Crime is up these days, especially violent crime. You can't hardly walk through the countryside now with out being attacked or step on a corpse of some poor traveler. Whats worse is that these villians run un-checked through out the land. Now these killers have taken on a new sport. Miners hard at work in the mines of Minoc have to be weary of their pack horses. These weak minded men attack the horses for no other reason but to make life hard on the miners. Apparently the town guards don't value the life of a pack horse as they do not come to your aid. To a simple miner like myself, my pack horse is everything to me. The burden of the ore plus the fact that company rarely likes to hang around while I work makes my horse not only a beast of burden but a partner and companion in my daily job. I asked a villian after I made it safely back to town why he attacked my horse, the HONORABLE Rastik replied "Because you didn't give me gold or ingots and my standing with the public won't be affected that much. With that he walked off in search of another horse to kill. Well enough talk, ore's a'wasting and the day light is growing short..

From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Friday, February 6th 1998