It appears that we have some friendly neighbors!
Fala stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood. She is the owner of Corellon’s Crown, an herbalist shop nearby with a greenhouse on top. She was looking to trade stories with us regarding the recent explosion. She told us that she saw a survivor dressed in black fleeing toward the Bent Nail. Before we could depart, another of our neighbors approached. Rishaal, a golden dragonborn, also wanted to greet us. He owns Bookworm’s Treasure. He knew a bit of the history surrounding our manor. He let us know that our friendly spirit is named Lif. He also indicated that he could help us restore many of the damaged books in our library, should we want.
After the pleasantries with our neighbors were over, we made our way to the Bent Nail to investigate the path of the fleeing survivor. Tobby learned of a nearby sewer entrance, but not before freaking out the owner a bit. While this was happening, Boaz noticed some children playing a bizarre game nearby and asked them questions about what they may have seen the previous day. One of them told Boaz that she saw the man leaving the scene of the explosion go to the sewer grate, knock, and then enter. She also mentioned that he was carrying something that looked like a stone about the size of a loaf of bread that resembled a frog with lots of eyes. Could this be the Stone of Golorr? If it is, then the target of the explosion may have been Dalakhar. We were told that he had stolen the Stone from the Zhents. We had all the information we needed. We were ready to head back into the sewers. Tobby made sure there were no traps on the grate, we opened it up, and we found ourselves face-to-face with a city watchman. Sgt. Walmis was not very pleased to find that we intended to enter the sewers. I find it fitting that a man with such a foul attitude has been assigned to work in the filth of the city. It’s quite fitting. As we talked, Vajra appeared to diffuse the situation, and we retreated to continue talks with her.
Vajra told us that we should let the investigation of the Zhent survivor go as the watch were already involved. She suggested that we might follow up on the construct that appeared to have thrown the fireball. She advised that we should tell the members of the temple of Gond that, “The Blackstaff will call in her favor.” She seemed to think that relaying this message would pave our way.
As
we approached the temple of Gond, Boaz noticed a mechanical arm extend
from an upper window in our direction. He then saw a mechanical bird
flying down toward us. That this artificial bird struck Jumanji was no
surprise – artificial birds seem to be drawn to him, it was when the
thing slammed into him and pierced his chest that we realized foul play
was at hand. We entered the temple and met a female dragonborn named
Valetta. We told her of the attack outside, and mentioned that we were
calling in Blackstaff’s favor. She immediately led us upstairs to meet
the construct Nim. Assuming that Nim was responsible for the explosion
in our alley, we began to question the him. It turn out that this
construct has been creating other constucts. Boaz asked if any had
recently gone missing, and Nim admitted that one had been missing for
some time. He called it Nimblewright, and gave us a bizarre tool that
would help us locate it. It seems as if this Nimblewright must be
working with others as it requires daily help to wind its gears.
Another lead – the investigation continues…