Halfling Colony.

"You are yer own worst enemy." That's what Astrala would always tell her, Kilpa thought as she nursed a drink that had long since gone flat as she twirled one of her daggers.

Maybe she had a point, she thought as she contemplated finishing her flat ale. She became an adventurer to save a village that didn't care about her, a village that no longer exists, and now here she was in a whole new world with someone that actually cares about her... and she fucked it up by still thinking like an adventurer.

Which led to the question that has plagued her mind for weeks now. Why? There wasn't any hordes of orcs on the horizon, no slaving packs of gnolls ready to descend on them, no bandits, pirates, brigands, nothing! Except for a tribe of kobolds that has caused her more problems than she's ever thought they would.

If that light hadn't taken them then they would've never arrived here, and they wouldn't be getting between her and Clive! Never leave a job unfinished anyway! That's what she learned as an adventurer.

Pride, anger, and no small amount of alcohol filling her she downed the rest of her flat drink and stormed off to her tent. From there she retrieved the rest of her rogue garb. The thick dark cloth that held more than a few pockets that held small needle-like throwing knives, perfect for finding new homes between slits in helmets or chinks in armor.

She fastened the straps of leather that held the loose cloth against her leather armor until it was snug against her muscled body, still pudgy like all halflings, but her muscle was more defined from her years on the road and combat. She pulled her hood and mask up. She didn't really need it given she could easily disappear in the many crowds that formed. But not being careful has given her more than a few scars.

She left her tent and glanced over in the direction of Clive's. She thought about writing something for him. But she decided against it. She would survive her mission or not. Either she could explain her actions herself if she did... or he wouldn't have to concern himself with her anymore.

Resolute in her goal, she left her tent, perhaps for the last time, she thought grimly. Though it wouldn't be the first time that thought came up, it was the second time it's made her afraid. The first was when she left her home to become an adventurer. Leaving her home and not knowing what will happen.

It's been so long since she felt that ice-cold fear touch her heart. But she shook her head to clear it away. Like Moira told her when they went on their first quest.

"Everyone is afraid, but you can't let it control you or you'll freeze up when yer life depends on it."

So she pushed down that fear, and marched away to the entrance of the colony. Clive's car was gone, but there were still the ponies still tied up nearby. Not like anyone used them to go anywhere though. Everyone was too busy building up the colony to ride into town.

So the guards were more than a little surprised when she took a russet mare and drove the horse down the road and into town. If she survived her mission, the last thing she wanted was to be caught in town when it got dark. Her last meeting with Travis was far less comforting than she wanted and had no intention of "reminiscing" with him.

Her mare clopped down the road, kicking up dust and dirt as she pushed the poor thing hard. It was a ways to town from the colony and every second wasted was a second closer to dark.

The poor pony was panting hard when the dirt road finally turned into the black asphalt that the humans used for their roads. She pulled on the reins slightly, it wouldn't do if her horse died, she thought. Unfortunately, this meant that she had yet more time to think as the booze haze faded from the adrenaline.

Why?

The question came up again. Why was she really doing this? Even if she's successful and returns. Then what? Clive will still want nothing to do with her or even worse if she has to deal with his friend as well. If she isn't, then why was she in such a hurry to potentially meet her end?

Not like it concerned her much before, not since her first few quests did she worry about the "after". Yet here she was. Doubt clouded her thoughts as she slowed her mare into a trot. She shouldn't be feeling this way, she thought. She's gone against monsters and beasts that none in her village had ever even heard of! She kicked her mare into a faster, though still not as hard of a, gallop.

Eventually she made it to town. It was far more packed than she thought it would be with all the new arrivals. Even as she neared the actual town itself she could see several tents and makeshift huts littering the edges with fires dotting the area as people tried to get warm.

She got a few odd looks from people, being a halfling dressed in dark cloth and leather tends to do that. But for the most part people kept to themselves, more content to worry about their own things than what the strange halfling was doing.

Not that she was the only halfling in town, she thought as she spotted a small cloister of her city dwelling kin that had taken the same journey she did long ago. Though unlike her, they were merely content in city life and not the whole risking life and limb for coin. They looked less content now though. They were a sorry sight. She had thought they were gnomes when she first saw them given their leaner forms.

