Lockheart & Gold

A few days before Candlenight -- before the first big cold snap -- Larkin made the journey out to Morningstar Keep to visit Goro, and as she passed through Glimmerton, she discovered that there was some sort of local festival going on. She told the rest of the Runners about it (except Hansel, who was already in town to meet with his daughter, Luci), and they all decided to to go check it out.

Once there, the gang ran into Urdan harassing some elephants, and after quite some amount of bickering, Nixie resolved the situation by quietly offering the dwarf some popcorn. New friend acquired.

Soon enough, the Runners encountered a four-foot-high blue dragonborn bard performing for the enjoyment a small gathered crowd, and once his performance was over and the crowd had dispersed, he cheerfully called to Roddy and asked him how he was doing. This was Amren Firnash, Roddy's adopted brother -- it was Roddy's circus.

Amren chatted to Roddy for a while, commenting on how apparently Roddy murdered someone in Calisham and this was why he got thrown out, and also asked Roddy for his old lute, claiming it was Grandma Firnash's lute which Roddy had stolen when he left the circus. Much bickering ensued, but eventually Roddy relented and headed back to the castle to get the lute. Goro then immediately went from needling Roddy to interrogating Amren, and changed his mind and decided he fucking hated these circus people for kicking Roddy out.

He demanded to be taken to the ringmaster -- a tall half-elf woman named Moira Gold -- and further demanded an explanation. She wasn't having his shit, telling him that the circus lived and died on reputation, and their reputation couldn't be "circus with a tortle who killed a Calishami noblewoman". Roddy returned with the lute and Amren happily took it with him, and Moira departed as well without giving the Runners so much as a 'good-bye'.

As the Runner continued to wander around the town, they met up with Hansel and Luci, who seemed to be having a nice time, and then stumbled across an odd shop that claimed to be open but was, in fact, quite out of reach as it was perched on top of an oversized pair of chicken legs. Goro recognized it from a flyer as Custom Uncursed Curios, and the gang managed to get inside to find Lyra Deleon still setting things up, but willing to take orders. Several requests were made, and she also appraised the Leech and told Goro that it seemed to have about a fifty percent chance of breaking entirely when the Resurrection spell was used, in addition to that fifty percent chance of killing the caster.

When the gang left the shop, they were accosted by the Glimmerton town guard. The captain of the guard uneasily informed them that there had been a murder, and Roddy was heavily implicated.

Moira Gold had been killed.

The guard would be doing an investigation, and the Runners were welcome to conduct their own, but even though the Runners were the town's heroes ... after several hours passed, the guard would have no choice but the take someone into custody. And so, the gang set to work saving their bard.

First, they checked the crime scene itself. Moira's throat had been slashed and Roddy's lute -- the one he'd just given to Amren, but that had his name carved into it -- had seemingly been used to bash her head in. Another group went to interrogate Amren, as he was clearly their prime suspect, and they met his goliath friend, Vaala Stonecrusher, who was guarding him but allowed them to speak to him. He seemed pretty shaken up, and insisted that if Roddy hadn't done it, then someone must be framing one of them, but Goro's insight told him that Amren was lying through his little dragonborn teeth.

Other twists and turns occurred, as traditionally occurs with murder mysteries. The gang talked to Amren's parents, who told them that their son had gone off the rails since Roddy's departure -- he moved out of their trailer, had gotten into some dark, murderous bardic shit, and joined up with some guild of thieves and assassins who always wore red.

Roddy and Gwydion contacted Jonn, who dropped out of a nearby tree to help -- talking to Amren himself, getting something thrown at him, and confirming that while Amren was a member of his guild, the guild had nothing to do with Moira's death.

At some point, Hansel left the group, telling Luci to hang out with Goro while he went back to the castle to get his weapons.

Goro and Luci inspected Moira's body again and discovered that she had no shadow -- which lined up with the Firnash's claim that Amren now had magic that allowed him to steal the shadows of those he killed, and use them to take on his victim's appearances. Larkin and Gwydion interrogated witnesses, who all claimed to have seen the vague but unmistakable shape of a tortle fleeing the scene of the crime. Nixie and Larkin were able to creep into Amren's tent, both uncovering and planting evidence.

When Goro realized Hansel had in fact been gone for several hours, he wasted little time running back to the castle himself -- Luci following behind him -- while the rest of the gang cheerfully watched a wrathful Amren being arrested, thanks to their very clever and hard work.

Goro and Luci arrived at Morningstar Keep to the sound of thunder. Hansel stood, unarmed and unarmored save for his Red Blade shield, in the castle entry hall, and he stared at them blankly for a moment, clearly not himself. Thunder rumbled overhead, and he attacked.

The two clerics nearly both died before the rest of the Runners could catch up, and a terrible fight ensued -- Hansel possessed devastating thunder and lightning magic that he employed to great effect, and the Runners had difficulty even staying on their feet. Roddy and Nixie largely escaped harm, while Goro, Luci, and Gwydion appeared to be the preferred targets, and Larkin was often caught in the crossfire. Mishka arrived and attempted to teleport Hansel to the dungeon, but like most of the magic that had been used against him, the spell faltered and failed.

The Runners were close to death and prepared to run from this fight -- half of them already on their way out the door -- when their last ditch efforts finally took Hansel down. He fell unconscious, and the storm over the keep dissipated.

They took his body down to the dungeon, unsure if he would wake up himself or not, and tended to their wounded as best as they were able as they waited. Goro rattled the bars and yelled threats at the god Talos, who he assumed to be responsible for Hansel's possession.

"Talos?" Luci asked.

Goro offhandedly explained that Talos was a god of storms.

"He's not the god of orcs," she said.

She had an explanation to offer -- and, tentatively, a plan.