Night Golems

Structure

Exposition

In 998 Age of Slumber, a year before these events take place, the local smithy in Rustshield burned down. The smith and his adopted daughter Elsa, a red dragonborn, lost everything and prepared to leave the village behind, hoping to find work and a better lot in life elsewhere. On the morning of their planned departure, the smithy stood repaired, as good as new, under mysterious circumstances. Elsa, not wanting to move away, begged her father to accept this sign from an unknown benefactor, and the two of them chose to stay.
Over the course of the following year, much more mysterious repairs of a similar nature have been made in Rustshield. Unfortunately, the repairs haven't come without a cost; the villagers discovered soon enough that for every repair made, material had gone missing elsewhere in the village. Strange tracks in the dirt led them to believe that at night, constructs walked the village to rob some houses and repair others, earning the supposed creatures the name "Night Golems". Despite the Captain (and only member of) the Guard Hiada's vigilance, they could never be captured.

Rising Action

The Eleutherai were forced to spend some time in Rustshield after their caravan was robbed by the Night Golems overnight. Trying to reclaim the stolen wagon wheels and other materials, they got involved in the Night Golem investigation. They found plenty of people sneaking around in the night - Elsa and the dwarf Gedu, who kept their blossoming romance secret from her disapporiving father, the mayor, Hiada and the Erathis priest Retton. The final culprit could eventually be identified in a tragic accident.

Climax

Loud noises emerging form the basement of the small temple to Erathis led the Eleutherai to discover that the Night Golems were, indeed, metal constructs built by the priest himself. Retton, a young, nervous Half-Elf, had originally built them so his best and only friend Elsa could stay in Rustshield, and had for the past year been struggling to fix the kinks in the constructs' design.
After coming across a Void Shard that could function as an energy source, Retton constructed a new and improved Night Golem that he hoped he could present to the people of Rustshield in perfect working condition, as an aid in manual labor rather than a thief in the night. Sadly, fuelled by its dubious energy source, the golem went berserk, killing Retton in the process. Further tragedies could be prevented, but despite the broken husks of metal spelling victory, the Eleutherai left Rustshield with lowered spirits in light of Retton's tragic end.

Relations

Protagonists

Eleutherai

Neutrals/Bystanders

Elsa
Gedu
Retton

Backdrops

Locations

Rustshield

Plot type

Side Quest

Parent Plot

Slumbering Realm