Walkthrough
Getting the quest
There are two places to pick this up in Vallaki:
- Goodwife Marta walks the market row and main street from 07:00 to 18:00, but not in storms. Ask her "Heard anything interesting?" and she tells you the toymaker asks every stranger about a jester at the castle that walked by itself (Rumored). She won't gossip during the festival, or after it if the town ended up siding with neither the Baron nor Lady Wachter.
- Gadof Blinsky himself, at Blinsky Toys on the market row. The shop is only open by day; the door is shut from 19:00 to 06:00. Ask him "Did you ever make a toy that walks?" and the quest moves to Asked.
Step by step
- Hear Blinsky's dream. His master's master, Fritz von Weerg, built a jester for the count's children that walked, juggled and bowed. Blinsky would give his whole shop to see how von Weerg did the knees. There's no fight anywhere in this quest. The hard part is getting into the castle.
- Find the jester in Castle Ravenloft. The jester is Pidlwick II, a child-sized clockwork figure on the grand landing of Castle Ravenloft, the High Tower. He comes down the stair to greet you when you get close. Talk to him and pick "There's a toymaker in Vallaki who'd like to meet you." This works as soon as you've heard about the quest at all. He backs away: toymakers "open you up".
- Talk him round. You have three ways:
- Persuasion DC 14, "He only wants to say hello." A failure can't be tried again.
- "He's lonely, Pidlwick. As lonely as you." This works without a check, but only appears once you've played catch with him, wound him with his lost key (from The Jester's Key), or learned his secret.
- Toss him a pebble. This is the easy way: you play catch for ten minutes, which counts as having played with him, so the "lonely" line appears straight after.
Once he agrees (journal Willing), he packs a tiny bag and joins your party, if he isn't travelling with you already.
- Learn his secret (optional). He once pushed the first Pidlwick down a stair because the children loved the other one more. You can find this out on his stair by asking "Was there another Pidlwick?" and then passing Insight DC 14. Or look at the portrait of a jester on the landing, ask Escher about him, or ask the first Pidlwick himself with Speak with Dead (see the tip after these steps), and then say "We know what happened to the first Pidlwick." Knowing it opens two extra choices in the shop.
- Bring him to Blinsky Toys by day. When you walk in with Pidlwick in your party, the meeting starts. If he joined you some other way and was never talked round, he stops on the doorstep, and you get the same three ways to persuade him there. Blinsky sits down on the floor of his own shop. It goes beautifully until Blinsky climbs his narrow stair to fetch a puppet and Pidlwick goes very still at the bottom of it.
- "Watch him." Anyone can pick this. He doesn't push: "I WAS GOING TO. I DIDN'T. THAT IS NEW."
- Step between them and tell Blinsky what happened to the first Pidlwick. This needs the secret. Blinsky forgives him and starts turning his stair into a ramp.
- Step between them and say nothing. This also needs the secret. Blinsky never knows how close it was.
- The reward. With the knees finally seen, Blinsky finishes the masterwork he's been working on for twenty years: a Figurine of Wondrous Power (Obsidian Steed).
Speak with Dead: the first Pidlwick
The castle's old jester lies in a small sarcophagus in the jester's crypt of Castle Ravenloft, the Catacombs. A hero who knows Speak with Dead can ask him how he died. It costs the caster's lowest spell slot of 3rd level or higher (nothing if the spell is still running from a casting on the character sheet), and he answers once. He went down the tower stair, but "fell" is the polite word: his clockwork copy put his hands on his back, wanting the children to laugh at him the way they laughed at the first one. Knowing that, you can say "We know what happened to the first Pidlwick." to Pidlwick II on his stair (the line isn't in his menu while he travels with you), and his secret comes out. The jester also tells you about the false bottom under him, which now shows on the map: a Cape of the Mountebank (Investigation DC 15 to find it without him, or Performance DC 15 to tell his crypt a joke).
Choices and endings
Both endings pay the same: the Obsidian Steed, and approval from Wren Featherfoot, Liriel Dawnsong and Ratatouille (+2 each) and Godrick Pendlebrook and Thistle (+1 each).
- Home. Pidlwick asks if he can stay, leaves your party, and lives at Blinsky Toys from then on, juggling in the window for the children of Vallaki. If you told Blinsky the truth, half the stair has become a ramp painted with stars. If you still have his wind-up key from The Jester's Key, talk to him in the shop and choose "We found your key." to wind him there.
- Promised. This happens if Madam Eva's reading made Pidlwick your ally. He stays with your party, and promises Blinsky he'll come back after the castle.
If you're stuck
- Blinsky's door is locked. The shop is shut at night.
- No toymaker line with Pidlwick. You need to have heard about the quest first, from Marta or from Blinsky.
- Pidlwick won't come into the shop. He joined you another way (as your ally, or after you found his key) and hasn't agreed to meet a toymaker yet. Toss him a pebble on the doorstep, then tell him Blinsky is lonely.
Rewards
What your companions think
- Wren Featherfoot: +2 you brought von Weerg's jester to Blinsky
- Liriel Dawnsong: +2 you brought von Weerg's jester to Blinsky
- Godrick Pendlebrook: +1 you brought von Weerg's jester to Blinsky
- Thistle: +1 you brought von Weerg's jester to Blinsky
- Ratatouille: +2 you brought von Weerg's jester to Blinsky
Journal
Every journal entry and hint
Rumored: Goodwife Marta says Blinsky the toymaker asks every stranger if they've been up to the castle, and whether a jester his old master made still walks there.
Hint: Ask Gadof Blinsky at Blinsky Toys in Vallaki about the jester.
Asked: Fritz von Weerg, Blinsky's master's master, made a jester for the count's children that walked and juggled and bowed. Blinsky would give everything in his shop to see it once. They say it still walks the castle stairs.
Hint: Look for von Weerg's jester on the stair of Castle Ravenloft's high tower and ask him to meet Blinsky.
Willing: Von Weerg's jester is Pidlwick II, of the castle's high stair. He's afraid of toymakers, but he's agreed to meet this one.
Hint: Take Pidlwick II, now travelling with you, to Blinsky Toys in Vallaki.
Home (the end: success): Pidlwick II lives at Blinsky Toys now, juggling in the window for the children of Vallaki. Blinsky finished his masterwork for us: a black stone horse with the knees exactly right.
Promised (the end: success): Pidlwick II met Blinsky, and will go back to him once the castle is done with; the cards say he's needed first. Blinsky finished his masterwork for us: a black stone horse with the knees exactly right.
Every skill check in its conversations
- Persuasion DC 14: He only wants to say hello. He promised not to open anything.