The Silver Ravens press the attack, but things begin to look a bit grim: Davina's rapier thrust and Kiri's air blast both fail to connect, due in equal parts to fear, sickness, and the monster's protective mage armor.
Jessibel, having a relatively unobstructed shot, fires her last coin at the arachnoid foe. The silver missile strikes true but fails to drop the monster. The undead aranea snaps its fangs at Davina before again trying to tumble away from danger. Davina's nipped pretty good . The spider's skittering is quick enough that Davina and Leora are unable to react in time to attack, but T'chazzar's reflexes are good and he gets a free attack at the aranea.
The aranea's poison begins to affect you slightly (1 point Str damage, plus you'll need to make another Fort save next round).
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Since T'chazzar doesn't step into range, Leora attempts to cast touch of good on herself, to help with the stench and whatever other nasty tricks the spider has up its sleeves hairy legs. But she's distracted by the nasty spider bite she took earlier and loses the spell.
Seeing how much trouble her friends are having with hitting the spider, Leora attempts to cast touch of good on Davina. But again, she's distracted by the spider's mandibles waving around in her face and loses the spell again. She moves further away from Dom, hoping to get clear of the stink.
Kiri shifted slightly as the agile spider dodged around the group. She wasn't about to let the thing get another strike in if she could stop it and so began to pull together the winds. When it came to rest she sent a burst of air out but yet again her need to avoid her allies and the effects of the mild fear caused her to miss with a curse.
The party's struggles continue against their elusive foe, as T'chazzar and Kiri both miss and Leora can't manage to cast spells with the spidery opponent so close to her.
Davina grits her teeth, and moves up to attack at the spider again. She misses, and feels the poison move through her veins.
As Davina and T'chazzar fail to bring down the wounded spider, Jessibel maintains her inspiring battle song and moves closer to Dom & the drow, interposing herself between the monster and her friend's ex-bodyguard and perhaps giving herself a clear shot at the undead aranea in the near future.
The monster seems to have had its fill of battle, however, and looks to escape with its unlife. Again it attempts a leaping scamper to try to move to the east, eyeballing the hole in the ceiling your party tumbled through. This momentary lack of focus costs the creature, and it stumbles badly; T'chazzar, Davina, and Leora each get an AoO as it tries poorly to pass them.
"Take that, you stupid ugly beetle!" Leora finally gets a chance to take a swipe at the undead spider.
She can't connect as the creature runs away.
The skittering spider manages to dodge Davina's attack but scrabbles directly into the path of Leora's jabbing rapier, the point of which enters its head right between its many eyes. With a squeal and quiver, it flops onto its back as its legs curl up.
Jessibel emits a funny little giggle-scoff and comments, "That pathetic escape attempt looked like something I'd do! Way to go, Leora!"
It doesn't take long for the paralysis affecting Dom to run its course, and when it does the stench leaves the hole as well. Those sickened by the smell or shaken by the frightful undead spider feel well again, too.
A quick look around the chamber reveals--in addition to the three webbed bodies--a leather satchel dangling from a line of webbing in the northwest corner. And you've also got the metal box from upstairs before the floor gave out.
After an uncomfortably tense wait, Domitius feels control of his body return. "That was awful. Undead spider wizards, a new wrinkle I hope to never see again." He scans the room briefly, pointing to the bodies as he heads to the satchel. "Someone see to them. We should not stay here much longer." Dom hurriedly glances at the bag before opening it with tip of a dagger.
"Aranea, I think," says T'chazzar. "I don't know too much about them, but they do tend to show up fairly often in the Darklands." He carefully wipes off his blade and sheathes it. He approaches the webbed bodies and looks them over, trying to see if anyone's still alive in there.
I've had enough fighting with bugs! Ugh. Leora is happy Dom is okay after the paralysis wears off. After she's sure he's alright, she searches the room for anything interesting.
So did the Silver Star have a secret basement? Were they hanging out down here before the fire and the spider just moved in? She offers a wick prayer to the Drunken Hero to guide her in figuring out what was going on at the Silver Star.
"So did the Silver Star have a secret basement? Were they hanging out down here before the fire and the spider just moved in?"
As he's approaching the bag, Dom frowns in thought. "I suspect the, um, Aranotaliveanymore moved in after the fire. Only way that makes any sense, I think..."
