Lol… had to give up on the “mo samples” render… it lied to me saying it’d only take 4 hrs. 7hrs later, it was 1/3 done, and i need the laptop for work. 
I cleaned up the file removing objects i wasn’t using, and uploaded it over on the support thread: Cycles Volumetric render, with odd sample distribution? - #3 by KDLynch
Along with what I’m seeing on my end.
Thank you so much! 