Saul and the others wandered near the river serving as a border between the sections of the Megaden. Traffic moved around various bridges throughout the area, and all of them were heavily guarded. Most of them turned into chokepoints in the otherwise chaotic movement as merchants and others were stopped and inspected.

“Can you believe how bad things have gotten here? They keep hiring more guards on either side, this is just insanity. Why are the nobles so stupid?” Plafluf asked as he watched multiple Urchski guards try and inspect the same merchant’s credentials. “It’s like they want us to fight them.”

“I thought that the extra guards were to prevent trouble-makers from coming over into the Eastern side of the Megaden? Certainly seems like Western Urchski aren’t well liked by the locals.” Saul responded while he brought out his book and waited for a moment to stop one of them.

“But if both sides just hire more security, it is just going to be more difficult to move about. This is why it’s a bad idea. Should have the guards just protect the inner areas. If a westerner do crimes, then they will get caught and beaten. If someone Eastern does it, or if someone southern does it, they will also be beat. This is fairness.” Plafluf said, glaring at the large group of congested travellers.

Saul took a step forward and flashed his badge to one of the guards. After some fidgeting, he started speaking to the other Urchski there quickly before nodding off to the side and moving out of the way of the crowd. Once in a clearer and quieter spot, Saul pulled out his pencil.

“Don’t worry, just need to ask some questions on behalf of the guild. Now, you all seem to have some cheap iron spears, pretty sure that’s common and all, but you’ve had a spring of new hires. Any idea how your employer got all these weapons?”

The Urchski shook his head side to side, clinging to the spear at his side. “I am just paid, not sure who does what or why above me.”

“None at all? Well, alright then. Have you seen any weapons merchants come through this place? Either that or unmarked goods? They might have had what looked like official guild seals.”

Once more he shook his head, but stood up straighter as he gave a response. “We stop all weapons from going in or coming out of the Western and Southern areas! At least when it comes to the big amounts coming through. Haven’t seen anything like that in a while though. Are the Western Urchski up to something? You must tell us if this is the case!”

“No, I don’t know anything about your political situation. I’m just trying to get some answers about some stolen merchandise. You can go back now, thank you.” Saul told him, putting away his pencil and watching the guard hurried back to his post. “Didn’t get anything useful out of him either. Me and Plafluf saw some nobles carrying around lots of weapons and looking for trouble earlier though... maybe the upper class is looking to start getting some vigilante justice.”

The three of them continued walking down the path beside the river looking for more patrols, but they were concentrated near the busy bridges over it. Eventually they stopped near a cluster of more tree buildings, all of which having signs carved onto the outside or hanging somewhere in front. Xen gestured to one with thumb and looked to Plafluf.

“Maybe some of the store owners would know better. Even in a place like this, there has to be gossip about large shipments moving around, or troublemakers with weaponry. Do you have any idea where to start asking?”

The Urchski brought one hand up to his chin and scratched it in thought before scampering over to one of the trees. “This general store. They supply a lot of people, not owned by Urchski. Probably won’t care if we ask questions about them.”

Both Saul and Xen nodded, and they entered the shop. The stoop was carved into the base of the tree, but a thick knot on the right side remained as it must have been impractical to cut through. A faint red sheen covered the surface of the wood wherever it was cut out.

Using the sap as some sort of sealant? Hard to believe something so miraculous just happened to be living in the area, it makes for a perfect housing environment. Saul thought to himself as he felt the edge of the doorframe.

“Oh, customers? Come in, come in!” A cheery and flighty voice called out.

The shop itself had around three floors of items lined on shelves or stacked on the floor. Saul felt a sense of nostalgia for his hometown with how the items seemed to come from every corner of the massive city. Before he could get too distracted, he looked to the source of the voice.

A large desk was carved out of the very back of the tree and held a register among some jewelry that would be hard to keep track of on other floors. Behind the desk was an Erudine woman wearing a mask with coin reliefs pressed into both cheeks. As Saul approached, he noticed that the woman’s body was strikingly similar in outline to Xen.

“Excuse me, I’m here to ask a few questions about stuff that might have passed through her recently?” Saul said, holding up his badge again. “Don’t worry about your own shop or anything, I’m wondering if you’ve seen anything suspicious or heard any rumors about a large amount of materials being moved between the Western border?”

