Simon
Simon is an automated construct approximately 3 feet tall, wearing a jester outfit and holding a small pinstriped cane as a club. He does not speak, answering questions instead with gestures and nods. He is also capable of shooting darts.
In the Ravenloft module,[1] the duchess Lady Dilisnya commissioned the mad toymaker Frtiz von Weerg to build a clockwork copy of her jester, Pidlwick. Pidlwick entertained Sergei and Tatyana whenever she visited Ravenloft, and the toy (named Pidlwick II) was meant as a gift to them. However, Pidlwick II murdered his predecessor, and Strahd decided to keep the toy around out of amusement.
In DCA, the toy is recovered from the treasure wagon of evil Vistani, rolled up inside a unicorn run. Although he was meant as a reward to the Crew for rescuing Arabelle, it befriends the girl instead and goes with her to search for the missing hag pin that Arabelle fears will be used to murder her. In DCA, Pidlwick has two types of darts--a sleep dart (orange stripes), and a poison dart (green stripes) that does 7d6 poison damage in addition to piercing damage--which it can shoot from its mouth. The construct does indeed kill a child in the Vistani camp when it and Arabelle are suddenly confronted. Although the Crew do not see this, the players afterwards refer to Simon as "murderbot".
Trivia (spoilers)
- Simon initially has it out for Diath because he was the one to murder Arabelle. Likewise, Diath is the least friendly towards Simon, cheering when the initial incarnation was crushed by an earth elemental.
- When Simon tracked the Crew down and confronted them outside Barovia, Paultin was able to charm it and command it to be friendly to the Crew. He and Evelyn proceeded to praise and coddle it, and later referred to it as their "son". Simon stayed friendly and followed the Crew's commands even after the spell wore off.
- Nate gave Simon its name seemingly spontaneously in the middle of episode 36, and the name stuck.
- Evelyn brought Simon's parts to a dwarf smith and asked for him to be put back together. Instead, Master Flamebane built a life-sized model of Evelyn using those parts, which she was mysteriously resurrected into after she died the first time.
- When the Crew traveled to the past, they found that Lady Dilisnya intended to use Pidlwick II to kill Tatyana to prevent her wedding to Sergei from taking place. Paultin and Evelyn instead instructed the construct to behave and carried it along with them, happy to have their son back.
- Paultin has built a small portable keg for Simon to carry on his back, from which Paultin can sip wine through a straw.
References
[1] Pidlwick. Mistipedia