Jin was messing around in the town and searching for the next place to kick up his feet for a little while and put his ear to the ground for some quest. The change in scenery was a pleasant trip.

It wasn't long before he was back at his usual game of sitting on a corner and selling charms to whoever happened to pass by. The day was dragging on with only a few customers throughout. In the moments between he tried to pick up what he could about the locals. Which, surprisingly people tended to be rivers of information to a wandering goods peddler.

Behind him, There was a sudden crash. he whirled around to see some low lives knocking over a cart full of food. A cabbage rolled down the street and bumped into Jin's foot. He picked it up and bounced it in his hand twice before raising one leg and pitching it at one of the thugs.

Tha cabbage burst on the side of the man's face. The bandits glared back at Jin who just smiled with a grin. They rolled up their sleeves and Jin put his hands out in front of him.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Can't we all just work something out here," he gave the cart owner a quick glance letting him know to make a break for it. The owner grabbed his jewel pouch and sprang away.  The low lives grunted in frustration and closed the distance between themselves and Jin.

The light mage looked left and right to find some kind of out for the situation, when just then a behemoth of a man turned the corner. The man was clad in armor and his presence was enough to cause the legs of the thugs to tremble.

Jin smiled and patted the good luck charm on his belt. He brought his hand up to make a fist and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the giant. "See. You two should watch what you're doing around here. You never know who you'll bump into."

"Boy am I glad you showed up," he whispered to the man with one hand held up around his mouth to conceal it from the thugs.

No matter what the giant did, as soon as he moved the bandits would be ready to scurry off.

The massive man of red and brass was simply walking down the street, thinking more of the fact that none of the quests here seemed to be all the good for him kind of style of doing thing and he wondered if it was time for a change of policy on how to do things when he heard something he wasn't really expecting. "Boy am I glad you showed up,"

As he turned his massive form, his two-handed ax on his back in full display as he looked over. The person who had said that to him was a man about half a foot shorter then he was, and easily half his weight, but seemed to be built enough talking to him. His hair was cut just below his ears, along with an open shirt that showed his bare neck and chest and he noticed that he had a glaive at his side. This made Ragnar think that this man was capable of fighting, which made him notice him slightly more as he looked up from him and past him.

He saw fear and weakness infront of him, in the form of the thugs as he growled to himself, possibly loud enough for them to hear it and if they did it would sound closer to a roll of thunder in his massive chest then a growl as he walked towards them. Nothing upset Ragnar more than weakness pretending to be strong, and if they kept standing there they would get it next.

Not to his surpise, given the fear he smelled on them, they ran away the moment he started walking towards him. If this was Oak, he would have considered running them down and showing them a good beating, but this was a new city and while he was bloodthirsty he was not stupid.

Ragnar then turned and said to the man that was left standing " Who the hell are you? "

The giant man growled like rolling thunder. Jin coyly stepped to the side as the behemoth stepped forward with an equally large axe on his back. His steps could almost quake the ground with each fallen boot. Jin tapped his lucky charm once more. It always seemed to pay off when he needed it the most. The man seemed like he would whip the great weapon out any moment and cut them down. Jin simply stood with both hands on the back of his head and near the shaft of his glaive.

Before anything could happen, the thugs scampered off with their tails between their legs. Jin gave a sigh of relief and went to pat the man on the back but stopped himself midway through the motion. Probably not the best idea. Then the man's attention turned to him. His greeting was almost like he was ready to fight him too.

"Jin," he said with a shrug and took his hands off the back of his head. "I'm just a traveling doctor, and peddler of good luck charms, and future mater of this glaive," he usually never talked about the glaive as in reality he had no idea how to use the weapon but wanted to learn. But upon first impressions maybe it was best not to seem inept at combat.

He turned to face down the street and gestured his hand down it, hopefully before the man could question him too much. "Thanks for the help. I owe you one. Let me buy ya a drink. I know a pretty good tavern down the way. And who are you?"

