'I started by looking in the most popular taverns asking around to team up with strong looking guys but was unsuccessful. I got a lot of dirty looks from strangers. Scary stuff.'
'I was close to giving up, trying my last tavern.
Compared to the others, you could call this tavern disliked but there was still a decent crowd inside.'
'I looked around and nobody really stood out except for a woman in the corner of the tavern. She had nice blonde hair tied behind her head and was in light, black armour. But the thing about her that really stood out was that she had two bows clipped to her back and two daggers on her hip.'
'Lost in thought about her arsenal I didn't realise I had been staring at her for at least a whole minute now and she was staring back at me.'
"Do you have a problem with me?" She said in a firm voice.
'She has a scary aura about her I thought while swiftly replying "uh…no I didn't mean to stare sorry."
"If your sorry buy me a drink please, I'm broke and thirsty at the moment."
'I was about to buy two drinks and thats when it hit me, I am also very much broke. I hadn't thought this through at all. I was about to start an adventure with no armour, money, food or drinks. At least she had somewhat prepared with enough weapons for four people and nice armour.'
"Uh I actually happen to be broke too" I said regretfully.'
"Really? Then conquer a dungeon with me right now."
'I was about to turn her down but dungeons were a great source of money. Hidden treasures and materials from killing monsters and beasts was hard to refuse and I could use the real combat experience. Plus she looked pretty strong and all the dungeons around the city were for rookie adventures, what could go wrong.'
"Okay lets do it then, who else here is part of your team." I said hopeful she was friends with a couple of other strong guys to make this dungeon easy money.'
"No one"
"Really?"
"Yep no one, most other people here are weak but you have a nice sword and dagger so even if you were weak they are sharp enough to kill something."
'I thought her reasoning was suspicious and came to the conclusion that she thinks I'm either strong and could clear the dungeon no problem, or I will die immediately and she could just take my weapons and sell them. Im definitely not overthinking this.'
'Anyway, she looked confident in her abilities so I just went with it and we headed for the dungeon she had found.'
'We exchanged names on the way there, her name is Casey. A beautiful name fitting for a beautiful woman, of course I didn't say that to her though. I also learned that she's a kind person, she only showed hostility because I had been staring, I also cleared up that misunderstanding.'
'After an hour of walking away from the city walls, we took a small break to hunt something to eat. While cooking up some rabbit, I felt an awkward air around us. It was probably due to my lack of social skills.'
'Thinking back to Jared helping me socialise, I tried hard to recall some advice.'
"Come on think, think" I ended up saying out loud and was met with a confused but deserved stare.'
'Cursing my whole existence and lack of ability to converse with others, my palms were sweating like crazy. I just went back to eating like nothing happened.'
'She looked around my age and I remembered Jared saying, 'a good conversation starter for people your age is what do you like to do.' So I went for it,
"So uh what do you like to do in the city?"
"Sorry but I dont like to talk while eating, I'll answer when we're back walking."
'Unsure of whether I wanted to cry or disappear completely, I was shut down hard and like she wanted, we ate in silence.'
Shortly after my embarrassing expirience, we finished up snd got back walking. She ended our silence with,
"To answer your question, nothing. I dont like being in the city and usually only go there to sell what I find and buy supplies."
"May I ask why?"
"I hate the feeling of being in the city, stuck inside the walls with the arrogant rich people. Inside there is no freedom for the poor, but out here being broke or rich doesn't matter. Money cant save you from a beasts claws. Out here, you are free."
'I couldn't help but be reminded of Mothers words to me and I felt a new confidence shine in my soul.'
"And what made you become an adventurer" I asked forgetting it could be a sensitive topic.'
"Money. I will get rich no matter what. But not to live a luxurious life, to repay my family. I told them when I was young that I wanted to explore the world and become strong. We were poor but they put their trust in me and spent whatever we had on training me to become a fine warrior. I will repay them no matter what."
'A very respectable goal I thought and gave her a warm smile because I didn't know how to reply and she didn't ask about my motives for becoming one.'
'After a short while more of walking, we arrived. The entrance didn't look like I expected it to, but it was definitely one. The Adventurer Association put up signs at confirmed, unexplored dungeons and towers and this one had a sign.'
'I fantized a dungeon to be in the side of a mountain with two heavy doors blocking the entrance, but this was just a hole in the ground barely large enough to fit my body.'
'Casey gestured me to climb into the whole so I did and was met with a surprise. The hole was deep, very deep and there was no way to climb down. But if the association issued a sign outside it had to have a safe way in. This isn't a trap right? Casey didn't dig this hole to steal my equipment right?'
'My worries came to an end as the piece of mud I was holding onto broke dropping me into the dungeon. I fell at least 30 feet and ended with a splash. I was in water.'
'After swimming to the dimly lit concrete platform, I crawled up and layed on it, trying to catch my breath after inhaling a lot of water and Casey came down after me and got on the platform in a lot better shape than me.'
"There is doors over there, probably the real entrance to the dungeon." She said without an ounce of concern for my health. Maybe she's not as kind as I perceived her, I thought jokingly.'
'I pulled myself together and walked up to the doors.' "This is more like it." I said while swinging the doors open revealing a dark tunnel.' 'Now its closer to the image I had of a dungeon I thought while walking the concrete pathway surrounded by brick walls.'
"Focus up, there could be anything in hiding." Casey said which reminded me that this wasn't a game, dungeons and the outside world are incredibly dangerous.'
'Unsheathing my sword I paid close attention to all my surroundings and we came to an opening. It was a large room with many pathways branching out of it in different directions and stairs going down in the centre of the room.'
'We didnt know which way to go and if we should check them all. We agreed that the stairs down was probably where the Dungeon Lord was guarding any treasures in here.'
'Leaving the stairs until last, we kept going straight and followed the path in hope for a secret treasure room.'
'But that thinking really was wishful because at the end of the path we were met with a surprise. Our deduction of the stairs down being the way to the Lord's room was completely wrong because by going straight, we had walked right into it.'