The original plans of the cloaked and dustmasked figure waltzing into town because everyone is too busy staring at the CATGIRL, are discarded after said Catgirl provides a straight line of the bug variety.

  So Cloaky Mc Cloakerson instead walks up to Mittens, eying the big bits saying with just enough of an accent to be noticable, but not enough to be worth the effort typing extra Z noises and clicks "I'd barely consider those even mandibles, let alone brutal.  The wasteful mess I passed by could have been dozens, to be fair."  They killed all those animals and just LEFT them there, more for his snacks back such poor hunters in these parts.

OOC: If it worked for an entire party of shardminds and Warforged, and the ninja turtles, it will work for one bug right?

Mialee seems startled by the yelling guard. "Did... I... do bad?"

The guard looks over the motley crew. "You didn't, ma'am. But I'm sure she did. If you helped anyone, lycan, it was by coincidence. Your bragging about the gore of the battle only proves your lust for violence."

Mialee frowns and says, "She... you... stop being mean!" as her eyes start watering up. Her face is contorted in a mixture of anger and sadness, soon to be replaced by fear and sadness. She seems to slightly move to be partly in front of Mittens, as if out of reflex.

The guard says, "It's not mean to protect this town; it's my job. Lycans are dangerous and violent. It'd be on my head if she kills anyone in this town."

At the sight of the cloaked figure, Mialee looks over to him with suspicion/curiosity. Here eyes are still watery and her expression still saying she'll cry if people press her too hard.

The guard calls for backup.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Sat 07 Sept 2013.

“Thanks, Kyle!” Mits chimes with a big smile that her new ally would stand up for her.  She's not sure what to make of the cloaked person so she focuses next on adorable sensitive elf girl.  She offers a conjured flower.

“Aww?  Don't cry, Mialee.  Mittens is happy!”  She points at her grin.

A black market merchant!  Who else would be all cloaky and yet go out of their way to downplay the value of her loot?  Best not to draw attention to him if she wants him to buy her loot.  So she stows the mandible and continues.  “Being treated with suspicion and disrespect is quite the step up from being swarmed and attacked on sight.  Pattern recognition makes it difficult for one to trust anyone much less ones of races with violent reputations...  cough, Humans, cough.”

  Doesn't it just figure that the Kyle with a positive Charisma modifier still lacks training in Diplomacy or Bluff?  Then again, he had to resort to a Background to unlock Intimidate.  On an Assassin.

  "Mittens, as tempting as it is to sass the guards, there will only be his word against some complete strangers if he starts making things up about you to keep you outside."

  He then looks over to the Cloaked figure, and sighs.  "Oh, it's you.  I thought you'd be hunting by running straight at the animals?"

  The cloaked figure probably shrugs, or at least the movement under the cloak may give that impression.  "Why slowly stalk prey, when it so much of it willingly comes close? I see you've met more...  What words was it?  More of the sort you seem to keep company with."

  Kyle asks "How many times am I allowed to bring up people fainting at the sight of your arm deformity again, Chekin?"   <Thri-Kreen>"*Censored Bleep*</Thri-Kreen> Twice.  I'd hate you if you weren't a pleasure to work with."  Is that more, or less new languages for Mittens to worry about?

  They look down at (metaphorically, as well as literally) at Mialee, "Have you hired him for protection?  He can't protect your feelings no matter how much you pay him, little one....  He's working for free again isn't he."

Mialee gets a "can't help smiling" smile on her face as Mittens gives her a conjured flower. She takes it and curiously examines it before it poofs from existence 6 seconds later, which slightly startled Mialee, but judging from the smile, it's a good startle. "OK... I see you are happy." she says followed by a bright smile, shoulder shrug, and head tilt.

The guard says nothing in response to the trio of weirdos. What? Kyle's totally not a weirdo... he's human.

Mialee looks up at Chekin and says, "For free... yes! Yes. Mittens was fighting giant ants alone. Kyle helped her. Then I came and helped them. So... we all helped for free. What is Kshthlikik?" <-- just a random made-up word to represent the thri-kreen curse word.

The backup guards arrive and start muttering with the guard who stopped the group. The lead guard faces the group and says, "You may enter. Kyle, you are responsible for this bunch." So not only does he help for free, now he's forced to be an escort for free.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:24, Sun 08 Sept 2013.

"Kyle and the cloaked one know each other it seems," Mittens ponders aloud, "Now Mittens is curious about their adventures together.  And what was meant by 'arm deformity.'"

She grins at Mialee's cute antics and answers, "Likely a word that doesn't translate well into Common.  It makes me happy that my happiness increases your happiness."

