Chapter 4: A Hard Life

[This chapter is told from a foxkin bandit’s point of view.]

My parents were two poor foxkin farmers, but I still had a happy childhood.

Like most children, I dreamed of becoming an adventurer. Most children see the gold and glory that adventurers enjoy, and dream of having it for themselves. Even as a child, I was different, and I didn’t dream of gold and glory like the rest of them. I knew what I wanted. Freedom. Never once did I doubt that adventurers could go everywhere, and do anything they wanted. Adventurers were free as a bird, always going to places I could only imagine. Without the strength to be a [Soldier] it’s all but impossible for poor peasant girls like me to become adventurers. I should have ended up apprenticed to someone with a crafting or gathering class, but willful children seem to have a magic of their own.

During harvest, a traveling minstrel spent a week at the village, trading stories for meals, and permission to sleep in our communal barn. One night he told a story about a young man becoming an adventurer, and I learned that fighting in [Dungeons] grants an adventurer class to people that without one. The next day I pretended a stick was a wand, and imagined becoming a wizard or enchanter.

I was such a naive child back then. Head full of childish dreams, I ran away, and joined up with what I thought was a great group of adventurers. It never occurred to me that anything was strange about three middle aged male adventurers taking in a thirteen year old runaway girl.

We traveled to Gravestead, and soon headed into it’s [Dungeon]. Once we were alone, my supposed group tried to put a slave collar around my neck. Several skeletons chose that moment to attack, distracting the adventurers, and accidentally giving me the chance to escape. While I hid from both the adventurers, and the monsters, the [Dungeon] granted me the [Rogue] class.

Utterly betrayed, completely alone, surrounded by monsters, and the only exit blocked by the very people that betrayed me, I learned true despair. At first I just hid. Without agility, almost all [Rogue] skills were practically worthless. As hours passed, the adventurers anger grew. They thought I had escaped down one of the side passages, and expected me to give up before the night was out. I was close enough to hear them talk about how they planned to punish me for disobeying them, so I knew surrender wasn’t an option.

With nothing left to loose, and the tattered remains of a child’s hope, I spliced together a desperate plan. I might die. But, the nightmare they planned to turn my life into was far worse.

Once they setup camp, leaving just one on watch, I used [Stealth], one of the few [Rogue] skills that’s based on intelligence, instead of agility, and snuck deeper into the [Dungeon]. Taking as few chances as possible, I carefully scouted the exact route I would take. Hours later I was satisfied.

Standing in an intersection between three tunnels, my pockets filled with a couple dozen small rocks, I dropped [Stealth] and quickly threw two rocks down different side tunnels, attracting the attention of two small packs of zombies. Then I ran the other way. I rounded the next corner, already angled away from the skeletons standing just out of reach, on the other side of the cavern. Just to make sure they followed me, I threw a rock at them as well. I passed three other groups of undead, and made sure they all were running after me.

I tried to run past the adventurers, but the [Warrior] they left on watch easily snatched me up. His laughter and my screams woke up the others.

“I’m the one that caught her, so I get to go first!” He pulled out his dagger and said, “I bet them that I could slice off all the skin between your shoulders and knees in one solid piece.”

I stopped struggling, and grinned maniacally at them. “My new friends insist on playing with you first.” Dozens of undead rounded the corner, and I was filled with savage joy. I laughed as their confusion turned into terror. He shoved me towards the undead, but I expected the move, and stayed on my feet. With their attention completely focused on the undead, I darted past, and ran down the cavern, leaving the three of them to die. I risked one glance back, after the screaming stopped. The undead were distracted, eating the three large men, so I used [Stealth], and quietly, but triumphantly, left the [Dungeon].

I thought my troubles were over, but the [Adventurers Guild] wouldn’t accept me, and the local [Thieves Guild] gave me quite a scar when I tried to join them. No one wanted a [Rogue] with low agility.

After I spending two weeks blindly following the adventuring group I ‘joined’ as they traveled to Gravestead, I didn’t have so much as a general idea how to get back home. I was just a child, and hadn’t paid any attention to the roads or the sun. My home was just ‘The Village’ to me, so I couldn’t even ask for directions.

I was a fool.

The [Beggars Guild] saved me. They found me starving on the streets and took me in. Of course, they didn’t do it out of altruism, but they were honest. They took their tithe, but never so much as a copper more. Sometimes, when things were really bad, they didn’t even take that much. I learned many lessons. Who was likely to give a copper or two. Who would kick me out of their path. And, the most important lesson of all. Never beg from an adventurer.

A few years later, when I started to grow into a woman, and one of the city guards made it clear that if I didn’t spread my legs for him, I would disappear. It wasn’t pleasant, but then nothing about my life was. After spending about a year under his protection, I overheard him telling a couple other guards about me. Paying one for protection had been more than enough, so I left the city.

I had overheard some of the other beggars talking about a band of bandits. I didn’t know exactly where their base was, but I was able to get close enough for them to find me, and after a few days of suspicion, they cautiously welcomed another [Rogue] into their ranks. I knew that would change when they found out how worthless my terrible agility made most of my [Rogue] skills.