As always, you are free to voice, perform, fill, or whatever else you might want to call it, this script as you please, as long as you do not hide it behind a paywall. I would love to receive a link to the finished product, I enjoy seeing what other people make of my stuff

Changes you can make: I do not put particularly much care into my titles, so feel free to name it something different. If you do, please put the original name in the description or something. Any SFX I include are optional.

Also, I am always open to feedback, be it about the script itself, specific phrases, or about the format and better ways to provide the script to VAs.

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Synopsis: You are on a quest to eliminate a camp of monsters that threaten the town. Since you graduated top of your class from the magic academy, you were pretty confident at first, but you quickly learned that theory and application are very different from each other. Just as you slip and fall on the ground, and all hope seems lost, an unknown figure rushes to your aid.

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[Sounds of struggle. Magic whooshes, metal on metal. Maybe monsters cackling. Suddenly footsteps rapidly approaching]

Speaker: "HYA! TAKE THIS! You will not harm him as long as I am here!"

[More sounds of struggle. Then silence]

Speaker: *Out of breath* “That… should be the last of them. These filthy goblins are tricky little creatures, am I right?”

Listener: *thanks*

Speaker: “Oh, no need to thank me. It’s what every proper knight would have done. But I must say, it was pretty reckless of you to take on the whole camp by yourself, and in a frontal fight nonetheless. Even I wouldn’t have had the confidence to win that fight if they weren’t already distracted by you. So please don’t do something like this again, or at least get some serious martial training before you do!”

Listener: “concern”

Speaker: “Am I okay? Thanks for worrying, but it’s just a flesh wound. As long as I make sure it doesn’t get infected, I can walk it off in a few weeks.”

Listener: *more concern*

Speaker: “Fine, I’ll show it to you, if you insist! Are you a doctor or something? I’m telling you, it is really alright!”

[Magic Noises]

Speaker: “You… You’re a mage! This is amazing, it’s as if I never got hurt in the first place. What is someone with your abilities doing in a place like thi… Wait a minute, are you the one who already accepted this subjugation request before me? I was wondering why I didn’t see anyone, but it seems that was my misunderstanding.”

Listener: *question*

Speaker: “Yes, I was looking for someone who was more of the… warrior type. You know, huge muscles, armor, swinging their weapon around like a brute… When I saw you, I assumed you were just a civilian when I saw you.”

Listener: *annoyed*

Speaker: “Well, to be fair, there aren’t a lot of you guys in this line of work, and many people carry a staff with them. Look, even I have one!”

Listener: *pouting*

Speaker: “Come on, I didn’t mean anything by it. From what I can see, you must even be a pretty talented mage, judging by how quickly you managed to heal my wound!”

Listener: *inquiry*

Speaker: “Oh yes, I dealt with mages a few times before. Our knight academy once held a joint field exercise with some mages who were willing to come down from their ivory tower to ‘play’ with us lowly mortals.”

Listener: *annoyed*

Speaker: “I’m sorry, that might have come out wrong. It’s not that I disrespect mages or anything. We all have our purpose and expertise, so it kind of annoys me that they are often put on a pedestal as if they were almighty demigods or something. Can you guess how the field exercise went back then? The mages took way too long to cast their spells, had no spatial awareness or tactical knowledge, and then had the audacity to blame their teammates for not jumping out of a giant fireball quickly enough. In the end the exercise helped us to develop specific formations to protect our mages in combat. No thanks to those stubborn fools who kept insisting that they were perfect and only we needed to adapt our strategy.”

Listener: *

Speaker: *sigh* “Yes, I know that probably not all mages are like that. I probably just met the ones who liked the feeling of superiority they have over normal people, thus they participated in the exercise and wanted to save face afterwards. But you can not deny that your academy gives you very little training in actual combat or strategies. Judging from your situation, you probably thought yourself invincible, just like you were taught, but quickly discovered that the real world is not as kind as the training hall, right?”

Listener: *begrudgingly agrees*

Speaker: “No need to feel bad about it. As I said, this is not your fault. You can only know what you are taught or experienced yourself after all. As long as you change your mindset according to the facts, and not the other way around, you will be fine.”

Listener: *question*

Speaker: “What are some strategies we use against mages? Don’t you know that it is rude to ask someone you just met about their fighting abilities?”

Listener: *apology*

Speaker: *laughs* “No, it’s alright. I don’t mind sharing a thing or two with you, but I must keep SOME things for myself. Don’t want to help a stranger with developing the perfect strategy to defeat me after all.”

Listener: *retort*

Speaker: “No, I guess we aren’t really strangers anymore, now that we have helped each other. They do say that difficult situations foster the closest bonds… Fine, are you ready to hear my advice?”

Listener: *agrees*

Speaker: “Okay, the first thing is not really something you can do much about. It’s your height and build.”

