RECAP: 5th Avengers, 3-22-20
By Tucker
The city guard escorted us back to the manor house. As we reenter, the constables who escorted us home shared words with the ones who had been assigned to watch us, telling them that they were supposed to be tracking our comings and goings. Lauris felt demoralized, and Geth felt chafed at this intrusion of authority upon his life. Upon waking, they found four mugs of ale poured and ready to go at the bar, and one of the round tables had four place settings at it.
Geth noticed a cat hanging about on the front steps, the same cat he had seen some days before. He went out to greet the cat, and noticed a scroll tied around its neck. When he picked up the scroll and opened it, a melodious male voice sounded in his head, “Interested in joining the Emerald Enclave? Come see us at Falkmere in the Southern Ward.”
We decided to head to Falkmere in the morning and the House of Inspired Hands in the afternoon. After walking down the Way of the Dragon for an hour, we turned off the main path and walked another fifteen minutes and found Falkmere, which turned out to be a garden shop of sorts.
Geth opened the door and announced himself, saying that he was looking for a friend of his, who was a cat. The elf at the counter said that we were welcome to browse around and see what they had. The patrons were all local growers of sorts.
After a few minutes, an individual came out and spoke to Geth, saying that his associate informed him that I had come inquiring about being visited by a cat. Geth explained that yes, a cat had come to visit him bearing a note to visit Falkmere if he was interested in joining the Emerald Enclave. The man’s countenance changed and explained that it was likely Melannor Fellbranch who had sent the note, and that he was not in right this minute but he would send his apologies and another message in due time. The elf invited the group to peruse the wares and Geth asked him if he had any scratching posts or kitty condos. Puzzled, the shopkeeper said that he had never heard of such a thing and would love to see one. Geth explained that he was in fact a carpenter and would make one to show him. He then thanked him for his time, turned to the group and asked if anyone knew the way to the House of Inspired Hands. The shopkeeper pointed out that the easiest way would be to take the Way of the Dragon up north.
As we walked, Geth, Culdock and Lauris got the sense that some of the people around them are just getting too close. Geth mentioned that he felt his personal space had been violated. Lauris remarked that the peasants must know that they are rich. Jarry was pickpocketed for 10 gold worth of items.
We ask for the House of Inspired Hands, and a passerby tells us it is just west on Delzoran street. By the time we got there around 1:30, we saw that there is a holy symbol on the front that is the symbol for the god named GOND, a toothed cog with four spokes. The building itself looks in part like a workshop and part like a temple. We see the silhouette of a man on a workshop, that releases a tiny metal sparrow out of its hand that does a loop in the air before heading toward us. Jarry attempts to ensnare the automaton in a web but the device dodges it. Geth notices that it moves as though it is a large bird of prey but is quite a bit smaller. It grazes Geth’s arm and strikes him but does no damage. As it flew by, it appeared to Geth as though it was made of paper. Lauris prepared his weapon and attempted to strike the device, but missed badly and attempted to hide under a nearby cart. Culdock annihilated the flying construct with a beam of light.
As Lauris hid under the cart, he looked up and noticed the humanoid shape that had been on top of the building stands up and disappears, walking away from the edge of the building. We see that the temple of Gond is open, and as we entered, we noticed that at the entrance were twelve well-chiseled marbled pedestals, except for Jarry, who noticed on top of the pedestals: a four-foot working model of a clock tower, a wooden flying machine, a miniature model of a mechanical dragon turtle, “a functional waking helmet,” a tube that goes underwater, and some other marvels. We can tell by the actions of others that we are welcome to examine the objects for ourselves. Lauris puts on the waking helmet and begins to quiver, producing no result from the helmet. He takes it off and informs everyone that it was quite stinky. Suddenly, there seems to be a parting of the crowd and a bronze Dragonborn wearing clerical robes moves towards the entrance, greeting us, saying “Well met, I am Veletta, and I am the priest here at the temple of Gond. I heard you had an altercation outside our temple, and seeing as you are taking interest in our creations, I wanted to offer a word of greeting and make sure everything was okay.
Geth said that a flying construct had in fact attacked him outside and that it had been quite unnerving. Veletta asked him to describe the construct. Geth described what he had seen, and when Veletta asked if the flying device had come out of nowhere, and when Geth described the nimblewright, Veletta shook their head and said that Geth had described a resident of the Temple named Nim who had come to the temple some time back and was a prankster but who did not have the capacity for violence. Lauris asked if Nimblewrights or other constructs would be autonomous, and Veletta responded that many of the Temple’s creations have some capacity for unique behavior in the course of carrying out a specified task but do not act independently, and that the ones made by the Temple’s faithful would never attack.
Moving into the temple, Veletta found the door to Nim’s quarters locked and seemed somewhat surprised. Lauris asked if he had ever done this before, and points to some level of autonomy. Veletta said that Nim is unique, and asked Nim through the door if he would unlock the door, though her reptilian voice loses some of the nuance of trying to coax someone. Jarry attempts to persuade him and the door clicked open. Nim unlocked the door and set it ajar, and when Veletta opened the door the rest of the way, we saw a humanoid that does appear to be made of paper, and Veletta introduced him as Nim.
Geth said “Greetings, Nim. We were hoping you could help us find something.” Nim begins to move his hands in a very odd way, and Veletta says that Nim cannot speak but he communicates with sign language. Geth, attempting to be indirect, asks Nim if he knows anything about an unusual or important stones. He does produce a stone, but it is an ordinary rock. Lauris attempts to intimidate Nim into producing the rock, but Nim rolls around a corner. Veletta follows after him, and in their absence Lauris and Geth take a glance around the room.
Veletta returns and says that Nim feels badly for the bird incident and feels quite lonely, and Nim had created a replica of himself, which left after a few months. Nim does not know what happened to his creation, and Veletta trusts that Nim is not capable of lying. Geth asks if this means there are others like Nim, and Veletta says that while Nim is unique, he comes from somewhere, and that while the people of the Temple believe they have turned the creation of nimblewrights into something of an artform, there are certainly others out there, and about a month ago, Nim’s creation ran away in absolute terror.
Around this time, a variety of acolytes came in and spoke in the secret language of the temple of Gond, gathering tools for the creation of a variety. Veletta offered to let us use a tool to assist in locating Nim’s creation after they secured Nim’s apartment.
After boarding up windows and casting lock spells, Veletta invited us to follow her, and offered us an instrument to help find this rogue nimblewright, as well as a 500 gold reward for proof that we have destroyed the rogue nimblewright.
Veletta comes back with a footlock copper contraption with an umbrellalike protrusion coming from one end. We are told that as we approach a nimblewright, the device will act differently (as a metal detector or a geiger counter). The device will become more animated as we get closer to the nimblewright, and will also point us in the right direction.
DM addition:
The Nimblewright Detector that was giving to the party by Valetta.
Valetta will say:”I wish you the blessings of Gond in your search. The ancient art of creating nimblewrights has been passed down through the centuries with the intent to entertain and show the benevolent attributes of magic. The very thought that one of these creations could be used for nefarious purposes is repugnant to us. We implore you to hunt this mechanism down and remove it from existence. However, be reminded that we need but a small portion of its body in order to determine whether or not Nim is the creator.”
The dragon-born priest pauses to gather her thoughts and continues:
“Also know that the detector you have just received is only a prototype. It is unique and cannot be easily replaced. Should it be destroyed before your quest is complete the chances of you finding it will become almost impossible.”
Unless the party has any questions you are escorted to the door of the temple and bid farewell.