If the man agreed, Jin would begin to walk down the street to the nearby pub.

The massive man looked down at the man thanking him and who seemed to have pissed off some weaklings, and he seemed to be a very normal kind of man and as he talked to him Ragnar could not help to wonder why he pissed those guys off at any point and more importantly why he didn't handle it himself. Maybe he could not handle it himself? The man apparently some kind of doctor along with a scam artist of some kind. Ragnar did not believe in good or bad luck, even though his people often believe in superstition but Ragnar did not he only believe in the power of his God and nothing else beyond that.

As the man pointed down to the tavern and offered him a drink he thought about this for a moment, standing almost statue still as he thought about this. He had not had a drink in this place yet, he has been too busy trying to find jobs around here to pay him so he had very little time. He then said simply " Yes. "

He then followed the man towards the tavern. Once he reached the tavern, he had to bend down slightly to get in and the tavern went quiet when this monster of a man walked in. He was not their normal patron, but as he walked in with Jin everyone seemed to relax in that if he was with someone like him he most likely isn't here to murder them all.

Once they reached a table, Ragnar sat at the table as he waited for the drinks and he said simply " How long have you been a doctor then? "

Jin shifted his head left and right, waiting for the big man's response. He seemed in deep contemplation about it. The light mage worried that the man was deciding between agreeing to the drink or crushing the comparatively smaller mage. Luckily, in the end, the man agreed.

As they made it to the tavern, Jin waited while the man ducked beneath the doorway to get inside. For all the benefits of size, the little things like that had to be an annoyance. The silence that washed over the bar deadly. Not even a breath hung in the air, held back by fear of what could set off such a man. Jin eased beside the man and into the room with a friendly wave, "We are weary travelers looking for a drink," he called out across the room and held his jewel bag high. His charm acted as a veil hiding the nervous sweat on his brow.

The tension in the room resided and the two were shown a table by the owner. One that was not too close to the door so patrons wouldn't have to walk by them much. Jin sat across from the man and flung his arm over the back of the chair. To his surprise, it was the warrior that began the conversation.

"Oh. I suppose healer is a more accurate term. For a few years," he answered and nodded at the waitress who was trying to look past them for any other table that may have just ordered. Jin's nod brought her over slowly and she quickly laid the drinks down and vanished.

"I was hired as a battlefield medic by the military during the demonic incursions. He made sure his glaive was resting against the side of the table just in case anything happened. "But now I am a traveling healer and peddler of charms," he said with a nod and patted the bag he toted around with him.

"And what about you? You look like you're here for a reason. And not just sightseeing."

Once the drinks arrived, Ragnar grabbed the mug that held his drink in it and he looked down at it for a moment before hearing what the man was saying. " Battlefield medic... so I am guessing you have seen your fair share of blood, gore, and what battle does to a man. " As Ragnar said this he reached up and took off his rusty red and brass helm. His hands were large enough to grip the top of the helmet in one hand as he pulled it off placing it on the table next to him, showing his face to the traveling doctor.

Ragnar's face was very harsh and weathered looking, from his brow which seemed to always be on the edge of furious anger to his lips which seem to curl into a snarl. The thing that most likely to draw someone's eye was the fact that he was tanned under the helmet, along with the fact that Ragnar was shaved completely bald, though he was clearly not naturally bald as small amounts of his hair could still be seen on the top of his head. The next biggest thing was that Ragnar's face was covered in scars of various sizes and shapes across his entire face. Some of them were very small, no longer then the kind of scars you might get from if you cut yourself shaving but it still scarred over to some that went across the length of his face. A major scar as across the right side of his face, going from just an inch or so behind his eye and going from temple to where his jaw connects to his skull but there seemed to be dozens of them that covered his face and neck.