She thumbs-ups at the guard and enters town.

"Good to see Kyle was wrong about the guards making stuff up to keep us out."

  Kyle nods to the guard, "Thank you, personal inconvenience aside I understand the precautions."  Stupid guard doing his JOB.  He leads on into town, where hopefully the worst problem to deal with is wishing a hot meal with wine included were cheaper.

  "I suppose the best part about being a cynic is being proven wrong is a much more pleasant occasion." he adds to Mittens once they are actually in town.  "As for Chekin, he makes me seem downright subtle at times but we've worked together on a few jobs well enough.  If you ranked that sort of thing by how much slavers scream anyway."

  Chekin is not above making fun of Kyle's desire for an 'I'm a professional mercenary' reputation clashing with his actions, then taking advantage of it himself as he follows along into town. "I have been told the closest Common translation is 'may you be *Oh My Goodness* by a sand zombie'.  Still, people take his word for it more than my own, so it is a bearable annoyance."

  He comments to Mittens, "Maybe if you behave yourself clawed one, I will show you what is inappropriate for display in public you seem so interested in."  There is probably a lot that could have been said about extremities that grow longer a girl wants to see, which are not proper to display in a public (human centric) town.  Thankfully we managed not to say most of them.

Inside the town, the group can see the standard town things; a tavern, a salon, a barber, a tanner, a stable... the standard stuff. This town really isn't all that different from other towns. The group is met with difficulty getting any supplies; Kyle winds up having to be the face of the team and get things for the others. At best, the others would wind up charged extra.

However, the tavern seems to only give glares at worst. And it has quests posted on the bulletin board as expected. Not so expected is that they all look old and unchallenged.

Mialee, by now, looks relatively uncomfortable thanks to all the mean things she has heard people say about Checkin and Mittens. Thanks to the hood Mialee wears, most people can't tell her apart from human. But at the same time, she wears a light-tan robe with sticks and leaves sticking out of it. That was enough for people to at least call her weird behind her back. So she has learned to hover just 10 feet back from Kyle, giving him room while using him as a security blanket of sorts.

The quests on the board look like adventurer level quests;
-Chase off the goblin encampment.
-Chase off the kobold encampment.
-Justin kidnapped. Reward for return.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:28, Tue 17 Sept 2013.

"Considering that slavers tend to be irredeemably evil, it sounds like you two do good work."

Mits follows along and plays up her exoticness with sparkley cantrips and whatnot for the onlookers.

"Mittens is extremely behaved already if the human guard is any indication.  Haven't so much as disemboweled someone with my bare hands yet."

She looks disappointed by the quest list.

"No mention of bug monsters on the road.  I guess it was too recent a development for a reward to be posted.  Mittens goes unrewarded again!  These other quests look out of date.  I wonder if Justin ran off with the circus three decades ago.  And if there's a quest posted in the Kobold or Goblin encampments that says 'Chase off the human encampment.'"

  "Perhaps if I am lucky, you will share some pointers on your methods Mittens.  Observing the hunting methods of other cultures can be quite productive."  Today kids, we're going to teach you how to kill and skin a Bear Ass without a knife.  Pick Worgen race, aaand you're done.  Now turn in your quest and wash your hands.

  Chekin asks, "Was Justin important to this place?  It seems to have gone on without them readily enough, must not have led or provided their food.  So why kidnap him?" hostages and ransom are not new to Chekin, but such things purely for financial gain is a newer concept to him.

  The hunter observes Mialee, and wonders what it is about Kyle that draws other wanderers to him beyond 'looks at you like a person'.  Mittens is far more outgoing, and knows practical matters of clawing people to death.

  Or maybe Mailee was afraid the insults aimed at mittens might hit her too if she stood too close?

  At the very least, Party Face By Default is a role Kyle isn't unfamiliar with.  "Even if they did offer Mittens, wood and stone buildings are harder to bring down than the average collection of tents."  These Villain Side missions are so much harder than Hero side, but at least it's not the Praetorian module where the GM banned 'Can't be surprised' options.

  "I should probably ask around to see if anyone even still cares about these or are otherwise resolved before we run off, along with which encampment has been giving the town the most problems," If at all, beyond sort of existing off in the distance.  Or 'we found your son! Who knew he would be in a clearly labeled grave in your local cemetery?'.

  Before getting on that though, he looks back to Mialee who is far from invading personal space, but the most quiet so far (of course, language barrier).  "Talk behind your back aside, are you allright?" Sure, there could be a 'just words' speech here.  But Kyle's violent job makes him more aware that insults are not a problem as easily solved (when the local law cares).

