Snippet #2378003

"Not much, no," Isengrim replied, while walking along the elevated planks that composed the town's haphazard walkways. "Been here once or twice before, but never more than to rest or refuel before moving on - same as today. Dr. Serabel and I got to talking, and she's of the opinion that we didn't pick up enough people back in Barberry to carry out this mission effectively." The hulking northlander didn't add whether or not he was of a similar opinion, but carried on with his conversation with Icarus and any of the other party members who were still with them.

"So here's the last stop between us and Huldrefolk territory - not a bad place to pick up some cheap labor, as many of these men make their livings in the northern wildernesses. I'd bet a hard emperor to your soft pip that there won't be a fighter among them, but, well, that's what we're here for, right?"

Grim ducked his head beneath the low beams of a large, squat log building that passed as Sweetmary's version of a market. The town had little more trade than provisions for traveling north, and the caith crystals that would be delivered down south. Grim used his size to clear a way into the large hut, then peered about in the crowd looking for his bearings. Despite the many gaps in the logs and thatched roof through which sunlight readily streamed, the hut was windowless and stuffed with men and their wares, making for a dizzying, claustrophobic environment.

"Right, I'll see about rounding up some men. Icarus, find us some caith, would you?" he asked. The journey from Barberry, and the random encounters with caithness and the strange fight aboard the wayward runner had no doubt depleted many of the elixers' caith reserves. An aurum user himself, Grim was running low on his precious healing magic, and no doubt Icarus and Jedas needed refueling too. "Meet you back outside, yeah?" Giving the lad a bone-rattling clap on the shoulder, Grim shouldered his way into the crowd and soon disappeared into the gloom.