Humans make up the largest number of people in the crowd, and half that number were elves.  A little fewer were rat folk, half of that number were catfolk, and a few other races (humanoid) rounded out the rest.  Most of them were dressed more for work than show, in clothes colored or accented ruby sole red, but a few members of the crowd had fancy clothes in indigo, purple, and dark blue.  Indeed, most of the crowd keeps away from the shark woman.  Taizee, on the other hand, has a little blonde girl admiring her, aged about twelve.  Even the girl's nearby mother, try though she might to get her daughter to stop staring, can't help but take a look at her.<br/><br/>After a few moments, the cleric was stopped by a small blue frog-man tapping on his leg.  Slowly, he turned around and bent over to listen to the frog man whisper in his ear.  His frown softens a little, but his eyes widen and his mouth drops open an inch.  However, his jaw quickly sets and he whispers back to the frog-man.  A few moments later, the oread in yellow turns and climbs up onto the stage.<br/><br/>(If this is too intimidating of me, I can cut it without a whole lot of fuss:<div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Once he reaches the center, he stops.  Then he glares at the shark woman who's intimidating the other people in the crowd.  "You," he snarls, his voice low and gravelly.  His finger is aimed right at Kawaiola.  "Shark woman.  I don't take kindly to people who bully my citizens.  So kindly sit down and <span style="font-style: italic">sit still.</span>"  His flinty black eyes flash like steel, his lips disappear into his scowl, and even though he is smaller than Kawaiola, he stands up so straight and tall on the stage that he seemed to think he could tower over her.<br/><br/>Demoralize (Int) check v. Kawaiola: 30.<br/><br/>I honestly did not expect that high of a roll.  As I said, I can drop this if it's wrong for me to write it.</div></div></div>)<br/><br/>Then, the cleric turns back to the rest of the crowd and spreads his arms.  "Alright," he rumbles in a deep gravelly voice, "let's begin.  For those of you who are new here, I am High Priest Dinar, official overseer of the various cults of worship.  I am, by order of seniority, the second in command while the Governor is away."  He pauses for a moment, as if something a thousand miles away had caught his eye.  He clears his throat, though, and continues.  "As such, I feel that I am ready to begin this meeting, so let's begin."<br/><br/>As he speaks, he doesn't pace about or move a whole lot.  He just moves enough to catch the eye.  His voice, however, rumbles and catches the ear just fine.  "Now, there are three items on the agenda," he continues.  "Item one: it has come to my attention, mainly through personal observation, that several clerics in this town have been harassing others.  Thus, I feel the need to remind you,<span style="font-style: italic">again</span>," his nostrils flared as he glared into the crowd, "that while street proselytizing is legal and encouraged, directing it to a particular person or group is<span style="font-weight: bold">not</span>.  While you're talking in public, you are either speaking to everyone or speaking to no-one.  Violations may be punished by fine, jail time, and/or revocation of right to assemble, and I will personally ensure that you get all three if I have to."<br/><br/>He focuses on a particular part of the crowd for a moment, on the westward side.  This is not as intense as his glare to the shark, though he still maintains the same focused glare and tight-lipped scowl.  Those at a good vantage point can see a human male with white hair and a long nose in ruby sole robes scowling back at him.  After a moment, a brunette elf with a faint scar running down her cheek places a hand on the man's shoulder.  Gently frowning, she softly whispers into his ear.  Whatever it is she said, it gets the man to even out his face.  From that point on, he only stares at Dinar, never moving his gaze anywhere else for anything.<br/><br/>Then Dinar turns back to the crowd.  "Anyways," he says, "on to item two.  The Brotherhood of Erastil's Future have announced that, by the grace of Erastil himself, they have finally bred a new variety of wheat that should be hardier and more fruitful.  However, given recent magical phenomenon, it will only be grown at one farm under very controlled conditions until further notice.   Those of you who wish to apply for this program, please see Mother Dalyn in the monastery for instructions."<br/><br/>His harsh eyebrows raise at this point, turning his hard scowl into a soft frown.  "Finally," he says, firmly but softly, "the highest possible bounty for information regarding the recent disappearances has been raised to one thousand gold pieces.  Two more people have gone missing..."  He swallows.  "One of them Governor G'kul."<br/><br/>The entire town starts to murmur to each other.  "That makes eighteen," Dinar continues, his voice wavering slightly.  "I-if you know anything, find any member of the guard and it will be investigated confidentially and quickly.  Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled and pray for their safe return."  Dinar nods.  "That is all.  If there are no other questions, you are all free to go."  He stood on the stage for a little while, awaiting questions.  The man and elf in the crowd turn and leave to the west.  The rest of the crowd is mostly silent.