the handle, it was unlocked so he opened the door, letting himself in.

  The room looked the same as it did the last time that Bjorn was here. Sighing at the pile of junk he began slowly walking his way through the room trying to be delicate with his steps so he didn’t step on anything. About a third way into the room he saw a side room with a blue glow coming out of it. Frowning Bjorn made his way over.

  When he made it to the doorway between the two rooms he saw Ryker leaned over a table doing something. Bjorn couldn’t see what was happening as his back was to Bjorn. The odd thing about this room other than the light coming from Ryker’s hands was that it was actually clean, it looked spotless.

  Bjorn stepped into the room and began walking up behind the enchanter. He was oblivious to the man walking up behind him. Bjorn got up to him and began to peer around the man’s shoulder.

  On the table was a small body made out of stone. It was vaguely human shaped but tiny. It was nearly a foot and a half tall with normal human proportions. Ryker had a small blue rod in his hand that was emitting the blue light. He was waving the small wand over the tiny body. From what Bjorn could tell it was doing absolutely nothing.

  “What are you doing?” Bjorn asked from his vantage point.

  “Gah!” Ryker exclaimed and jumped almost a foot while pivoting in the air as he jumped. He dropped the blue rod in the process. “Ah, Bjorn. It’s good you’ve come. It is ready.” He was excited, though it was hard almost impossible to tell if the excitement was from being scared or due to the golem on the table.

  “Is that the golem?” Bjorn asked.

  “Yes it is!”

  “I don’t know why but I just expected it to be… well bigger.”

  Ryker waved his hand dismissively. “That’s no big deal. Give it some time and it will grow. After all, the core we used was almost fully out of durability.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “Come let’s finish the process.” Ryker said, trying to indicate that Bjorn should walk around the table. Bjorn still hadn’t taken a step back away from Ryker, he was enjoying making the man uncomfortable. When it became evident that Bjorn wasn’t going to step away Ryker cleared his throat and slowly made his way around the table.

  “Right. All you need to do is place your hand over the golem right here.” He indicated a place on the golem’s chest right over where the heart would be in a normal person. “And then you have to infuse some of your mana into the body and let the magic happen.”

  Bjorn was almost skeptical as he placed his hand over the golem and summoned his mana. It felt just like it did when he cast a spell, only this time instead of the mana pooling at his palm that he could shape into a spell he felt the mana immediately get drank into the golem. After 100 points of his mana was spent he received a prompt.

  You are trying to awaken and bind a level 1 stone golem to you. Would you like to do so? Yes/No?

  Know this, if you follow through with awakening the golem and wish to retrieve the core afterwards it is extremely difficult to do. If somehow you manage to retrieve the core without destroying it you will have to construct a new body for the golem. On top of that any stored experience or levels that the golem had gained will be lost.

  Bjorn only had to think about it for a moment before he mentally clicked on the yes option.

  At first it seemed like nothing happened. Then after a few seconds a pulse of blue mana flowed through the stone body of the golem. Veins of the blue energy pulsed through and over the rock. The pulse was soon followed by a second pulse, then a third. Soon they were coming fast. Finally when it looked like a strobe light of pulsing energies the mana stopped flowing over the stone and it faded.

  Once the mana flow stopped a new icon appeared in the corner of his vision. When he focused on it a screen appeared in front of his vision.

  Well that was honestly disappointing. He was expecting the golem to be massive and rather impressive. This thing was hardly that. All of this build up for it to be a let down. Still he guessed it was better than nothing.

  “Is that it?” Bjorn asked.

  “Never worked with a golem have you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Pull up it’s character sheet and focus on getting more details, by default the golem only gives you the essential information you need to know about it. But if you focus you will gain more information.”

  Bjorn did just that.

  Grow mass: Your golem may expend 10 mana while in contact with stone to absorb some of the mass from the stone and grow larger.

  Repair mass: Your golem may expend mana while in contact with stone to absorb some of the stone to repair itself. It can repair itself at the rate of 1 hp per minute at the cost of 1 mana per hp repaired.

  Convert xp: golems don't gain experience like normal people do. Instead they use their mana to gain xp. The exchange rate is abysmal and their growth is slow. However their ability to grow is almost limitless.

  Still a little underwhelming but better than it was. “Why didn’t you make it bigger?” Bjorn asked.

  Ryker chuckled. “For a few reasons, one it is one heavy bastard. Secondly, it is hard to create the sub-layer for its mana matrix. The larger the form that is created the harder it is as well as the longer it takes to make the body, further increasing the chances of failure. This greatly increases the chances of the core to break. Lastly I was out of the correct materials needed to form the golem.”

  “What do you mean? Why can't you just use any kind of stone? There is an abundance of stone around us.” Bjorn punctuated his words by looking at the black stone surrounding them.

