"Please, oh noble travelers!" The ancient, destitute woman pleaded, "Have some kindness? Spare a few copper for a poor old wretch..."
Grungor only scoffed as the pathetic beggar knelt before the pair, coughing and wheezing, her long, gray, dirty hair hiding the majority of her face. Mara, on the other hand, was touched by the beggar's plight, and decided to pull out her coin pouch to appease the crone.
This only caused the dwarf to grumble even more, and while he wanted to stop his companion, he simply turned a blind eye as she dropped a handful of coins into the old woman's grasping hands.
"Oh thank you my fair, sweet, dear kind lady!" She squealed, licking and kissing the metal currency a little too fondly.
"Of course elder, I am always quite happy to aid those in dire circumstances!" Mara replied, smiling widely as she beckoned Grungor to follow her further down the path.
As they left the beggar, Grungor cleared his throat loudly. Mara stopped, having noticed her friend's consternation earlier she knew that he had something to say about the matter.
"Gods-dammit lass! You know we don't have that much coin ourselves! Hell, I bet ya' my cousin's farm she was better off than we are!"
Mara sighed, feeling like a child scolded, as she usually did whenever Grungor lectured her, "I know Grungor, I know... but I just can't help feeling sorry for these people. Did you see all the empty houses and ranches we passed since the last town? Clearly this part of the world suffers, and if I had any chance, I would take it to ease that pain."
"Now don't give me any of your tree-lovin' elf crap! I know it's just because you were guilted into it, but I've seen enough of these types to know that that crone was acting. Something tells me she was foolin' us, she probably wasn't even homeless!"
"Then maybe she should be rewarded for her skillful deception?" Mara said, grinning as she noticed the aggravation on the dwarf's face. The two argued quite a bit, but to Grungor's frustration Mara never quite took the arguments seriously.
But then Mara's smile faded rather quickly and placed a hand in front of Grungor's chest to signal him to stop moving, putting her other hand's index finger to her lips.
And then the dwarf hear what had stopped the elf dead in her tracks, a faint shouting coming from the direction they just left from. They both turned to see the beggar from before running as fast as a withered old woman could.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait!" She howled, her voice hoarse and sore from her repeated screaming.
The two stood there, not having moved regardless of what the beggar had said.