T'chazzar quickly notices that two of the three cocooned bodies are quite dead: their wrappings are tattered and bones and a few strips of papery flesh can be seen within. The third cocoon, however, is intact and still fairly plump and rounded, as if the victim entombed within were a much more recent capture...but when the drow further investigates, he finds the third cocoon just as dust-covered as the two torn ones. A few patches of webbing seem newer--whiter and less stained by time.
Dom finds the hanging satchel isn't the bait for a sinister trap: instead, it's apparently where the undead spider kept her few treasures. Within the multi-pocketed bag Dom finds: masterwork thieves' tools, a small silver mirror, a glass vial, a wand, and a small leather-bound journal or notebook with a stylized silver S on its cover, an embroidered bell dangling from the top of the letter.
Leora's search reveals little: there seems to be no other exit from the chamber. Perhaps it served as a hidey-hole or secret storage and was accessible through a trapdoor in the now-crumbled ceiling.
The iron coffer found on the level above holds four scrolls and seven potions (3 blue, 4 red).
I'm going to simplify a lot of checking and identifying magic items. For potions and scrolls, I'm just going to assume the Silver Ravens use read magic spells and whatever it takes to ID potions (including Aid Another actions), so I'll just list those. Other items we'll go through the normal identification process.
In the iron coffer: 3 potions of lesser restoration, 4 potions of cure light wounds, scrolls of cure moderate wounds, daylight, remove blindness/deafness, and remove disease.
In the hanging bag: potion of arcane mark.
The wand and the bag itself are also magical, if the person(s) casting detect magic would like to make the additional Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks.
Kiri breathed a sigh of relief the defeat of the undead monstrosity and felt the fear drop from her as it died. Still, not one for half measures at times like this Kiri called forth the winds and slammed them down onto the remains to make sure the bug was good and squished. When she was finished she looked at the others and asked, "What have we found? Anything worth the trouble?"
Assuming the satchel can be secured, Domitius does so, and slings it over his shoulder. "Some things in here that might be interesting, including what might be Shensen's journal. But probably best saved for when we are in more secure lodgings."
Dom eyes up the wall, and does his best to get back upstairs, the better to lower a rope to help his friends up.
Jessibel approaches T’chazzar, offering to help him examine the webbed bodies.
”I looked further into the matter you mentioned back at the Nest: What Thrune’s doing with the political prisoners, proclamation breakers, and curfew scofflaws the dottari and his Queensmen take into custody,” she announces, loud enough that other nearby Ravens can overhear as well. ”All of Kintargo’s prison population was moved from the old Holding House to Kintargo Keep in Castle District years ago, but Mayor Barry—as Dom calls him—has reopened the old prison as a place to process those taken prisoner during his ascension to power here. Those he deems serious threats are either moved to Kintargo Keep or executed. The Holding House’s new warden’s allegedly some tall creepy Asmodean inquisitor named Sabo the Spider. Yuck—another spider!”
”Other prisoners serve lesser sentences locked up there,” the bard continues. ”Thrune’s also set up a stage complete with pillories and even some gallows in Veritas Plaza a few blocks south of here, but my contacts tell me no one’s been hung there…yet. His flunkies are still constructing something else in the plaza, too.”
”Run-of-the-mill lawbreakers like public drunks, pickpockets, and folks caught out after curfew or busted breaking one of Thrune’s idiotic proclamations are typically locked up in cells in the basement of the various dottari watch stations inside the city walls or along the Bleakbridge. My sources tell me penalties for lesser crimes range from a fine of about 20 gold pieces to a few day to two weeks’ incarceration. Some folks--like Kiri's father--are forced into a longer period of hard labor in Thrune-loyalist businesses throughout the city.”
”Thrune’s also built what they’re calling ‘squassation stations’ for those who break Proclamation the Eighth—two at the Yolubilis Harbor docks, one at the Foreign Quarter docks in Jarvis End, and one at Old Harbor beyond the Salt Gate. I’m not sure if they’ve gotten any use, though: my contacts in the Opera House Society don’t get to the docks much. Ooh—almost forgot! There are as-yet-unsubstantiated rumors that Thrune’s going to erect hanging gibbets at each end of the Bleakbridge, but I don’t know how reliable that info might be.”