  “Well your golem can now, but during construction it takes a certain kind of mama charged stone. Of which I used up the last that Blackrock Bay had. Or course I could make other kinds of golems. They all have their benefits and drawbacks. For example.”

  Bjorn could tell that Ryker was about to get into way too much detail that Bjorn ultimately didn't give two shits about. “Cut to the chase, Ryker.” Bjorn cut him off.

  “Uh. I picked stone because I thought it was the best.”

  “Gotcha. Is there anything else you need or want to tell me?”

  Ryker shook his head.

  “Very well thank you Ryker.” Bjorn said and he turned to leave. The stone golem hopped down off of the table and made a surprisingly loud impact when it hit the ground. Bjorn started picking his way through the room and piles of mess trying his best to avoid stepping on anything again.

  The golem however had other plans. It followed Bjorn from point a to point b in the most efficient path possible. This caused it to plow right through the pile of debris. The sound of wood splintering and metal deforming echoed through the room as the golem walked over everything without a care in the world. It was almost comical listening to it.

  Shaking his head he left the lab and went to his last stop in the palace, that was Adriana’s room to pick her up. When she stepped out of her room her bag packed she gave the mini stone person a quizzical look.

  Bjorn just gave her a look that said “later” which she accepted and she closed her door behind her. They turned to leave when Bjorn realized he forgot something and went back inside replacing the bowl of crystals. He didn't want to be accused of stealing, even though him taking his and Adriana’s clothes was a gray area.

  With that they finally made their way down to the gate and out into the city, leaving the palace behind. They only had one final stop before they left the city.

  They made their way through the city with the frigid winter winds and stopped at the guardhouse. Bjorn left anything and everything that he had on him that would indicate his leaving the city with Adriana before heading inside.

  Over the month and a half he spent in the city he had come to this building several different times and many of the guards in the city knew Bjorn by sight by now. So he had no issues making it into Gram’s office.

  When he entered, Gram was sitting at his desk. He had made a full recovery over the last 4 days with the help of the life mages. When Bjorn entered he looked up and upon seeing the human a smile crossed his face.

  “What can I do for you Bjorn?”

  Bjorn had a specific goal with Gram, but he couldn't just go right into it. “I have a question for you. When I was a part of your war party you didn't have telepathy purchased for your war party. Why is that?”

  “That is a simple question with a complicated answer. Which will likely lead to several other questions.”

  Bjorn gave him a flat look.

  Gram raised his hands. “Okay. Hold your horses. The short of it is that not all races are created equal. You know how I am half minotaur and half centaur.” Bjorn always forgot seeing how the giant of a man looked like a normal human.

  “Well as it turns out the ability to psionically link with your war party and talk amongst themselves is a trait that humans get. I am sure there are other races that also have that power but unfortunately Centaurs and Minotaurs apparently do not.”

  This news blew Bjorn’s mind. He hadn’t even considered that there was the potential for other races to have access to other benefits. However upon finding out it made sense. There were so many different characteristics and traits between the races, why should they all gain the same benefits.

  “Honestly it is the one thing that I have found out that I am very envious of. I am sure there are many other different upgrades available for war parties but none that I know of. It’s not like most people have the knowledge or are willing to share the knowledge. They say knowledge is power, I believe it. On top of that most of our top generals and war leaders are currently stuck on the front lines battling Cronkrum. So I am the most advanced war leader likely on this side of Escar.”

  “Speaking of war leaders.” Bjorn started before Gram cut him off.

  “I know what you are here to ask.” His face fell as he spoke. “I unfortunately can’t share with you what I know. I have orders directly from Dornan himself that under no circumstances am I to share with you what we have found out.”

  Bjorn felt his rage boiling up. “Why?”

  “He is afraid of what you will do if you get the information. He is still hoping to retain you as a worker of the city. You have knowledge that could benefit the city, you have skills that could be put to use. Hell you are a one hell of a fighter even if somehow you are lower level than when you last came through the city.”

  As Gram spoke an icy chill began to set into his veins. They wanted to control him, to collar him, to stop him from catching Meira’s rapists. When he spoke his voice sounded dangerous. “Gram, believe me when I say this. I will never be a servant of the city. You and your lord have taken advantage and tried to control my life too many times. It worked once, and I despise you for it. If somehow you stop me from leaving this city and try to force me to work for you I will take my own life. I will find a way to do so. I would rather die than be forced to do Dornan’s bidding.”

  He could see that his words pained Gram. He wasn’t being fair to Gram, he wasn’t the one to blame for his lords commands. He was sworn to follow Dornan’s orders, and Gram was one hell of a soldier. He never questioned his marching orders, he never questioned what Dornan told him to do.

