Writing Prompt ”I used to be an adventurer like you, but then....”

[Llamadragon]

In another world, a random injury is incredibly common among adventurers and no one knows why. What the injury is is up to discretion, but the same part of the body is always injured with the same type of weapon, (for example, arrows in knees) and the injuries cannot be fully healed, thus ending the careers of many promising adventurers. Also, they feel a mysterious urge to become city guards. It’s all very baffling, and the mystery of the whole situation becomes widely talked about.

 

[Nakakure]

In another world, a random injury is incredibly common among adventurers and no one knows why. What the injury is is up to discretion, but the same part of the body is always injured with the same type of weapon, (for example, arrows in knees) and the injuries cannot be fully healed, thus ending the careers of many promising adventurers. Also, they feel a mysterious urge to become city guards. It’s all very baffling, and the mystery of the whole situation becomes widely talked about.

Isn't that depend on novel?

 

[XianPiete]

A young man walked in to town, he was wearing a used sword at his waist on top of his well worn leather armor, he smiled at some of the women of the town as he headed over to the Adventurer's guild. He felt a shiver of excitement down his spine. He thought to himself, 'I can't believe it! I am really going to become an adventurer today!' Outside of the Adventurers guild he saw a column of the city guard's troop, all of them seemed to walk with an odd limp.

The commander of the city guard called out, "Alright, you men rest here while I go inside to set this weeks quests."

As the young man approached one of the guards smiled and said, "I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee."

Another one of the guards blurted out, "No **** Steve, we all used to be Adventurers until we took an arrow to the knee."

The young man looked confused and then asked, "Wait, are you telling me that all of you used to be adventurers?"

Another one of the guards answered, "Yeah, all of us were adventurers, but then we took an arrow to the knee. Hurts like hell too, you ever take an arrow to the knee, kid? Wait, of course you haven't, you aren't a member of the city guard yet."

One of the guards at the front of the column said, "The City Lord hires any adventurer that wants a job as a city guard. Of course, no one wants to be a guard when they can be an adventurer, so all the city guards are adventurers that took an arrow to the knee."

The young man asked, "What if you get injured some place else? Like a shoulder wound?"

The guards all started laughing, "Kid, adventurers only ever get arrows to the knee, what do you think an adventurer does, play ball? Fight in wars? You fight against the Demon Lord, everyone knows that."

*****​

In the City Lord's office the Demon Lord came in and sat down. "Hey Jerry, how's the wife?" The City Lord asked.

The Demon Lord smiled and then replied, "Ah she's doing great, thanks for asking Bert. Look, I need to talk to you about these guys you keep sending over. I keep shooting them in the knee like you asked, but I am starting to run out of arrows. A couple of these guys even stole my gold while I was taking a shower. You promised to return it, but it's been three months now. I don't want to complain, but the wife, she wants to go down south this year for vacation and I am going to need that gold."

"Don't worry about the arrows Jerry, we have hundreds of them. I'll have Alice get you a few quivers full on your way out. The gold though, that's a tough one for me right now. I over spent on the new city walls. Hey, I have an idea, how about you kill a few adventurers and take the gold I gave them that way?" The City Lord asked.

"Bert, now we talked about this, I can't kill adventurers, you know I am against killing living creatures. How about this, lets set up a system where they have to pay gold to use the bank. Like charge them more to open more item slots or something that way, we get the gold back from them. Kind of like how we set up those expensive shops that sell the stuff we get for free." The Demon Lord replied.

"Alright, we'll do it your way, Jerry." The City Lord smiled, "Just give this to Alice, she'll get you those arrows."

"Thanks, Bert." The Demon Lord waved as he got up and left.

 

[JustHANO]

"I'll take this goblin hunting quest than."

"Shhhh. Okay just sign right here. Quickly now, time is of the essence!"

"Fine, fine." The lady was fairly pushy, but I was eager to take on my first mission.

The signing was interrupted by a tall man in black leather armor. His long legs stood out the most. He towered over me, hands in his pocket.

"I'll take this one." His voice was strict. I was new to this so I didn't feel like arguing with an obvious veteran.

"Creed, i told you stop scaring our new adventurers. You'll get what quest you get." The man, appearently named Creed, looked at me as if I had told him no.

"I really don't mind. You can have it."

"Don't back talk me! I'm looking out for you."

