As you're passing behind one of the richer-looking diamond merchants a strange sight catches your eye. Three of the greedy little bandits are balancing precariously on a rope ladder that they've somehow managed to get tangled around one of the building supports.
"Get down from there! What are you guys doing?" you exclaim.
"I'm grabbing the necklaces!" Fidget says gleefully, "Og's on bracelets. . ."
"And I'm stealing lunch!" Vermin adds.
"All your gem are belong to us!!!" Og grins, "Hey, why don't you come take a look for yourself?"
Cautiously, you ascend the seventeen or so 'rungs' on the ladder over the dwarves and look through the high window. You can't see much of the interior, but you can hear the shopkeeper, an elderly woman, mumbling to herself.
"I miss my twin sister. The Mkali locked her up for conducting banned rituals regarding the very secrets of life. They have her transcribing volume after volume from some ancient scrolls, then translating them into their horrible language before merging them all together." You're about to climb back down, to try to convince the bandits to leave this poor woman alone, when she she suddenly sits up straight. Her eyes roll back in her head; she has apparently entered some kind of trance. Strange gibberish comes pouring out of her mouth