A dejected huff escaped Ureck's lips upon realizing nothing of interest remained on the battlefield. Even with his new crossbow, the collie felt dreadfully unprepared for the quest to come. He had gone through his potions at a rather alarming rate, and if a face-to-face encounter like the scuffle in the Singing Donkey came up again, he wanted a bit more than a pocketknife between him and a hot sticky demise. Alas, there was little use in dwelling on it, and soon he abandoned the battlefield in pursuit of his companions.<br/><br/>As the old buildings of the slums degraded into a field of makeshift tents and starving bodies, Ureck's mood sank at an equally swift rate. Before his time with the Grangers, he had been close to sinking into such desperate conditions, and he knew how it felt. He had felt the biting cold of the wind as it swept away a substandard shelter, the bitter pangs of hunger when even bread and water seemed like a luxury, the inner turmoil when every step through life felt like a moment in death, without the peace that followed. And here they sought sanctuary from their in numbers, all unified by their pain and desperation, somehow drawing together the hope of sometime entering the heart of the city. Just like he did... Tsk, what a crock that turned out to be.<br/><br/>When Lillium suddenly clutched her chest, Ureck immediately halted his steps, turning to face his companion worriedly. "Hey, are you alright?" he spoke softly, placing a paw gently on her back as he knelt down. "You're not hurt from the fight are you?" He turned his gaze up to Sherani hoping for some support only to see the shifter's eyes glazed over sullenly as well. It then hit him. Of course it hurt for all of them, to see the bleakness of what had and would befall these countless lives. They were all good normal people, and how could any good person walk though a place like this and not feel their pain... and how could any normal person see these sights and not feel fear? What about them made them any more capable of handling their quest than anyone else?...<br/><br/>Yet, minutes ago, they had saved a vulnerable life, whisked it away from an untimely end. He had felt its gratitude, its joy from being given a chance to thrive. Perhaps it was more to him than to his companions, but to him it was proof that all of them had the means to grab the strings of Espen's fate and pull as hard as they could. "Let's remember who's being taken to the Singing Donkey," he whispered half to-himself as he rose to his feet. "And let's remember what we did to give her that opportunity."<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Allie wrote:</cite>"Ya think anybody else is bound for Falteen?" she asks. "Maybe we could bargain for a ride on a caravan or something. Hitching a wagon ride's a heckuva lot faster than walking, and we might even earn some cash if we sign on as guards."</div></blockquote><br/><br/>Ureck nodded as he listened, rubbing his chin. "That would certainly be a stroke of luck for us. Additional traveling companions would certainly help, and as you said we'd be able to cover a lot more ground a lot more quickly. Still, if they' expect us to defend them, I might want to pick up a few more things before we go." Alas, his final statement was only half-true. Any excuse he had to give some money so that a little extra life could be breathed into the town, and he would readily jump on it.<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;">Ureck is on the lookout for someone with a rapier. If he finds one, he'll toss in a few extra gold pieces for his conscience's sake.</div></div></div>