Mialee twitches a smile at Kyle. "I'm fine. Thank you. I think asking is a good thing."

Should the bartender be asked, the grizzled, jaded fat man says, "Eh. Yes. The newest thing on that board is Justin's kidnapping, which happened about 5 years back. We've been dealing with the kobold problem for 10 years and the goblin problem for nearly 13 years."

If Chekin should direct the importance of Justin to the bartender, the man answers, "Pff... Nothing special, really. Just important to his family like anyone else."

Concerning the bugs on the side of the road, the bartender shrugs. "You're the first to mention it."

"Never really thought of what I do as hunting," Mittens answers Chekkin with a shrug, "But I guess it could be considered that."

More prestidigitation.  This time to make a chibi version of herself demo her various powers.

To Kyle she answers, "And on another practical note, in spite of the unwarm welcome, I find Humans to be more likely to reward folks for quests than kobolds or goblins anyway."

To the bartender she asks, "So...  by 'dealing with' them, what do you mean specifically?  13 years is a long time to put up with a violent neighbor.  Perhaps they're just a nuisance?"

  Kyle would love to get paid for doing something, but as there appeared to be nothing specific worth mentioning about the Goblins or Kobolds, he suspects Mittens may be right.  That or the will mount an attack in the next five minutes after years of not much of consequence with things like exploding barrel hurling ogres or whatever.

  Look, a lot of things go very wrong when you visit town with no tangible evidence it is all your fault, but sometimes a guy wonders.

  "Right, hate to say rescue is probably wishful thinking but sometimes you get lucky.  Would you say it'd be worth more to deal with the Kobolds, or the Goblins?"

  "The small ones lack the strength to drive these people from their lands, but they do nothing to remove their competition. No wonder you keep finding work despite yourself Kyle."

  "These things can happen when you don't live somewhere just standing outside can kill you, I guess."

The bartender answers Mittens with a semi "duh" expression, "By "deal with them", we mean fix the problem. Kill them, send them packing, get them worshiping us as gods so they throw money at us, we don't care. As long as they are not a problem anymore."

He then turns his attention to Kyle. "Same reward for either one. So it's worth the same whether you deal with kobolds or goblins."

Mits immediately copies the guy's "duh" expression.  "Not every town is as open ended with their quests.  And when you say 'problem' that could mean anything from goblins who refuse to sell their gold mine for a handful of coppers to ones who blow up townsfolk with alchemist fire over a stolen totem.  I'm guessing your goblins and kobolds are no more harmful than the kind who shout and make rude gestures at those who invade their turf."

 "I'm sure we will find out just how big a problem they are soon enough, if we do not somehow run into Justin first that is."  On the one hand, Kobolds and Goblins so vague that no horror stories are told would probably be easier targets than normal.  On the other hand, his pesky standards can get in the way of earning a paycheck.

  Chekin is hoping this is not a huge waste of time, why bother seeking out tribes of potential enemies if you are most likely just going to turn around and leave after you find them?

The bartender says, "They usually come at night to try stealing things. But sometimes, they will rob travelers on the road."

Mialee says, "Thieves. Maybe they can be given... the bargain?"

Mits ahs.  Oh no!  They stole our candy!  KILL THEM!

"I can see now why the town wants adventurers to deal with this issue for them.  While the savages haven't proven murderous yet, confronting them could prove quite deadly."

She looks at Mialee with some confusion.  "Do you mean diplomacy?  If so, I suppose it's possible."

She asks the bartender, "How frequent are these thefts?  Expecting another soon?"

  "If we are lucky, simply getting them to stop trying to steal from the townsfolk would be easier."  It's a sad fact of the business that trying to talk people into reasonable lifestyles was often an impossible task compared to 'defeat an entire fortified stronghold in combat'.

  The store is so far away, RAID THE DAIRY FARM IT'S CLOSER!

  "Try to steal?  Will they be as poor warriors as they are thieves I wonder?  Easier for us either way."

The bartender says, "Umm... when I said they sometimes rob travelers on the road, there have been cases of the travelers winding up dead. So they are guilty of murder too. As for expectations? The town thefts happen every 10 or so days with irregular occurrences so we can't hold on to a pattern. Last theft was yesterday, though, so we aren't expecting any tonight."

"Oh this is serious, then!" Mits concludes of the murders, "But recent visit means fresh tracks."

She smiles at Chekkin.

"So an accomplished hunter such as yourself should have no trouble finding 'em!"

Back to bartender, "But to save time, is it alreawdy know where the camps are or at least in what direction?"