“ The accepted mode of getting otherwise unobtainable information is to go visit the cranky old hermit living in the mountains. It's just the sensible thing to do. So, naturally, everyone takes their monthly excursion to the hermit's hovel to consult him on everything, from lock-jaw to lovesickness, necromancers to nasal viruses.
Now, if everyone's always visiting the poor old hermit, there's going to be an enormous queue... 'Wellcome to the Hermitt's Hovele, Please Take Ye a Number and Have Ye a Seate' reads the sign outside the packed dwelling.
Imagine the poor hermit, having retreated into the mountains to escape this precise situation...”
“ Foot Coral. It attatches to a foot like moss, almost gluing itself to an organism. It gets its food supply from the ground, and does not leech off the host in any way. It is not a malignant organism, and is entirely harmless. But it only grows on human feet, and even then, never on the left foot. An organism that it grows on can feel touch through the coral, but not pain. Removal of the coral is painless, but why would you want to?
Texturally, if fells like a dry, non slimy amoeba.”
“ Victorian Ladies used to use their decorative fans to communicate simple messages to their lovers while chaperones or husbands watched. These messages include 'Yes', 'No', 'We've been discovered', 'When can I meet you', etc. An Assassin's League of women could easily use this secret language to their advantage, sending messages to each other in hopes of reaching their target at a crowded ball.”