They barely looked up at her from their small trash fire. One actually spoke to her.

"Are you from tha colony souf o' 'ere?"

"Aye." She replied.

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The others stirred as they spoke.

"Do you fink... do you fink we could stay there?"

"Wha'? Why?" Kilpa asked genuinely.

"Why wouldn't we?! It cannae be worse than freezin' out 'ere bein' preyed on by goblins 'nd crooks!" One of them cursed and the rest nodded.

"Sure it ain't tha best 'ere. But surely it's better than bein' back there bein' judged just fer leavin' ta seek yer own fate!?" Kilpa asked.

A few actually spat at the ground.

"Oh aye sure! Fat lotta good it did us! We left our 'omes 'nd family fer wha'?! Ta scrape together pennies from siftin' through trash like rats!"

Sure her city dwelling kin had it rough, Kilpa thought. But those she's seen when she would visit certain cities were doing alright. They weren't wealthy by any means but they were far more successful, at least that's what it looked to her.

"'Nd tha's not even tha worse o' it! When tha orcs came no-one gave a shite 'bout us! Not tha' dwarves er even tha tallfolk who's farms we slaved away on!" Another cursed.

"Not like it's changed since either." Yet another grumbled, to his friends agreement.

"Well, sure, but-"

"'Nd tha orcs donae e'en keep us fer slaves! Snacks is wha' we are ta them!" One stated.

"Tha's right! Tenets on a tallman's farm outside tha city me 'nd my cousin were when those devils came! A mangy worg snapped 'im up faster than you could blink! Barely made it ta tha gates 'fer they slammed shut behind us!"

The more they talked the hotter they got. Sure Kilpa didn't much care for the halfling culture. But from the sounds of it, it wasn't much better away either. Which brought up that question once again.

Why?

She shook her head.

"I'm not sure 'ow welcomin' they'll be. But we 'ave food 'nd tents fer use if you wanna give it a go."

The halflings nodded in thanks and packed up what little possessions they had left, tied in a ratty handkerchief onto a stick that they sat onto their shoulder. Some didn't even have that as they followed after one another towards the colony, and hopefully a warm meal and bed.

She sat atop her horse and watched them go. They gave up everything for a new life, and now they were left with nothing to show for it. Kilpa looked down at her daggers. The tools of her trade. Serrated and cruel things that helped deter more than a few drunks at pubs that thought no meant yes.

She growled and shook her head harder. She came here to finish a job and that is what she was going to do! She nudged her horse along as she moved through town. Her ears trained for any hint of her targets.

"Did you see what they did to Jim?! Strung him up for taking a swipe at those strange greenskins!"

"Heard the dwarves were heading into the mountains. The folk in the strange clothes warned us not to though."

"First kobolds, then greenskins, what next?! Gnolls?! Harpies?!"

Kilpa swung around towards the voice. A frightened form of a man that had a feverish look in his eyes as him and a few others huddled close together and seemed to be constantly whipping themselves into a constant state of worry, panic, and anger.

"Did you say kobolds?"

The group jumped and turned towards her as they grabbed whatever they had nearby. Some bricks, a couple bottles, a rusty poorly made shiv.

"W-w-w-w-who wants to know?! Are you with them like these mad people?!"

If she wasn't desperate for a lead she would've left these types to their dooming.

"No. I'm an adventurer. I'm 'ere ta finish a job."

"Oh?!" The leader perked up and withdrew a small pittance of coins. As did the rest as they thrust possibly their last few coins at her.

"Take it! Take it all if it means exterminating those monsters!"

"Why?" She wouldn't even had known she said it aloud if not for the strange looks she got from the people.

"Why? Because our lives depend on it! How can we make a new home here if those beasts yet live?!"

That's not the first she's heard that excuse, she thought. A third of the jobs they took was "culling" wild beasts that "threatened civilized society". Usually occompanied by tales that told of how vicious the creatures were and how many babies they had eaten already.

Almost every time it wasn't even that bad. Maybe a lone wolf pup that strayed too near a farm and took a couple chickens for food. The only time it was even remotely close to what was actually said was when her party dealt with a territory dispute between a far off hamlet and the local fey.

