Celestiah, Lupin and Felric stop by “Threads of Fate” at 33 Weaver’s Court in the Artisan Alley. It just happens to be open this late at night, thankfully. Lupin talks with her and explains that we are in a bind, and need clothing for an appointment early tomorrow morning. She seems to have stock in what we need and all 3 of us buy more subdued outfits for 75 gold each.
After changing, we head to a nearby pub called the Drunken Dragon. This is in the Temple District with the museums and academy are located. This is on the way to the Merchant’s Quarter where the Menagerie is.
The ork and dwarf are at the Hog’s Dogs pub, which is a total dive bar.
We have noticed that mechanical birds have been following us. Lupin snatches one and takes it apart — it appears to have some of the same parts as the birds we saw in the Menagerie. Clearly Marlowe has been spying on us, however this is slightly relieving that we aren’t being followed from the venue.
We go back to the Menagerie and Thaddeus is in his study. He looks like he hasn’t slept all night. He is eager to see that we have found the pendulum. Lupin tosses him the bird and says “a little bird told me that we were being followed.” He apologizes for startling us, but says that we are an expensive endeavor and he wants to keep track of his investment.
He checks out the gear and is delighted in what he sees. He gives us each a token that could be exchanged for one of the items in his shop.
He begins filling us in on our next item: The Crystalline Heart of Mistwood. It was created by a forgotten civilization that inhabited Mistwood, which is north of the Veil’s End. The Heart serves as an emotional conduit, which can capture and preserve emotional states. He gives us a map. The Heart is in a temple ruin overgrown by the forest near a village called Willowbrook. Here your emotions can be reflected back at you, which can be very dangerous.
For retrieval of the heart, he offers 500 gold per person now and on successful delivery. Also any 2 items from the Uncommon Curiosities, as well as access to his network of collectors and scholars in the region. This could give us access to information and artifacts. He also says that he has some Dwarven medical texts to give to Gordon.
We make our choices of what items we want:
- Celestiah takes the Etheric Spyglass
- Kargrath takes the Serendipity Snuffbox
- Gordon takes the Silver Fox Mechanical Familiar
- Felric takes the Arcane Lexicon Lens
- Lupin takes the Phase Cloak
Thaddeus gets a shard of something off of a shelf. He gives it to us and says that it’s a shard of the heart that will glow if we get nearer to the heart. He says that Willowbrook is 3 days from here on foot, and the temple is 2 more days north. We can get help from the people of the village to guide us. Also, we need to be careful because the trees are rumored to move.
He expects us to be back within 2 weeks, or the heart might be useless to him. We decide to get passage on a stagecoach to take us, which will be much faster. We would pay 75-100 gold one way, and the coach leaves tomorrow morning. However, the trip from the village to the temple will be on foot as it’s impassable.
We do some shopping at the local vendors to get gear for the trip before departing.