Interview With A Satyr:Adventuring 101

Ahem. Here we are back at the studio. Gwen, I'm glad you could be here with us again today. It seems you've got quite a few fans out there who would love to hear a little more about you! In fact, it looks like you'll be a regular on our interview series for a while.

Oh gosh you guys are so sweet!

So, Gwen, we heard last time about you and your friends saving the world...but, how did you get into adventuring?

Oh dear, that's a funny question. Well, I didn't really adventure much until I landed in the Hub, because it seems like it's hard to live here without having adventures! I mean, back home everything was really very quaint and low-key, and we just lived day-to-day in the woods. I mean, I picked a traveller's pocket here and there, but I always left them some of course, 'cause it's mean to take all of someone's money and leave them with nothing, but I really didn't have any, 'cause who gives a satyr a job, honestly! I just needed to buy a bow so I could hunt for my dinner and stuff 'cause it was more fun living out with the trees anyway than being stuck in a big city all the time, so I got a little used to roughing it when I was growing up. It make you feel a lot more alive to be around all that living, breathing space. I don't know why some people don't seem to see it, but forests just have a little glow of life around them. Anyway, I was curled up snuggling my favorite tree one night and fell asleep for a little nap, and then it really started when I woke up in a waterfall a little ways outside of Berlin, with Asterix, Nigel and Alekzie. I'd never met any of them before, and none of us knew where we were, so I guess at that point you could say I really started an adventure. So I suppose I got into adventuring by falling into the hub one night and waking up in a waterfall!

That sounds like it must have been pretty surprising!

I guess it was. I don't really think about it too often — you can't think about weird things too much when you're in the Hub, 'cause everything is like that, so I guess they aren't really weird any more! When we got to Berlin, they told us to go to Capitol City and talk to the people in city hall. I forgot if it was the hall in Berlin or the one in Capitol City that had the super-multi-armed secretery but he was really nice to us. But there was some military guy at Capitol City who said we had to join guilds if we wanted to work in the Hub and then I had to go figure out what guilds to join 'cause there are just so many guilds, and all of them looked so interesting, even though I know I could never do a lot of the things people do around here, so I tried really hard to pick just a few but I still ended up joining a lot of them. I guess better safe than sorry! They made it sound like someone would really come down on you if you weren't in the right guilds for the stuff you do! But we see a lot of stuff that's surprising pretty much every day so it's not really a surprise any more, and I don't really remember what it was like not to be un-surprised all the time 'cause all the surprises weren't surprising, 'cause I guess they used to be surprising but now that just seems weird. Are you okay, hon? You look a little dizzy again.

No, no, I'm fine. It's...um...so uh, let's see. I think a few people have written in with some questions, and one of them was about this...oh yes. Do you have any advice for a woman looking to go into adventuring?

Well, falling into the Hub sure seems to be a good start! I wouldn't recommend the waterfall part though, 'cause it was a little cold, but I do think everyone should have a favorite tree! But really, you don't need to have a whole lot to adventure, just make sure you have some friends you can really trust and make sure they can really trust you too, and that you know how to take care of yourself and how to travel, and that you always remember to bring food and water and stuff and always assume you'll be gone longer than you think you will, in fact even longer than that usually, and make sure your friends are all kinda different 'cause if you all do the same thing then you'll just end up fighting over who does the stuff you're all good at and no one will do all the other stuff and it'll be really bad 'cause you need people to do all sorts of random things when you are out on the road, and make sure you try to make friends with everyone because it's always better to be friends with people than to be mean and then have them angry at you —

Um, Gwen?

— when you could've had them being nice and helping you, like the dragons we met who turned out to be really super-sweet people and have help us over and over, except that sometimes they can't get involved and we have to respect that because they're just so nice to us all the time, and you also want to make sure that you don't try to have an adventure that's too big and adventurous for you or that goes into a really dangerous place because you have to start small just like everything else and get practice adventuring before you really start have super amazing adventures and even little things can go a long way towards making the world a better place, and also you want to always —

Gwen, breathe.

— make sure you have the right equipment for the right job, and I'm so glad I have smart friends because I never really know what to bring other than my swords and a bit of rope or something, but they always know when we're going to need extra special other things, and make sure if you need special things that the people sending you on your adventure know that and are willing to help you get what you need, because it's no good for them to just send you out without the right things, so make sure they give you some help with equipment or some of the money up front so you can buy what you need before you go 'cause if they don't there's a good chance you won't come back and that doesn't help anyone so it's better just to avoid it altogether.

Oh thank goodness.