Ragnar looked at Jin with his brown eyes, though there seemed to be something else behind those eyes that seemed much darker, as he said simply " I have never seen a battlefield medic that looked as scared of combat as you and lived. " Ragnar said that with a level of both a snarl and a chuckle at the man. Ragnar then downed his drink in four massive gulps before slamming it on the table before putting his helmet back on his head.

" As for what I am doing here... well I am here to simply make money. "

The mention of his time in the company of war changed Jin's expression from the jovial one he often carried to one more engrained by the sight of pain and death. It was in his eye but hidden past the glib and gile he chose to don. The man across from him removed his helmet to reveal a battle-scarred landscape.

Jin didn't avert his eyes. It would be rude for him to look away from the statement the warrior was making so clearly. His face told the story of countless brushes with death met with grit and willpower. The ale was sitting stagnant between them, and Jin finally took a drink, his eyes still meeting the other man's. "I have. I've seen men that can't be put back together. Men that die out on the battlefield...and those that walk around after the war without realizing they already died," speaking about it brought a sadness to the light mage's heart and he looked into his mug of ale and took another drink.

"And you? You seem like you've seen a fair share of combat. The war? Merc? or Both?" Jin asked as it was clear this man made his living by the blade and armor he wore.

Jin shed some of the gloom from the topic of death and war as Ragnar had actually given a chuckle. A one-sided smile flashed on Jin's face, "I'm resourceful."

" I prefer to avoid it if I can but I can hold my own. But I'd rather evade and just focus on healing. Doctors oath ya know," he shrugged and took another drink, not trying in the least to match how much his comrade just inhaled.

"Me too," he replied about making money "How is Marigold treating you on that front? It seems a decent amount of things to do around here with someone that has your skills. Especially around the castle."

"And of course if you are ever in need of a doctor," he added.

Ragnar listened to the man talk, and he could tell that while the man wasn't really a warrior like him he has seen what war can do to each other. Sadly he was too weak to find the joy in the slaughter and the feeling of rage, but that was to be expected of people like him. As he thought about this for a moment he only heard enough to hear something about the castle. " Yea... not really, the only thing I remember seeing in that specific area was something to distract some guards while someone ran off or something. No idea who the girl was at the time nor did I care. Apparently she was some princess or something. Well, the guards left after here, so I got paid and then left. That was the money I made from that."

Ragnar nodded to the woman who brought him another drink before lifting a small metal flap on the front of his helmet, something to let drinking be easier in the helmet he was in as he took a drink from the ale though this one was much smaller. Ragnar then said " Well the best jobs I got were from a farmer in the Farmlands, Farmer Jim. Good old guy seems like he can handle himself and I respect that. Loves cabbages way too much though. "

Ragnar leaned back on the chair, it creaking but holding firm as he thought about it before saying " Well if I do need a doctor and I am in the area, then sure I will do that but after spending time in Oak and then here, I am considering going back up north towards the Mountains of my home. Their things made a lot more sense to me than the stuff down here but we will see. "

The two of them walked in the world with very different paths. Something that was more apparent with each sentence they shared. Ragnar was tough and chiseled by war. He lived for it. Jin couldn't help but smile at the man's story about the princess and then let out a laugh before taking another drink.

"Yeah, I know the one. I helped her out too. She seems to be a fiery sort. Who knows, maybe she'll have a run of bad luck on the streets and she'll need a man clad in armor to save her." He gave a small head tilt and a nod, "It did pay well enough though." Although Jin had found himself in a guild his kinship to money was rooted in who he was. Not that he would do anything bad, but he'd never shy away from a bit of extra coin.

He listened to the man explain about the farmer. It seemed like he could get some work out there himself. Something told him that if they were jobs that Ragnar enjoyed, he would be better off steering clear of them.

He gestured his arms wide, in acceptance. "Whenever you need."

"Sieghart?" He asked and leaned on the table. "That's a far journey away from here. It does seem like the south favors politics." It was clear there was a hint of curiosity in his voice about why the man had traveled so far down.

