Gumphrey has made it a habit to regularly turn his Eavesdrop on and off in hopes that it will push him over the edge into E-rank. Rarely does he pick up anything interesting and he doesn’t really like to pry into people's personal lives unless he has to. Usually if he hears people talking about something sensitive he will move the focus to the spell. He does however, always listen into any shops before he walks in. It helps to know if a place is busy before you walk in and if he gets lucky he can overhear prices to ensure he really is getting a good deal. He’s a little paranoid, still new to money, he's unsure what everything should cost and believes the upper class will try to gouge him.

  He needs information about Harkell, without it Grimwoli may kick him out of his group. He’s beginning to get desperate and thinking he’ll have to prepare for life as a solo hunter, goes shopping for new gear.

  On his way to the tanner’s he cast the spell, then he heard something potentially useful. He struggles to hide a smirk as he walks in, mentally he jumps when the harsh looking goblin woman inside stares at him *shit did she figure out my spell* He tries to play it off like a customer patiently waiting. The woman continues her conversation in private, but with his spell maxed out nothing in this small of an open space is really private.

  Walking out of the leather shop, his pack was significantly lighter from the deal. *What would be better: going to find the mother and trying to make a deal with her first, or getting close with her son. Shit this would be easier if I had more time, but if this plan takes too long it would be better to focus on leveling Eavesdrop instead of having that kid sneak around for me. Okay from what I heard that woman seems to be fierce. I doubt she’ll make a deal for her son. I need to find him, maybe act like a sponsor before I approach him with the deal. Fuck, but like what would I even say, maybe I approach him with another lie, like I’m trying to start my own party, separate from Grimwoli. Yup that’s the plan. Now I just need to go find him, his mother said he was on hunt so I’ll hang by the village entrance and pretend to accidentally bump into him *

  ******

  The progress Ikar has made through the tunnel is bit lacking, he’s barely made any headway committed to conserve his stamina for the undoubtedly dangerous journey ahead of him. He’s also making point to stay away from the entrance to the wild-lands

  “Huuuh.” he exclaims. “Excursions into the wild-lands are supposed to be a once, maybe twice a lifetime thing. You go in, find a treasure chest, or a rare mob and come out with something to pass on to the kid. BUT THIS CRAZY FUCK!” He inhales remembering to stay calm and quiet. “Runs out like a lunatic everytime a hunting party reports a powerful monster they had to run away from. Or gets the notion that he’s close to leveling a skill however, the fuck you can feel that I have no idea. Then this homicidal maniac has the audacity to FORCE me along with him saying some shit like” In a horrible impression of Harkell “Its what a warrior would do” “fuck this shit! AHHH!”. His voice only barely raises to a whisper yell in his most emotional moments.

  He picks up the sound of a froghemoth hopping along in the tunnel ahead of him. It likely was on its way to the wild-lands. *The sound is getting quieter, so it’s moving away from. If I were to guess it only just evolved and is making its way to the tunnel for the first time. No need to go overboard*

  Now safely away Harkell he sheathed his sword and set his back between his shoulder blades. He moved his quiver from being settled above his butt, to dangling on his right side. He takes out his bow, grabs a couple of arrows, holding them in his hand and set off toward the quarry.

  He stays several hundred yards away waiting until he hears the hopping stop. Once he is sure the beast is resting he approaches, carefully walking heel to toe. He draws his bow pulling on the string with every ounce of strength in his upper body. Activating a single skill he looses his arrow, the string rebounds and Ikar takes advantage of this motion, quickly slipping another arrow on the string using its force to redraw the bow an instant.

  The first arrow flies out stabbing into the froghemoths backside; it pierces all the down-passed feather stabilizers. The monster screams, but by the time it’s mouth opens a second arrow hits it. This one is aimed at the monster's knee joint. It hits a harder target and not empowered by a skill the arrow doesn’t penetrate as deep, but it still hits its mark.

  Once Ikar can see the beast turning around he activates another one of his skills this time his passive Quick Eye the monsters already labored turning motion slows to a crawl. Ikar runs to the other side of the wall. His own movement appears slow to him, but he’s used to it, while he’s moving through the tunnel he has already placed his third and the final arrow he grabbed from his quiver into place ready to fire.

  Stolen story; please report.

  He stops running only for a moment. His arrow leaves the bow, glowing with the force of a skill and even with his skill active it shoots so quick Ikar can’t keep. The arrow digs into the monster's side, easily tearing through the skin. It continues shredding several of its organs, stopping as it fails to dig through the skin from the inside.

  *You have defeated a level 5 Papilla Froghemoth Tongue Fencer. You have gained XP*

  Ikar has already deactivated his skill by the time the announcement starts. Anything to preserve even the smallest bit of stamina is not a waste to him. The arrows drop to the ground with small high pitched clings. The heavier arrow tips leading the fall.

  He moves over to investigate the loot and to retrieve his arrows. Still on high alert he moves in stages several hundred feet at a time in a dash before stopping to look again. He knows other monsters tend to be drawn to the sounds of combat. Especially the experienced ones.

  He takes the silver coin, tucks it with disappointment into his pouch. He scurries over to the arrows and picks each of them up diligently inspecting all of them. The first, that pierced through the creature's rotund posterior is mostly. It shows signs of the usual wear and tear, but nothing severe. The 2nd arrow, the one that killed the beast shows similar signs, but having been used dozens of times before the damage could have already been there. Then he looks at the arrow that shattered the creature's knee. The tip has snapped off and about a third is missing. The missing half vaporized with the monster when it disappeared.

  *Ahh damn that fucking sucks* Arrows are difficult to come by in the dungeon; his bronze arrows were made through melting the copper coins he loots. Paying a fletcher. It costs several coppers to make a single arrow head. Then the labor to make the arrows and the shafts with stabilizers like he has, he ends up spending a full silver per arrow.

  *I guess I’ll go a bit further, maybe I can get a good drop and get some new arrows all these old ones only have a shot or two left in ‘em*

  After killing a few more monsters, most of which were unevolved and gave him standard loot, Ikar observes his surroundings. He accidentally took the shortest path and was quickly getting toward the wild-lands. His skill in indemnifying the slight shifts in rock and the small sounds that make it through from the open area filled with hundreds of monsters is the only indication of his approach. “Cool. This seems like a nice place to rest and eat.” Ikar sits down casually pulling a large lunch pail from his pouch.

  While eating he starts to overhear the screams of Harkell the sounds getting louder as his fury grows. His voice and lungs strengthened by his stats and skill forces the sound to carry through. With the sudden noise he hears numerous monsters begin to stir from the opposite end.

  “I swear to all that I hold dear If I get my level I’m gonna leave this shitty job and go to some other tribe.” Says rubbing his temples.