“Oh my, I’m afraid I couldn’t say I’d be much help there. Why don’t you try taking a look around the shop and see if there’s anything that catches your fancy! There’s plenty of things from the other rings, you know.”

“Thank you for the offer, but we’re really just—"

“Nonsense, nonsense! Haven’t you seen the kind of jewelry and oddities we have here? Everything you never knew you wanted is here, after all. Maybe another floor would be to your liking?”

Saul rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration and turned to Plafluf for help. The Urchski guide was more concerned with examining shards of colored glass than helping out with the questions. Before he could try again, Xen put a hand on his shoulder and stepped forward.

The store owner was initially confused at Xen’s movement, but leaned forward when he beckoned. Saul could only make out a faint few whispers coming from behind his mask, and suddenly the shopkeeper took on a much more grim expression. As they both returned to a standing position, she cleared her throat and stared at the ground.

“I’m sorry for that. Not sure if there’s anything related to what you’re looking for, but I saw two people pass in front of my shop and get into a fight earlier. There wasn’t much reason to intervene, so I didn’t poke my head out, I only heard them arguing and then watched them walk towards the border a little while afterwards.”

Saul quickly wrote down what she said. “Er, thank you for the help. If that’s all the information you have, we’ll just be going now. Take care with your business.”

The woman’s eyes darted to Xen before she stared at the ground again. All three of them left back out into the street and Saul moved closer to the river’s edge. He tried looking for something suspicious, but could only spot a bird’s nest further along the road. Eventually he turned back to Xen and Plafluf.

“Hey, what did you say to that shopkeep anyway? It was like you flipped a switch or something, her entire tone changed.” Saul asked him.

“Nothing you should be concerned with. All I did was invoke one of my rights as a member of the maskless. Some people become unnerved once they learn they are in the presence of someone like me.”

“Well, don’t think we’re going to get much use out of that in this place. Not many Erudine live in the Megaden. Course... maybe that would help? Doubt the Urchski shop keepers are going to do well at remembering every foreigner, but maybe one of the shops run by an outsider will give better results.”

They nodded in agreement and Plafluf led them to the only other shop he knew of along the river bank. When they got there, they found a sprawling garden in front of the tree that surrounded a winding path to its trunk. Climbing up the steps, they heard the sound of sweeping and glass crunching.

Saul was the first inside, and found a massive Enterus using his root-limb to help sweep the shards of glass towards his assistant. The pale brown floor was covered in a technicolor puddle of liquids. Noticing one of the shelves being almost completely empty, it wasn’t hard to piece together what happened. Caroline was the first to notice the trio enter and let out a small yelp before rushing back to the counter.

“Ah, um... excuse the mess in here. Are you looking for some kind of medicine? My name is Caroline and this is Volruun, the alchemist. We mostly have products for Urchski, but a lot of those can have the dosage adjusted for Humans and Erudine.”

“No worries, we’re just here to ask a few questions. My name is Saul, I’m with the merchant’s guild from the upper ring and—"

“We’re just about to close up shop. I’m not looking to purchase any more bottles or ingredients at the moment, so I would kindly ask that you all leave at once. As you can see, there was an accident in my shop and I need to take care of it immediately.”

Saul pulled out his badge and cocked an eyebrow. “Seems odd that an entire shelf suddenly fell over. Doesn’t look like it’s damaged either.”

“Are you here to question my priorities? I thought to fix the shelf first.” The Enterus said, still refusing to look toward any of them.

Xen took a step forward again, but Saul held up a hand to stop him from intervening. He looked down at the puddle and how they shattered. Watching it with one hand on his chin, his eyes were eventually drawn to the woman behind the counter. Unlike the Enterus, she was fidgeting uncomfortably. Saul walked towards her and held up his badge again but she only briefly glanced at it.

“We’re looking for anyone that was acting strangely or out of place. Do you have anyone that would fit that description, ma’am?”

“I’ve told you already that it was—"

“There was someone that came here and did this!” Caroline turned her head up and gestured to a faint cut along her neck. “They threatened us and broke those bottles when they came here. She had a sword and... and...!”

“Calm down, it’ll be alright.” Saul put his badge down and put a hand on her shoulder. “Take it slow, alright? Start from the beginning, tell me what happened.”

Xen looked over at Volruun, but the Enterus turned himself completely away from the two of them at this point. His root swept along the broken glass, but it didn’t take much watching to notice that he wasn’t paying attention to his own cleaning at this point.

