AN: Found a DnD group last night, and would recommend such an experience to anyone willing to try it out.

Anyways, thank you all for reading thus far. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to voice them.

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The day-star had flown towards its zenith, when the gates of the city before us opened slowly to release a wide variety of beastfolk and Kin in varying degrees of armour. They appeared to be quite hesitant in approaching our mode of transportation, even when spying the various items being sold for barely much of anything to those of whom could not enter the city the night prior. Indeed, and many of them came away with large armfuls of foodstuffs, clothing, and even a few weapons or tools for farming. This seemed to cause the surrounding populace, of whom were mostly farmers or adventurous hunters, to flock and browse the wares I and mine had come to sell.

Yes. We had decided to play as merchants and guards, as opposed to simple conquerors. You may find it strange, but after repeating the same actions for so long will end up boring. There is only so much death and carnage one could stand, before searching for other outlets to relieve one's desire of conquest.

My Undying were the first to note the armoured and fearful individuals approaching, as I was busy giving sweets to a pair of red Fox-kins who seemed to enjoy head pets more than the sweets given. Of course, they were disappointed by the lack of pets after we were called away, but became delighted when they realised we would be in the area for a time. "Yay," they celebrated happily in their higher pitched and adorable voices, scampering away towards what I assumed was their mother. Of whom had a basket strapped to her back filled with fruits and vegetables, with a basket of a variety of meats. These three then waved towards my person before disappearing into the copse of trees nearby.

Standing tall, I stretched for a moment then turned to greet the newly arrived creatures. Of which seemed to scatter to peruse the items within each of my crates and boxes, even daring to try a few of the samples laid out in front of Flint. He was not at all pleased with being in charge of such a thing, as he would rather eat them than share with the "talking beasties".

"Did you find anything of interest?" I asked the one who appeared to be in charge. This individual was of the Tiger beastfolk, but had a different set of colours about her person. Instead of coloured fur which shaded from red-orange to white with black stripes about the body, this one had violet fur shading to black with gold and white stripes. Not to mention her eyes, which were crimson orbs with black slits, as opposed to the normal gold of regular tigers.

However, her armour seemed to have been hastily donned and needed to be scrapped. The armour itself was of plain iron with many dents and holes, not to mention the amount of rust would cause anyone to believe it would fall apart at the first tap of a sword against it. Certainly, she had a chest size about her, but it was not a large one as many seemed to expect. Instead, it was of a modest size, and yet the armour seemed to be rather tight against her body.

"No," she spoke in a deep voice, but even I can see that it was forced whilst her eyes seemed to sparkle at the sight of so many foodstuffs. Her eyes then widened at another section where a large number of the dwarves were putting together a variety of armour and weapon stands for the coming customers. They had been making the most noise during the entirety of the turn, and had been made a mockery of by the various groups of children which came from who knows where.

The one who was most aggrieved by such antics of the children was Flint, of whom had decided to forgo the sharing of the food in order to feed the pit he called a stomach. This would lead him to run from drooling children who desired to eat his food, and had even dared to raise a weapon against them. However, this had caught my attention, and I being who I was came down like a hammer upon his body. Thus, he was left in such a predicament where he had to watch the free samples being eaten by others, and not to touch them himself.

Now, the Tiger beastwoman had dashed off to stare at the armour set in front of her, whilst a small group of dwarves were in the process of stripping her damaged and rusted wear off her body. They were disgusted by what they saw, and wanted it destroyed. When she raised an objection about such a suggestion, she became small and meek from the multitude of dwarven eyes which glared at her body. This led to her being lectured in front of those who were supposedly the underlings, and many had decided to snicker and point at the other in mockery.

This led to the rest of the dwarves seemingly coming out of nowhere to drag those in armour over to be lectured on the importance of maintaining their equipment. They also had a sales pitch thrown at their captive audience in order to sell their wares. many of which were being crafted before their very eyes, and many of which brought out their measly savings in order to purchase such items.

However, what truly astonished them was the low price of it all, and many walked away with new armour for a handful of copper coins. This led to the eyes of those considered as "Noble" to cast their gaze in our general direction. Of which led to a few trying to purchase our wares in bulk, but were vehemently denied.

