2022/12/21

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms, the party made their way back to Five Fingers.

The party had reached the barracks where the crew of The Steady Wind was held. And while there they heard in the distance the roar of cannons and the beginning of the assault on Carre Dova. The party began readying the crew for the journey back to the docks and the ship. As the party and their charges left the barracks and the naval garrison, the attack on the port was in full swing. The formerly full streets had been emptied as those outside sought shelter in any structure they could find. In addition to the lack of civilians, the defense force of the city had been moved to the port so that they could better defend the city. As a result the party's route through the city was mostly unimpeded, only having to avoid routes that had been blocked off by rubble during the attack. Eventually the party had made their way to the seawall and the road that ran to the deep water docks. It was here that the party began to see the true battle for Carre Dova. Ships were firing upon each other just outside of the port and the coastal defense batteries were in full swing.

As the party ran down the sea wall to where they had seen The Steady Wind, they noticed that their passage hadn't gone unnoticed, pursuing them were a number of cavalry and two warjacks that had been modified to keep pace. While The Steady Wind was close by, the cavalry would be upon them before they and the crew reached it, much less before the ship was ready to cast off. The party urged the crew further on and prepared themselves to buy time for The Steady Wind to make ready. Shakes did attempt to break the charge upon their rear with the improvised bomb he had brought to Carre Dova though the timing wasn't as precise as one could hope for. With no more tricks left to play, the party engaged the cavalry and their warjacks on the docks. The resulting battle was rather brutal for everyone involved with only a single member of the cavalry surviving the skirmish and the party being rather badly wounded by the lances and weapons of the cavalry. But the party was victorious and was able to board The Steady Wind and set sail with haste back towards Five Fingers.

The journey back to Five Fingers took about a day, and the frigates and cruisers that had attacked Carre Dova rendezvoused with The Steady Wind to escort it the rest of the way. Upon arriving in Five Fingers, The Steady Wind was met with a impressive operation to unload the ship as quickly as possible. Atrixia was on the docks to meet with the party to get news of the operation as soon as possible. The party relayed what had happened and Hector provided some suggestions for potential defenses for the port. Atrixia assured him that High Captain D'Lamsyn was working on that issue and that was a priority. After their debrief was complete, the party was given rest for as long as it would be allowed and dismissed.

The party's rest would last for a little over a week, before they were called to deal with an issue on the northern border bridge. That location was of note in and of itself, as since the escalation of tensions with Ord that bridge had become mostly unused. However the the guards stated that someone was trying to cross into Five Fingers and that the party's presence was requested. The party made their way to the bridge and found two people that they didn't expect to see again: Banek Hurley and Lord Longfellow. The party had a number of questions for the pair as to why they were in Five Fingers again. Apparently the pair had struck it off after their mutual incarceration and now Hurley was accompanying Longfellow on his mission of punishing wicked nobles. It was this mission that led the pair back to Five Fingers, their current mark had ties to the disbanded Greylord Covenant of Khador and the black magic that it was known for. While Lord Longfellow is Grymkin, killing those protected by the dark magics of the Greylords wasn't a sure thing. So they were coming back to Five Fingers to raid a stash of Hurleys that was to counter black magic. They offered the rest of the stash to the Five Fingers government as payment for allowing them back into the city. The party accepted the offer and also offered to act as escorts and extra hands for the pair while in the city.

The group then went back to Undertow to discuss the details of the stash. Hurley elaborated that the cache was in a shipwreck off of Doleth Island. What he needed help with, wasn't the dredging of the ship, though rather the procurement of the key to open the chest. The chest in question was an “liberated” Orgoth chest that had a number of nasty protections on it to prevent unauthorized entry. The only safe way in was with the key, a large sapphire. Hurley said that he had kept the sapphire at the Blue Dragon Casino, inside the mouth of a dragon statue that was in the entrance. Apparently the key brought bad luck onto those around it and thus Hurley kept it at one of his casinos. The party did vaguely recognize the name Blue Dragon, and Shakes identified it as one of the casinos that former High Captain Waernuk had burned down to spite Hurley. As a result the gem was likely in the wind though its bad luck meant that it was still likely in the city. With that in mind the party sent off Avross to see if he could scrounge up any information on the streets and Hector retired early for the night so that he could see what the future held. When he awoke, his hand had written the phrase “The key is where the lost treasures lie”