The Metal Man

To catch up on our story, read about The Moonstone Mask and The Night Heron.

A few exhausting days have landed the party back in the barracks, waiting on the next task to be assigned to them. They catch up on sleep, and pursue small activities. Pickle helps cook in the barracks kitchen, Caine, Abel and Grallack train, Bubba begins scouting for signs of Farkle in the city but with little luck. He also starts to look for a spot where he might be able to brew moonshine. Glug hates the feeling of helplessness he experienced during his captivity. He wants nothing more than to find out why Lord Sour hired the Night Heron to kidnap him, and the artifact. What does he want with it? Or him?

After a warm week with no new leads for anyone, a cloudy day turns into a stormy night. Most in the barracks are restless, until a lull in the storm gives everyone the quiet they are looking for to finally fall asleep. 

An hour passes in quiet, when once again, the storm picks back up, and a particularly bright and loud thunderclap, wakes the group, they are amazed to see the metal man shout in a deep voice - Beware! Beware!

The group then notices that the metal man's chest cavity has been opened, and a hooded figure races through the door. the electricity seems to fade from the metal man's eyes, and he starts to speak gibberish, then finally becomes inert. Caine and Bubba race after the figure, but can't quite catch up to the runner who rushes past the surprised door guards. They get over their initial surprise, and shout at the runner to halt, but don't give chase. It is storming badly after all. 

By the time the group makes it to the door, the cloaked figure is gone in the darkness and rain.

they head back to the cots, and confer with the rest of the group, who confirm that the metal man was indeed talking briefly, a scortched spot on the chest must be from a lightning strike. The intruder managed to open the metal man's chest cavity. They deduce that this would-be thief was looking for the artifact. Both Abel and Glug confirm that the cloaked figure looked very familiar. It could have been the Night Heron.

Glug decides to go to the keep to warn Lord Neverember about the thieves, but not everything happens as he plans. Read about it in The Apprentice.

Grallack, Pickle, Abel, Caine and Bubba make their way to the Captain's office to give a report on what happened in the barracks. The captain is concerned about the intruder, and is going to have a conversation with the guards assigned to the door that night and thier immediate officer. She does mention that a mission has come up to bring in a Charlitain whose miracle remedies are poisoning people in the city. 

Read about Grallaack, Abel and Pickle heading to the New District to apprehend The Snake Oil Salesman.

Bubba and Caine decide to see if they can do something to get the metal man talking again. The group reports to the captain who suggests that they may need to find an expert with magic and machines. Bubba remembers Danners Mechanical Marvels.

They head over to the Bluelake District to the shop, and are greeted by Gormesh at the counter. The two drag in the metal man and Gormesh is quite surprised! He excitedly explains to Bubba and Caine that the metal man isn't a golem, its a Warforged, a race of constructs from another Prime world called ebbenbond? The idea of another world is confusing, and the gnome goes into an explaination about Planer Cosmology, talking about the Astral Plane, that it links the Prime Material Plane and the Outer Planes together. But, it also connects different prime planets and realities to each other too. this goes into the book...

The one thing that he is sure of, is that this creature needs more than a lightning charge, it needs life energy. He recommends seeking out a druid, or a priest maybe. He tells the group that there is a druid that resides at the neverwinter graveyard, calls himself Sporis. Conversly, he is a member of the church of Gond, and the temple is just up the road. Graveyard druids sound gross and far away, while the temple is close and shiney. so, they head to Gond's temple. They are greeted at the door by the sound of hammers beating metal as well as young gnome named Fuergin. Fuergin takes one look at the Metal man and calls for the head smith, er priest, Brunner Sparkbeard. Brunner is a dwarf with a scarred chin, and is friendly, and fasinated by the metal man. He would love to work on this thing! the ritual he with do requires certain exotic materials, like pixie dust, red ironwood, and a 6" diameter sphere of polished white quartz, that is crystal clear. The boys know where to get their hands on pixie dust, so they ask about the other two items. Brunner answers that they should try for a jeweler or a magical component shop for the sphere, and there is a lumber mill at the edge of the tower district that could help with the wood.

Brunner notices that Bubba is without a weapon and passes him a great axe made of Baatorian green steel. this weapon is half the weight of a regular great axe, and has a non-magical +1 to attack and damage.

The first person that comes to mind is Farkle, and set out in search for the thin reed of a magic man. What they find instead is a beautiful human woman, scantley clothed, in front of a jewelers shop, her dark skin and hair glisten in the sunlight. She gasps as Bubba passes by. She is shocked at the sight of him, not to mention his glowing ghost hand. But, apologizes for he rudness and convinces the boys to step inside. The woman introduces herself as Kara. She is a jeweler by trade, dealing in some high end pieces, but doesn't happen to have a quartz orb. She does give the two the name of someone who could be of help, Granny Vern. Granny runs a component shop and dabbles in casting spells for a price as well as magic items. the boys, hungry as always, stop for a bite to eat and head to Granny's shop. The sign outside says G.V. Components. the boys are greeted inside by the sweetest elderly woman,  she has a pleasant voice and a down-home way about her that puts them at ease immediately. she can see that they are hungry, and feeds them fried cherry pie with a bit of ice cream. They love it! Granny listens to the two and explains that she does have a quartz orb like they are looking for, and would be happy to part with it for 500 gp. The boys don't have that sort of gold lying around, and are saddened trying to figure out what to do next. Granny, being very perceptive explains that a no-good apprentice mage owes her alot of money for the components and items she gave to him on credit. If the boys cou;ld bring that no good cheat back here to pay his debt off, she would happily give them the orb, and another slice of fried apple pie and ice cream.

That is a deal the boys can't pass on. the scumbag's name is Jarod, and he likes to drink at the Desert Rose tavern in Bluelake. they head over and go straight to the bar, where the barkeeep introduces herself as Claire, and hey muscle, a half-something huge, as Tiny. They point out Jarod, who doesn't resist too hard, and drag him back to Granny. She is thrilled that the boys could get the job done! Jarod is taken to the cellar, the boys get pie and icecream, a perfectly clear 6 inch quartz crystal orb, and a small compact mirror. Granny tells them that thewy can  communicate to her using this device, works almost everywhere. If she is busy, the mirror will allow a brief message to be spoken that she can listen to later. The mirror itself will softly glow when trying to reach the other mirror. She want s the boys to do more jobs for her, as they come up, they agree since there is a promise of pie for a completed job. 

The boys head in the direction of the Tower district, where a number of woodworkers ply their trade. After a few conversations, they hear that the wood they are looking for comes from a rare tree, that they should either check with the weird druid in the graveyard, or the Great Boar Logging Company, the base of operations for one of the largest lumber businesses in the city. They decide to head to the mill in the Tower District. Less Walking.  They sample food along the way, using their position to grab "free" samples. At the mill, the head of the operation, a man named Garth, tells them that the mill doesn't stock anything as exotic as red ironwood. however, the might have better luck heading out to the Neverwinter wood at the Great Boar Logging Company's logging operation, and speaking with the foreman there, a Dwarf named Yursov. Now they have a name and a place. But, it is getting late, and the boys are craving some Tortle home cooked meals. They make their way across the city to the barracks for food and rest.

Read about our next adventure in The Druids of the Wood.