Game: Waggin' Tales

Oh, interesting. Wastl makes sure his wares are safely stashed away, grabs his gear and heads out.

Do I know (of)
a) Bar K (what's the clientele etc.)?
b) Mx Lexi Boston-Terrier?

If the answer is no to either of those questions, I'm going to make some enquiries before heading to Bar K. I've probably heard of the Princess. :)

In that case I'll get another couple of hours of sleep (being mostly nocturnal) and then head to Bar K for noon.

Jack, the russel-terrier, wakes quickly at the noise and looks around, slightly confused. It takes a moment to remember that he's actually at an inn this night, rather than under the stars as he usually is.

He retrieves the letter and, after reading it twice, folds it up and tucks it safely into his belt pouch. He grabs his gear and heads to Bar K about two hours early and takes a corner seat to await the arrival of Lexie.

As Marvin reads the letter, reading "good dogs" made his ears perk up and "protecting your home" got his tail wagging. He excitedly filled his rucksack and headed to Bar K. Just like the letter said, he was shown to a table but with a surprise waiting for him. Marvin knew he was early. He just couldn't contain his excitement. But apparently he wasn't too early! There was another dog there! Before he could think about taking a seat, Marvin wore a huge smile and extended a paw to the soon-to-be friend, "Hi there! Great to meet you! I'm Marvin. Marvin French-Bulldog."

Jack, unused to such enthusiastic greetings, shakes paws with the newcomer, "Jack, Russell-Terrier," he says with a nod, but not a smile, "What are you doing here?" he asks, guessing that he's here for the same reason as himself.

Marvin chuckles at the question. "We both got a letter!" The dog never seems to stop smiling. "Why else would they sit us together?"

Much closer to noon, another dog arrives, head shaped much like that of a fox terrier but somewhat rounder, with very short instead of curly hair. He's wearing a very dark blue cloak, a belted lighter blue tunic and black breeches tucked into soft boots. A dagger is sheathed at his belt and a backpack slung over his shoulders. He looks around the room, then heads to the bar, shows something to the barmaid who points to the table in the corner. The mutt orders a bowl of ale, pays for it and says something to the barmaid that makes her giggle, then wanders over, eyeing the other two.

Greetings, gentle dogs. May I sit? We seem to have been summoned by the same person.

Being a speedy runner, Champ should have arrived at Bar K before anyone else. But after grabbing his gear and heading excitedly out his door with Lexie Boston-Terrier's letter tucked in his pocket, he was distracted by a scarlet-breasted bird that happened to hop across his path. Having never seen a bird of that sort before, Champ followed the little fellow curiously clear across town before he remembered the summons. And then on his way back he couldn't resist watching a bright emerald grasshopper he spotted in Annie Poodle's rose garden and well, Champ simply lost track of time!

With only a minute to spare before the appointed meeting time, Champ bursts into the tavern, tongue lolling out from running, waving the letter in the air. "Hi! Am I late? Oh, I hope I'm not late!"

You feel a paw touch your shoulder from behind "Not at all dear; you're right on time if you ask me." You turn and see a smiling dog, who you recognize to be Lady Lexie. "Come, let's get you a chair and a bowl of water." She leads you to the designated table, giving a friendly nod to the three who are already sitting there.

A bar maiden follows to the table "So, that's two waters. Is there anything else I can get you?"

Lexie interjects "It is all payed for by the Princess, as thanks for your service."

I wouldn't say no to a bite to eat!, Wastl pipes up. And a bowl of ... water, I guess. Thank you, Lady Lexie.
After a quick look at the others, he folds his arms, waiting for the impending news.

Lexie, who's smile hasn't faltered one bit, replies "Please, just Lexie is fine."

The bar maiden takes any other orders before walking to the back, bringing out plates of steaming meat and bowls of water for those that requested. After everyone has their meals and water and the bar maiden leaves, Lexie leans in "So, as you may or may not have known, our lovely town has had a bit of a bandit problem as of late. While there is no way to prove it, I believe they were sent by the cats from the town over to try and improve their borders. We've been tasked with taking them out, lethally or otherwise, to show them we can't be so easily pushed around. Now, enough about business stuff," She gets up, practically on the edge of the seat "and talk about the interesting stuff. After we finish securing our borders, I have learned of a temple of man that has been long forgotten, overtaken and hidden by nature. My intel suggest that man has been spotted roaming around; perhaps it is just a fallacy but even the minute chance of seeing man again is exiting enough to me to want to at least check it."

"Oooh! This is very exciting! Do you really think we'll get to see man? Will he pet us, you think? Or give us a belly scratch?!?!?!" Tail wagging crazily, Champ seems to have forgotten about the bandits, and latched onto the "interesting stuff" as Lexie put it.

Jack merely smiles at Lexie and gives her a friendly nod, then listens quietly as she tells them of the bandits. His ears perk up at the mention of a lost temple of man and his tongue comes out of his mouth as she mentions that a real man has been spotted, "Whoa... what would this mean for all of us if this were true? It might be nice to have a master to take care of us!"

Wastl frowns.
Cats, eh? They've been encroaching on my territory, too. Wouldn't mind a chance to hurt their business a little.
He looks at Champ and Jack.
Man? Seriously? That old wives' tale? Sure, somebody built all those old places we keep finding but it's very obvious that they're long gone. Maybe another trick by the cats? Their magic is creepy as heck.

Lexie shares Champ's enthusiasm "I bet he'll give us at least ten belly scratches, each!" She turns to Jack "I don't know but whatever it means it can only be good."

While her smile doesn't fade, her tone of excitement does "We're not hurting their business, not yet at least, only getting them out of ours. If they continue to press though, we will be sure to answer accordingly. It maybe just a trick by the cats and it's clear that Man is long gone from the temples we've come across. But I feel this is different, this one isn't out in the open like the others, maybe Man is just hiding."

Wastl nods.
Right, let's first make sure no more good dogs are hurt, then find out who's behind it and then we'll hurt those responsible. And then, maybe after a meal and a bowl or two and a nice nap, we'll see what's up in that temple.
So, tell us more about those bandits. Who have they been targeting?

Marvin mirrors Champ's excited tail wagging. "Cats?? Man??! This is amazing!" Once the focus is turned back to the bandits, he calms down. "Right. This is serious. We have to protect Pugmire and be good dogs." With that, his tail starts wagging again, full speed and almost panting with excitement.

"There isn't much known about them, they usually act during the night; that is why I suspect it's the work of the cats. As for who they target, they seem to take whatever they can get; stolen profits from shops that close up for the night, burned caravans, and traps along pathways endangering anyone who just wants to walk. I've come up with two plans of actions we can take. First one is we search the forest, perhaps they have some sort of hide out we can find. The second is we try and lure them with a caravan, bit pricier but probably more effective."