Shieldbiter makes a stand (Alex)

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Ghesh, upon arriving in Nova, had just kind of wandered through, slowly making his way closer to the center. He had no real goal in doing so. Few days back, he hit a few rooms in the slums to scrape together a few coins, and fortuitously he found a rather large hooded cloak that fit him well enough. It was gray in color and rather itchy; to you skinned humans, so it was presumably made of wool. He had the hood pulled up to shield his eyes from the sun that was beating down on him. His snout stuck out from under the hood, and the cloak itself was unable to close to cover his chest properly. He had decided to sit down at one of the stone benches shaded by one of the nearby trees for a few minutes.

Screaming drew his attention. A few younger men were engaged in a brawl with a handful of onlookers forming a circle around them. Ghesh stood up and made his way to the crowd, having nothing better to do. He stood head and shoulders over most of the crowd, so even from a few people back he had a good view. Several men were throwing fists and one even had a chunk of wood. The growing crowd made Ghesh unhappy, it reminded him too much of the last few years of his life, so he pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed the nearest fighter by the shirt, yanking him off of the downed fighter and almost casually tosses him towards the crowd. The individual who was on his back, whom Ghesh just saved from a beatdown, looked up at the large dragonborn in horror and scuttled away. The crowd began to cheer some.

His eyesight flashed white and a dull ache formed on the right side of his head. He turned to see the club-wielder look surprised by Ghesh's ability to get hit in the face. His anger reached a boiling point and he effectively snapped. It was just like his Arena Fighter days. Ghesh grabbed hold of the club and ripped it from his hands, his other arm drawing back, slamming his large fist into the poor bastard's chest. A series of snaps could be heard accompaning the sturdy thud as the man toppled backwards. He turned his attention to the last 2 fighters who had forgotten what they were fighting for. Ghesh took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, and crossed his arms, staring down the two combatants.
"Are you done now?" He asked, his voice deep and gravely. The two nodded sheepishly and the crowd collectively frowned in disappointment until Ghesh turned his attention to them. They quickly dispersed, leaving Ghesh standing alone, a sour look on his dragon-like face.

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Alex was taking a stroll through the 2nd district, he was particularly bored this day, he was on his way back to the castle from his stroll around town again. Once more without a guard and his body was entirely cloaked to hide who he is. After standing around a few moments to enjoy the square, a brawl began to break out. "Oh boy, a fight!" Alex whispered to himself in excitement, he loved a good brawl, especially when it's two idiots arguing over something stupid. Thats when HE showed up, This guy was HUGE! Alex watched on, starstruck at the amazing strength this...thing displayed.
 
However when Ghesh got hit by the club on his head, Alexander watched in amazement from his resilience to take a hit. When the lizard thing then punched the man in the chest and the sound of bones breaking made a visible cringe flash across his for a few moments before returning to starstruck awe cheering as lizard man continued to kick some ass, Once everyone scooted away out of fear from this person, Alex was the only one remaining from the crowd that vanished rather quickly. 

"You there!" he said while walking quickly to lizard man while simultaneously removing the hood to reveal his face. "What is your name?!" As Alexander asked the name of the stranger he extended his arm out to shake the victor's hand. "My name is Alexander Wulfric and might i say you were amazing! You absolutely man handled those men without even breaking a sweat!" He said with obvious admiration in his tone, someone who was that strong obviously spent almost a lifetime striving to earn it and that was immediately apparent to Alexander.

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Ghesh turned towards the voice that attempted to gain his attention. Ghesh stood silently and studied him with his one working eye, his head turned slightly further to the right so he got a good look. The man introduced himself as Alexander and complimented his ability to fight. Ghesh turned his eye towards the extended hand and waited a moment before unfolding his arms and engulfing the man's hand in his own. His chainshirt jingled softly as Ghesh shook Alex's arm.

"My name is Ghesh." he stated plainly. "Spend years fighting for your life tends to make it easy to put down some peasants." He added, releasing the man's hand and turning his attention to the injured man who was being helped up and ushered away. He turned his bronze eye back to Alex, "What do you want?" Ghesh wasn't trying to be friendly, he frankly didn't really care what this human wanted, but he had no real reason to deny him just yet.