Listener: *annoyed*

Speaker: “As I said, it’s not really something you can do much about, and I don’t mean it as an insult. But nevertheless, ignoring that you are more than an entire head smaller than me will only get yourself killed. So it’s better to adapt your strategies to avoid it becoming a problem.”

Listener: *question*

Speaker: “What do I mean by problem? For example, if an enemy got close to you, they could shove you, grapple you, or even pick you up like this!” *picks him up*

Listener: *embarrassed*

Speaker: “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that this would embarrass you so much! Please just ignore that I did that” *nervous laughter* “A-anyway, what I actually wanted to say is that you need to prevent enemies who are bigger than you from getting close, either by taking an advantageous position or by casting some kind of defensive spell. Couldn’t hurt to put a bit of muscle on that thin body of your’s.”

Listener: *disagreement*

Speaker: “I know that it takes time to build muscle, time which you could otherwise spend learning new spells. And this might be true for the mages who focus on pure science, but if you want to continue this kind of work, it will do you better to not focus on just one thing.”

Listener: *disagrees*

Speaker: “Then tell me, what you would do if you encountered an enemy who can specifically target your weakest points! Your strengths won’t help you in that case, so you should minimize your weaknesses instead.”

Listener: *agrees*

Speaker: “I’m glad you agree. Combat is dangerous and can change at any second. You won’t always have the right spell at hand or you might be too surprised to cast it in time. So it is important to be prepared for anything and to always have a secondary plan! Which brings me back to what I asked earlier. Why ARE you trying to do this kind of work?”

Listener: *answers*

Speaker: *surprised* “You were top of your class? Then why don’t you work as a court magician or a researcher instead? It would be much safer and pay way more money!”

Listener: *answers*

Speaker: “Ah, I can understand that feeling! The grand stories of heroism and adventure are the reason that most people do this, me included. I won’t try to talk you out of it then.”

Listener: *question*

Speaker: “Oh my, how studious of you. One thing you do have in common with the other mages is your insatiable curiosity. Fine, I’ll give you one last lesson, but you’ll have to pay for anything more.”

Listener: *agrees*

Speaker: “That was a joke, I won’t take you money! So, third, and LAST lesson: Hmmm, how to do this… Ah, yes. Please stand there and cast a spell.”

Listener: *question*

Speaker: “Yes, anything will do. Why don’t you try to destroy that goblin tent over there? Are you ready?... Great, then start!”

[Magic noises, then a hit]

Listener: *angry*

Speaker: “Yes, I just flicked a pebble at you. What are you gonna do about it?”

Listener: *silence*

Speaker: “That wasn’t a rhetorical question. What would you expect your enemy to do while you take your sweet time casting a spell? Combat is fast and so you also need to be fast. Your spell might be strong enough to blow up an entire fortress, nut that won’t do you any good if you can’t fire it. There are actually two lessons in this: The first is that your casting needs to be quicker so that your enemies don’t have the time to hit you. The second is that a quick and weak attack is better than a strong but slow one. A small pebble at the right time and place can just as effectively decide a fight as a giant fireball, as you experienced yourself.”

Listener: *takes notes*

Speaker: *laughs* “Seriously, you’re taking notes? Not that there's anything wrong with that. It is very rare to meet someone who is as open to new input as you. Want me to summarize the lessons for your notebook?”

Listener: *agrees*

Speaker: “Lesson 1: prevent enemies from exploiting your weaknesses. Lesson 2: Plan for failure and minimize your weaknesses. In particular, build muscle. Lesson 3: Quick and precise is better than strong.”

Listener: *growns*

Speaker: “Don’t think I didn’t hear you groaning. Unfortunately for you, I actually like you and don’t want to see you die. So if you don’t do it yourself, I will have to drag you along to my own training sessions once we’re back in town. And let me tell you, those are HELL.”

Listener: *embarrassed, agrees*

Speaker: “You would actually like that? What, the hellish training or…”

Listener: *answers*

Speaker: *embarrassed* “Oh, umm… I… I did not think you…”

Listener: *apology*

Speaker: “NO, no. It’s not as if I dislike the idea of spending more time together. I already said that I like you, didn’t I? I just didn’t expect that you would want to… form a party with me. I’ve had my reasons for working alone so far, but I think a party with you wouldn’t be so bad.”

Listener: *worried*

Speaker: “No, I don’t think you would hold me back at all. As I’ve already said, I have experience fighting with mages, and you are an exceptional one on top of that. In a party we can make up for each other’s weaknesses and make full use of our strengths.”

Listener: *wonders*

Speaker: “What are my weaknesses? I guess you’ll have to find out when we train or fight together. So should we make our little party official?

Listener: *thinks, then agrees*

Speaker: “I’m glad you agreed! Then it is decided! Let me get the bottle of ale from my backpack so we can properly toast to the formation of the strongest party!”

Listener: *defensive*

Speaker: “You don’t drink?” *laughs* “Looks like there is at least one more thing I’ll have to teach you if you want to survive in this line of work.”