Yet even that wasn't any better as it turned out the hamlet were the aggressors. Poaching fey land for fey-touched wood and exotic game. Even after a treaty had long since been signed they still violated it. Then her and her friends showed up and drove the fey creatures out of their own land for a bunch of farmers and shepherds.

It... actually made her sick to think that most of her life was doing just that. How many "beasts" did she and her friends butcher just because they were in someone else's way? Sure there were instances where they really were doing a public good. Clearing graveyards of necromantic cults. Taking out bandit camps. But she wasn't thinking about those jobs, she was thinking about the hundreds of others where she was little more than a hired thug.

She looked at the offered coins though. She was so close to her goal and she couldn't afford second thoughts! Doubt will kill you sure as any knife or arrow. She took the coins and the twitchy people gave her directions of where they were last seen. She took off towards her destination, yet doubts still lingered.

A few more people who narrowed where she needed to go as she neared the edge of town where a General Store met trees and hills. She turned left and headed along the road before turning right, past a house to her left and a black van parked to her right.

Why?

"Harvest Mother curse it!" She hissed as the same damnable question wouldn't leave her be!

She neared the cabin and hitched her horse in the shadows of the tree line. She took a deep breath and strode up the rest of the road and towards the cabin. As she neared her heart hammered and the coin she had in her pockets felt heavier and heavier.

She knocked on the door and waited as she breathed deeply to steady her nerves. Her hands fell to her sides where the daggers waited to be unsheathed. Barely an inch of steel parted from the leather when the door opened, and she was met with a kobold. A VERY pregnant kobold.

"Hello?" The lizard asked nervously as her claws instinctively went to the bulging mass where her young rested.

Kilpa's hands shook. All it would take was a flick of her wrist and this creature, this monster, this... mother, would die. She had to, she thought. She was paid, and she couldn't leave the job unfinished.

"Have we met before?" The kobold asked uncertainly as she kept one claw protectively on her belly as the other snaked towards the door where it offered a sense of protection.

She could do it, she HAD to do it! Never leave a job unfinished is what was drilled into her over the years! A unfinished job was coin they wouldn't get, which meant fresh food they didn't eat, and a warm bed they didn't sleep in!

Yet now the coins felt like weights that weighed her down and her own daggers seemed to burn against her. But she had to finish it! They were monsters! Creatures that served a dragon that drove fear and terror into people for sport!

But now said creature stood here before her, and she couldn't do it.

Right now she didn't see a monster plundering treasure for their fire breathing god. Creatures spoken of in stories about stealing away babes in the night. She saw a mother wanting nothing more than to protect her children.

Why?

That damn question came back like a stab at the heart. Why was she doing this? Why did she feel so compelled to do it? Why? Why? Why?!

But she knew why. Because she didn't know what else to be. Because that was all she ever did for so long that the thought of doing anything else scared her to the bone. But right now, right at that moment, it was the last thing she wanted to be.

She sighed and undid her mask and took it down where the kobold could actually see her face.

"My name is Kilpa. My mates 'nd I were tha ones tha' killed yer master."

Fear and recognition filled the kobold's amber colored eyes as the dark memory returned.

"Y-y-y-you?!"

"Aye. Me." Kilpa stated, those two words seeming to stab at her heart as she saw the sheer terror on the kobold's face.

"What do you want?! We aren't doing anything wrong!"

We aren't doing anything wrong, how many times has she heard that before, Kilpa wondered as thoughts returned to some of the more morally questionable jobs she and her friends took. How many children and mothers did she personally slaughter? She couldn't even form words. Instead she untied her sheathed daggers, and threw them to the ground between them like they were poisonous. Then she unlatched her buckles and tore off the dark cloth that she had worn so many times and threw it upon the ground as well, the coins she was paid not long ago to end their lives spilled out and rang like thunder to her ears.

"I dinnae e'en know who I am anymore." Kilpa said, more to herself than to the kobold before her.

Kilpa expected a claw to tear out her throat while her guard was down. But it never came. The only thing that did was sorrow and regret as she could barely get out the only two words she could think of.

"I'm sorry." Was all Kilpa said as she left the stunned kobold to look on as Kilpa returned to her mount. Sobs racked her body as she unhitched her horse and climbed on and made her way back home.