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Thursday, September 19, 2019

Enigmatic Fantasies - Is This All There Is To It? [#121]

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           “Is this really all there is to it?” I asked as my sword brought down another crazed and wild boar, which had just bounced off my plated armor.
           “What do you mean?” She inquired as her fire spell incinerated another of those giant, bloodthirsty vultures. The beast burned to ash before it could even scratch her cloth robe.
           “When I became an adventurer It was because I wanted to dedicate myself to something greater than I could imagine,” I leaned on my sword. “I dreamed of slaying dragons, saving towns from bandits or mad wizards. You know, generally heroic deeds?”
           “So, that’s what we’ve been doing isn’t it?” My partner turned to me, “we’ve done plenty of heroic deeds.”
           “No, we haven’t,” I declared. “We’ve spent the past several weeks in the middle of nowhere, chasing wild animals off of dying farmland.” I pointed to the dry prairie that surrounded us, one windstorm away from becoming a dustbowl. “We haven’t even seen a bandit in over a week, and even then it was only one moron with a stick and a pot lid.”
           “Oh, don’t be like that,” my partner stated. “It’s still important work if we weren’t here the farmers would’ve been chased off their land by these beasts.” She gestured to the half dozen boars and giant vultures we had slain. “And that bandits are probably just hiding.”
           “Then we’re just glorified pest control,” I pointed out.
           “Hey, it’s a crowded profession,” she gestured to another pack of adventurers engaged with an enormous boar on a nearby hill. “You got to take what you can get when you’re starting out.”
           “It’s demoralizing,” I declared. “Waking up every morning just to fight wild animals trampling farmland, and maybe bring a bandit to justice if I’m lucky.”
           “Hey, it pays the bills,” my partner looked on the bright side, “and don’t forget all the free vegetables and stew.”
           “Barely pays the bills,” I countered. “If we kill a dozen boars and vultures every day, strip them of all the useful bits and meat and bring that all back to town to sell. We’ll have enough to afford another night at the inn on a bedroll in the corner. The only reason we haven’t starved is because of the free food.”
           “It won’t always be like this,” she replied, “once we get more experience we’ll be able to move onto bigger and better work. Plus by then we’ll probably be able to rough it out in the wilderness.”
           “Sure, I’ll just walk up to an adventurer’s guild and tell them I have three years experience killing boars,” I joked. “I’ll tell them I’m looking to step up to bears or wolves.”
           “You’re impossible,” she sighed. “If it makes you feel better, we can find a couple more people and form a group to go raid a bandit camp or something.”
           “It won’t make me feel better,” I admitted, “but it’ll at least be a change of pace. Fine, what were you thinking?”
           “I knew you’d come around,” she leaped in joy. “Alright so first we’ll need a priest, then a sneaky rogue and somebody good with a weapon, like an archer or spearman.”
           “Wait wouldn’t that make me the tank?” I realized.
           “Well yeah,” she shrugged, “what else is that heavy armor good for?”
           “Whatever,” I sighed, this could only end in pain for me, but at least I’ll get paid, hopefully.

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Sometimes you find job dissatisfaction even in your dream career, likely from the bumpy road early on.

(Totally not inspired by all the time I spent playing WoW Classic this week.)

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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