As he listens to Jessibel's report, T'chazzar carefully parts the strands of webbing on the intact cocoon, soon revealing an attractive female human or perhaps tiefling. Her skin shows no signs of the ravages of time you'd expect to see in someone imprisoned for the gods know how long: In fact, she almost looks like she's alive.
"What are we gonna do with the remains of that undead spider lady's victims?" Jessibel asks aloud while taking a closer peek at the woman T'chazzar has revealed. "Is she really dead?" the young woman asks when she gets a good look at the motionless woman.
She IS alive...but paralyzed!
Leora listens to Jessi's grim update on the situation, growing pale when she realizes that the Dottari patrol they ran into earlier could have imprisoned her for weeks! "What's the 8th proclamation? I thought there were only 7."
After T'chazzar and Jessi reveal the lady, Leora takes a look at her injuries as well. With Jessi's help, she exclaims "Hey! She's alive too, just paralyzed like Dom was!" At that Leora holds out her holy symbol and channels positive energy to heal her friends and the cocooned stranger.
"Hey Dom, I bet you a gold that it isn't Shensen's journal," Leora says, wondering if the cocooned woman is one of the other famous people that went missing when Thrune rose to power.
"Hmm. Good work," says T'chazzar to Jessibel. "So we have our pick, really - any dottari station that we think is a likely target could become a liberation operation. But the people who might be most sympathetic to and helpful to us would be in the Holding House. In the meantime, I think it would be delightful if a few of these squassation stations or gallows had a terrible accident and burned down."
Seeing the woman unwrapped from the cocoon Kiri was shocked she was still alive. It was shocking really and she looked at the woman, whatever she was, and then to the remaining corpses when they were brought up. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know, they're dead, we don't know how long, we don't know who they were." She cocked her head to one side, "Leave them?" Looking back to the paralyzed woman she continued, "If she's paralyzed like Dom why is she not free from it with the spiderthing's death like he was?"
"Hey Dom, I bet you a gold that it isn't Shensen's journal."
Dom makes a skeptical face to Leora. "We're in her former shop, the book's got a big 'S' on the cover. If you just want to give me a sail, I'm game. I promise I'll spend it on something fun," he smirks.
"In the meantime, I think it would be delightful if a few of these squassation stations or gallows had a terrible accident and burned down."
The half-orc gets an overly excited look on his face. "We're burning stuff now? This job just keeps getting better and better." A thought seems to occur to him. "That could be what I spend Leora's money on, something to start fires..."
"If she's paralyzed like Dom why is she not free from it with the spiderthing's death like he was?"
As he's surveying the wall for handholds, Domitius chimes in. "Good point. And not quite paralyzed 'like me'. I hesitate to bring this up, but while I was paralyzed, I had a bit of a funk going on."
Davina moves over and examines the living woman, "You're right she doesn't smell like you did Domitius. I'm glad you are alright. We should bring her with us, and see what we can find out about healing her. Perhaps someone at the temple can help figure why she isn't moving. If it's arcane, I can do some research."
"All right, let's get out of here and back to somewhere safer. If our mysterious guest doesn't free up by the time we do, we can look into other remedies," T'chazzar says. "Dom, you wanna take one side and I'll take the other?"
Dom nods, looking over the unfortunate woman. "I'd been thinking I'd climb up and lower a rope down. We could tie it around her under her arms, maybe, and haul her up. But if you want to just give it a go this way, ready when you are."
T'chazzar looks back up the pit and says, "No, your way is safer. Let's do that."
"No, your way is safer. Let's do that."
Dom is taken aback for a moment, as he realizes he just advocated for caution. "My way is safer, isn't it? Maybe if I climb while holding a lit tindertwig in my teeth...?"
T'chazzar shrugs and says, "You can take whatever risks you want, but it's not fair to this lady to put additional risks on her without her consent."
It takes a moment to realize that he's both playing straight to Dom's comment for humor, and serious about the content of his reply.
Leora identifies the wand as (somewhat ironically) a wand of detect magic (12 charges); the bag is a handy haversack.
Dom's plan works without a hitch, and soon everyone's back in the main cellar and then topside in the ruins. Surprisingly, there's no sign of any dottari or Queensman patrols after the floor collapse: Maybe they're all investigating rebels at city hall after Leora's big bluff.