  “Bjorn. I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do.”

  Bjorn held up his hand to Gram to stop him from saying something that sent Bjorn over the edge. “We are done here.” Bjorn said and without looking back left Gram’s office.

  Anger seethed in his heart as he made his way back to the main entrance. He stopped for a second and took in a few deep breaths, they weren’t calming breaths, just something to help him compose himself. This managed to get him a skill notification.

  You have gained a new skill: Acting. There are many facets and ways to use this skill. All of them have their powers and drawbacks. What road will you take this skill down I wonder?

  Once he was able to plaster on a neutral face he entered the room which was mostly empty. A few heads looked his way before returning to what they were doing. Bjorn was a common enough sight in his building that his presence didn’t warrant any scrutiny. He walked through the room and ducked into the doorway that led down into the prison.

  There he was met by one of the guards that Bjorn had spent the last few days building a rapport with. When he entered the guard looked up and saw Bjorn. He knew what he was here for and he dropped his head back to the ledger in front of him. His job was to log everyone and everything that went down into the jail. He was also responsible for making sure no one got in there that wasn’t cleared to enter.

  As Bjorn walked past the desk he reached into his bag of holding and pulled out two gold coins. He placed them on the table. Nonchalantly the guard’s hand snaked out and grabbed the two coins and pulled them under the table storing them in a pocket. He moved his hand to a spot under his desk and pressed something.

  The door down into the jail clanked loudly and it swung open on its well oiled hinges. Then the man slid a key across the desk. Bjorn gave the man a nod, picked up the key, and then walked through the open door. He quickly made his way down the spiral staircase heading deeper down into the prison.

  When he got to the landing where the second guard post was, it was empty. He had bribed those working quite handsomely to take the day off. Bjorn used the universal key he held in his hand to open the door and entered the main part of the prison. From there it only took a few minutes to find the cell which contained Zain.

  Bjorn inserted the key into the lock and with a click the door swung open. “I have told you already. I don’t know where they went or anything about them.” Zain said. He was laying on his bed facing the wall. “I am just a guy that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Bjorn just stood there quietly. When he didn’t hear anything Zain turned back around to see who was standing in his cell. His eyes grew large as saucers when he saw that it was Bjorn standing there in his cell.

  “Hello Zain.” Bjorn said.

  “Wait, why are you here?” Panic could be heard in the man’s voice.

  “Technically I am not here.” Bjorn said as he stepped into the cell, closing the door behind him. He relocked the door behind him and turned back to Zain.

  “Stay back, I will call for help. There is no way you are supposed to be here. It is only a matter of time before they hear me and come to help.”

  In response Bjorn first walked to one corner of the cell and began casting a spell. He wasn’t entirely sure that there wasn’t magic detecting measures in the jail, just sort of certain. He had it on decent authority that anyone who was able to cast magic just had mana draining cuffs attached to their wrists and left in their cell.

  A sadistic smile crossed Bjorn’s face when no alarms were raised with his use of magic. He then moved to the next corner and continued his spell. Then the next. Finally when he was on his way to the last corner to finish his spell he had to pass right by Zain. He lashed out with his foot catching the man in the ribs. He cried out in pain but the sound was ignored.

  Bjorn finished his spell and turned to face the human who just watched Bjorn cast an unknown spell. “What did you do?” He said fear was evident in his voice.

  “I cast a spell to make sure that we are left alone.” he had cast silence.

  Bjorn then slowly walked over to where Zain was still lying on the floor trying to look as small as he could, his stump evident as he tried to wrap his arm around his knees. “I am going to ask you once. Where did the rest of your crew go?”

  Even though fear was plain in his eyes Zain shook his head. “I will not give them up. If I do they will come back here and kill me.”

  Bjorn sighed, he expected this. He pulled a dull rusty saw he had purchased from the lumber camp on the exterior of the city. Dropping it to the ground he then reached into his bag of holding and pulled out rope. He then lay his hands on Zain. The man barely fought back. He tried his best to stop Bjorn from pulling him out of his fetal position, but he couldn’t stop Bjorn.

  Bjorn first tied one leg to the bars, then the next. Then he picked Zain up by his armpits and turned him around. He had tied Zain’s legs spread wide as he was facing the bars. So when he picked up him and twisted him two things happened. The first was that his thighs clamped down on his balls and sent pain running up his entire body. The second was that his hips stopped him from rotating around fully. Not to be deterred Bjorn leveraged his 34 points of strength and forced his body to finish rotating. There was a sickening popping sound as his legs dislocated.

  Then Bjorn tied his torso and neck to the bars and finally his arm. Throughout the entire process Zain was begging, pleading for his life, for Bjorn to stop. He called him everything from a monster to a whore. Nothing stopped Bjorn.