"When I was serving in the war. Even with the demons lurking. The soldiers still told horror stories about a place. One covered in darkness and fog. Within were all manner of beasts and monsters. Dahlia." He figured if there was ever a place for a man to find battle it would be there, in abundance.

He patted the glaive that rested against the table, "And as much as I avoid war. I promised my father that I'd master this weapon."

Ragnar listened to the man about what he said about Sieghart and he smiled under his helmet as he realized that this place sounds more and more like his kind of place to be. That would be a place where he could get a lot stronger and he knew he would have to go there after stopping by his home on Oak to pack up his things. " Well, then that sounds like the perfect place for me. Sounds like they most likely need some work to cull some of those monsters from the area. It should not take me too long with my mount, though I don't know where it is right now. It will show up when I need it though, most likely destroying some forest or terrorizing some village somewhere. " Ragnar shrugged at this as if this was perfectly normal for a mount to be doing out somewhere.

Taking another drink of his ale he says to the man " Well if you want to get better at that stick then you are going to have to get into a fight, most likely get your ass kicked a couple of times before you learn how to really do anything. Or you get yourself a damn good trainer. I luckily had both when I was growing up to teach me how to use an ax, though it was more ass-kicking than teaching. Got more than a handful of scars from the old man before he got his head taken off by a rival warlord. " Ragnar didn't seem to say this in a tone that sounded like he really cared about the man or even felt bad that he died it was just more as a statement of fact like someone saying " the sky is blue" or " Water is wet"

Jin cocked his head as the man mentioned he didn't know where his mount was. How could a steed just up and disappear like that? His confusion shifted towards being impressed as he said that the mount would show up when he needed it. An expression that shifted again just as quickly to dread. His face dropped a little and one eyebrow shot up, "What...kinda mount do you have that would even want to terrorize a town or even have the ability to," he asked, shaking his head at the absurdity of the question. Was this man riding atop of the incarnation of hell itself?

As the topic moved on, he looked at the so-called stick when Ragnar talked about it. The warrior was right of course. If he was ever going to use that thing then he needed to fight someone with it. To train with it. Although even hearing the words about getting beaten up made him look weary and slump in his chair, "Ugh. Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. But I'm willing to do what it takes. I'd prefer a trainer though," he added with a smile. Going around looking for fights wasn't something that suited him well. "I learned a bit about how to wield an ax. You wouldn't know where a guy could find a trainer would ya?"

Then Ragnar just grazed by the death of his father. Jin leaned forward on the table, "Wait...did you just say your father was beheaded?" Somehow it didn't feel right to so sorry or console the man about it.

"What happened to the rival warlord?" He was immensely curious about how that turned out, considering Ragnar took is so casually. Maybe it was a code of honor or he truly hated his father.

As the man in the brass and red-colored armor stood there he realized, yet again, how different his life was from the life of the man sitting across from him. Even though he was in the Demon War, he was not a warrior, at least not one that Ragnar would consider anyway. Putting that out of his mind for a moment he said " Yes. He was, though that kind of thing was not uncommon, it normally only happened in honor duels between two warlords and rarely on the open battlefield like that but this time around he got a lucky shot. As for the Warlord afterward the killing blow on my father, he was cut down soon afterward by being surrounded by my father's honor guard. Both of the skulls should still be at the Shrine back home, assuming my home is still standing at all after I left."

Ragnar leaned back in his chair as he looked at the man " I gather the fact that this kind of thing isn't normal for you or your culture. I often forget that people in the south do not have a warrior culture like mine and it makes it strange for me. Death is a part of life in our culture the only thing that matters at the end is that you died with honor and with bravery, and my father did that so I do not miss him or wish he was still with me. He did exactly what most of my tribe's warriors dream of doing, dying in battle with honor. " Ragnar took another drink of his ale as he finished it off before ordering another one. Ragnar was not going to tell him about the other things his tribe did to the enemies of his clan as that was not important and it would scare this person even more than he already was.

