The Hermit of Hadret House

The Hermit of Hadret House is a main quest in.

Synopsis
The Watcher has been summoned to Dunryd Row by Lady Webb, a reclusive woman who seems to know more about them than they know about her. The master of the Row asks the Watcher to keep her informed any time they learn more about the Leaden Key's activities in Dyrwood. Anything they can discover in pursuing the leads would be useful to her.

Walkthrough
Speak to Lady Webb on the upper floor of Hadret House in southwest Brackenbury.

If you have not already done so, complete whatever quests remain out of The Man Who Waits, Through Death's Gate, and Undying Heritage, and report your findings back to Lady Webb.

Next you have to gain an invitation to the animancy hearings which are in progress behind closed doors in the Ducal Palace. You have four (mutually exclusive) options:

Simply talk to the invite giver of the faction you chose, after fulfilling their precondition, and they'll agree to let you attend the animancy hearings as their delegate.

Before you can attend the hearings, you have to talk to Lady Webb again. She finally explains how she knows so much about Thaos and the Leaden Key.


 * Beware:
 * Once you attended the hearings, all NPCs/interactions/quests in the Sanitarium become permanently unavailable – so be sure to complete any of that content that you're interested in before proceeding. This includes:
 * Two-Sided (companion quest of Aloth)
 * Clandestine Cargo (task)
 * confronting Moedred during A Voice from the Past (but you can still solve the quest by killing Helig)
 * Note that Kurren and Nedyn temporarily disappear as well, but they return, however only Nedyn's Quest (The Theorems of Pandgram) can be completed. Kurren's quest (The Final Act) cannot be completed during Act 3.

When you're ready, go to the Ducal Palace in First Fires, and enter the big room where the animancy hearings are taking place. You can't enter through the room's main door, so go up the stairs and use the side door onto the gallery. A long dialog/cut-scene commences.

See The Watcher's testimony for your choices at the hearing, but note that no matter what you say the hearing will end with the Duc's assassination, city-wide riots, the Sanitarium being burned down, and everyone in Hadret House being killed.

Return to Lady Webb (who is now a corpse), and read her soul. This marks the end of chapter 2, and you automatically start the quest The Assassin at Large. You are locked out of Defiance Bay, and will only be able to return after you have visited Twin Elms.

Trivia

 * The Hermit of Hadret House is the only main quest where it is possible to fail meaningfully. (It is possible to fail The Gilded Vale, but that has no impact on the game.) If the player kills Lady Webb, the quest will fail and the game will end.
 * During the riots outside, you will be able to loot from the corpses of at least two Crucible Justiciars and Doemenel Bruisers if you wait for them to kill each other in Brackenbury. All chests and shelves that count as stealing in the Ducal palace as well as Hadret House may be safely looted during the riots.