Once he drew closer, he could see a line at the very bottom of the rather weathered sign that he had missed earlier: Moonworm's Scalded Molt.
"My lord, these things can't be reliably distinguished. There's no deliberate deception involved. These transactions are always conducted with everyone aware of the circumstances. It's an instinct of the Moonworms that creates a misleading appearance."
The old Apprentice Billy offered this explanation, having clearly noticed where Ruger's gaze had shifted.
Ruger nodded and stepped into the shop.
The shopkeeper was an even older man. Apprentice Billy bowed as soon as he entered, but the old man, who seemed to be a One-Ring Wizard, paid no attention to either the customers or the greeting. He simply busied himself with his own affairs, as though he had not noticed Ruger and the others arriving at all.
"This lord suffered a particular kind of injury. Please don't take offense, either of you."
Billy earnestly explained the shopkeeper's discourtesy.
Ruger naturally did not mind.
It was quite common for low-ranking Wizards who had suffered irreversible injuries to find a Wizard city and run a little shop as they pleased. Some of these Wizards showed every sign of advanced age, for no matter how difficult an injury was to treat, Wizards would not yield easily. They usually kept trying until the end of their lives before choosing to give up.
Ruger soon found what he had come for.
"Moonworm's Scalded Molt—that's just a simple way of putting it. Behind that abbreviated name is an interesting phenomenon. A mutated Moonworm happens to undergo atavism, and its shell becomes that of its ancestor, the Sunworm. The sudden change scalds it to death during the transformation. That's what a Moonworm's Scalded Molt is," Billy explained.
Ruger looked at one of these so-called