"Actually, The 'Great Pumpkin' cult has been gaining in popularity with the hopelessly delusional.  So there are not inconsequential odds of your hope being the case."  Not helping Terdisas.  Superbird would hurry on ahead for advanced warning, but pesky familiar movement mechanics.

The crowd seems to be clambering and asking questions all at once to what seems to be a baby angel. Wings, glowing eyes, skin that isn't actually glowing, but seems to be because of it's pure look. The guards are trying to calm the crowd down so as to get to the bottom of things, but well... crowd. And nobody doing anything wrong. Yet.

The angel seems to be wearing some kind of sky-blue leather armor that is embroidered with gold script. If Gale or Emerald were there, they'd recognize the script as Supernal.

Liberty and Angel are lagging behind Mittens because, well, Mittens.

Mittens stands and stares at baby angel.  She rolls a religion check and fails.  Just 'cause she's INT based doesn't mean she's going to do well with such checks.

She points dramatically and announces, "Looks can be deceiving!  Just because it looks like a baby angel doesn't mean it is!  You there!  I am Mittens!  Sword mage, adventurer, and defender of the realm!  Are you a doppelganger or some other clever disguise type thing, or are you really as you appear?!"

Lucky facepalms that Mits got there first.  "Please don't antagonize a messenger of the gods, Mittens."

"Oh!  And...  Welcome to Grayhawk!"

Mittens grins.

  Terdisas isn't even Int secondary (But at least it wasn't his dump stat).  Blake, if he were in this setting would discover Carla's armor reads 'I Got Out Of Bed For This?'... Okay, not really... OR IS IT!?

  The sorcerer meanwhile, if this were a more cartoonish setting, would be examining his cheat sheet for 'No comments that are not anything but blind lavish praise to all things religious around Lucky.'  Fortunately for subtlety, he recalls this detail from memory.  "Well, while Mittens may listen to you on that matter, I am less certain in regards to the crowd refraining from, well, crowding her."  "Can't all be non-redundant winners, huh boss? Tweet."

XD! Just... XD!

Carla gives a curtsy and heads straight for Mittens/Lucky/Terdisas. Around then, Angel and Liberty show up. "Well well... what do we have here?" Angel asks in some astonishment.

Carla looks at the bunch, looks at Lucky, and hands him a scroll.

(For the sake of not having to devote a round to "Lucky looks at the scroll", the scroll reads, "I can not yet talk in the presence of mortals. Please be my guide and protect me while I am in this city.")

Angel tries to read over Lucky's shoulder. Without being obvious. She pulls down her eagle-eye goggles to see the paper magnified from where she is so she doesn't have to move in close.

Lucky foils all shoulder-reading attempts by reading the message aloud!

"Her message reads: 'I can not yet talk in the presence of mortals.  Please be my guide and protect me while I am in this city.'"

He gives a sweeping bow.

"I am honored."

Mittens skews her lips.

"Well that's an interesting 'message of the gods.'  Oh I get it.  She's here to prophesy some terrible doom.  But only after people have gotten used to the sight of her.  That way people will be all, 'Yeah right.  Pull the other leg.'  So when doom shows up the gods will point and laugh and go, 'Told ya so!  We warned you but you didn't listen!  Foolish mortals!'"

Lucky heavy sighs.  If there's any obvious sign of an obviously good aligned god on Carla, he would defend said god as not the sort to pull a stunt like that.  Either way, he comments, "Please pardon any disrespect.  Intended or otherwise.  Besides Angel here, heavenly beings don't often show up in our city."

  "A somewhat pessimistic view of events to come Mittens."  Nevermind the urge to high five the Swordmage, he looks to Carla and says "However, making your purpose known from the outset could possibly dissuade that sort of thinking."  If her purposes was straight up 'My purpose is you protect me' or 'I must learn about mortal life', then there would be high odds the small angel was on their own... so far as that could happen with a small horde of those who would help her anyway.

  Seriously, at least Bethany had an excuse on both those cases.

Angel blushes from Lucky's compliment and says, "My name is Angel, but I'm not an actual angel..."

Liberty looks at Carla who looks slightly startled and then the two lock eyes. Liberty then says, "I just let the angel know I can be her translator since I have telepathy. She says her name's Carla. She has heard of the heroes here and wishes to associate with them like any other adventurer would. Carla has also heard of Lucky's reputation in the church and that you four" she points at Mittens/Lucky/Terdisas "escorted Antoinette. So she desired to meet you."