He listened to Ragnar's tale of his father's battle and untimely death along with that of the rival warlord. To think that in one fell swoop two prominent men would meet their end. Ragnar lived a life full of violence and bloodshed. The kinds of things that Jin saw in the hospitals of people being drug in from grave injuries and the bodies that didn't make it. "Why wouldn't your home be standing? Or is it like the honor duals as well? Do clans rise and fall as quickly as a warrior could? He asked not thinking about it being an uncomfortable question. If the man could speak of the death of his father so casually, he assumed he could speak about his clan with the same ease.

Jin took a drink of his ale and looked around the room at the people living more simple lives now and wondered what it would be like in Ragnar's clan. "Yeah things are certainly different around here. Not so much a warrior culture. I mean during and after the demon war, there was a surge of more militant mindsets but people are mostly focused on rebuilding now. But no I can't imagine there are any clans like that around here." he let out a short burst of laughter, "Heck, my mom was a doctor and I grew up in a hospital. That's far different than anything you described. Oh...What about your mother? Was she a warrior too?" if it was a warrior clan he wondered if the women were just as hardy as the men.

He gave another small laugh, "She had to have been to push someone as big as you out?" But he meant it as a compliment to her fortitude and strength.

-exit-

Ragnar listened to the man as he spoke before smiling under his helmet at the question about his mother, and he then put his mug down before saying " I say that because our clan was nearly wiped out, everyone in the clan fled to every corner of the world in order to escape being made extinct. I do plan on going back soon and taking back my Clan's homeland but that is a mission for another time and place. But yes, all women have to be some measure of a warrior, if only to make sure the men behave. " Ragnar said, his version of a joke before he went rigid in his seat, the mug falling from his hand and onto the table as a feeling rushed over him. He had to run.. and run fast... His enemy was waiting for him there, the first of many great skulls to give to his lord.

Ragnar stood up from the table a moment later, nearly flipping the table as he grabbed his ax in a single hand and started to walk out the door. The people standing nearby jumped as the massive man that was sitting there moment ago suddenly made a very rapid movement and was heading towards the door. Once Ragnar reached the door, he looked around for a moment before speaking a word. The word wasn't icebergian or any language that anyone of this world would know, unless they were also a following of the Dark Gods like Ragnar, then they might though they would never try to summon the beast being summoned for fear of their life. The word split the air with a crack, like thunder, as Ragnar looked down the street again and a smile creeps across his face.

Running down the street was, at least from a distance looked to be a massive brass colored bull based on the shape and how wide it was but as it got closer to Ragnar the features started to become more clear. The horn on his head was a single one, forming a T shape on it, though on top of the flat of that T were large spikes, where it appeared skulls had been placed. Its mouth was also not that of a bull at all, it appeared to be closer to a massive dog in shape and size, it's mouth appeared to be big enough to bite a man's head off with room to spare, its teeth looked like shortswords. As it continued to get closer, another thing became clear. The color of the beast was not it's fear, it was armor. Sheets of Brass covered armor covered every inch of this beast and it didn't seem to slow it down at all in any way. The chains that were used to 'control' this beast was attached to a massive spiked collar around its neck.  As it approached and slowly came to a stop, small gaps in the armor showed something possibly more terrible. This beast had no skin, it appeared to be made of machinery and parts mixed together with a living beast. What could have created this monster?

As the beast snapped and growled, sounding very unnatural to the world and not sounding like any other beast alive. Ragnar grabbed his saddle and threw himself on this mighty beast. Grabbing the chains that held it, he looked down at Jin before saying " I hope we never meet again Jin... or at least not on the field of battle, because if we do... I will show you as much mercy as my father showed the warlords. " Ragnar said this before snapping the chains and tearing off down the street, seemingly aiming to head out of town.


[Exit]

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