“There was this woman who came in here wearing a cloak. She demanded to speak to Volruun before even asking me anything. At first I was a little worried someone was going to try and extort us for money or medicine. When he did show up though, the woman started demanding a bunch of answers to questions and...” Caroline took a deep breath before continuing, rubbing her neck at the memory. “The two of them ended up fighting, but she... I don’t know how, but she managed to just dance around him. I’ve never seen anything like it before. He might’ve got her eventually, but then she caught me and threatened to kill me if he didn’t talk!”

Saul had taken his hand back in the middle of her story and began writing down the details as fast as he could. By the time she finished, he was staring at the Enterus. Caroline took a seat and a silence came over the room, only briefly broken by the sound of glass shards sliding across the wood floor.

“Mister Volruun? Care to tell me what kind of questions this person was asking?” Saul asked him, moving closer.

“No, I don’t. It’s bad enough that whoever that person was knows about that place, I’m not going to stir up more trouble by telling the whole town. Do you have any idea how many years I’ve kept that secret?”

“We’re trying to stop whoever did this, but we can’t know what they’re planning or doing if we don’t get this information. If they were willing to come over here in broad daylight and threaten you, then it had to be something serious. You’ve got to give me the truth or things are only going to get worse!”

Volruun’s body creaked as he turned his massive body around to reveal the pained expression knotted on his face. He lifted his lone appendage and sighed at the pieces of glass sticking out, the deep brown color tinged with various other hues from his mixtures that were spilled on the floor.

“I... I refuse to tell you about the bulk of it, but I will tell you enough. When I first came to the Megaden many years ago, I was asked by a group of wealthy Urchski to help them gain access to a building within the Megaden, and within the Western side. The old building is covered in thick roots from the surrounding trees, and quite unlike any of the other similar structures you might find here. I believe they mistakenly assumed I could influence the trees or some such nonsense, but in the end I helped them gain access through the use of a secret tunnel.” He paused and let out a slow sigh, rattling the foliage on the upper parts of his body. “You’ve got to avoid that place. Nothing was right in there, some kind of machinery...”

“Can you tell me where this tunnel is? We’ve got to stop this person, and we’re worried they’re going to do something.”

“It’s located beneath a bridge east of here. A massive iron grate covers it up now, it should be rusted over at this point. That’s the only way into the building that I know of.”

Saul finished writing down the simple directions and sheathed his pencil into the journal as he put it away. “Thank you for your cooperation. I’ll do my best to make sure whatever that building has to do with this, that it stops.”

Volruun didn’t respond with more than a nod before he started sweeping up the glass again. Caroline sat down in her chair and idly rubbed the light scrape across her neck while Saul and Plafluf left the building. Xen lagged behind and approached her, leaning against the desk and looking to make sure Volruun wasn’t paying attention.

“Ma’am... this person that attacked you two. Did they have any exemplary features that stuck out to you? Something that distinguished them from a crowd?” He asked in a soft tone.

“What? I mean, yes... I think it was a woman, from her voice. She looked very pale and sickly. The scariest part was her scars though, it felt like she’d been attacked by a wild animal or something. There was something strange though; I think the tops of her ears were pointed? To be honest the rest of her face was so attention drawing it never really occurred to me until now.” Caroline replied before swallowing hard. “Sorry, I’m still in shock from all of this, did that help?”

“That was more than enough, thank you.” Xen replied before exiting the building.

Saul and Plafluf stood out in front waiting for him.

“What was that about? Did you drop something?” Plafluf asked him. “Also what was with the dramatic speech stuff? You should have just yelled at him for the information. That works much better in my experience.”

“Just being thorough, my connection to Saul’s case has been secured.” He answered curtly as he caught up.

“Glad we’ve got one of the Erudine’s best on our side then.” Saul replied. “As for the speech stuff, it worked didn’t it? Not everyone acts like an Urchski, you know. Yelling isn’t a form of persuasion.”

“You have not spoken to a woman, have you?” Plafluf asked with a sharp-toothed grin.

“We need to get ready to camp out the location he gave us. Let’s gather some supplies first and then we’ll find a place to hide in the area. No telling when they’re going to show up, but this should be easier than just searching for them blindly.” Saul said, ignoring the jab. “Anything else before we go?”

None of them objected to the plan, and thus they set off to find food and drink to keep them occupied for their stake out.