Carla smiles and nodnods. How handy Elan or Wild Talent feats would be for Carla.

"Well!  Good we got you around, then, Lib!
You're an adventurer, Carla?  What sorts of adventure abilities do you have?"

Lucky smiles at Angel.  "Close enough."

He says to Carla: "Oh!  Do you know Antionette personally?  What a wonderful lady she is.  It was my pleasure to meet her acquaintance and help defend her."

  So, note quite 'Bored Mythological Figure Comes Down To Mortal Realm To Fight Crime' (Hi Thor) then.  "Well, that would certainly be faster than transcribing, although let us know if you would ever like a break from such a task Liberty."  Just because she can translate doesn't mean she should be forced to.

  He also decides not to bring up that Carla is not able to tell the difference between 'three' and 'four'.  "I suppose I shall take some comfort in such opinions of us though."  As opposed to 'oh, great, I literally have judgmental astral beings staring at me.  No pressure.  No, really, Carla's cool like that.  Though Terdisas will have to figure this out.

Carla's player was actually hoping Terdisas's player would catch the number difference. Seeing how Superbird HAS been not counted before, it's no surprise Carla said four and Liberty only pointed in Ter's direction when also indicating Superbird. But since Terdisas doesn't bring it up, alas, he is left to think angels can't count.

Liberty answers, "Carla knows Antoinette personally. In adventuring terms, Carla is an invoker."

Angel wants to kiss Lucky, but holds back. She doesn't want anyone thinking it's THAT easy to get a kiss from her. Instead, she rewards Lucky with the rare "I'm touched" smile. Rare from Angel anyway.

"Ah.  Invoker.  I know what that is due to having a cleric in the family.  Pretty rare.  Looking forward to seeing it in action....  Except I do not put willingly put children or babies in harms way.  How old is Carla?"

Lucky isn't that easy to kiss either.  But he is touched by Angel's smile, and it shows.

"How 'bout we all go to the guild and relax over fine food and drink?"

"Thanks for translating, Liberty.  Don't think I've forgotten your challenge.  Still need to figure something out..."

  Superbird, sometimes he counts, sometimes he doesn't.  Mostly he doesn't when they prefer plausible deniability.  "Considering the usual expected nature of Angels, I would suspect Carla predates the mere idea of your existence Lucky."  Or, drunken lack of idea but still predating.

Liberty p'shaws and says, "Eh. It was mostly just to accept your challenge. Tell ya what... I'll just continue translating and some later day, when you feel like hanging out with Maverick and I, you can test out our skills in general. Fair enough?"

She looks at Carla, who nods in response to Lucky's suggestion. Cue the heroes being in the guild with a little help from the guard and a little hero worship. Liberty answers Mittens' earlier question, "Carla is 17 years old. In this lifetime. Older by far if you count the prior lifetime. She also claims you saw an invoker in action: Antoinette, who is both invoker and cleric."

Yes, Lucky was *very* handy to have. Though if he had run out of heals, Antoinette could have healed just one more time, all Cleric-like and such.

"Kay!" Mits answers Lib before scene transition.

"Neat!" she says to the revelation that Ant is invoker/cleric, "17?  Eh...  I'm not likely the only one who won't believe that.  If she's 17, why don't she look it?  And no, previous lifetimes don't count or I'd be a million zillion years old.  Unless re-incarnation is bogus.  Which would mean previous lifetimes don't count."

Lucky orders his favorite and pulls out chairs for the ladies present.  Which includes most of those present.

  "Perhaps the form of a faceless, legless entity looking to be composed more of energy or metals than of flesh and blood was deemed to be too unrelatable, and they overcompensated?"  4th Ed Angels.  They'd look great on an Album cover slicing heads off.  "Or perhaps it is merely personal preference Carla looks the way she does." Well, that's technically true in a meta sense at the very least.

Liberty says, "Carla looks the way she does the same reason you look the way you do: because that is how she was made to look."

Angel says, "You should be more careful, Mittens. I heard the last person who called an angel a liar was struck mute for 9 months. But then, I'm sure you don't believe any religious stuff."

Tim says, "She has.. different views than most on the topic."

Carla hands her holy symbol of Pelor to Lucky to show her allegiance.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Sat 11 June 2011.

"There, see?" Lucky says, "Symbol of Pelor.  Pelor is all about honesty and bringing the truth to light.  She has no reason to be hiding anything."

Mittens headshakes and rolls her eyes.

"Am I the only one here who doesn't take absolutely everything at face value?  Yet somehow, if I were to tatoo Pelor symbols to my forehead, I doubt anyone would grant me the same level of 'believe me just 'cause' as they do this girl.