"My master is willing to pay you in gold," spouted a nasal-voiced Mouse beastman, of whom seemed to sweat profusely under the gaze of my star-filled eyes and the hungered stares of the twins, "He wants to purchase everything for this." A large bag of clinking coins was held out in front of its person, as Sal'ruum stalked forward to snatch such the container away and opened it in front of the male.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Gold on top," he grumbled, using one clawed finger to sift through the rest, "but mostly copper." The bag was tossed over the beastman's head, causing the coins to spill onto the road and in front of several rag torn individuals. Of whom dashed out to collect as many of the coins before being chased away by the male's accompanied guards.

"You," it began, shaking with barely controlled anger, "You wi-"

"If you say something along the lines of, 'You will pay for this,' then you best be able to back such a claim," I growled as Shauu appeared with her Brood Mother and I with my staff of bone, "Many have claimed I shall pay for this or that, but none had the gall to bring about my demise. So no, I shall not be paying for anything, and your 'lord' will have to bring much more if he, or she, desires our wares."

The male left with a huff, promising some sort of retribution upon our heads. Of which caused my person to shrug and shake my head as Siuun and Shoriin nudged right leg. "Papa," she whined greatly, "I'm hungry." This statement, coupled with a whine from the small basilisk caused my person to chuckle as I bent over to lift their small forms before carrying them off towards the stall governed by Flint.

*****

"So what do you think?" Grumbled King Ramses, of whom glared down upon a large tent which had sprung up earlier that turn from his perch atop the wall. From his eyes alone, he had witnessed several altercations of blatant theft being handled not with force, but with words. This, coupled with the fact that the odd beastman seemed to handle himself well when under pressure brought on by the nobles of his court, caused his mind to darken considerably. This was only so, as the one before him was what seemed to be a new and unknown player in their game of "Court Intrigue".

"Do we invite this odd one, or continue to watch?"

"I shall vote for an invite, Great King Ramses," belched a white robed, old Bear-kin. Whose round body and greasy face only showed how much of a glutton it was. For this one was in charge of their "religion" which instilled a type of tithe which tells others to give up much of their wealth in order to be allowed into the gates of their "heaven". This led to many of those with great authority to abuse the good will of their followers by spending the wealth gained from them on whores, good food, and as much wine and beer as they could stomach.

"Do you not see all of their food and wealth? Just imagine if we had it. We could... I don't know, but we could live well for many seasons to come."

"Not to mention with the destruction of Freeport," grumbled a second voice, of which belonged to a female Avian whose shape was that of a raven, "we will have to rely on Lothal for goods until a force from the mainland could come and take care of the monsters roaming around our port city."

"Which is nearly a full month away, as opposed to a sennight of hard travel from Freeport," growled the king, "This is too suspicious. What with the destruction of the port and his arrival? It's like he planned this out."

"Yes," agreed the Avian, but held up her right wing immediately afterwards, "Or he could have come from Lothal, or even from another port city we do not know about. Just look at him," her beak motioned towards the odd beastman, of whom was currently entertaining a small crowd of children and adults with his display of magicks, "If he was upon the mainland, they'd probably have placed him in a slave collar due to his exotic looks."

The old Kin snorted as it drank deeply from a large tankard filled with a frothy brew, "Most of your kind would probably try to breed with the bloody guy."

"And why not?" She shot back, "With his looks and talent, there would not be a female out there who would not try to drag him into bed."

"Peace," whispered the Lion beastman, who shivered as the starry gaze of the dark furred other looked into his eyes from the far ground below. This led to him tearing his gaze away like many of the weak-willed creatures had done so to him when his gaze fell into their own.

Closing his eyes, he sighed and rubbed his muzzle slowly, "He's probably from the third continent, as many of that region have just started popping up all over the place."

"True," chirped the female, who seemed to drool as she watched the male far below remove his vest in order to soak his body in a large bucket of water. "What's he doing now?"

"Bathing," whispered a haunting voice which had drifted around their ears. This caused the trio to jump, or would have if the Kin had not fallen onto the ground beneath it. Laughter echoed around their forms, growing ever distant as they shivered from the unknown voice which had seemingly come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.