2023/01/04

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms, the party went on a treasure hunt.

With the goals of Hurley and Longfellow laid out, the party decided that it was for the best that the two remain at Undertow and the party would find the key. Having sent out Avross to see what his contacts in the slums knew of the gem, there was nothing to do but wait for something to turn up. After a little while, Avross came back with the information that a large sapphire was found by a street thug by the name of Gregory Connors around the time that Waernuk was destroying Hurley's casinos. Avross said that according to the rumor mill, Mr. Connors was saying that the gem was going to be his ticket to a better life and that he was looking to sell it. The party came to the conclusion that the gem was likely sold within Five Fingers and that the best place to start was the markets on Hospice Island, where all sorts of illicit goods could be found.

Making their way down to Hospice Island, the party then realized that while the markets as a whole are a good starting point, none of them knew enough about the black markets to find someone who would deal in stolen gems and the like. So the party waited around and relied on their reputation as agents of the government to provide someone to ask for assistance. This plan worked, after 15 minutes or so a gobber came up to the party to inquire if they were in the market for business or “business”. The party informed the gobber that they were here on behalf of Five Fingers and that they were looking for someone that purchased gems of questionable legality. The gobber was keen to move the party along as them loitering around was bad for business at large and directed them to a stall run by a man named Arder. The stall was a modest affair with jewelry of various quality displayed about. Charlotte chatted up Arder while she purchased some costume jewelry for Kitten. Arder vaguely remembered Mr. Connors and his sapphire though told the party that he didn't purchase the gem. It was just a little too big to easily move as well as it wasn't an authentic sapphire. Not leaving the party empty handed however, Arder said that he had recommended a fence that operated outside of the markets that was known to purchase things that others weren't willing to buy. The fence in question was a woman by the name of Annabeth Fletcher, and she ran her operation out of some buildings on the south shore of Hospice Island.

With another lead to follow up on, the party thanked Arder for his assistance and headed southwest to find Ms. Fletcher. The area where the party was looking was diving into the depths of poverty of Five Fingers, with many collapsing shacks lining the coast. The locals kept their distance from the party as they didn't want to get involved in whatever was going on. Walking along the bank of the river the party came across a couple of buildings that had crime scene tape on them from the Finger's Watch, which was rather odd as the Watch didn't usually come to this part of town. From the looks of it, Ms. Fletcher's operation was hit by the Watch and she might have had to move to somewhere else. So the party split up with Charlotte and Xavier watching the buildings and Abe and Hector looking around for any signs of the operation moving. While they were looking around, Hector talked with some of the locals and learned that the Finger's Watch did raid the warehouses and Ms. Fletcher was arrested for smuggling and murder. With that in mind the party decided to let themselves into the warehouse and look about for the key. Inside the area was rather empty, with signs that the area had been meticulously gone through with things taken. The party didn't find the key, though decided that from the looks of it the Watch had come through and taken things for evidence and that was the next place to check out.

The party then went to the headquarters of the Fingers Watch and asked about the status of Ms. Fletcher and the evidence taken from her warehouse. The party was informed that Ms. Fletcher was arrested for murder, though that was only discovered when the Watch came to raid her warehouse. Apparently she had killed a man with a large sapphire and then left his body in the back of her warehouse. The party then began filling out the paperwork to get the key out of evidence on account that it was cursed and that it brought bad luck to those around it. While this was going on, Abe decided that he didn't want to be stuck filling out paperwork and instead went to talk to Ms. Fletcher to see if she could tell him anything about the curse and if the watch would try and fight to keep a hold of it. Ms. Fletcher was rather helpful, stating that she killed Gregory because the two of them got into an argument about the price of the sapphire and that she struck him with the gem. She knew that she was under surveillance and couldn't move the body so instead she stashed it at the back of her warehouse and kept the gem as she didn't want to try and move it while she had the man she killed with it in back. Before she could solve this problem she was raided and it all became moot anyway. Abe returned to the party with that information and the party filed their paperwork to get the key in safe hands.

The party was led to the evidence lockup and with their paperwork in order the officer in charge of handling evidence went in back to get the key for the party. The party was left there for a concerning amount of time before the officer came back empty handed. Apparently the gem was logged into evidence though now was nowhere to be found. As this was a problem the officer began going through all of their paperwork to see if there was an answer there. Eventually a document mentioned that the adjacent box was recently auctioned off as is standard for unclaimed evidence. The officer then speculated that the key had been misplaced in the wrong box and was sold off. The buyer of the other box was a company by the name of Ammit's House of Forgotten Mysteries, which was just on the edge of the areas frequented by tourists. The party made their way down to the House and found a tourist trap run by a gatorman woman. Ammit told the party that she had the key and that she was preparing to make it an exhibit in the house as the soul within it was a compelling story. When the party explained that the gem was cursed as well as it was required for Five Fingers as a whole she agreed to give it to the party and led them to the back where she does her work for new additions.

When Ammit went to give the key to the party, she was blasted back by a force from the gem, which began floating and coalesced a humanoid shape around it. The party then had to fight the soul within the gem, which had the ability to subvert the minds of others. The gem controlled Charlotte which began casting spells on her teammates causing Kitten to try and stop her warcaster by pinning her. The rest of the party was able to defeat the gem which fell to the floor with a clatter. Nobody was seriously hurt and any concerns Ammit may have had were gone after that exchange. The party then took the gem back to Hurley and Longfellow. The pair had not just sat around while the party was off securing the key, and had already contracted a salvage company to recover the chest that held the stash. The chest was then opened with the key and Hurley grabbed a quiver of crossbow bolts and said that the rest was for the party. Hurley and Longfellow also agreed that the key should be destroyed, especially now that there was no need for it to open anything. As the grymkin and former high captain took their leave, the party was sorting through the remainder of the stash to see what was of use to them.