Karas was a legendary mercenary who had a reputation for never saying no as long as the money was right. He had worked for King Emeril on many occasions supplying him with an eager volunteer for suicide missions. Fear was always a distant thought from Karas’s mind because it was only a job with more danger than most but the rewards were far greater and he had the skills to complete the jobs offered to him.
The King smiled at Karas’s approach, “Greetings to you. I have more work that a needs to be done.”
“Does the Duke of Xon need another lesson in manners,” Karas mentioned the ruler a land long at odds with Dar.
“Nothing so simple,” the King responded. “A knight of the Black Circle is harassing the village of Green Vale. I want you to eliminate the threat.”
“As long as the money is gold the job will be done,” Karas said and even as he spoke the King had tossed him a bag of coins.
Karas gave the King a brief bow and left the room. The knights of the Black Circle were dangerous with their fearsome training and dark enchantments but nothing that he would have to reequip for. It was surprising the King had brought such a minor task to Karas but with the troubles his children had been causing for him of late it wasn’t really surprising.
Watching as he traveled to the edges of civilization Karas wondered how many lives had been lost fighting back the wilderness. How much tragedy had the first people of Dar seen before they were able to not see doom lurking around every corner? Of course, when didn’t doom lurk around every corner? Karas lived his life for the moment because you never knew when your personal doom would come to claim you.
As if to emphasize this he spotted the signs of large group of goblin in the area. Goblins loved to ambush unsuspecting prey but they weren’t very good at hiding the signs of their movements, so if you knew what to look for you could spot them long before they saw you. Karas tied his mount to a tree and pulled a crossbow from his mount and vanished into the woods. Goblins admired shinning objects as much as Karas and he wanted see if they had any.
Unfortunately, Karas wasn’t versed in goblin so he didn’t know what the group of about twenty goblins was saying. They had a large pile of contraband which was promising and the war leader was arguing with the shaman and that meant they were distracted which meant they were vulnerable. Karas wondered if he should use his crossbow to take out the war leader, or shaman, or should he avoid the trouble altogether and continue with his quest.
