The Faes divination revealed that the one that the progress of his plans Initiator had stalled in their progress. Unwilling to reveal himself to the wider world, the Fae had to be very careful about how he influenced the situation, after a lot of careful prodding, the Fae managed to cast a minor spell that would grease the wheels needed for progress to resume.

  —---

  And so a rhythm was set for the next week,

  Improvements in skill he went to seek,

  Spending many hours in the training room,

  Learning how to avoid an unnecessary doom,

  Under the Instructors unflinching gaze,

  He focused on improving enough to get some praise,

  After which he joined a hunt or two,

  Only simple beasts that he easily slew,

  Providing a needed break from pushing himself,

  A respite required to maintain his health,

  This cycle repeated itself improving his core,

  Resulting in less time falling upon the floor,

  Time flew by as our Hero continued to grow,

  Until one day the Instructor ended a fight slow,

  And declared Our Hero was a grade higher,

  He could go join the hunts that would tire,

  Most hunters that the Academy had,

  That he longer treated him like a lad,

  Unable to contain his joy at the news,

  Pain forgotten from each bruise,

  He ran over to the Hunters Clerk,

  With such energy that caused them to jerk,

  Our Hero enquired what the hunted beast,

  Whose exploits upon which bards feast,

  The answer was that of a recently found Lich,

  Who had joined many beasts together with a stitch,

  Together they went around killing,

  A fight that would be quite chilling,

  Terror and fear around them was thick,

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  With a mere touch of it made many sick,

  So to the library Our Hero went,

  Until his brains focus was all spent,

  Learning how to dismantle Liches,

  And relegate them to unnamed ditches,

  Phylacteries and Abominations,

  A most unwelcome set of educations,

  The next day Our Hero went shopping,

  The spending spree was eye dropping,

  Buying potions of terror and fear resistance,

  And a compass for some scrying assistance,

  Because the phylactery could be anywhere,

  As Liches hid them with great care.

  The next few days were spent getting to know,

  The other hunters that would be joining the show,

  There were two mages who preferred fire,

  Their continuous boasts about the biggest pyre,

  And a cleric with the biggest hammer Our Hero’s seen,

  With a perpetual frown that made them look mean,

  And finally a Ranger who had a bow that frosted the air,

  Constantly spawning snowflakes deep in her hair,

  Under the Instructors supervision they trained as a team,

  Though their movements weren’t smooth like cream,

  They did manage to learn a bit about each other,

  Learning which of them they could call brother,

  The next two days passed and everyone was ready,

  Nerves were steel and everyone was steady,

  The Portal mages dropped them at a village,

  That the Lich would soon arrive at to pillage,

  For bodies and souls of the residents,

  To use as mere biological implements.

  —--

  Spending weeks learning a few things,

  Watching for what the future brings,

  Getting closer and joining the group,

  Staying within the informational loop,

  Learning more and more about the guy.

  Sending off many reports on crows in the sky.