"Rougher than usual," Lorges suddenly grunted with his raspy, battle-torn voice. The Dwarf told tales about how he lost his boisterous battle cry in a battle with a fire mage. Well, in one iteration of the story, it was a dragon, and in another, he was poisoned by a prostitute... No one really knew why his voice was so messed up, but nobody really cared, either.

	"Yeh, these days the roads have become a little more perilous than in the past. With the rising tension between the kingdom of Jorgon and the Elven capitol, the southern half of the plains have had numerous ehm.. Outbreaks of violent behavior. Rogues are taking advantage of the discourse, looting villages and attacking adventurers left and right, it's a right mess. On top o' all that, there's rumors that some masked fellar's been burning down libraries on the opposite side of the sea. Fortunately, that aint anywhere near here, but the sudden loss of tomes has been affectin' the trade between the two continents pretty severely. People think that's what caused the whole kerfuffle between Jorgon and Elioss in the first place.."