Thanks guys -- I ended up getting the shares to the bath house pretty quickliy. I should have figured this out on my own, but since the majority of NPCs have nothing really to say other than how much they hate the aeterna, that they don't want any trouble, or that they have no time because they're on duty, I'd stopped talking to NPCs unless they appeared to be trainers or merchants or something. I'll remember to talk to every NPC I see from now on.