Swamped

"You remember when they made the troupe leave town for a couple days? Even us locals?" Arlene asks.

"Oh, yes. One of our best shows, that," you chuckle. "Elliot didn't care much for it, as I recall. Couldn't sit still. You and Maxie wandered off with him, right?"

"Mostly to keep him company. Then I spotted some grass that looked weird. Turned out there was an old dirt road underneath it. I suggested we follow it, check out where it went. Maxie said it was probably real old, couldn't remember seeing it on any of the library's maps." She giggles. "Because of course they'd make it about work. Anyhow, we followed the path as best we could, and we found... well, an old pile of rubble. Looked like it might have been a village once. And right in the middle, there was a big rock. Same symbol there."

"Did Maxie have any idea what it meant?"

"Might have been a sign indicating the town's name." Arlene shrugs. "That was her only guess. As for the town itself, they figured it'd probably been wiped out in the war a hundred years ago. That's about as far back as the library's records go."

Hmm. Could be the shell came from the town, then. Or it could be just chance. You're not that curious about it, though, since the shell's just a bribe as far as you're concerned.

But you do find yourself curious about one thing.

"Did Elliot have anything to say about it?"

"Oh, now that you mention it, he did. Not entirely sure what he meant by it, though."