2023/01/18

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms, the party traveled out to to the edge of civilization.

With the information about Abigail gained from Terlak, all the party needed to do now was to gather supplies for the journey out into the Bloodstone Marches. Resupplying wasn't too difficult, mainly taking a trip to the market to pick up some food, water and coal. The bigger issue was that the exits of Corvis were locked down, with Cygnarian military checking those exiting the city. Charlotte realized that there was next to no chance that either her or Kitten were going to be getting through those checkpoints without a fight. Therefor another exit was needed. While the party didn't know much about Corvis and the subtle ways out, they had just saved someone who did. So the party returned to Terlak and asked him if he knew of a way out. Terlak said that he didn't have much for them on short notice, though if it wasn't for their time factor, he'd put them up in a safehouse until the heat died down. Though, as he didn't want to leave the party empty handed, he did know of rumors that the Corvis University had a secret set of tunnels leading out of the city to connect with their annex for their military science department. Terlak couldn't tell the party any more than that, as his contacts in the university had made a concerted effort to make sure that the smuggler didn't learn any more about the tunnel.

As Terlak didn't know any specifics about the tunnel, his only recommendation to the party was that they find a staff member to ask. The tunnel is secret, though it was in fairly regular use and thus there needed to be people with access. Who those people were, Terlak had no idea, though he supposed that those high up in the military science department would be a good starting point. Given that the party was both dodging military patrols as well as they needed to follow up on Abigail's trail, The best suggestion that Terlak had was to kidnap a military science professor with the highest seniority and “convince” them to grant them access to the tunnel. The party didn't want to go that route as it had too high of odds of causing a diplomatic incident that Atrixia had asked them to avoid. So instead they figured that they would attempt to bribe the groundskeeper with the thought that the tunnel would still be under his purview.

Abe and Hector made their way to the university and first did a bit of sightseeing for both Avross as well as Charlotte. They picked up two sets of postcards depicting the wonders of the department of extraordinary zoology. After that was compete, they then asked about finding work as laborers for the university. The staff member that they talked to asked them if they were afraid of heights and upon getting the answer of no, said that there was work repairing the roof of the old mansion that served as the home for the university. The groundskeeper, a man by the name of Olan, was then introduced to the two and continued their interview. Once the three of them left the main atrium of the university, Abe dropped the charade and asked Olan about purchasing access to the tunnel. Olan was rather insightful and from the little information that was given by Hector and Abe, was able to guess that the party was trying to use the tunnel to avoid the military patrols. Abe raised the price that they were offering, though was told that what they asked for was worth more than money. Olan had an issue that needed solving on the down low as well. According to Olan, some books had gone missing from the restricted stacks in the library. While the only key to that section was held by the librarian, an Arland Moseby; Olan knew all of the secret routes within the university, therefor he was being looked at with suspicion. If the party could recover the books and clear Olan's name he would open the tunnel for them.

The party then set about pondering how to find these books. Olan had told them that Arland had gotten into a fight with a student a little while back and that might be worth looking into. The party decided to query Hector's hand over that night and for once were granted a clear and concise answer. The books were currently at a warehouse by the docks. With that information under their belts, the party then set off towards the docks to recover the books. At the warehouse, the party broke into the building and inside heard all sorts of machinery going. The party saw large apparatuses that emanated a considerable amount of heat. Abe did recognize the smell of fertilizer which made the party assume that someone was making explosives. Despite this they were only here for the books and eventually found them in what looked to be an office away from the chemical process. The books in question were on alchemical processes. With the books in hand, Abe and Hector made their way back to Corvis University and met with Olan again. Olan told them to drop the books off somewhere on campus and then come back with their mystery companions that night for them to use the tunnel. The party did so and Olan was waiting in the atrium to access the tunnel, which was only a little ways away. Once in the tunnel, the party received no further issues as they walked in the chemlight towards the annex and once there set off towards Ternion Crag.

The journey to Ternion Crag was rather uneventful, though the terrain got rougher as the party left the official boarders of Cygnar. Though there was no issues and the party arrived in Ternion Crag a few days later. While on the road, Hector asked his hand where Abigail was headed, in the hopes that they could stop chasing her trail and instead go to where she would be. He was told that Abigail sought the crack in the mountain, a phrase that none of the party recognized nor could locate on a map. After entering Ternion Crag, the party decided to ask around the local watering hole to see if anyone had seen Abigail. The main bar in town was a place by the name of Sanity's Bastion, and there they asked the bartender, Nikolo if he knew anything. Nikolo was a rather gruff man, who's Khadoran war axe was hanging over the bar. Nikolo had seen Abigail though, and said that she and her warjack had passed through town rather quickly, heading towards the geyser fields a little ways north of town. He also mentioned that the party wasn't the only ones looking for Abigail, that a pair of well dressed men were looking to get back something that Abigail had taken from them. The party spent the night and picked up some more supplies to head out into the mountains proper to look for Abigail.

In the morning, as the party was preparing to leave, they were approached by two men in fairly nice suits, especially for a town such as Ternion Crag. The two introduced themselves as Gregory and Thomas Ossander, brothers that were tracking down Abigail as they claimed that she had stiffed their town. Saying that she was a member of the Order of Illumination, and that she accepted payment to deal with a monster that was troubling their town though never followed through. The two brothers then said that if the party was interested in helping them find Abigail and recover their money they would share a cut with the party. Abe took great offense to this and got in Gregory's face telling him to fuck off, and that nobody disrespects his sister. The two said that they would leave and for the party to have a nice day. Once the two had left, Charlotte said that the situation probably could have been handled better and that while the two were untrustworthy, they had information. Which is information that the party would now have to do without. Abe acknowledged that fact and apologized for when he told them to fuck off, not the act itself. The party then went towards the geyser fields. Once there, the party began looking for clues about Abigail, or even the Ossander brothers that they had met in Ternion Crag. Finding no real signs of either, the party decided that a change in tactics was required. Hector's prophecy said that Abigail was headed towards a crack in the mountain, and while there was no discernible crack that they could see on their maps, the mountains proper were a little ways towards the east, and there was an abandoned Skorne fortress that was left when the Iosans pushed the Skorne back across the Bloodstone Marches. Deciding that was as good a place as any to start looking for a crack in the mountain, the party set off in that direction. Arriving at the abandoned fortress, the party began looking around for anything out of the ordinary, they didn't find anything too notable, however something did find them. As out of the depths of the fortress a huge hydra, clad in scraps of Skorne armor came forth looking to make a meal out of the party.