"Cool, have it. I saw a nice harvest quest more up my alley."

"LISTEN BOY! Do you even know of the dangers of goblins?"

"No offense, i really don't care. It's your quest, I don't need to hear about it.

"Stop spread this stupid rumor Creed." I could tell this lady just sealed my fate.

"Imbeciles. This is no mere rumour. Goblins are a quick way to retire early. It's like a curse honestly. I had first thought of it as false, until I lost my second hand..." The man motioned towards my arms.

"I used to be an adventurer like you... until around my 3rd arm. You see, the goblins are known for aimming for your hands, permanent affecting your performance." The guild lady rolled her eyes.

"You just got unlucky Creed. Plenty of adventures start with goblins and they've never lost their hands."

"Or are they the lucky ones." The man's quote felt epic to me. "Naw they aren't acutally, but imagine if they were. That would be an epic quote right?."

"It would have been. Okay Creed right? Thanks for the warning and good huntings."

"3 arms? Really Creed." Sigh...

"No, 6 hands and two arms. Thanks to wood style magic, I was able to continue my life as an adventure with make-shift hands. And to answer your previous question, the reason why beginners don't lose their arms is simple. They only go for veterans who idioticly take a goblin quest. I have friends who have done the same and been prematurely glued to a guard job."

"Please man, I just want to go."

"Go where? Not this cave, I'll take this mission. You see, when I lost the first hand I thought it only to be my luck. By the 9th, I was traumatized, some say obsessed. I was thinking about becoming a guard, but for the sake of adventures like you, I became the Goblin Slayer(TM)."

"No way thats trademarked."

"So I'll be taking this quest." No one said anything. And with that, the tall man walked away, arms still in his pockets.

"Not a smart guy huh?" I said, starting to browse for a new quest.

"Dumb, no. Annoying, yes."

"Well if he goes to hunt more goblins they'll just take his hands some more. He said they don't try to take newbies hands, so why not send me."

"Well he's made for this. He understood that they're going for his hands. So he removed his arms all together."

I watched as the old adventure walked to the door. I saw him kick in the door like a badass but understood that that was just him struggling to open it.

Wrote this on me phone. Probably a good amount of mistakes.

 

[Llamadragon]

”Yes, the rumors are correct.” Meren said to Kiri, looking over her gold-rimmed glasses with a nod. ”It’s truly quite vexing. My boss will think I’m joking the next time I send in this quarter years records.”
”Nobody who ever met you will ever think you’re joking. About anything.” Veren said from the desk across the medical hall, his eyes never moving from the paper he was writing.
”All injuries are completely identical.” Meren continued, holding up her latest patient file without as much as changing her serious tone in response to her brothers remark. ”The arrows pierced the left knee from eleven o’clock, from the victims point of view, ripping or cutting the LCL and the ACL ligaments. All other ligaments of the knee remained unharmed, in every case. Furthermore, the arrows were coated with the mana-resistent poison from the ash-elder flowers, making it impossible to heal them completely with just healing magic. We could heal it decently, but I recommend that they no longer work on expeditions of several days to avoid the injuries to flare up and worsen. If it does, it may well be irreversibly crippling to their ability to walk without pain, and could damage the flow of mana inside their bodies, which is potentially lethal.”
”That poison is expensive. You could probably buy a decent house in this town from just the amount used at these random peoples left knees.” Veren said, once again never looking up from his paperwork.
”The strangest part of it all”, Meren continued without glancing at her brother, ”is that in all twenty three cases, different beasts were the culprit. One man was shot by a mouse goblin. One was shot by a lizard-man. One by an orc. One by a satyr. One by an elf bandit. One person actually stumbled on a wire trap and fell on the arrow, which was stuck in the ground as part of the trap. I need not tell you that the odds of this happening by chance should be abysmally small.”
”... that’s... uhm, yeah. Wow.” Kiri said with her head tilted. She had known the guilds two infamous healers for the better part of her life, and as she had never once heard Meren crack a joke, it was all most likely true. ”Is there no clue to the source of this problem? Some of these were good veteran adventurers.. Stephan was an A rank, been in this line of work for longer than I’ve been alive, and he turned in his license this morning.” She said and frowned. ”We will lose all our business at this rate.”
”I cannot comment on the investigation behind the cause of the incidents.” Meren replied. ”It is under the jurisdiction of the town guard and all such details are currently confidential. But I do not believe that you and your father will have to worry much about your business..” she said, her eyes trailing towards Veren, who gave a stiff shrug as if he’d given up on logic. Meren picked up a small healing potion, added a sticker with a hand-written label on it, and handed it to the younger woman. ”Here is your fathers medicine.” With that, she turned back to her paperwork, and Kiri knew that the conversation was over. She left the medical office without saying thanks or goodbye, closing the door quietly to not disturb them during their work any further.

