Going back to overheard conversations. The useful overheard conversation is an NPC spreading specific incident/rumor.
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Along with direct information from "ask about the surrounding area," the overheard conversation, if used in conjunction with the quest menu to identify regions, can help to form a picture of the region. The Forest of Bowels is adjacent to Rainylabor and Num had done a few slow treks through certain areas, but never stumbled upon the shrine of Egom Simplesink the Sprayed Pass the forest titan.
When Num had asked the mayor of Rainylabor "about the surrounding area" the hivemind never did mention that local danger, Egom murderer of 52 souls. An ettin's name (Bese Halelathered the Beloved Numbers) had surfaced in overheard conversation, as did numerous mentions of a rampaging brush titan (Senre Flaxenforest the Pristine Valley), along with a direct reference:
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Odd since the ettin and the brush titan don't appear to be all that proximate to this hillock.
The cyclops Wur Judgeyear and mountain titan Aro Hailwaves seemed like immediate dangers as they were located on the mountain range (The Walls of Copper) Num's civ is situated at. And they were not very far from Rainylabor, only 3 quest menu tiles north, 3 east. The Walls of Copper is an extensive range and had Num not found them in the local vicinity, he would have washed his hands of it, as they would have been some other hillock's problem.
The ettin and the brush titan are attached to open regions that would require world map tile by tile canvasing to find (there's no dialed-in method for revealing either site), so Num asked for directions. Like he guessed, they were far away, about 10-15 quest menu tiles north.
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When sifting through the legends of a hidden history world, what's known is scant.
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Wur and Aro register on Rainylabor and on local hillocks, and while Bese the ettin has struck down quite a few dwarves, nothing has happened nearby. Not willing to check Senre though as that would reveal its type of attack. Better to find out through a scout of its shrine.