Clover's Log
An eventful couple days, to be sure.
To throw the metal monster hunting us off our scent, Oman and I come up with a strategy of how to use our mixed set of perfumes most effectively as we travel. Once again, I find myself marveling at my connection with the bard. Despite our vastly different backgrounds and skills, our minds have aligned, and we tackle our task with great efficiency. (*Note: Some of our crew grew weary of our thoroughness, so this is the last time I will mention it. Rest assured, that creature will be confused for weeks.*) Meanwhile, Ronan is napping and Brendel, Keys, and Nyx are still at work in the forge, where Brendel meets with a surprise visitor: a fire sprite named Kooreh. She gives him a message from Brek, who has now been missing for two tendays. Brek has bequeathed the forge to Brendel, which could mean Brek has joined the Ghostly Processional. We still don’t know what happened to him, but we will find out. One mission at a time, though.
To make his new position as master of the forge official, Brendel must forge a special coin that bears his likeness. The process is tedious, but after some careful practice manipulating the metal, he succeeds. A vision comes to him of forging a masterwork weapon with the support of a mysterious dwarven angel who appears to be in a cage. Officially the new master, with access to more of the forge’s supplies (including a box of Residuum), Brendel gets back to work, finishing one order and crafting a set of platinum rings for each of our party members so he can conjure a Warding Bond with anyone should the need arise. He also gifts us some of the forge’s magical inventory (a staff for Nyx, armor and goggles for Oman, armor for Keys, a staff and a deck of lethal playing cards for me).
While I’m out with Oman, obscuring our scent and scouting for the thing that pursues us, I stop by a shop selling boiled sweets and pick up a bag for Ronan. He may be a soul-dead ruffian, but he tried to save my life, and that shows growth. Time to offer an olive branch. Since he’s still napping when we return, I leave the treats nearby for him to find when he wakes, marked with my paw print.
Even though it could be hours before the hunter comes anywhere near our location, we decide not to dally. We hail a sky cab to take us to The Overlook, where I know my parents spent time before I was born. A map of that area is one of the only links I have to them. We also have an ally there, Lady Pearl, who may be able to offer advice on how to access the Golden Library.
When we arrive at her shop, she is pleased to see us again, mostly because Brendel helped save her life (and mine) during the Deadwind. She tells us we should speak with Evelyn Silverleaf, as her library has most of the Mechanus texts we seek. Finnegan Brightwood also has interest in that area, and Nyx’s sponsor might be able to help us with the Glasses of True Seeing. Then Lady Pearl surprises us by revealing her shop is also a catalog for the Golden Library. She can help us if we have something interesting to offer the Library, so we need to be on the lookout for such a thing.
After giving us the information we came for, Lady Pearl pulls me aside for even more news. Not only has she heard of a tabaxi looking through the Library on the Golden Plateau—it must be my father—she also remembers meeting a tabaxi 20 years ago named Glimmer who sought information on predicting the blooms. That tabaxi was, in all likelihood, my mother. Glimmer’s questions led Lady Pearl to discover that the barrier piercings have a 20-year cycle. Given that Glimmer was pregnant with me at the time, and I was born under a bloom of clover, we are nearly due for another. Though Glimmer never returned to Lady Pearl, she did say she was after something to help a friend called Knots. There was a pattern of growth of life critical to saving her friend. To learn more we should visit the College of Esoteric Study on the Erudite Landing, where Pearl sent all her findings.
Gracious as ever, Pearl offers us a safe place to rest for the night. Given her revelations to me, I feel trust blooming and tell her some of what we learned in the Rift. Most of it, really. Her reaction indicates this information is not news to her, and she tells us that those who know the truth might not be as uncommon as we think. This comes as a great relief. We may not have to go this completely alone. She urges us to learn more and earn our way through the ranks. Apparently the Golden Library is used as a way for people in the know to pass information to each other. I ask if she needs a favor, anything, from us. She asks Brendel what the name Kanton means to him, and he reveals he has a developing relationship with him. She, too, knows him, but her interest remains unclear.
Before we leave the next morning, I ask Pearl what she knows about Rift Sickness and Doctor Ballard, who diagnosed Ronan and me. She’s never heard of it. I hand over the tincture Ballard told me would help my symptoms for her to check out, but she’s not an alchemist. Brendel offers to check it out and smells something acrid in it, a likely indicator of poison. Of course the fools at the prison are up to something. I won’t be drinking more of that. We thank Lady Pearl profusely and take the gondolas to the Golden Plateau, where she thinks my father is.
There’s a Legionnaire on the gondola with us because of course there is. He seems friendly enough and only really pays mind to Keys. Unfortunately, he strikes up a conversation with our glitching Warforged. Keys’s responses to the man immediately raise flags, and the guy thinks he’s malfunctioning. Naturally, he tells him to come with him for inspection when they get off the gondola. The rest of us are trying to act casual, keeping our distance from each other so as not to appear to be a group. Subtle as can be, Nyx casts an ember on a female passenger’s cloak. When we get off the gondola at last and it seems Keys will have no choice but to leave with the Legionnaire, Nyx ignites the ember. In a flash of brilliance, Keys flies straight up in the air so that when the Legionnaire turns to find him, he is simply gone. I throw water on the poor woman to help douse the flames before meandering away. Brendel catches my ear to inform me that a dragonborn had noticed us on the gondola and seemed to recognize us. When I turn to catch sight of this dragonborn, a little smile lifts his lips as he walks away. I don’t recognize him as either friend or foe, so I’ll remain vigilant for future sightings.
We start toward Evelyn Silverleaf but take a moment to appreciate our surroundings. The Golden Plateau is like another world. We are so incredibly high up that we are literally in the clouds; everything is misty, ethereal. Over the edge, we cannot even see below. Every building towers hundreds of feet up, so high we can’t see the tops. Everything is ornate. Everything is calm. There’s no sense of impending doom or fear of criminality. These people do not know suffering. The guards, however, are crisp but have clearly seen battle. They know what they are doing. As we walk, we get the feeling that it’s entirely possible the people who live here have no concept of who or what is below. Everyone is at least marginally friendly, barely a care in the world. A stark contrast to everywhere else we’ve been.
We head toward the Gilded Citadel, noticing lots of church iconography in the area. This is not the place to reveal ourselves as non-believers. Angels and Legionnaires are everywhere, so we separate and stagger our approach to draw less attention. When we arrive, my first thought is of how ridiculously tall this Gilded Citadel is. And it’s all marble and gold filagree, the fanciest building I’ve ever seen. Two guards—more doormen, really—open the entrance and I stroll in like I belong. Fingers crossed the affability doesn’t end at the door.