”Here you are, dad. By the way, when I went to pick this up, Meren confirmed that all the rumors about the arrow injuries are true.” Kiri mentioned as she handed the small potion over to Irwin after she returned from the healers office to the guilds inn kitchen.
The older man winced and shook his head. ”Hah, now there’s a tale. Even th’ one with tha’ trip wire...?”
”Yep. I’ll tell you the whole thing when we’re free, it’s quite the tale. Ah, but you know what’s even more interesting? It seems the town guard is keeping the hushers over the whole investigation. They’re the ones running the detective work this time it seems, rather than the Guilds people.”
”That is hella weird, but it might explain that.” Irwin said and nodded at one of the tables where a dozen people were sitting, all wearing the emblem of a white lion on a dark blue fabric on top of the town guards standard armor. Kiri didn’t see anything special.
”The guy next to tha’ window, Kiri, table five. He shaved. And showered, swear I did’nae even recognize ’im at first.”
”... is that Stephen? Are you kidding me? Hey, how old is that man?” Kiri said and squinted real hard.
”Twenty years younger, now when he’s ditched tha’ beard, I guess.” Irwin grinned, dark beady eyes glittering with curiosity. ”Keep yer’ ears peeled when ya work, luv.” He said and turned his full attention back to his cooking.

Kiri - who had picked up her dads unhealthy curiosity - didn’t need to be told that. She had worked in the guilds inn since was old enough to chop veggies, and had developed quite the ear for picking up conversations even in all the clattering of loud diners. She caught a word that interested her, put down her pile of dishes on the table next to table five and pretended to be very interested in something she had written in the notebook she used to take orders from customers.

”... with Stephen getting shot yesterday, that should be the last of us, right?” muttered Lily, another adventurer-turned-guard-after-getting-an-arrow-in-the-knee-recently.
”Muros and Gaurun are left.” Stephen quietly corrected her. ”Then we’ve fulfilled the contract. My, what a troublesome spirit this is... what spiritual realm is ”Skyrim” anyway? June? You usually know about these things..”
”No idea. I’ve never heard of Clavicus Vile either. Or Barbas. It was James’ idea, and I have no idea where he got the intel from, whenever I ask he just starts muttering something crazy about eyes and tentacles and dark endless libraries. And tentacles. And, did I mention, tentacles? Also, lets not forget, even more tentacles.” June sighed and put a hand on her sore left knee. ”I can’t decide if it was a terrible idea, or if it was worth it..”
”... well I mean we DID get the easy money we asked for... a job with a pension..” Stephen said, joining in the sighing. ”I’m never summoning as much as an imp ever again.”
”Hear, hear!”
”Aye!”
”Cheers to that!”
”Hey Kiri, can we get another round over here?”
”Hm? Yeah, of course. I’ll take your order in a minute.” Kiri said, pretended to return to her checklist for another moment as if something important was actually written there, before she carried the dishes back to the kitchen.

The next day, Muros and Gaurun did indeed return to the healers office with injuries to their left knees, and Irwin had to run into the changing room behind the kitchen so he could laugh without looking like an insensitive prick. Kiri sighed. Meren had been right, though, there was no danger to their business. More and more members of the towns guard started showing up for lunch.

 

[JJglas]

So a kid like you wanna be an adventurer eh? Then ye came to the right place, I sell the best armour in town!

First thing first yer gonna want is chest protection, nothing worse than getting stabbed in the squishy organs bits.
I'd go with a gambison padding for blunt impacts then chainmail over that to stop the sharp and pointy stuff.

Pleasure doing business that'll be two silver!
Knee protection? What about it?
Listen kid ye wanna spend yer money wisely and armour up the vital areas first.

-----

Oh back again kiddo and might I say yer lookin' more like an adventurer already! Still on about that knee protection?
What did I tell ye last time, first armour the vitals!

