Following The Heart - 3/17 session recap

Thoric spent some time in Maazuni once again trying to discover a cure for thorium poisoning.  He didn't find anyone initially, but did have an encounter.  An urchin ran headlong into him from around a corner and staggered back from the impact.  A man cried out, "Stop!  Thief!"  Without hesitation, Thoric drew his hammer and brought it around to connect with the child's head.  Blood flew from the young thief's mouth, and he collapsed, spilling Thoric's money pouch from his limp hand.  A few coins splashed from the pouch.  As Thoric tended to the wounded boy and whispered a prayer to heal him, other urchins surrounded him and started picking up the coins.  Thoric scattered the crowd, but still lost eight gold pieces.  A guard stepped up, and the urchin wailed that Thoric had attacked him unprovoked.  Thoric said that he was merely stopping a thief, but when he looked around, the man that had originally called out was nowhere to be found.  The guard sent the child running, and explained that it was best not to attack children in town, even if they were cutpurses.

Eventually Thoric went back to the Dwarven enclave on the second tier of town, and ended up paying a dwarven alchemist a thousand gold pieces for research.  He also donated one of his holy symbols to the temple of Linitheriva, and was granted access to a couple of rituals.

The party bought rations and more adventuring gear for their trek into the mountains.  They sought guides or scouts, but found that most everyone with such talents were already employed by the city guard.

Vrisana, fully recovered from her loss of magical abilities, spoke to the party about her desires for the future.  She said that Caelebhan was never going to stop looking for them, and she did not feel like running and hiding for the rest of her life.  She said that she would like to subtly expose herself in town in the hopes that he would think he had the advantage of surprise, and come charging in to attack.

The party had concerns about this, not only for the safety of innocent bystanders, but for the ire it might cause among other magisters.  She countered by saying that if Caelebhan was willing to endanger others for the sake of his revenge, then the party would be fully justified in taking him down, and that such action could only be seen in a positive light by other magisters.  She also had concerns that it was the only way to set up an encounter where he could not bring his full force to bear upon them.  They had already seen what happened at Vrisana's tower, and she had no faith that he could be defeated in a pitched battle.

She admitted that she had no firm plans, but that she would like for the party to think on it some more.  Eventually, she said, they'd have to fight Caelebhan, one way or another.  She just preferred that it be on their terms, not his.

Once they were done in town, the party set off into the jungles to the east of Maazuni to find the Heart of Linitheriva.