Apple, sitting inside the Vulgar Camel…

Minding my own business, as usual. Had some rolling papers out, a pouch of halfling weed and ready to smoke. The only thing holding me back was the taste of the stuff and the taste it leaves in your mouth after you smoke it. Like 400 camels walked through your mouth and then took a shit in your mouth. This is when Maja walks in.

Maja Glenamare claims to be an 'adventurer' to me. That means conman and her act backs up my thoughts and not hers. She plunks her backpack on my table, almost knocking off my bag of halfling weed and pissing me off a bit. "Well, I got some more." She says to me, like I care. "More what?" I ask, more out of curiosity than caring. "Another suit of armor. I'm going to sell it and I will make enough coin to live for a couple of weeks." Raising an eyebrow, my left one."Oh, those heroes, got a set of studded leather and now I can eat. No one ever looks to see if I have armor on under my green silk tunic, which I do. I'm richer, they are poorer and Bob's your uncle." Shrugging. I couldn't care less.

We both listened to the crying from outside. Maja gave a nod towards the back. "What is going on out there?" I shook my head. "Oh, it's Angel, again, crying about being an orphan, again. Like I care, like anyone cares." Maja chuckles darkly. "You really are a dark one, aren't you?" Apple snorted. "Like you aren't? Look, little Angel is lucky, alright. Buford didn't sell her to be a soiled dove. Even though she is only 12 or 13 years old, no one has subjected her to such exploitation yet. People are interested in plowing me because I haven't had sex yet. Why not her? Bunch of hypocrites, if you ask me." Mara chuckles. "You're an elf. You are all mystical and mysterious and all of that." Apple snorted. "Everything works the same way."

Mara asks now to change the subject. "So, what about the newbies, the bright stars of Dustina?" Apple chuckles, "Get this, they are heroes now." Mara listens. "So, there are some missing townies, right?" Mara nods, closing her eyes, and thinking. "Right, it is Lulrussei, that little girl who works here in the kitchen, the kid Raa, who works down at the Bit and Bridle, and Sashezel, I forget where they are from, oh and right, Feadran, he is one of those Invisible Fleet fellow, right?"

Apple nods and pushes around the noodles in a cup in front of her with a fork. So they go around and ask questions of all the usual suspects. Apple can't help herself but burst into laughter. "Get this? That dragonborn fellow, he asks old Malcom Three Eye to go into his basement?" Mara gets all wide eyed. "Really? That is crazy." Apple nods. "That dragonborn would be lucky to come out with its tail intact." Mara nods back. "I know. It was a weird sex cult stuff." Apple almost blushes. "He keeps camels and he has sex with them all the time." The two women can't help but to burst into laughter. "Codias the Great would wind up with a really smarting ass."

Apple lowers her voice, "I heard they met Friends of Strangers group." "Oh, man," Mara makes the sign of her god. "Those people are weird and crazy. It wouldn't surprise me if they engaged in blood sacrifices in the basement of houses or in the graveyard."

Apple nods and speaks even lower. "I miss old gravel butt, Banafrital-'Quam, and her friends were doing a blood sacrifice, right under the noses of those hero types in the graveyard and they, the Friends of Strangers called the Troll and the troll-kin just in the nick of time to thwart them do-gooders from poking their noses in too much." Mara says, "You think so?" Apple laughs. "I have no idea. Do I look like a rube who believes in magic?"

Mara stops. "Hey what happened to that cat and the red dragonborn?" Apple makes a sign against evil. "I don't know, I don't care. The cat wigs me out the moment it licks itself in the middle of this bar? I'm going to kill it with a blessed speak with holly on it. That thing isn't natural." Mara laughs. "What about the dragonborn?" "As long as it stays away from me. I'm fine with it."

Mara shrugs, "Well, the hero types are alright by me, for right now, they killed the troll and the troll-kin so no damage there. Apple smiles. "They have pissed many people off with their nosey questions, poking their butts where they do not belong. It will come back to bite them in the ass at some point."

Mara looks over, hearing something Buford says "Hey, why is Buff-pants calling Angel by some other name, like Jizz Bucket or something? Angel shakes her head. "It is her real name, Juzih Bune. If that was your real name, wouldn't you rather be called Angel?" Mara smirks. "As long as you don't call me late to dinner, I don't care a feather what you call me."

Murone made his appearance and slid onto the bench next to Mara. "You said something about dinner? You buying?" Mara punched him in the arm. "No, we were talking about those new heroes in town. He nodded, taking the drink away from Mara that she had swiped from Buford, draining it. "Oh, I watched them at the end of town when they were fighting off that Desert Troll. It was a mean one. I can tell you that. It knocked at least one of them down. They did get ole Three Eyes boys involved, even Three Eye himself was out there swinging a sword. Pretty heroic for a bunch of sleazy men."

Angel looks up. "That is something you are calling someone else sleazy." Murone snorted. "Hey, I sell sleaze, I don't act sleaze." Murone tossed a bag to Apple. "Your Hobbit Leaf as requested." She took the bag and tucked it into her skirts. "Not sure I'm going to smoke it, glad to have it just in case."

Murone nodded. "Yeah, I thought your pretty boys were going to get into a ruckus with those 'Friends of Strangers' types. You know they are wrong, right? I mean, they have to be of some cult or another." Apple snorted. "Do you have any idea how many cults we have in this town? We shouldn't call it Hazelle, we should call it Cultezelle or something."

"I added one, the Cult of the Corruptor. Made it up on the spot for your heroes." Apple sounded annoyed now. "Hey, they aren't MY heroes, they are Dustina's. Alright!" Mara looked chagrined. "Ok, OK, don't be so touchy, fine not yours."

The three of them ended the conversation talking about who all has gone missing in town in the past month or so.