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"Well, supply-wise, I have dried beef, dry rice, several loaves of wheat bread, some honey... well, I have a lot of things, and know several people who have more..." he stopped a moment, checking his pockets, and pulled out a smallish piece of hide-paper. "Here, it's faster if I just give you this."

You can see 2 columns on the paper, but can't yet read it, as the script is cramped and uneven.

Apparently, the only thing keeping you from reading it was distance, and the size of the text. As you peer closely at the page, you can tell it's a list, with prices.

Bread 30c
Cheese 5s20c
Jerky 15s
Jerked fowl 25s
Rice 55c
Apple, bag 32c
Pear, bag 30c
Carrot, bag 35c
Cucumber, bag 33c
Mango, bag 40c
Waybread 2g5s

Beer
-pint 4s
-gallon 13s
Ale
-pint 6s
-gallon 22s
Cider
-pint 11s
-gallon 45s
Mead, pint 12s
Rum, pint 10s+
Tea
-10 packets 1s
-brewed unsweetened pint 10s
-brewed sweetened pint 15s
-brewed unsweetened gallon 42s
-brewed sweetened gallon 47s
Whiskey, pint 45s+

"I'm sure you know that the elvish waybread is the lightest set of meals, but, of course, you can only buy it in a full loaf, which lasts an average person for a month... the rest of my stock is listed as well... What would you like?"

((I figured I'd give you choices... always fun to make people think!))

"Well, the only time I had any, it was sweet... but to each their own," he replied, accepting your coin. "I'll go get your purchases, just a minute."

It actually took about 5 minutes, which you rather expected.

Coralie could easily see the mountain, and tell that she had just enough daylight left to get well into the forest before dark. As to any possible income sources, most of those rushing around wore arms of one sort or another, and all of them seemed to know what to do with them.

As she was looking around, a low horn sounded twice quickly, and then once more. This seemed to be a signal, as anyone not wearing weapons quickly made their way inside, and all the rest of the people started running to the walls. One woman, in full plate mail with a large, gem-studded sword on her back, saw Coralie, and came over quickly.

"Get to the gate, girl. Didn't you hear the alarm?" She didn't seem the type to take no for an answer, and waited impatiently for Coralie to go.

The woman quickly overtook Coralie. "What's your unit, girl? Who's your commander?" The questions were delivered sharply, without even turning her head.

They rapidly passed the commerce district, and made their way through residential buildings. The entire town looked like it was built for defense, with each roof lower than the one before it, and all of them tiled and nearly level, many with ladders reaching ground level. Some already held groups of archers already, as though the commanders expected either a break-though, or and aerial assault.

"Well then, why didn't you say so? You're supposed to be safe in a room... Eh, you seem like you've seen action before... Just follow me, and stay nearby. It shouldn't be too bad, this time..." The woman trailed off as they reached the end of the buildings, and mounted steps to the battlements. From here Coralie could see that their opponents were.... animals?

On closer inspection, what seemed to be a solid mass of animals showed to have a sprinkling of humanoid forms. Assuming those forms were roughly the same size as as human, the animals were... huge. Boars twice the size of a man, wolves the size of small horses, and above, birds that cast shadows that dwarfed the defenders (no pun intended).

After a few more moments, the animals actually formed into a semblance of ranks, tallest first, and charged towards the wall. Arrows rained down, but had no visible effect, except where one animal stopped, and rubbed its head, trying to dislodge an arrow from it's nose or eye.

The largest of the boar were concentrated on the gate, under Coralie. Their impact was reminiscent of an earthquake she had once had the misfortune to be in, with the crackle of stressed wood and the shriek of tearing steel thrown in. The rest were used by wolves as jumping-platforms, in an effort to scale the wall. Several succeeded, and began to savage their way around. One came up not far away, into a group of bowmen. The woman in plate mail charged the nearest wolf with a battle cry, drawing her sword, which seemed to catch the light.