The dog stopped, but didn't drop his guard when he saw hand at the ready. While he didn't particularly care for a fight that evening, he had no way of guessing what these travellers would have wanted in his town. After the failure that resulted from his meeting earlier with the woman's travelling companion, Cliff was sure that they would have given up and returned to their own lands. There was nothing for them here, unless they had something more untoward in mind.

He lowered his head in a silent gesture of innocence, a silent promise not to cause harm. Words weren't available to him in this form, much to his eternal frustration, but he was confident in his ability to somehow find ways to communicate whenever he needed to.