2023/03/29

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: The party went sailing to the land of the undead.

A month had passed since the events with the Brotherhood at the Precipice. The situation with the casinos had continued, though with no definitive proof, all that was done was congratulating the winners for the luck and kindly inviting them to not return. The party was busying themselves amongst themselves, though their personal time was interrupted by Atrixia and Laryana coming to them with a pair of favors to ask of the party. Atrixia was the first to ask her favor of the party, as she had told Charlotte once upon a time, her personal motivations for rising to the position of high captain was to provide a second home for her people, the Satyxi. The satyxi were a predominantly female race hailing from the Scharde Islands. The satyxi were a crutial part of the Cryxian navy, having mandatory service on board the pirate ships serving the Dragonfather. Atrixia didn't think that too many of the Satyxi would take the offer of a second home away from Cryx, though she still wanted to make the offer known. The party was curious as to why they were the ones delivering this message and not an diplomatic envoy. The reason for that was that the satyxi were likely to be hostile of outsiders showing up on the hidden island of Satyx. Additionally a show of power to prove that any satyxis coming to Five Fingers would be protected was a possibility. The party accepted these reasons after a couple clarifications and then turned to Laryana for her request.

Laryana then stepped forward and explained that her efforts at rebuilding the Convergence of Cyriss weren't going as well as she had hoped. While a small number of new recruits had joined the reformed cult, and a few of the survivors from the old order had also returned, the Convergence's secrecy was working against them. Very few temples of importance had been located and thus the knowledge within was lost. What Laryana proposed to fix this involved a story from the early days of the Convergence; according to the tales back during the development of the soul vessel that would enable the clockwork bodies, there was a priestess that proposed that the problems facing the development had already been solved by another and that the cult should look to them for their solution. To that end she ended up reverse engineering a Cryxian iron lich. While the priestess was successful, her innovation was decried as heresy by the leadership of the cult, and the priestess was excommunicated. The story would become less certain from there, though rumors abounded that the priestess had gone to Cryx and offered her expertise to the Dragonfather. The story of the priestess would reemerge during the chaos of the claiming, when a Cryxian warcaster came to the Convergence seeking repair of one of her allies who was critically wounded during combat with the infernals. The warcaster said that she was referred to the Convergence by the priestess and that they could build a new body for the iron lich and integrate the soul vessel to the body. Laryana hoped that the second part of the story that the priestess, named Mortenebra, was still mostly amicable to the idea of helping the new Convergence. Laryana's best guess on how to find Mortenebra was the warcaster, a woman by the name of Deneghra, Deneghra was more known to the mainland as a influential member of the Cryxian military.

The party accepted both of the favors and were told that a ship to the Scharde Islands had been chartered for their journey. Once their affairs were in order, the party set off to the islands. On the way the way there, the party would have to decide which of the two missions they would tackle first. The eventual decision was that Atrixia's objective was easier as it was mostly just going to Satyx and delivering a message, and possibly passing whatever test was presented to them. As the ship got near Satyx, the party boarded a landing craft and had their warjacks row them to shore to meet with the reclusive satyxi. As the party arrived on the beach they were greeted by a satyxis seer named Dracia Keelhauled, and she had foreseen their arrival. Dracia agreed that the party was deserving to give their message to those satyxi on Satyx. Dracia told the party to wait on the beach while she gathered those interested in listening to the party's offer.

When Dracia returned to the party, she led them to a ritual amphitheater made of stone in the jungle. In the amphitheater there were about 50 or so satyxi there to hear the party. As the party offered Five Fingers as an alternative to Cryx, a raider fresh from a tour in the Cryxian navy named Kelvexis challenged the party's offer. Seeking proof that any who did come to Five Fingers would be safe from threats both without and within, Kelvexis challenged the party to deal with a current threat to Satyx. According to her a shipbreaker crab, a monstrous 60ft crab, mutated by dragon's blight, had established a nest on a nearby island. The party was to kill the crab so that satyxi ships wouldn't be in danger. The party accepted the request and made the short sail to the nearby island and went looking for the crab. The party initially mistook the crab for a rock on the beach and were surprised when the rock stood up and began attacking them. Despite the crab's size and strength, throwing Kitten and Abe around like stones, the party was victorious, killing the great beast. The party then returned to Satyx and told of their success, with the opinion was that their offer would be given the consideration that it deserved. The party then got back on their ship and began sailing for Blackwater, Cryx's main port with the outside.