But overall I'd say for a woman trying to get into adventuring just find yourself the right group of people and you'll be just fine! You start to see your adventuring friends as your family after a while, and if you want to stop and have your own family of course you can, I'd just suggest that you make sure you make strong friends and weak enemies, and if you make any enemies who aren't weak just make sure you get rid of them before you settle down and have a family or anything, and remember, the younger you start training the better you learn! It's lots of fun, kids, so go around your town and talk to people at all the different guilds you can find 'cause a lot of them will have great stories and fun things to do, and it's better to find out now what things you like!

Well, that's a good bit of advice for our listening audience. Could you give us an idea of what you do on your off time, when you aren't out on an adventure?

Well, I am a member of a handfull of guilds, you can see here I have a whole bunch of guild IDs, so I spend a lot of my time training with some friends I have in those guilds in Skryfe, and it's been really wonderful because they have amazing talent and are so willing to help and teach that I've just fallen in love with all my trades.

Oh, here's a member card for the jewler's guild, I guess you did mention Mr. Rosenberg. He's quite famous.

Yeah, he's a really nice guy. We came across a huge stash of giant gemstones on one of our adventures, in the cave with the orb of the gods, and they were in the giant beautiful murals, but we accidentally sort of wrecked the whole cave and blew everything up so the murals all fell off the walls and Elly sort of collected all the gems and brought them home with us, and we found Mr. Rosenberg because he was able to buy them all from us, which was really how we bought our house, so we're very grateful to him.

And this one looks like the Seamstress' Guild, and — oh goodness, is that...

Oh that one's for the prostitute's guild. That's funny, usually it's on top 'cause I have to show it to all my customers 'cause they know they aren't supposed to pay unless I show them my card so they know I've got all my shots and stuff.

Oh my. Someone did write in asking about the night job you mentioned, but I didn't think...

It's actually a nice job I have to say. I'm really a people-person and it's great that I get to meet so many different people, across a lot of towns sometimes too when we travel, and I've made some nice friends, like Lt. Michaels up at Scott's keep, he was really a sweetie and I didn't even charge him, he was just so cute. And there are so few satyrs around here that I get a pretty good rate most of the time, too. Of course, I don't have a teacher with that guild! I was thinking though that it'd be cool if someone started a few classes at the guild because honestly, some people really could use some instructions and it's a shame to expect kids to figure this all out on their own, so I was toying with the idea of getting some educational programs going in Skryfe to help make sure people know how to have fun and be careful, 'cause they seem to be growing up faster every day.

I uhm...you want to teach...oh goodness. I don't think I can say that on the air. How long have you been in...that guild?

Oh, it was the first one I joined. It's really the only job I did back home, so I sort of gravitated to it automatically, and I just want to make it better for everyone involved and give back some to the community, 'cause I've been doing this for half my life now, so it's something I really have come to know inside and out, and I really want to make sure people know themselves and know how to be happy.

Half your life? You look quite young.

Oh, I'll be turning 22 soon, right at the end of June actually, I'm a summer baby. I love the summer and the warm weather and the sun and all the pretty bright green new leaves that've just sprung up from spring and the warm smells from the trees. It's a great time to be outside and around and just enjoy being alive.

You started...uhm working...when you were only eleven?!

Yeah, eleven is a little older for satyrs than it is for humans. Kinda like it's younger for elves. I don't really remember ever having parents, and I always had to try and act grown up, so I didn't really notice when I started actually growing up...but there was this really dreamy boy in a little town near my forest, and he was just so awfully pretty it always made me go all fluttery and squishy when I'd see him, 'cause sometimes I'd go into town and buy food and stuff, or look for a new knife or other things like that, and he always looked at me all funny and it just made me go even squishier, and then he saw me sitting in the street asking people for silver 'cause I didn't really have parents and it was hard to hunt for food sometimes and I had to ask people for money when I couldn't find anything, so later he found me in the woods one night and and I never really got his name, but he did bring me one really bright shiny gold coin when he came looking for me, and he said he's give it to me if I...well, and...then we...well you know...and...actually it was awfully nice and he was only just a couple of years older than me and I think maybe he thought I was his age 'cause he never really asked. I guess you could say I had a bit of a crush on him so it was a nice start to my career, and he did come back a few times and then I could actually get food and buy myself a bow to hunt for real and I was a little sad when he moved away but I figured out how to get more people to pay me, and I guess I must have missed him 'cause I still remember him even though it was so long ago, and — oh gosh, am I turning pink now?

After all that explaining, you actually blush over having had a crush on a cute boy when you were a kid? Oh dear, no no, it's okay, you don't have to be embarassed. Everyone has crushes when they're 11, sweetie, it's alright.

I guess I never really told anyone about him before.

Well, it sounds like we're just about out of time for today, and I think we'll be signing off. We hope you'll all tune in again soon, and in the mean time, keep those questions coming!