"Aye, tell me about it, boy. Try to help magefolk and ye always get burned. And I mean always," he and Saran exchanged sour and apologetic glances, respectively. "Never trusted them folk anyway. Who'd ye thunk built the foundations of Two Stars? If that were gone we'd all be shakin' in our boots!" Gulping down the last of the mead, the dwarf wiped his beard and slammed his mug on the table. "Methinks ye solved all ye problems when ye left that cursed place, so why would ye want to go back? Ye humans are odd folk. Just crawled out o' danger, got to get right back into it or ye die o' boredom."

"Is that why dwarves always fight over gold, Avar?" quipped Saran, prompting a condemning look from the dwarf. The woman ignored it and turned to Keystone, clasping her hands in front of her mouth, in deep thought.

"I have never read about elementals having no alignment. They are often neutral, but a spell summoning then to this plane will always evoke anger about being torn away from their home plane. What your friend may have seen is the sheer anger at being unable to break the bond between elemental and caster, not an evil aligned creature," she said after a short time. "For once I do agree with Avar, why would you want to go back there? Hoping to find something?"

Tim nodded at the monk's explanation, pretending to drink under the heavy gaze of the woman sitting next to him. She walked behind Keystone and followed his writing over his shoulder, draping long black hair on his right shoulder.

"The armour I know where to get, there's a good leatherworker across the market. Expensive, but good. For carts you'll have to barter with a merchant or buy a new one and horses you'll find aplenty here. None of us are versed in either, so it will be up to you to find out what works best for you. Caravans are always hiring guards, but you'll have to pay if you want to join as a merchant, as you're not loc..." suddenly, she stopped reading and turned to the monk, intensively studying him.

"Why all these charades, Keystone? Two strong horses would get us to Telflamm cheaper than a cart and all of these purchases. Guards on a caravan get paid well, doubly so with a mage like me," she winked, "so why would we need all these things beside the armour?" Saran spent the next few minutes detailing a simple plan: with a large chunk of the money they could buy two strong horses that would get them to Two Stars in less than two weeks. Tim listened to the explanation, nodding along in agreement.

"Think about it," she said and went about her business cleaning up the table.

Avar, still at the table and drinking ale, looked upon Keystone like the man was made of rare gems and bent over towards him, glancing to wards Saran to make sure she wasn't looking.

"Oi, boy, were ye serious about training them workin' girls? Methinks I could use me a good sellin' point, and a couple o' pretty lasses with weapons damn well do the job in these human cities!" he said with a clear tone of hope in his voice. "If ye do that fer me, I'll see about that quiet little place nearby, aye?"

The dwarf looked over at Tim and placed a finger in front of his mouth, then quickly leaned back as Saran returned.