2023/04/05

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: It's not the destination but the journey.

After the party had delivered their message to the satyxi, they had set off towards the port of Blackwater to gain information on Mortenebra and Deneghra. The journey to Blackwater was taking routes less traveled as the out of the way location of the isle of Satyx required some creative navigating. The peaceful travel was interrupted however, when the ship shook like it had struck something underwater. An initial investigation revealed that there was a reef system in the area that they had hit and there was a hole in the bottom of their ship. The good news was that they weren't in danger of sinking, and the damage was relatively minor. The bad news was that the tide was currently out and all of that might change when it came back in. The best hope that the crew saw was a number of wrecked ships off in the distance. It was determined that the the party would lead a group to the other ships to salvage them for materials to repair their ship.

The party and their minions went over to the abandoned ships and began searching the wrecks for anything that could be of use. This went rather well for the most part. The derelict ships had much of what was needed to patch their own ship. Inside the wrecks was steel of sufficient quality to patch the hole in the hull. There was one thing that was missing however, a gasket for their steam boiler; the ones remaining in the wrecks had become brittle and wouldn't hold pressure. So while the ship wouldn't get worse it still wasn't going anywhere. All wasn't lost though, the party did notice that there was evidence that things were dragged off of the ships onto the nearby island. The party sent the crew back to begin repairs, and set off onto the island to look for the plundered supplies.

The trail wasn't too hard to follow, as a number of the things dragged along it seemed to be of significant weight, leaving deep marks to guide the party. Eventually they came to what looked to be a camp of shipwreck survivors, who had been on the island a decent amount of time. After the party and the survivors had introduced themselves they began to discuss their collective situation. The survivors stated that they had been stranded on the island for a couple years for the oldest of them. And any attempts to hail rescue had just added to their numbers. When the party told them that they just needed a gasket to get their ship out of the reef, and that they were free to join them. Relief and concern filtered through the survivors. They didn't have a gasket, though they knew of where to find one probably. The survivors then explained that this island was once the home of a necromancer, and while the fate of said necromancer was unknown, their creations still existed and moved near a cove on the Northeast part of the island. The survivors couldn't say for certain, as they avoided the abandoned corpses for their own safety. Danger didn't scare the party, especially compared to the alternative of staying on the island for the rest of their lives.

The cove wasn't too hard to find, with the directions given by the survivors being useful in taking the easiest way there. From a little ways back the party could see the non ambulatory remains of various undead creations lying on the beach. Unfortunately the returned to dead corpses were missing gaskets of the proper size so an expedition into the cave that was the lab of the necromancer was in order. Inside the cave was lit with magical torches, burning a sickly green. The party was careful and went into the lab, only setting off a single trap that sent negative energy into Xavier. The way forward was blocked however by a cave in, so with some careful digging the party was able to carve out a narrow passageway deeper into the cave. Eventually the party came to the main workshop of the necromancer, and found a number of corpses in various stages of the process to make undead. As well as a skeleton lying on the ground. The party scattered the bones of the skeleton and then began searching the workshop for the gaskets. They didn't find any, though they did find a tool with a magical contingency hanging on the wall. Charlotte figured what's the worst that can happen and lifted the tool, which triggered a trap and a mocking recording from the necromancer. After that sound of water could be heard.

The lab was now filling with water, and the party knew that they needed to get out before they drowned down here. They began making their way out with haste, though ran into a problem when they got to their tunnel through the collapsed section. The bottleneck was creating a rapids area and they had to fight the water to get through. Kitten and Charlotte were able to make their way through, though Xavier and Hector were battered against the rocks and forced back from the opening. Hector used his robe of infinite twine to get some rope to throw to Kitten, who pulled him and Xavier to relative safety. The party wasn't out of danger yet however. The main chamber had filled to waist deep water which was even deeper for the short Hector and Charlotte. And from what the party could see, two of the necromancer's creations had remained waiting for this moment and were now swimming in the water, waiting for their feast. The party fought the undead sharks and was eventually victorious and came to the realization that the furnaces powering the undead thralls would probably be of the right type to fit on the ship. So they dragged the newly inanimate corpses to the beach and then began salvaging the gaskets, wiping off as best as possible the sticky black residue that came from whatever powered these creatures.

The ship was repaired, and set back off to Blackwater. Once there the party began searching for information on their quarry. The best place to start in the party's opinion was the local bar and after a little looking they found a bar that reminded them of a dingier Undertow. The bartender didn't know anything about a former priestess of Cyriss, though when presented with the names Mortenebra and Deneghra his expression changed. The bar tender explained that both of those people were Lich Lords in the service of Toruk the Dragonfather. Deneghra was the voice of the Dragonfather during his recovery from wounds he suffered at the claws of his progeny. Mortenebra was the head of the industrial war machine and spent much of her time in the factory city of Lichgate. Given Lichgate's importance, the party as outsiders was unlikely to be granted access so the party decided to go to Skell to speak to Deneghra to see if she could offer a way inside.