Far, far below the canopy, in a clearing crudely hacked from living wood, the humanoid camp...festered. Foul-smelling campfires smoldered with thick, choking black smoke, smelling a bit of rotten meat, a lot of swamp, and a bit more of the Boy's Locker Room. In a random, haphazard sprawl, a sea crude hide tents and cruder yurts pimpled the forest floor, like a slow-spreading blotchy stain...<br/><br/>It's hard to describe the disorderly order of a humanoid encampment, filled to bursting with almost every savage species in the book; Orcs, trolls, the occasional ogre, ubiquotuous goblins *everywhere*, eating and grumbling and doing whatever they do in their free time...When they're not being killed by PCs.<br/><br/>There's a big, black tent in the middle of it all, one that has a fair distance from others, given a wide berth by its neighbours. It's also the one with the nastiest, most gristly examples of orc and goblinkind there could be, class-levelled creatures that would make most PCs soil their breeches. It's quite clearly the kind of tent the Supreme Leader would recline under, at least in a classical sense...But we'll get to that later.<br/><br/>Instead, near the perimeter, there's a winding column of significantly different people; A scattering of slightly-more intelligent humanoids, and...PC races? See, the fairly-forward thinking Leader has decided to bolster his forces, by drawing on the more morally questionable side of PC-dom...Or, to put it more simply, to hire mercenaries.<br/><br/>The last count is several dozen wannabes, at least ten serious threats, and one infiltrator...Who should really, really know better.<br/><br/>************<br/><br/><em>I should really, really know better,</em>Kei-Lin Litchi thought, a low, soft sigh parting her lips. Both in front of, and behind her, the line shuffled on, ever-so-slowly, policed on all sides by the growling, armed-to-the-teeth 'boyz'.<br/><br/>Behind her wire-rimmed glasses, the lovely mystic's emerald eyes narrowed in frustration; In perfect accordance to her mood, her steel-shod quarterstaff (Hovering a pace behind her) shivered along its length, enough to make the wary back away.<br/><br/>She was *bored*.<br/><br/>When Kei-Lin had taken this job, she'd expected, well,<em>excitement</em>; Entirely jaded by the hack-and-slash of dungeon crawls, the Kokurazan'd decided it was time for a change...Infiltrating a humanoid camp? As a mercenary? Compared to rescuing lost sheep and 'phat lewt', that *would* be a challenge...<br/><br/>The entirely stupid amount of money she was being paid for this didn't hurt, either. Oh, Kei had giggled, all right, in her disarmingly feminine way- "I'll take it," she'd purred. "After all, what could happen?"<br/><br/>The answer; Absolutely nothing.<br/><br/>Her crimson cheongsam swirling about her long, lissome legs, Kei-Lin peeked to the side, gazing at the long, *long* line of mercenaries...And the growing crush of those who edges closer, unwilling to wait for their turn. Warriors and monsters and beasts- Things that walked and flapped and slithered- all jostled along the line, trying to get closer, trying to get *noticed*...<br/><br/>Kei-Lin rolled her eyes, and sighed again. More than once, her staff had rapped the hands of those who'd tried to grope her lush, willowy form- Some hadn't quite taken *no* as an answer, after all, and a girl had to protect herself. Really, she'd had more than her share of glances, both from horny humanoids and...things...all slavering for a chance to get their hands on her...<br/><br/>Men.<em>Typical.</em><br/><br/>Another sulky glance, just to confirm that there hadn't been any change, since the last five minutes she'd checked. Well, she didn't have all day...<br/><br/>"What *does* a girl have to do to get ahead?" Kei-Lin purred, her low, sultry voice carrying perfectly...And timed just right, as the next grumbling humanoid guard shambled by...