  “Fine I promise I will tell you.” Zain said his breath raspy as he tried to regain his breath after the screams of pain that escaped his lips.

  Bjorn methodically went back and picked up the saw and took it and placed it against Zain’s elbow.

  “STOP! STOP! They moved east. Kairon is trying to set up a village or a city. That is why we were here taking all of the skilled workers and forcing them to work with us.”

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know exactly. I just saw a map once that Kairon left on a table.”

  Bjorn pulled out the map he had given to Adriana. He had taken it back just incase this was the outcome. “Where?” Bjorn said as he untied Zain’s hand.

  He studied it for a second. “I didn’t get a good look. Somewhere over here. In this area.” He gestured to a part of the map that was completely covered in gray.

  You have been informed about a potential city location. Would you like to add it to your basic map? Yes/No.

  Bjorn clicked yes and the area on the map changed. It was still a blob of gray but it grew a circle in the area indicated which was highlighted. When Bjorn focused on it it stated that it was a potential village location.

  “Thank you.” Bjorn said and he put the map away. He grabbed the man’s wrist and proceeded to tie it back to the bars. He retrieved the saw and placed it on the elbow again.

  “You said you would stop.” Zain pleaded, tears streaking down his face. His voice sounded defeated.

  “No I didn’t.” Bjorn said coldly and he began to saw. Bloodcurdling screams left Zain’s mouth as Bjorn slowly cut through his other arm. A little ways through he changed octave and he sounded almost womanly with his screams. Halfway through there was a gurgling sound as his vocal cords ripped and his cry was cut short.

  When the arm fell free Bjorn untied it and picked it up. The final thing he said to Zain was. “This is for how you acted while you mutilated my sons corpse and watched as my wife was raped to death.” He then proceeded to beat the man almost to death with his own arm.

  Before he got the notification of Zain’s death Bjorn surfaced from his rage for a brief moment. Just long enough for him to realize he was making a mistake. Zain was a bloody mess as his arm had almost killed him. Bjorn released the arm and triggered his new ability, essence drain.

  The last vestiges of Zain’s health was greedily sucked up by Bjorn and by extension the spriggan as a stream of blood red energy flowed out of Zain’s body and into Bjorn’s outstretched right hand. As the ability worked his arm pulsed with vibrant red energy.

  You have absorbed 10 hp from human male level 5. You gain 80 experience.

  Part of your debt has been paid. Bandits left to kill 10/13.

  The moments after Zain's death were a blur. He barely remembered leaving the cell, or going back up to top of the jail and returning the key he had borrowed. Or leaving the guardhouse and picking up Adriana.

  The next time he snapped back to attention he was down at the gatehouse to Blackrock Bay leading out to the east out of the city. The guards there stopped Bjorn and Adriana and told them they couldn’t leave. They ushered them into the building and locked them into a room. When Bjorn didn’t comply 5 out of the 6 guards detained him and forced him into the room.

  An hour passed in silence as their fate was still unknown. Finally the door opened and the hulking form of Gram stepped into the room. In his hand he held a pile of papers. He took in Bjorn’s appearance and just barely glanced at Adriana.

  “I know what you did. I know why you did it.” Gram said with a serious look that looked out of place on the mans face. “And to tell you the truth I have orders to arrest you and lock you up forever. In this city we do have laws, in Escar there are laws. You have blatantly broke them today. You have stolen from the place, broke into the prison, killed a man, and are now trying to flee the city. On top of that you bribed three of my guards who I now have to arrest. You ruined three good men’s lives today.”

  “So are you going to haul me away and lock me in a dark room?” Bjorn asked venom in his voice.

  “That is exactly what I have been ordered to do.” He let out a deep sigh and slumped into a chair right next to the door. He looked small for the first time since Bjorn had met this walking bookshelf. “I am not going to, I am going to let you go. However, know that you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest. If you ever set foot back into Blackrock Bay you will either be arrested and never see the light of day or killed on the spot.”

  Gram collected himself for a moment and stood up turning towards the door. He placed the pile of papers on the chair he had just been sitting on. “This is everything that we managed to learn from Zain over the last 4 days of interrogation. I wish you the best in life Bjorn. I hope to whatever gods there are that I never see you again. If I do, we will be enemies.” Gram said and with that he left the room.

  A minute later the door opened again and the guards who had detained Bjorn let him out of the room. They escorted him out of the gatehouse and out of Blackrock Bay. they escorted both Bjorn and Adriana 100 yards past the outer walls being built and left them there.

  Bjorn looked back at the city that helped him greatly and was the cause of great pain at the same time. He didn’t regret his actions, he would do them again, time and time again. With that he and Adriana turned and left the city behind.