Well I'll join you for that drink lass.  Good to know someone in this town knows the value of a job well done after all.  But I'm afraid I'll hafta pass on your offer of work.  Got prior commitments you see.  Say let me tell you about the time I rescued six men from a giant crab! Right proper monster that thing was..."

Poot proves to be a much better talker than a listener, and try as Xer might, she cannot convince him to give up his current gig as "chronicler to a soon to be hero - right fearless fellow he is too" to help her in her own endeavor.  She does however learn that her friend Sasha is doing well and has had some interesting and apparently harrowing adventures of her own in the last couple of months.

After lunch during which the little halfling consumes far more than Xer would have thought possible for a fellow of his stature, Poot bids her a farewell, and Xer gets down to the task at hand. 

* * *

Xer is most familiar with her home neighborhood of Rag's End, but everybody knows about Underbridge:

One of Magnimar's most striking features is the Irespan - the beginnings of a titanic bridge that stretches out into the bay, then collapses into the ocean.  The area of the city build under the shadow if this collosal and ancient piece of architecture is known as Underbridge(sometimes called the Shadow), and it is the roughest district in Magnimar.  Seedy taverns, poorly run brothels and rat infested gambling dens compete with salt blasted tenement buildings and cheap flophouses in Magnimars most dangerous district.  A few docks line the trash stewn shore serving as the entry point to all manner of contraband.

Xer learns that the Pauper King is actually a down and out thug named Silas Kruer who used to run with the Night Scales gang.  He had a falling out with them and escaped to Underbridge, lucky to be alive.  After a while as a beggar, he started to bully the other beggars into something of a gang.  They eventually moved into St Casperian's Mission, using it as a base of operations.  Too small time to be a threat to the established criminal guilds of the area, they have recently started to gain attention by preying on the lowest of the low, rolling bums for coppers and extorting locals. They are a rough and desperate crew driven by greed.

Xer buys the supplies she needs and heads into Underbridge to scout out the mission for a day or so.  It is a very old two story stone building - probably a church originally - with a three story bell tower attached.  This mission is very busy, with ragged folk coming and goin at all hours.  It is hard to identify thug from victim, but Xer estimates Silas' gang at around half a dozen...