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superjars -> (AQ) Mid-Level Crisis (4/4/2011 22:38:09)
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C&C goes here.
~Chapter 1~
~Random Monsters and Deals with Death~
At some point during their adventures, it hits everyone. One day you are racing around, wielding all forms of weapons, gird in fancy armor that cost a pretty penny to buy. Monsters are falling left and right, your stat points are well-managed (another gold sink, of course) and life is looking pretty good all around.
And then the next day happens and everything falls to crap. Your favors to Death start entering the triple and quadruple digits, you run low on funds and tokens, even the most difficult of monsters no longer give you the rush and excitement they used to give. You are in a rut. Try as you might, you can’t seem to get out of it. Trying to take a break from adventuring doesn’t seem to make anything better, especially with all new threats popping up on a weekly basis. Sure, there are plenty of other adventurers out there, but sometimes it feels like you’re all alone against all the bad guys in the universe. Well, there is Artix and Warlic, Robina and Yulgar, as well as all the others; but they all seem to have their own agendas and really only help on certain adventures.
And so, here I stand, Galus the X-Guardian, Level 66, in front of the Guardian Tower, taking a look at weapons and armor that I’m not terribly interested in buying, checking out that lackluster “Random Monster” portal, searching for a reason to keep farming and advancing myself to the point where I can take on anything. Sure, there’s amazing armors ahead of me, but they also cost an arm and a leg to get (sometimes literally). Really, when it comes down to it, I am lacking any real motivation to do much of anything these days. With a sigh and a heavy sword, I trudge towards the door to Yulgar’s Inn, hoping that something inside will help to motivate me into going on another adventure.
It’s another day in the Inn just like every other. I swear, nobody ever moves in this place. It’s the same people, with the same problems and the same places to visit. The mouse hole? Went there last week. Down in the basement? A month ago. Always the same, nothing changing, nothing moving. This definitely isn’t the place to get rid of my boredom and apathy for adventuring. But I stick around anyway, take a look around at the people, unmoving, selling the same wares they did yesterday, last month, last year. It seems so lifeless and uninteresting in this place; I start to wonder if time has ground to a stand-still, leaving me frozen in place for all eternity with the rest of these people. Another sigh and I’m out the door, this time carrying a scythe over my shoulder.
Obviously the Inn is not the right place to get me back into the adventuring spirit. I’ve spent too many days there, running back and forth between Warlic and Cysero and Valencia and back again. Sure, the place is usually good for a laugh, but I’m in no laughing mood today. I’m disturbed and annoyed and lethargic, all at once; a strange combination, I can tell you that. I need to do something; anything to give me a jump of adrenaline. The “Random Monster” portal is right there; beckoning me, as if it held the answer to all of my misery. I go and stand on it, the shimmering green light around me showing that it’s been activated.
Oh goody. Another Troll to fight; how droll. I draw out my Aerodu Sword, don my Shinobi Shozoku and get to work on the Troll. I think at one time during the fight, I actually yawned. Probably shouldn’t make the thing I’m about to kill feel bad about its lack of ability to injure me, but the double attacks I’m doing each round are tearing the thing to shreds. A couple rounds and the victory music plays. I would strike some sort of epic pose, but my heart’s just not into it. That’s the problem with the “Random Monster.” Sometimes I get something which is much more powerful than me, and sometimes it’s just some snot-nosed minor monster that I can crush without thinking. Well, we’ll see what I get this time. I walk back to the center of town, making sure that I have a short chat with Twilly before stepping on the portal again.
You know, it’s weird how some habits are impossible to break. I barely took any damage during that last encounter, yet I’m going to Twilly for healing regardless. But, then again, how many times did I say I didn’t need it only to be killed by some monster with only one round of damage left before they died. Well, and then there’s those thousands of times where I walked into a random encounter, took one look at the monster I was facing and could feel an “Oh, crap!” pushing past my lips. Those battles usually ended with one of two things: me running away like a little girl, or yet another “fun” journey to see Death. With all of the favors that guy has from me, he should probably retire and make me do his job. But I’m sure he’s got some type of agenda planned for all of these excess favors; something to do with setting him up on a date, I’d presume. He doesn’t get out much, if you catch my drift.
Anyway, I regress. The “Random Monster” portal was calling to me again and, hoping for more of a challenge this time, I stepped on to it once again. It was one of those moments. The green glow disappeared from around me and what was I faced with? Freaking Ancient Hydra! I closed my eyes and shook my head, hoping this would end fast. The Purity Blade came out (as if it was really going to be helping me much) and I started the attacks. I landed several blows right at the get-go, dodging some incoming at the same time, but my luck pretty much stopped there. Four or five rounds later, and I was lying in a pool of my own blood, eyes glazing over as the world turned black around me. The maniacal laughter that soon greeted me, the sound of which I had heard a million trillion times, brought me back from the sweet oblivion which I thought might not be that bad, given the apathy I currently felt about adventuring.
Another deal, another get-out-of-hell-free card, another favor owed to someone you didn’t really want to owe anything to. C’est la vie. It’s the price we pay to do what we do; that’s what my old man used to say when I was little. He’s retired now. Probably owes Death a whole lot less than I do. One nice thing about Death – come to think of it, it’s really the only nice thing about him – is that he heals me to full health when he brings me back. No boring, meaningless chit-chat with Twilly for me this time, just to get my health up. And no more “Random Monster” for me either. Neither battle really gave me any excitement or desire to continue adventuring, so there’s got to be some other way to go. Whatever am I going to do?
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