It seems that all the trouble stemmed from a trip he made to explore the old Gnome city of Ak...no, Klak'Anon. The clockworks had taken total control of the place; there were no organic beings to be found except for some doomed rodents which met their end due to the unceasing efforts of the extermination machinery. But up front at the junk heap were some discarded clockworks, some of which still functioned, although they were destined to be junked and used for parts. He found one wandering around and decided it would be a nice addition to his house. On such small things, minor decisions, a whole destiny can change.
One particular evening he arrived home, exhausted from his hard work, and simply dumped his armor and gear in the corner as his chamberlain drew his bath. One Human detainee had proven very very hard to break of his heresy, and the stress and screams still echoed in his mind. But Freeport must be repeatedly cleansed of such attempts at undermining it and by extension, attacking the glorious Overlord. He shook his head as he heard the bodyservant behind him frantically picking up the clutter. "Should I clean this blood off the chestplate, Lord Inquisitor?" the servant whined. It was obvious that the blood bothered him, the inquisitor decided. Why not just let it stay? "No, just leave it alone. In fact, go home. But be back here early, or it will go hard with ye."
He carefully lowered his large frame into the (wonderfully huge) aviak bathtub he had adapted to use. Ah, nice warm water. The chamberlain had been expensive but was fairly competent. Maybe this one would not need any...encouragement in doing his duty. He would see if the man was intelligent also. "Chamberlain, you may leave early if all your chores are finished. But I want to see you back here early also." "Aye, lord, I have finished my work to the best of my knowledge. If my lord finds it to be to his satisfaction, then I will ask his permission to go." Good, good, this one seemed to know how to act. The inquisitor watched from his comfortable reclining position as the last servant left the house.
Now was time to plan the next day's activities. There were suspects to ferret out, and even now he had a brigand doing some persuading down in the lower quarter of South Freeport. The heretic he had broken today would be good for a few names, but after a couple more sessions would probably be too insane, or dead, to use. But on the other hand, that wood elf woman was going to provide some great entertainment. Perhaps no useful information was in that pretty head. But she might provide other distractions....
The inquisitor left one arm dangling out of the bath as he relaxed a bit further. Careful, he told himself, don't fall asleep in the bath. A couple of his pets roamed about the room. One that he really liked was his hellhound. He sometimes took the mutt with him to work; some detainees could be persuaded by threat of savage dog attack. Ah, there was that strange clockwork; it was moving toward the drake hatchling which perched in a corner. But as the clockwork passed by the bathtub, it brushed against the inquisitor's hand. It must have had a defective proximity detection device, and it reacted to contact with organic material by discharging its stored energy. There was a crack and a flash, and the inquisitor slumped farther into the bathtub, face barely out of the water, unconscious.