9. The Roof Is On Fire

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

Summary

Grand Opening!

The Ghost Bar at Trollskull Manor

Renovations completed, liquor delivered, and gaming table installed, the party officially opened the doors for their tavern, the Ghost Bar. The party spent half a tenday working the bar before Footsteps (the roguish ranger Tabaxi) got bored and decided it was time he continued looking for the woman who killed his family. Hamidal had promised to help him in this endeavour and so they sat discussing where to start. Just as he was digging in to find out more of Footsteps’ history, an explosion rocked the Alley.

Going out to see what was happening, they found chaos everywhere. Thick, black smoke was still billowing into the sky. Citizens were screaming, and staring shocked at pile of scorched and smouldering corpses in the middle of the alley. Some awnings were singed, but there was no significant sign of any fire. Hamidal deduced that it looked like the work of a magic fireball. He immediately got to work realigning the humors of the casualties, applying a poultice of butter to burn victims. Grick, meanwhile, was using his healing abilities to help those within the periphery of the blast - it seems everyone caught directly by the blast was already beyond his help. Kael stood by glad to witness the wonders of his Lady’s work visiting his neighbors on this fine morning.

Wanting to be helpful, Footsteps acted as his assistant, and agreed to run back to the bar for more butter and bandages for Hamidal. While turning to go, he noted a child holding something shiny in his hands. On catching the child’s eye, he hid the shiny thing behind his back, and a look of guilt. Footsteps snuck up on the child through the crowd and spotted that he was holding some kind of chain that was spilling out of his hands. He asked the child to approach and convinced him it was in his best interest to hand over the item he’d found. The child related that he’d found it in the rain barrel he hid behind when the explosion happened. Footsteps pocketed the necklace for later examination and continued helping victims.

Fala, the alchemist from the shop Corellon’s Crown in the Alley, spoke briefly with Hamidal about seeing someone who was caught in the blast that pilfered something from the corpse of the gnome and staggered off. She wasn’t able to catch much in the way of details, but verified that the gnome wasn’t someone she recognized.

Soon afterwards, the shadow of a Griffon Calvary member passed over the alley, and a dozen City Guard blocked off the alley. The party helped where they could, but made their way back to their tavern before the City Watch arrived. With no one able to leave the Alley, the tavern had a good bit of business from non-locals stuck waiting on the Watch’s release.

One woman at the bar was in a tizzy, gulping down glasses of wine over the strange thing she saw on the rooftop. A kind of puppet without strings that looked like a man, but most certainly wasn’t. Two gentlemen came in with the Watch - a sergeant and a mage. They sat in the corner and questioned those in the tavern, including the wine drunk woman. Hamidal (and Grick) told the pair about the rumors they had heard and what they had seen, being forthright with (most) of the information they’d gleaned so far.

Of course, what they didn’t know at the time was that Footsteps was sipping on a beer that contained a Necklace of Fireballs that he’d purloined from the child in the alley. When confronted about the necklace by Hamidal, who was able to tell him what the jewelry actually was, Footsteps handed it off to the mage who already had a bag full of oddities (cf, Winter’s Splendor, music box).

Once the Guard and Watch had left and things got somewhat back to normal around the alley, the party decided to investigate the scene further. This included climbing up to the roof to investigate where the ‘puppet’ could have thrown a fireball from. They found where the creature would have been, and saw some cracked roof tiles in the area of where it would have been, but couldn’t discern any kind of directionality from them.

Talking about this automaton rang a bell with Hamidal, who’d seen something similar in the Day of Wonders parade. Each year at Higharvestide the Gondsmen at The House of Inspired Hands hold a parade to show off their weird and wondrous inventions. Hamidal is sure they had such a device - a machine shaped like a man that walked of its own power, at a previous parade.

Grick is a gnome that likes to tinker. At the mention of Gond his ears perked up higher than an elf’s. The temple of Gond was a place he knew (he knows where all the temples are, at least theoretically). He was quite excited to lead the party towards their temple, eager to catch glimpse of some of their wonders.

While still outside the temple, Kael noticed a silhouette on the roof of the temple as they came around the corner of the building. It swooped out from behind a chimney, through something shiny in Kael’s direction and darted back into the shadows. Kael deftly dodge away from the flying object, rushing towards the building intending to scale it. Footsteps dug in with his claws and followed.

Hamidal and Grick were able to witness what appeared to be a mechanical bird that crashed into the wall beside them. Not, in fact, a fireball, but a little tinker toy. It still would have left a hell of a bruise if it had hit, however. That was all the excuse Hamidal needed to head right for the front door, tightening his ascot and raising his bile.

While Grick was gently knocking on the front door, Hamidal barged right in and started shouting. They were greeted by Valetta, a dragonborn priestess of Gond who wished to know what was so troubling Hamidal. Hamidal explained that he was attacked right outside the temple by something on their roof, and it nearly took his head off with this metal missile.

Valetta shook her head and gave Hamidal a resigned look. She explained that it was Nim, a nimblewright gifted to the temple. He can be mischevious, but really meant no harm. She asked that the two allow her to escort them to confront Nim, to ask him to confess to his crime and face redress from Hamidal. While Hamidal and Valetta hashed this all out, Grick was able to view a few of the inventions on display in the hall behind them.

Meanwhile, on the roof, Kael lost track of Nim. Footsteps was able to discern a trail of footsteps worn into the room that lead to a closed slat window in the attic. Kael didn’t notice any secret latch or door, so he launched himself through the slatted window, crashing through the wood into the room beyond. Nim, terrified of this imposing figure crashing into his room, ran for the door.

Kael attempted to compel Nim to a duel, keeping him trapped in the room, but Nim resisted (his mind works differently, being a construct) and dashed down the stairs. Kael and Footsteps followed right behind, but were unable to catch up with it before it made it to Valetta’s side. The party all caught up, Hamidal explained that Kael and Footsteps were his bodyguards, and had gone directly after the malefactor.

Valetta tried to calm Kael and Footsteps, to keep them from killing Nim outright. Hamidal helped convince them to at least refrain from outright murder. Nim began communicating with Valetta via hand signs, so Hamidal used some of his magic in order to be able to converse with Nim directly. From him they learned that Nim had created a ‘companion’, another nimblewright like him, because he was lonely. But weeks prior his companion left and Nim hadn’t seen him since.

No killing in sight, Footsteps took the opportunity to return to Nim’s room to remove any ‘evidence’ he could find. Valetta was shocked by the revelation that Nim had created another nimbleright, and doubly so when she realized it could have been the culprit behind almost a dozen deaths in the city.

Valetta ordered some of her acolytes to remove all of Nims gadgets and tools from his room immediately (at least, what Footsteps hadn’t already stuffed in his bag). Nim was crestfallen and repentant. He didn’t even complain when Valetta said that the duplicate must be destroyed. The party having the same idea, she offered to pay them for finding and destroying it.

Nim excitedly offered his help, but then looked crestfallen again. He said that when his companion had left, he created a device to find him - but it was in his room. Footsteps removed what he believed to be the device in what he found in Nim’s room. Nim was glad to see it and described to Hamidal how to operate the device.

So now the team has a magic nimbleright detector and a whole big city to find an evil nimbleright in…