2023/02/08

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: River raiding

The journey back to Five Fingers was uneventful compared to what the party had been through on their way out past civilization. After a week or so of traveling, the many ports of Five Fingers rose up and they were back home once again. The party then reported in to Atrixia to tell what had happened and to present Kita to Five Fingers. Atrixia was happy to see that the party was safe from the challenges that they had faced. Of particular interest was the gate, while it didn't serve as an immediate threat to Five Fingers, any coordinated efforts from infernalists was concerning. The party then asked how Five Fingers had fared in their absence. The party was told that there were some problems going on, though they probably couldn't help with them. Apparently some ships had disappeared without any trace recently. This was a problem though the high captains were trying to figure out if this was the work of Ord or someone else. As a final note Atrixia gave the party heads up that there was talk of strikes into Ord to try and take back some of the initiative in the war. Charlotte had some reservations about doing so, though this was hypothetical for the most part. The party conversed among themselves about potential routes to end the war with Ord, though they were unable to come up with any compelling solutions.

The party then had some downtime as the wheels of decision continued to slowly turn. During this time Abe took Kita to see Ozero at the jack pool. Once there, he was surprised to see Assault Kommander Strakhov looking at Ozero as well. Abe and the Kommander had a short conversation during which Abe was trying not to inadvertently insult the black ops kommander, as well as keep Kita from drawing too much attention. Eventually Strakhov bid the two good day and left to go do whatever it was that he filled his days with. The rest of the party thought that the interaction was interesting though the most likely solution was that the Kommader and Stravinsky likely knew each other given their similar ages. None of this was really their business however, and if it did come up at a later time then they would figure that out then. The party's downtime was then interrupted that they were being out to capture a Ordic shipment of cortexes that were traveling down the Dragon's Tongue River from Point Bourne to Tarna.

The party began planning their raid on the shipment, deciding that they were going to attack the ship on the river away from the Tarna or any other major settlements. To allow for this they asked the high captains to commission a barge with a ramming plate attached and a bridge apparatus for them to board the Ordic transport. The ramming plate was not much more than reinforced steel on the front of the barge and the bridge was a sheet of wood that could be extended out from the bow of the ship. With that in place the party set out traveling up the river to find their quarry. As the party reached the part of the river where the shipment should be, they came across the problem that the shipment wasn't clearly marked out for their ease of theft. Though they put their knowledge about what such a shipment would look like and were able to find another barge that they were confident was their target.

The party then commanded their barge to ram the Ordic barge, which seemed to be something that was unexpected by the other vessel, as they didn't make evasive maneuvers until far too late to avoid the party. With a large cacophony the barges collided and the party deployed their bridge and charged across to fight the defenders. The defenders were rather skilled, and they were led by their captain who wore polished platemail and invoked a whip of fire. The party was victorious in the end, despite Abe and Xavier being knocked down from the captain over channeling his whip with blue fire. With the battle over the party began grabbing the crates of cortexes and capturing the shipmen from the other barge, then extricated themselves from the other barge which sank from the damage inflicted upon it. The party then began sailing back to Five Fingers, avoiding the Ordic pursuit that plagued them the entire way back.