Your group gets back to the Grey Heron Inn without incident. Jessibel says she's returning to the Opera House Society headquarters, located a few blocks to the west, so that her absence won't be noticed by some colleagues staying there. She promises to rejoin the group "first thing in the morning"...which most of the Ravens know actually means "a couple hours after sunrise."
Inside the inn, the paralyzed woman remains in that condition, overnight and into the next morning.
Gaa! You've lost another bet with Leora! The diary actually belonged to a female bard named Bellamyra, also known as Silverbelle. A quick perusal reveals that she was something called a silver balladeer and acted as a spy for and part-time associate of the previous incarnation of Silver Ravens.
Jessibel's trying to become a silver balladeer. Maybe you could sell the diary to her and make enough to tun a profit even after paying off Leora. ;)
Hearing T'chazzar and Dom talking about burning down Thrune's new stuff, "We still have some alchemist's fire if we need it," Leora says, as she finds some in her bag while packing up their new items.
Once the tiefling lady is safely in the Grey Heron, Leora checks on her again before offering anyone in the group a drink, and toasting their success at exploring the Silver Star. . She wonders if one of the potions of lesser restoration would help her come around.
"I've had enough Dottari for one night. How about we wait until morning to take her to Songbird Hall?" For good measure, Leora casts cure light wounds on the woman just in case it might help, and channels energy for any of the party that needs healing.
Later, after the gang has achieved some measure of privacy, Dom leafs through the journal, and is shocked to find his sure-thing bet with Leora comes to naught. "Are you kidding me? This is an outrage!" He takes out a gold sail, and spins it on its edge across the table to Leora. "In good health, friend," he makes a face of mock begrudging. Idly flipping the pages, Dom tries to catch a gist of what this Silverbelle was about. He muses, "Next time Jessibel crashes through our door, we should have her go over this, nyet?"
Dom will make a point of noting the thieves' tools with Miss Eradon later. Of the two of them, she is still the superior lock-picker, the tools would be put to better use in her hands.
Eyeing up their guest, as they try and figure out what to do with her, Dom asks, "Come daybreak, could we call for a coach? Do we trust one to be discreet?"
"Hah! " Leora pockets her spoils. "To be honest, I was thinking the diary belonged to our paralyzed friend here, wasn't there a famous tiefling lady that went missing just after Thrune showed up? Strea Something-or-other? Good thing I was vague! Yeah, this sounds right up Jessi's alley. Maybe there's some new songs or something in there."
Regarding their guest, Leora agrees that a coach would be a good way to transport her.
Kiri was curious as to who this strange woman was. She was naked inside that cocoon with only a few moldering scraps of cloth left on her. The idea that she was a tiefliing was incomprehensible to her. Of course she couldn't really tell the difference, or rather didn't understand the difference between one humanoid and another, let alone why tieflings were different. As far as she was concerned they were all one thing and that meant not strix.
Their plan to take the woman to the temple seemed like a good one, using a carriage so that they could keep the woman concealed, was smart. "I'll sit inside," she said, "I doubt I can keep up with you otherwise."
Meanwhile the paralyzed woman continued to be perfectly still except for the rise and fall of her chest in breathing and her eyes closed. Whether she was human or otherwise was hard to tell as there was no overt sign of fiendish features but something about her hinted at some connection to the lower planes even if it was undefinable what that was. "..."
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Davina covers the woman with her cloak before letting the gents pull her up out of the hole. "Bring an extra set of clothes tomorrow morning Jess. Nothing too fancy. If we can't wake her up, we'll be dressing a limp person. A simple tunic and skirt if you can find it." Anticipating Jess' look she says. "Yes I know that offends your sense of fashion, but getting pants, boots, a shirt and a jacket on an unmoving person is not easy."
I hope they don't ask how I know that.
"I"ll order the carriage once Miss Jess gets here. How we are going to explain this to the driver? Maybe too much to drink and we can't wake her up."
"...getting pants, boots, a shirt and a jacket on an unmoving person is not easy."
I hope they don't ask how I know that.
