<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;">I generally don't like railroading, but for various reasons, things didn't seem to move at all for a bit, so...</div></div></div><br/><br/>Poor Elisia was in too much of a rush to let the mayor finish speaking. The aged man had, of course, was about to warn her against joining up with the centauress that was there before, since it was hardly a requirement. Surely enough, she had not done anything bad yet, that the town knew of anyway, but her kind was not exactly famous for being friendly and getting along well with others. There was a reason they were often referred to as beastmen, or simply beasts. Sure enough, they complained about it, but they certainly weren't willing to start acting differently. Elves were different from humans, obviously, but they were just similar enough in physique and culture to be viewed with less animosity.<br/><br/>This much could be seen in the eyes of the town guard and the people passing the group by. Out of the four, the elf received the least cautious and the most curious stares, followed by the salamander girl. The main reason people were giving them a wide berth was, doubtlessly, because of the two centaurs. Some would have preferred to see them chased away, but since Alexandra was there, allegedly with the intention of helping, they simply left the group alone.<br/><br/>As for the four, they had very little to go on. The storm originated in the east, so whatever the reason for it was, that was where they needed to head, for the time being, hoping to find more clues along the way. Unfortunately, while disaster often brought out the best in people as they helped each other, it also brought out the worst. After a couple of hours on the road, the four encountered a group of marauders, pillaging what used to be a merchant's wagon, by the looks of it. They gave the group some mean looks, but didn't attempt anything violent yet, much more interested in their potential loot.