Use your Brain

((The Golden Oak, Osilon))

“I do not have the materials for such magics and I am not very good at it. But there had to be others from the college that survived. Master Soran, Master Pending, Grandmaster Stormcrow... Someone that is more versed in divination than me."

“Seems a long shot trying to track any of those guys down,” Reise said, shaking his head. “Even if any of them are alive I doubt any of them would want to be found.” The serving maid returned with their food and drinks and he waited until she was out of earshot before he continued. “Orla, you know magic too. Are you not versed in this divination stuff?”

“I do not know such spells all that well either,” the fae elf admitted. “If the Mortith were within a few hundred paces, and not shielded, I could likely find it, but tracking the book across the whole of the kingdom is quite beyond my meagre powers.”

“That is why we need someone more powerful like one of my old teachers,” Severos explained. “Such as the Wise One.”

“So if magic doesn't work, you need more magic?” Reise said disparagingly. “You know, I used to run a curios shop in Dalen. Locating hard-to-find objects was what I did for a living. It was a job I was very good at and I didn't rely on magic to do it, I instead used my brain. That's how normal people get by in the world, not with hocus pocus, but with their brain.”

“How would you find the Mortith with just your brain?” Severos asked with skepticism.

“Simple old-fashioned investigative work,” Reise said, as if it were obvious. “We assemble what information we know and we follow what leads we have. Orla already identified the thief, and that's a pretty big lead. So let's go after him.”

“How would we find this Shade without magic?” Severos pressed.

“Like I said, by following the leads we have,” Reise explained, as if Severos were a slow student. “Since we don't know where Shade is we track down his known associates.” When Severos still had a blank look, Reise sighed and said, “You've come to rely on magic so long you've forgotten how to think without it. Orla told us Shade is known to work for Draken. So if we can't find Shade, we find Draken who might be able to get us a line on Shade. And there is a good chance Draken is the one who Shade stole the book for. Are you following my reasoning yet, Severos?”

The young mage frowned. He didn't like being talked down to. “I follow your reasoning, but how would we find Draken?”

“That guy strikes me as someone who wants to be found. He's been leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, picking fights with Church knights, levelling entire villages. Rumour is he hates humans and wants them all dead, but then decided it's the High Church that he hates, so he probably won't kill us on sight. Another thing is he owes Orla a favour. A big one, isn't that right?”

Orla nodded. “Yes, I once saved his life...”

“So…” Reise said, raising his mug of ale, “We get a message to Draken. Maybe with one of those magic spells you seem to know. Tell him Orla wishes to bargain. We get the info we need or at least enough to start to understand the whole picture. Then we go hunting. Get the book. Destroy it. Take a vacation.”