2023/03/15

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: Too many motivations.

The party continued their search for Stiata, the mistress of Prince Consort Alvor of Llael. They decided to continue their search for the missing woman at the hotel that she was abducted from, a place by the name of Susan's Bed and Breakfast, a small nice place just outside the main political district of Merywyn. When they arrived they found the building under observation from a number of people, representing both Ord and Llael. The party showed their missive and went in to talk with the manager, a woman by the name of Cara. Cara was able to tell the party that when Stiata was abducted there was only one employee present, the night attendant by the name of Ekhart. According to Ekhart, he hadn't heard anything that night until he heard the crack of the door being broken down. When he went upstairs to investigate he found Stiata's empty room with no trace as to where she had went.

As the situation was an important one, the workers for Susan's Bed and Breakfast had been kept at the hotel until Stiata was found or they were proven that they didn't have anything to do with it. The hotel had two entrances: A front door for guests, and a service entrance for workers and deliveries, that attaches to the kitchens. The back door wasn't visible from the front desk, and thus the party was working with the idea that the kidnappers had entered from the back. According to Ekhart he had made sure that the back door was locked after the evening workers had left for the night and then he had settled in for his shift. As there was no signs of forced entry at the back door that implied that either another worker's keys were stolen or that the kidnappers had picked the lock. With the door to Stiata's room making the first far more likely. An audit of the keys revealed that none were missing, so the party went about questioning the remaining workers to see if any of them were in league with the kidnappers.

One of the workers, a man by the name of Victor was rather nervous, though played it off by saying that he missed his daughter. Who he hadn't seen in the past couple days. The party offered to take a message to the daughter on his behalf, which he accepted, though it was clear that this outcome was distressing to him. The party debated for a bit as to their next move though decided to make good on their word and visit Victor's house to pass along his message. At the house the party was greeted by Victor's wife Gwyn. Gwyn thanked the party for the effort though said that Eyva was at school right now unfortunately. At this point it was rather clear that Eyva wasn't just at school or somewhere else, but was in danger as well. The party promised to help if Gwyn could tell them what she knew. The kidnappers had grabbed Eyva a few days before they kidnapped Stiata, promising that no harm would come to the girl so long as Victor and Gwyn did what was asked of them and they didn't go to the guards. Gwyn couldn't say where the kidnappers were staying though did remember that they smelled heavily of pinewood. Hector promised that he would make sure that Eyva was safe, saying that he had a child of his own with another on the way back in Rhul.

The scent of pinewood was notable, as there was a pine forest not too far from Merywyn, that was the source of much of the wood that was within the capital. The forest was a rather large place however, so further detail was needed to find the hostages. With that the party decided that asking the universe was in order and had Hector inquire where the mercenaries were holed up at. The response given was that they were at “The Grave of the Death of the Forest” which the party took to mean was an abandoned logging camp. The forest had one of those that was a little out of the way but abandoned after the company went bankrupt as a result of the Khadoran occupation. With the location known the party then went to all the other interested parties to make sure everyone was on the same page and hopefully wouldn't start shooting at each other. The party then ventured into the forest to mount a rescue.

Once in the general vicinity, Shakes scouted ahead to see if he could determine the location of Eyva and Stiata. In the camp there were only two buildings that were still structurally sound. The first one seemed to be where the mercenaries themselves were sleeping so that left the other building to hold the hostages. Shakes wasn't able to confirm this though as the mercenaries were keeping watch on the building and he didn't want to risk being noticed. As Shakes made his way back to the party, he noticed a band of what looked like ruffians heading in the direction of the logging camp. The men didn't look like those employed by Ord or Llael and with a little thought it became clear that Prince Dumbfuck Alvor had decided to take matters into his own hands and hire the first people that he came across to solve the issue. The party now had to rush into the camp to make sure that the hostages weren't killed as a result of the newcomers.

As the party came close, Abe was given a rude surprise as the mercenaries had a ace in the hole in the form of a sniper equipped with a magelock anti jack rifle. The armor piercing rounds shredded holes in his steam armor and exploded into gouts of flame. The situation had deteriorated with the uneasy truce collapsing as the nationalist forces begain firing upon the Ordic commandos and the party being at best an uneasy ally and at worst another enemy. Still, saving the hostages was the first and only priority, so Abe charged headfirst into the fray and burst through the enemy lines and ran straight through the decrepit door to find Stiata and Eyva. Abe then began retreating back to the party though was surprised when one of the Ordic commandos tried to kill Stiata while she was in his arms. He was able to block the blow with his armor and was quickly able to get the two to safety.

Back in Merywyn, all's well that ends well. With the return of Stiata the crisis had ended. Ashlynn D'Elyse was rather happy with the outcome as nothing major had happened and the nationalists had suffered a loss. The party did have a conversation with Stiata as to whether Alvor was worth it, when she was doubtful, they offered her a place in Five Fingers if she wanted. Finally as the negotiations were winding down, the party took some time to relax in a bar. At this point Hector told the party that he did not in fact have any children, though he was betrothed to a woman back in Rhul. The party took this revelation in stride and before long the war was over and they were back in Five Fingers.