Enter Etrigan...
Protecting Caravan's was not Kaylo's idea of good work. Its not that the money was bad, in fact it was far from it. Many of these merchants overpaid their guards. They wanted good protection for their goods. Its not that the work was hard. If anything it was close to boring. Seldom were there many threats, at least against a properly protected caravan. Most brigands knew better when they were out-matched, and the trade route to Grak-ven was relatively safe from most creatures. This caravan did run into some goblin trouble early on, but they were easily routed. Still, it kept the job from being dull. No, the main reason Kaylo hated working for merchants was because of all the ignorant humans who worked that way. And they were too damn social. Always trying to engage in conversations, and Kaylo wanted none of that. At least with most of the merchants. There was one human he needed to talk to.
Kaylo had recently signed on with a mercenary group, and they had already given him a job...of sorts. He was to join this caravan and check out a prospective warrior and enlist him. According to the brothers, there was a strange human named Etrigan. He was spoken highly of by many of the independent mercenaries, but held no allegiance to any of the houses yet. And un-attached, skillful swordsmen were a commodity in DragonFall. During the short-lived goblin attack of a few nights back, Kaylo kept back and watched Etrigan fight. He fought with a strong intensity, and his eyes reminded Kaylo of other fighters he had seen. When Kaylo fought in the arena, there were a number of fighters that held a look of rage in their eyes during battle. A look that seemed to imply that they were using all their will to hold back their rage during the battles. It often meant that they had rage towards someone else, in the arena it was generally towards their 'masters'. Still Kaylo had rarely seen that look on a human. But those that harbored that kind of anger seemed to channel it into battle, and were some of the best fighters in the arena. It was the kind of look Kaylo never liked to see on his opponent.
But skill was not enough. Kaylo still had to talk to Etrigan. Most likely Kaylo would give a bad report, no matter how this talk went. Try and keep the humans in this group to a minimum. But before he made his mind up, he had to at least speak with the man. The caravan had made a short camp to make sure everyone was well fed, and things would start moving again in a few moments. Kaylo stepped over to the edge of the camp where Etrigan was sitting. He seemed to be staring off into space. Not meditating, but it didn't look as if he had anything on his mind. He seemed to be just waiting for things to get moving again.
'Hail...Etrigan...is it?', Kaylo announced. Etrigan looked up, but did not reply. Kaylo peered at him closely, and saw his face had a number of scars across it. He was ugly, even more so then most humans. Kaylo continued speaking, 'Uh...I noticed you in battle. You looked good.'
'Thanks.'
'You enjoy this caravan work?'
'It pays well enough.'
'True enough.', Kaylo struggled to think of what to ask, 'I noticed you are scarred...er...ah..care to tell me your story?', although Kaylo didn't feel like hearing it.
'Not really.'
'Hmpf. Don't talk much - do you?'
'I don't have much to say, I suppose.'
'Admirable trait for a human.'
Etrigan smirked, 'Thanks.'
Kaylo then changed his mind. Chances were if he did not recommend Etrigan, the brothers would find another fighter, and odds were he would be human. They were the majority in Dragonfall. If its going to be a human, this human fought well, and didn't seem too annoying. 'I recently joined the employment of a mercenary group.' Kaylo asked, 'Perhaps you would be interested in joining?'
'What kind of work?'
'Nothing specific. Its usually easier to find work as groups than independently. The men who hired me have promised the chance to make a lot of coin, and with work that is more satisfying then baby-sitting some rich merchants goods.'
'I should warn you, I'm not much of a companion.'
'We are not hiring friends, just good workers. Are you interested? It matters not to me.'
'Yeah...I think I am interested.'
For a few moments, neither of them said anything. Then Etrigan turned back to face the horizon. The conversation was over, and Kaylo felt no need to bother him anymore. Let him keep to himself. As humans go, he didn't seem too bad.