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As Alexander's hand was being shook it took mental notes on the size of Ghesh's arms..they were huge.. BUT that was besides the point. Alex cleared his throat and began to speak once more. "So you are a warrior as well huh? I brawl occasionally but that is besides the point im trying to ask. What do you do for a living? I am a Earl to King Noku Noru and I wanted to hire a personal guard to help secure my safety. I'd normally be fine protecting myself since I can handle combat but not even I can handle fighting 5 people at once as amazingly as you did." Alexander said with his charming personality at work. 

"If you'd like we can go somewhere more private and speak of the finer details, it will be my treat." As he finished giving Ghesh his offer Alexander would continue to analyze Ghesh and his demeanor, he could tell just from a few looks that the years of fighting he mentioned must have been extremely brutal. Poor guy was missing an eye.. One day Alexander would definitely brawl with him to get a deeper understanding of Ghesh regardless of if he took the offer or not.

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Being asked what he did for a living took him somewhat by surprised. He never really put thought into his story. Should he even have a story? Ghesh didn't really feel like being too....upfront and honest. He already said too much about his past. Also, this man couldn't take on 5 weak little humans? Ghesh mentally shrugged. This man appeared human as well so he supposed he shouldn't be too surprised by it. Ghesh didn't care about his title. Where he came from there were no titles to speak of. No real for of monarchy, just Elder dragonborn, and the younger ones. Ghesh knew a very basic bit about a Monarchy structure, however, from some casual chat with some traders.

"Your title," Ghesh starts, jabbing his knuckle into the man's chest, his knuckle rather than finger because of his rather sharp claw-like nail, "means nothing to me. I accept your proposal, let us discuss it in greater detail." Ghesh knew he needed some direction in this world. Or a purpose. Either or, really. Defending this tiny humie would give him that purpose. It was also the opposite of what he spent years doing, fighting, and killing, for others entertainment.

"But know this," Ghesh gave Alex his best stare-down, his draconian face and severe scar simply adding to his intimidation, "I do not take kindly to fighting for others pleasure. I will not fight because some noble upset you. I will not fight because you were stupid."

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"Hm" alex huffed with a grin on his face when the dragon's knuckle bumped into his chest. "Good, Id rather hear honest words then stupid lies" he told the big drago man. "Because of my title in this land, many lie straight to my face. although i can tell when people lie quite easily." He liked the dragon's  spunk and bluntness he preferred that then the stuffy nobles in the court who twist words to their own benefits.
  he said while putting both hands on the back of his head in a relaxed position. "But regardless of my title I'll give you an offer you cant refuse" he added. He wasnt really scared of Ghesh, if he was going to attack Alex he would have done so already and besides, not all beasts are monsters. 

"I wouldnt ask you to fight some noble.. in that case id do it myself, nobles in this land are more timid then forever fawn when it comes to getting their hands dirty, I on the other hand am not like that" he said to reassure ghesh he would try to understand which course of action he would take. "However being stupid is debatable, I prefer the easier solution in some situations that others would find worth the time and effort." he added while leading Ghesh to a nearby tavern. "So Ghesh pick your poison, wine or ale or do you simply enjoys water?" alex asked 

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"I've no time for lies." Ghesh said plainly with his gruff voice. He was silent through most of Alex's spiel, Ghesh wasn't too familiar with most people of other races. He knew a basic bit from what he heard from trade caravans, it never really occurred to him that cowards would actually be in power. He came from a Clan that had martial ambition, in a world where timidness or hesitation would likely end in death.

He chose not to comment further on Alex not being stupid, for the sake of what he said was pretty straight forward. He wasn't going to repeat himself. When questioned on his "poison" of choice, he pondered for a few moments. He walked with Alex to his left, due to his; ya know, blindside. As he walked, he would regularly look around, turning quite a ways to his right to get a good view of the area. "Whatever is strongest." Ghesh was a big boy. He could handle the strong stuff quite well.

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"Good, neither do I." Alex said aloud. "Just makes people bigger fools when they are eventually are caught."  he commented.

