Tanika was still staring at her hands trying to decide what to do about them. She was about to shred her tunic to wrap around them when she heard something crashing through the forest. She shifted her weight to the balls of her feet, ready to run, but despair instantly filled her. She wasn't sure she could battle another spider, not after the damage from the first one. She'd barely had time to breathe in between. Run, she had to run. That was what she was best at after all. Out of the corner of her eye two creatures burst through the foliage and she darted back a couple steps, about to sidestep them and run back the way she'd come, when she realized they were much too tall to be spiders. She stopped and looked at them. Two men, huffing and puffing with a hint of surprise on their faces. One of them stepped towards her, making her nervous. [i]What does he want? I've already taken the gold.[/i] She was about to run when her HUD lit up, directing her attention to a trade the player had just opened up for a health potion.
[b] "Hey you okay? I thought I heard a struggle you're not poisoned or anything right?"[/b] He paused a second. [b] "You killed that thing with dinky little throwing knives? What class are you some kind of marksman or somethin'? Do you need a health potion or anything?"[/b]
Her face instantly lit up and she managed to mumble a thank you before greedily gulping down the potion. When she looked at her hands again they were already healed. 
[b]Wow.[/b] she murmured [b] Quick work. Thanks![/b] she beamed at the duo. [b]I probably would've been monster chow trying to make my way back with half a health bar. [/b]
She marveled a moment at her strike of good luck before she remembered he'd asked several questions before he'd even given her the potion, she'd just been eying it so intently his queries went straight through one ear to the other. [b]No, I'm not a marksman, I'm a Runner.[/b] she blushed, suddenly aware at how ridiculous the scene must look. A scrapped up girl next to a dead spider with nothing but some knives and cotton armor. [b]There isn't much work around town, so, if I wanted to eat tonight I had to take down a monster.[/b] She looked between the two of them. They seemed like good people. They'd helped her out when they didn't need to. They could have killed her and taken her gold, or saved their potions for themselves but instead they lent one to her. [b]Those things are nasty. The jerk that sent me this way failed to mention that the spiders were higher level monsters than the cave rats. I would have brought somebody with me.[/b] she shrugged, she was alive at least.