system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[General Fantasy] I sent our towns adventuring party to their deaths...

I am a humble shopkeeper. Lately my supply wagons had been ransacked by kobolds, so I hired out our group of adventurers to take care of the problem. They had a cleric, paladin, fighter, and a ranger. I thought there was no way they could lose... 
Boy was I wrong. I hear that they were absolutely butchered by the kobolds. People are calling it a *critical failure*.  
Now the townspeople want to run me out of town for killing the party, what do I do?
gpt
Simple. Argue your case that the adventuring party were the ones that accepted the contract under their own volition. Better yet, turn the argument into evidence for your notion that the Kobolds are an even bigger threat than you all thought, especially if they took down a versatile team of adventurers. 

Then announce that you (or preferably your ealdorman) need to petition the king, local lord or Jarl (depending on your government) for aid against this threat. It becomes less about hindsight and blame, and more about you being rational and proactive in the face of a present threat.