<blockquote class="uncited"><div>Ureck's blood runs cold as he really realises who the squirrel was.<br/><br/>Zoe's gaze meet's his own...and he sees her run her tongue along her lips, narrowing her eyes at him. Likely, her newest target.</div></blockquote><br/><br/>After seeing Zoe's gesture, Ureck slowly turns his gaze back to Talia, trying his best to keep an idle expression. No one else seemed to notice the exchange, but his mind, however, was running at a hundred thoughts per minute.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Oh shi-! They sent Zoe after me?! She's like a professional assassin! She-</span><br/><br/>He took a deep breath to compose himself.<span style="font-style: italic">Alright, calm down. Remember, you've got people here to back you up. Now, let's think this through one step at a time...</span><br/><br/>At Grettle's statement towards Vincent, Ureck normally would have pitched in a few words of his own if his mind wasn't preoccupied at the moment. While Lillium and Sherani had their exchange with the foxtaur, Ureck took a moment to think over his next course of action. It was obvious Zoe had Talia's trust (most likely from Clyde's string-pulling), so simply disposing of Zoe was not an option. An ideal situation would be for Talia to force Zoe to leave with her. Failing that, however, the best choice would be for him to expose Zoe somehow, maybe get her to try to come after him, while Talia was observing, but he'd need to work out something with the others first. Same for his next idea, which involved a costume and an unhealthy interest in disguise books back in his Grand Espen Library days. In the end, either Zoe of him needed to disappear. For now, however, his first course of action was to make Zoe's danger known to his comrades. But how?...<br/><br/><blockquote class="uncited"><div>Leaning over, she snatches a piece of bacon off of Sherani's plate, puts the tip of it in her mouth, and begins to chew thoughtfully "Well, I'm ready for storytime. Who wants to go first."</div></blockquote><br/><br/><blockquote class="uncited"><div>"Inns're always fulla strangers, aren't they?" Sherani points out. "But alright, I'll give ya a story..."</div></blockquote><br/><br/>As Sherani began her explanation, Ureck could tell from her narrative style that she'd take a bit of time to finish. With her antics, Talia, Grettle, and Thram at least would be distracted for the duration of the story. Now was his chance, he realized! He shifted his seating and cleared his throat to draw Lillium, Calia, and Spike's attention before carefully slipping an arm behind his back and tracing words on the table with a claw...<br/><br/>SQUIRREL NAME = ZOE<br/><br/>He stopped for a moment as Sherani gave him a pat on the back, giving a fake grin before continuing:<br/><br/>SHE = GRANGER. THINK SHE COME TO KILL ME. MUST WORK OUT SOMETHING.<br/><br/>He drew his hand back onto his lap just as Sherani finished up her story, nodding and smiling despite his apprehensions. Hopefully, he was subtle enough to get the message across without tipping off Talia, the foxtaurs, or especially Zoe...<br/><br/><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;">Sleight of Hand check: 1d20(14) + 9 + 3 -2 = 24</div></div></div><br/><br/>With Sherani settling back down into her seat, Ureck shrugs and nods in agreement. "That is more or less what happened," he noted, sitting up straight and cupping his hands on his lap. "And as for why we happened to be here at the same time... I guess it was a coincidence. Like Sherani said, inns are naturally full of strangers anyway. We just all happened to be at the wrong place at the right time."