Jessibel gives Davina no guff or sass, just a simple nod and comment that the OHS has lots of costumes and props that she can get her hands on. Leora's examination leaves the priestess baffled; her spells seem to have healed a few lingering wounds, but the toxin or magic that's keeping the woman paralyzed is powerful and beyond her knowledge.
Jessibel's only fashionably late--no more than 15 minutes--the next morning, a testament to how intrigued she is with the paralyzed lady found the night before. She suggests using Tallfellows Coach Service to take the woman to Songbird Hall and even volunteers to go outside and find one. She also presents Dom with some sort of orcish war mask--a bit over-the-top in its toothy ferocity but pretty good considering its price (free). Last, she gives Davina the clothing requested.
The trip to Songbird Hall goes without a hitch. The woman is whisked inside, and soon an acolyte has brought you High Priest Zachrin Vhast himself to deal with the problem. The handsome man's face is troubled, almost panicked.
"It's a good thing you brought her in early, otherwise there would be questions," he says in a loud whisper. "The Temple of Asmodeus has always overseen our activities and sat in on some of our rituals, but now they've assigned a priest to be inside the temple most of the day, usually from just before noon services to closing."
Taking a look at the rescued woman, Vhast's face again seems troubled, especially when he hears how long she's been in a paralyzed state. He says the only thing he's heard of that can paralyze a person for so long is the touch of a lich, and he really hopes there are none of those powerful undead spellcasters within the city limits. He also wistfully reports that he'll have to prepare a remove paralysis spell the next morning. "I can keep her in a guest room until then. If you want to be present for the casting, come here this same time tomorrow."
The former Silver Raven Lydia Tivyr and Gavin Brassvane's sidekick Triella Winters (and her oversized familiar, Blackfeather) are both present and exchange pleasantries with your group. Jessibel, claiming that she'll be busy studying for much of the following week, asks Lydia to have the dwarf Turl report to Dom or Davina at the Nest to see if they have a mission for him and his troupe of entertainers.
Things are relatively quiet in the city. The biggest news is that the students of Alabaster Academy have been holding small protests daily in Villegre Park against the Lord-Mayor's proclamations and martial law. So far, the government has ignored them.
There's been an incident: Some time during the night the rose garden was vandalized and all its rose bushes mashed and/or stomped. Davina's mother thinks she heard voices but didn't investigate at the time.
Laria has fenced some of the things you found inside Clenchjaw's: the stuff from the nest in the rafters fetches 525 gp. If Leora wants to sell the selection of spirits she took, that would gain another 300 gp. This doesn't take into account the priestess's masterwork mace or chainmail, which can easily be sold for half their worth (156 gp and 75 gp respectively). Apparently she also carried 4 darts and a buckler. I'm assuming her Asmodean tabard and silver holy symbol were kept as 'potential future disguise props.'
"I'm going to run to the Manor before heading over to the Nest. I have some efreeti chord to create." She mumbles to herself as she heads out. "I wonder if I should just order the glass now instead of waiting."
"What happened to my rose bushes? That's unacceptable." She examines them closely while trying to calm her mother. "It will be alright. No I'm sure it wasn't Dom. Why would he smash the rose bushes he's tried so hard to keep beautiful. No I'm sure it has nothing to do with his past. He is NOT a thug. It was probably kids messing around after curfew." She tries to look convinced that it was kids.
Davina sees that the rosebushes were bashed with blunt instruments and stomped with heavy boots. She guesses that her mother probably doesn't fully buy her little white lie.
If Davina thinks she's ever seen Dom really mad, he's taking it up a notch when he sees what's happened to the rose garden. He tries to contain himself in front of Davina's mother, no need to alarm her any more than is necessary. "Could you tell me, was this before you retired for the evening? Late at night? Any details you can tell me will be helpful."
"Sudarynya, I am sorry I allowed this to happen. With your permission, I will replant, and keep... a more watchful eye on things." He starts eyeing up the garden and the yard with a more tactical eye, looking for places from which he might set an ambush on the rose garden.
Davina's mother says the incident happened after she'd fallen asleep; she guesses somewhere around midnight.
A rose is part of the holy symbol of the goddess Milani...whose worshipers are already on Lord-Mayor Thrune's list of enemies of the state.
Normally T'chazzar would stay at the Nest - less problems if he keeps out of sight - but for some reason he seems inclined to accompany Davina this time.