"Different views than most?  Such as being skeptical that male heroes were running around raping women willy-nilly all of a sudden?  Well in the same way I need more evidence than just someone's say-so before I believe Antionette's a villain, I need more than someone's say-so before I believe their a good person.  Apparently in the eyes of most, that's inconstant.  And people call me crazy!"

  "So for a single seconds worth of doubt, an Angel renders them silent for two million six hundred and twenty nine thousand seven hundred and forty three times that.  Perhaps they felt cutting out the commenter's tongue would sully their hands too much?  Doubting religion I would not think is Mittens frame of mind, merely recalling events such as that and how many forget beings that serve both the astral sea and the hells alike are not universally kind or merciful.  Of course, that does not mean Carla could not be such a case just as not all Humans or shifters only look out for themselves."

  Terdisas's tactful mindset facepalms at his own 'defend Mittens's logical points' commentary.

  "Besides which, reincarnation does happen with Deva's for example.  Which a narrow minded sort could attempt to use as 'proof' that the afterlives are mere lies.  Reincarnation, the Shadowfell, nine hells, primal spirits, the astral sea and more.  All of these are 'true' destinations for those that have passed on.  Every one of them seems to look on the rest with either contempt or thinly veiled pity at their supposed misguidedness."

  Make that a double mental facepalm.

Liberty says, "Carla says she isn't the type to mute someone for calling her a liar."

Angel says, "Hey, I'm just sayin' from what little I know about religion, I'd rather be on the safe side. Even if the girl isn't an angel, which I'm not saying she isn't, there is still the chance she is. The wings and glow kind of give credence to that. But anyone who knows me knows I'm a cautious sort."

Tim says, "Unfortunately, Mittens, yes. People call you crazy *because* most people tend to believe that when something looks and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. It's why a lot of scams work. But nobody called you inconstant. Dunno where that came from."

He looks at Carla. "But you should be careful about admitting you are an angel. There are people who would put you to sword, believing you a blasphemer."

Liberty says, "Carla says she trusts you bunch. Even if you do not yet trust her."

Raichel says, "Can we save philosophical and religious debates for *after* we befriend the guest instead of giving bad first impressions? Angelic or not, lying or not, she is still a guest and asked our companionship."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:30, Sat 11 June 2011.

"What Raichel said," Lucky agrees, "Thank you, Raichel.  And thank you for your patience, Carla."

"I guess my best bet for diplomacy is to not say anything, then," Mittens says.

Out comes the sock puppet.  It speaks for Mittens!

"I'm The Floating, Disembodied, Sock Puppet of Mittens.  The Mittens says, 'Terdisas makes good points.  Also, Carla looks very little like a Deva or an Angel.  Good pun, there, Master.  Looks LITTLE.'"

Mittens facepalms.  It looks like the sock puppet suddenly decided to nom her face.

  "Squawk, Noooo, I'll save your face Mittens!"  Taking a break from game mechanics due to 'rule of funny', Superbird attempts to drag the sock hand away from Mittens's face.  Terdisas keeps a straight face and pretends this isn't happening with a practiced ease.  "Of course such a sensitive and complex subject can be dropped until a more appropriate time.  Of course, it seems to be apparently less than chivalrous to go to the aid of an outnumbered girl, if she is merely outnumbered in conversation."

  The phrase 'Why don't you pick on someone with a vocabulary your own size' comes to mind... and makes no sense.

Carla covers her mouth with a smile, showing signs of giggling, though not making a sound. Liberty scriggly-faces. Tim snorts (and no, not in a disgruntled elf way. Tim is laughing). Angel chuckles. Raichel has that helpless "trying not to smile" smile on her face.

Liberty says, "Carla says she does want to be friends."

As a side note, Chris is getting a kick out of Liberty playing the part of Animaniacs' Godpigeon translator. "The Godpigeon says..."

"Ah! Ah! Bird!" the sock puppet screams as Superbird comes to Mittens' rescue, "Kill it!  It's evil!"*

Sock puppet comes off Mits' hand and Mits keels over laughing.

Lucky sweatdrops at Mittens then smiles at Carla and gives a nod of a bow.  "She already is."

(( Quoting Portal 2 GLaDOS ))

  Superbird is not beating a dead horse as they jump up and down on the sock.  Socks are not horses, duh.  Teridas comments in regards to Liberty's own comments, "That at the very least, I suspect may turn out to be a simple enough thing."