We sit down, and suddenly Gordon knocks over a small item. It crashes to the floor and a strange liquid splashes everywhere. In an instant, we are outside and about to knock on the door again. All of us remember being inside, but it appears that time has rewound somehow. Celestiah probes the magic with her senses and it seems that this was a charm that was imbued with magical power and made us believe through an illusion that we were actually inside.

Felric, instead of knocking, speaks the password “teapot” as we were previously instructed. The door slides open of its own accord. Inside it’s dark and noticeably more sparse than what we just saw. Venturing inside, we hear someone shuffling down the stairs. It is the same man, but he looks older and less glamorous.

He says “Let’s have tea for real this time.” We do introductions and he offers us 4500 gold with 1500 up front (300 apiece) for retrieval of the first magical item that he wants us to find. Then, a percentage of the sale price of the items.

We need to seek out the Chronologist to find the item. He has an item called a Chronometric Resonator that could help us. He is in the Shadow District, in the Shifting Market part of the city. The way we find him is using an item that the man hands us. It looks like a pocket watch with 3 hands, gold, silver and copper. They all spin at different speeds, but when we’re close to the Chronologist, they will all come together and point toward him. The marketplace randomly appears in one of the districts of the city, during the 3 nights of the New Moon. Day 1 is actually today, and it will be in the Shadow District.

The item we’re looking for is a compass, but rather than pointing north, it points toward important things. This will help us to find other items that have magical potential.

He gives us all contracts to sign. We look them over and find that there are several binding runes and hidden sections that can only be seen if the paper is held up at an angle. One says that we are bound by the agreement across timelines. Celestiah negotiates with him about several of the items. He takes a moment but then he agrees, and the contracts are magically changed. We sign and take a moment to enjoy drinks before we leave.

It is about a 30 minute walk to the market from here. When we arrive, the street doesn’t look any different than normal, but as we enter we see that the market is made up of many spheres — cobblestones, or sand, or grass. Each of them is from a different area of the world and each is easily accessible to us. The market is very active with many people buying and selling.

We ask some of the merchants where the Chronologist may be, but they seem to either not hear us or get distracted with another customer rather than answering us. Celestiah uses her “Star Sight” to find out where we will need to be to find them. Apparently in 17 minutes, when a star aligns with the spire of a building, the Chronologist will be revealed.

We wait for the appointed time, and the nearby clocks all align as reality seems to twist. The compass hands all point toward the door. Passersby go around this space and don’t seem to know it exists. A door appears. Celestiah checks it magically to see if it is dangerous. She gets a bad headache but apparently it’s not a threat. We go in and see a strange room with impossible geometry and shelves lined with many items. We see on a throne a young boy with white hair and clock faces in his teeth.

Felric helps Celestiah up and walks her into the room. He feels a strange catlike kinship as he gets near to her. Peering into her magical amulet, he sees an avatar of a cat.

The boy remarks “Ah, Marlowe’s associates. And on time, this time!” Maximillian asks him if he can help us. He responds cryptically saying that we need to help him deal with Helena Vale first. Suddenly a woman comes into the room. She has jet black hair with a streak of copper in it. She is nearly 6 feet tall and in her early 40s. She has a stiff posture and looks almost militaristic. We see others who dressed like her come in as well, in total there are 2 men and 2 women.

Lupin introduces himself to the woman. She responds with her name and says that she is with the Thaumaturgical Society. He says that we are here looking for a “Time Turner” that will allow a person to go back and fix one mistake. She finds this interesting, but will not reveal what her group is looking for at first. He charms her a bit and she mentions that they are trying to find a compass.

Celestiah looks around the room for the compass and, using her magical ability, she’s able to find a small box. The Chronomancer looks up with surprise and mutters “An astromancer with star-sight, fascinating.” He gestures and the box floats over to the counter. He calls it the Chronometric Compass, crafted by Captain Elias Timewell during the convergence of the spheres when the barriers between universes were at their thinnest. It has rings on the outside with a shining crystal inside. It has runes that shift when not observed.

Lupin introduces the woman to Felric and says that he is an expert who may be able to help her find the compass. Felric bluffs and starts helping her, though in truth he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Celestiah asks the Chronomancer what he would trade for something like this. He says that he deals in memories. She suggests a memory of when she was much younger living in the forest, gazing at the stars with her best friend. He accepts the trade. After the purchase, Celestiah enchants the box so anyone looking at it will see a sextant rather than a compass.

We exit the building and as we do, the place ceases to exist. No time has passed since we entered.

Lupin looks for a magical cane for himself.