"Hmm a quiet one are ya? That's ok." He said after Ghesh remained quiet the entire time he was talking. "My father is a bit quiet too, strong silent type but he communicated through action." he added to buffer some of the silence in the conversation.

Back at the tavern, Alex decided to give Ghesh some of their strongest ale they had. he didn't think wine or water would be his type of drink anyways. After grabbing him a big mug for the big ol' dragon. "Here ya go, some ale that i hope satisfies you." He said while pulling up a chair for himself and Ghesh.

"So lets talk terms." After that his entire demeanor would change to that of a more serious tone. He was now completely serious, something that tends to happen when he negotiates. " What do you want exactly for being my guard? I can offer you a nice place to sleep, food, some financial compensation." He said while taking a swig of ale after. "All i ask in return is that you protect me should my life be in immediate danger, don't misunderstand I will fight to the best of my abilities if i can." He leaned in using both his hands to move into a posture showing he was deep in thought. "I have a bit of experience in combat myself but  bandits and whoever else comes for my most likely wont play fair and incapacitate me."

he said pulling out his claw weapons his father forged for him. "Ain't they a beauty? My father forged them for me from the metals of heaven's pass the piss poor blacksmiths here wish they could make something this good so im used to handling myself but lately things have been a bit strained lately."

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"I like your father already." Who needs words when your bicep is the size of someone's head. He accepted the mug with a grunt and a small nod before taking a long drag on it. It had a strong burn of alcohol, but it bothered him little. Looking at him, you'd almost think he was drinking well water. Ghesh placed both his elbows on the table and leaned on it with the mug sitting in front of him. "Don't put yourself in a bad situation. Don't face down an army for your ego and expect me to help." It was a fairly simple statement. Don't pick a fight you can't win on your own. "You can fight your own battles. But you will remain unharmed otherwise."

When he drew the claw weapons, Ghesh tensed slightly in preparation for a conflict, but he remained seated and "casual"

After the moment passed, his attention went to the weapons and he held a hand out for one to inspect it. He had a number of years as an armorer, before he was forced into fighting. He had gotten quite good at it too. He didn't understand the mention of Heaven's pass, but through context clues he was able to assume it had some rare and expensive material. He briefly thought he should pick up a hammer again.

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"I like him too.." he said when thinking of his father and home, he missed them



When Ghesh downed the drink Alex was impressed and also kinda scared "Woah there, we gotta get you some more dont we?" He said handing another mug of ale while laughing. "Well i dont think anyone WILLINGLY gets themselves into a bad situation. but sometimes you cant help it. But regardless I trust you" He said giving another big ol shit eating grin



He handed Ghesh the claw gauntlets "So where are you from big guy? You don't look Kray unless your just stuck in a constant half transformation kinda thing." he said while taking another swig of ale 

"Oh also quick side note before i forget, your free to come and go as you please, all i ask is you let me know ahead of time. I can be laid back as long as you tell me the truth and ahead of time if you can help it." He added while taking another swig of his mug feelin the ale a bit since he got a bit of a stronger brand of ale to keep up with Ghesh (although he clearly cant)

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This man sure did smile a lot. The thought of being happy so often was unusual to Ghesh. He sue to be happy, it's been a few years but he still thinks of those times regularly. Once again, he didn't further the "don't be stupid" conversation because he said all he intended to say regarding it.

He accepted the claw and began to inspect it. It was rather well made. For a human's work. It appeared to be a tad to decorative for a weapon, but perhaps this world was far more different. Granted Violence is a universal language. Alex was some sort of noble in this world, it's possible that they carry weapons more as decor than actual tools. The thought wasn't entirely foreign to him. He returned the weapon and reached to his waist and drew his dagger, setting it on the table. It was heavy, and the blade was quite broad. It easily weighed close to 4 or 5 pounds. The dagger had a thick vein running down the center that ran the length of the weapon, roughly 8 inches, and the blade came off of the vein up to 2 inches. Near the middle was a small indent where the edge curved inwards slightly before coming back out at the pommel. It had a rather large wooden handle wrapped in old leather, and the blade was worn. It wasn't shiny in the least bit. (Effectively: It's a scaled up Roman Pugio)

"I'm rusty, But i use to be an armorer. I'd like to get back into it. It's been so long since I've made a weapon."