"Davina," he says, "I apologize for blowing you off earlier, about those concentration exercises. Call it a defensive mechanism from my upbringing. They're supposed to help with focusing. It's... difficult, sometimes, being up here. I'm an outsider who doesn't fit in with my own people or with the people of the surface world. Sometimes I just need to... focus. I have work to do here, important work. I can't be distracted by my personal, uh, issues."
~~~~~~~~~~
"The rose bushes were probably smashed by some Asmodean who thinks of the rose as a symbol of Milani, the Everbloom - the god of revolutions," T'chazzar tells Davina.
Keeping his hood up, he crouches down by the smashed plants. He peels off his fighting gloves and gently runs his fingers over the twisted and broken stem of one of the bushes. The thorns still draw blood, but he doesn't seem to mind.
"I'm sorry, Davina," he says softly while crouched among the ruined stems. "I'm sure they were beautiful. And they will bloom again."
"Wow, that sucks!" Leora commiserates with Zacharin when he explains that the Asmodeans are keeping a close tab on him. "Do the Asmodeans have a lot of priests? We, uh, saw one of their priestesses around Clenchjaw's Tavern. It got shut down the other day, and the priestess and a Redactor went in there. Oh, and there was a really creepy guy named Saul Porter. I felt gross just talking to him. He wanted to do the place up with a devil theme, which made him even creepier."
Regarding the paralyzed woman, Leora tells Zacharin "I'll come back first thing tomorrow morning and make sure she's alright once she wakes up, sounds like you've got enough on your plate."
Leora chats with Lydia and Triella, asking how they are doing and how things are going. She tells them about her run-in with the Dottari and warns them to stay safe at the temple.
Leora is excited to see that Laria fenced a lot of their stuff. "Awesome, thanks Laria. What do you think of this stuff?" She goes through the spirits and other loot they got recently and is happy with Laria's assessment of the value. "As much as I'd like to keep this booze, I suppose it's going to a good cause." She frowns over the Asmodean holy symbol and robes. Disguising herself as Dottari or a Queensman was weird enough. Wearing the stuff of Cayden Cailean's most hated enemy didn't feel right. But she hangs onto the items for now in case one of her friends wants to wear them.
Leora chats with some of the folks at the coffee house, including Laria, trying to gather more information on this Saul Porter guy.
She also chats with some of the students of the Alabaster Academy to see what they have to say about Thrune and to gauge their interest in rebelling. Are they just the typical angry teenagers, or are they truly angry?
Since there isn't much going on that afternoon, Leora takes a cup of coffee down to the Nest and attempts to scribe a scroll of liberating command.
Zachrin notices Leora's evasiveness and takes her aside. "I overheard our Asmodean overseers chatting when they switched out yesterday...something about a team going missing at Clenchjaw's. If you know something about that...well, actually, don't tell me. I don't want to know."
*******************************
Leora's inquiries into Saul don't bear much fruit; only a couple of patrons think they've heard of someone named Saul but can't remember where exactly. Laria's a bit more helpful...maybe.
"You sure you don't mean Saul Anderson, the gambler? Middle-aged fellow with a key where his hand once was? I thought he got himself killed a few years back," the chatty halfling says. "If the fellow you met at Clenchjaw's was in his twenties and had both hands...it couldn't be him, unless he bought--no, more likely stole--one of those Thuvian youth potions...unless Anderson had a son. I used to have a regular here who ran with old Saul...gal by the named of Alix who lived in the Greenwall House tenement near the western wall. Haven't seen her since the new Lord-Mayor took over though. She might know if the Saul I knew had a son."
*****************************
Leora visits nearby Villegre Park to chat up the Alabaster Academy students, knowing that they often study, relax, and/or eat their lunches there. She comes away with mixed feelings as to whether they'd be helpful in the rebellion: Some seems sincere and resolved in their desire to see Lord-Mayor Thrune ousted; others seem like they expect simple words to sway the man and would likely balk if things came to violence or serious confrontation.
******************************
Dom is able to get some cuttings and also finds a couple of bushes that might be nursed back to help with the proper attention.
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Kiri returned to the Nest after they left the strange woman with the priests. She had little interest in returning to Eradon Manor just now and was more than happy to attain the roof of the Nest and enjoy the wind blowing across the rooftops.