You need a helm I tell ye.
I've got an auld bassinet I could give ye that'll be cheap and you'll have some money left over to buy...
No not knee pads you should get gauntlets. After all the hands are the most common place you'll find injuries.

Now don't look at me like that I'm just givin' you sound honest advice.
Scarcely in combat does anyone get struck in the knees!

-----

Kiddo? You've got a fierce look on yer face?

An arrow?

The knee!!!

What are the chances of that...?

So kiddo yer gonna be a town guard eh? Then ye came to the right place, I supply all the armour for the town barracks!

 

[jinxs2011]

I used to be an adventurer like you...

Then, well, you know. Nukes.

Now I'm a glorified zombie. Even my old momma, bless her soul, couldn't love this face. I don't age, but if I go outside this place, chances are some youngster with an itchy trigger finger and not enough sense will blow my brains out. No, better to stay here. Protect the only home our kind have left.

Good old Goodneighbor.

Hell If I even know why all those nukes launched in the first place. One day, we're just going about our days, doing the laundry drinking tea, the next, BAM. Literally. Makes no damn sense.

 

[Titanoktonon]

"I used to be an adventurer like you...
Then I learned that my father was terminally ill. I couldn't get home until his last few days. When I arrived, he smiled, and said in a voice barely above a whisper that he was glad to see me again. I didn't leave his side until his final moments, but it was all too short a time. I know it's not my fault, but there was no way I could go back to adventuring after that.
Now a days, I work in hospice care, helping others come to terms with their own deaths in the hopes that it may someday help me come to terms with my father's.
I'm not going to tell you not to be an adventurer, but please visit your family every now and then. And remember, they miss you too."

 

[Jemini]

"I used to be an adventurer like you, and then I took an arrow to the knee. See? I got the proof right here." The inkeeper said, smiling brightly as a gorgeous woman entered the room holding a small bundle. You peer over and see the face of a cooing baby smiling back at you.

"Oh, are you bragging on me again Harold!?" The lovely wife complains.

"Why don't you show him dear?" The man goes on undaunted.

"Fine!" She says in a huff, holding out her left hand toward you. Upon her ring finger sits a beautiful ring encrusted with a turquoise jewel. "It was quite a proposal." She says, seeming to get into the mood of the story telling. "He took me out to the overlook, the one up on the hill top. There is a beautiful view of the mountains. There, we had a wonderful meal out under the sun, and then at the end of it he reached into his pocket, got down on one knee and everything, and then presented me with this ring."

"So, you see, after that there was no more adventuring for me. I'm a responsible husband right now, I gotta see to my family. Can't risk myself no more out on the road fighting dragons and all that stuff.

------------------------


For those of you not aware, which is likely the majority of you, "an arrow to the knee" is actually an old Irish expression to mean getting married.

 

[Fennel]

https://www.scribblehub.com/series/25359/npc/

Partially inspired by this prompt

 

[YuriDoggo]

The reason why the majority of us are not aware that "an arrow to the knee" is an Irish expression for marriage is probably because it's not true.

-------------

"That's the third one this week. They're just going to keep coming, aren't they?" the surgeon commented to his assistant as he ran his tools through open flames.

"Yeah. Until they get rid of that supplier. I reckon at least one in ten of those damn things are dysfunctional," the assistant replied.

The curtain separating the operating space from the area outside flew aside and a man with a bloodied face. Such an injury should have warranted urgency of the utmost degree, but the men pushing the stretcher cart were unhurried, even telling each other jokes. Only a psychopath can be so calm, or they had to be so desensitized that they simply didn't care.

While the man's face was ruined, his right eye couldn't escape notice. Even through his eyelids, the spherical sensory organ was shredded, oozing yellow fluids. Fragments of black metal and brown wood, stained red, peppered the remains of the man's eyes and his face around it. It didn't take a genius to guess what had happened.

"Still, it's the only dealer allowed here nowadays. Want to use a gun? No other choice. Alright, enough talk. Let's go."

And as the man was still unconscious, there was no sound to be heard exception for the squelch of bloody flesh, and ting of iron implements of questionable cleanliness, and the steady breathing of the surgeon and his assistant.

 

[gaylolis]

"I used to be an Adventurer like you...but now I'm the Guild Master."

"Cool story bro."