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Alex took the "dagger" from Ghesh's hand, PFFFT, dagger are you kidding me? this thing is the size of a small dog, As Alex looked in his hand he took mental notes of the sword, the craftsman ship was pretty good "You make this? Its some pretty good quality." He said while observing the simple design, comparing this to Alex's own weapon made it was relatively the same quality which is surprising since Heaven's pass has some good ore his clan could sniff out.

"Where did you get the ore for this? Its pretty damn good if I say so myself" Alex couldn't sense the quality of the metal but just by looking at it he could tell some attention went into it's design. "Also you never answered where you are from, i wont press ya for details if you dont wanna share, but one day ill make you tell me" he joked a bit hoping to get ghesh to loosen up a bit, although he doubted the lizard man ever will.

"And being a blacksmith huh...?" He said to himself thinking about some possibilities in the future. " That sounds like it would fit you, maybe one day i can pull some strings and help you out there." he said while placing the dagger back on the table so Ghesh can grab it. "But you gotta prove your worth me going through the trouble of it." He said "I'm kind but im not a blind fool to just start handing things out simply because people asked." 

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Ghesh shook his head. "It's a holdover from a recent battle. It's not as good as you think." He and other fighters were usually given old battered weapons. Hand-me-downs from the standing army when they became to damaged. He had no idea where the ore came from, being he was far from home when he was given it. Then he asked where Ghesh came from. His first thought was saying 'I just appeared in this world' would likely get him burned at the stake for being a witch or something. He reached over and retrieved the dagger, slipping it back into it's wooden sheath.

"I'm from across the Auxrian Sea. I arrived on this land mass a while ago. I come from a much different place." He didn't exactly lie. Not about the important parts that is. He took the new mug and took a second long drag on it. He downed nearly half the mug this time. "I wasn't asking you to help. Just making a statement." He added in, his voice with a detectable hint of annoyance. If you could tell a slight different pitch in the gravelpit that is his vocal cords.

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He studied the sword closer upon inspection. "I see.." he said, the sword upon closer inspection was pretty old. "Auxrian sea huh? I guess that's what your people call the widow maker sea." he said not suspecting Ghesh's answer in the slightest

However Alex managed to pick up his slight change in tone. "Fine fine, I wont help then." he added "But good luck getting the funds and permits for such a thing. You're also going to face discrimination along the way merely because of your appearance..." he sighed " Its a sad but true thing, the king has been rather stressed lately because of all of the new fated coming and causing trouble. People are going to assume your fated because of your appearance... and wont listen if you try to prove otherwise." he added  "It's sad but true, I myself dislike the fated but..there's a few good eggs in every batch." thinking of the poor people who faced horrible things cause of a few idiots.
 
"Do you have a place to live? I have an estate in the first district that is kinda empty if you need a place to live." He said thinking of how his family was suppose to live in the city but decided to stick to their roots and stay in heaven's pass while he was stranded in this city.

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Ghesh was confused by the mention of permits. He didn't even know what that meant. It's nothing he had to deal with in his world. Not by that name at least. Perhaps it was some sort of payment thing to ensure he got metal from the miners or something. Discrimination is nothing new to him, a few years ago it would have been, but that's since changed. Fated was a new word for him as well. Or at least, the implied meaning behind it. Perhaps some sort of religious clan who were raising hell in the name of some Chaos god or something. Perhaps it was a clan of dragonborn-looking zealots? What was it Alex mentioned earlier. Half-Kray? Is Kray the name for dragons here?

"I don't know what you mean by the fated. Is it some sort of religious sect?" Ghesh finished off the last chug of his drink and folded his arms, refusing any further drinks, as he leaned back in his chair. He thought for a moment regarding his housing arrangements. He didn't really know if it would be wise to move into some house with some random guy who offered him a job. Not like he really had any choice. Kings tend to like their taxes and rules so it would probably be the cheapest option. Not to mention he was just hired as a bodyguard, it would serve him best to be near him frequently. Finally, he shook his head. "I've no place to call home, and living close would better serve you."