2022/11/02

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms, the party went on an expedition.

The party waited around the warehouse for Number 38 to return if they were going to meet with Brais, the leader of the Vengeants. A couple hours later he did return, stating that Brais was willing to meet on East Porpoise Island, in between the two small villages on the island. Number 38 led the party to the meeting, where Brais was waiting for them. The party then began negotiations for the warjack in question. Finding out that the warjack is to be used to obtain passage to the elven kingdom of Ios, who's borders have been closed since the end of the Claiming. The Vengeants knew of a border guard that had an interest in advanced human mechanika and hoped to trade the jack for passage home. And failing that plan the jack would likely be enough to fight their way into the Ios. The party was sympathetic though explained that they needed that jack in specific, though if it was advanced human mechanika that the Vengeants wanted, they might have some alternatives. The party then got the Vengeants to agree to give the party a week for them to try and get an alternative warjack.

The party then went to Laryana to see if she had any convergence warjacks lying around. Given that there wasn't any high captain business for her to be dealing with in Five Fingers proper, the party found her in the convergence temple. The temple was underneath the Dragon's Tongue river and was accessed from a iron working foundry. Unfortunately Laryana didn't have any warjacks around, stating that all the ones that the temple did have were taken in the lead up to the Battle of Hengehold. Though the party's needs dovetailed nicely with a request that she was going to ask of the party in the coming days anyways. Laryana's goal to rebuild the Convergence of Cyriss, and to do so it would be helpful for there to be other members other than her. And the easiest way to quickly find members would be to see if there were any other survivors elsewhere in Western Immoren. So for that, she wanted to send the party to a nearby convergence temple which was often used as a temple of initiation to find any information on other temples, as well as any possible survivors. And while the party was there they could look for another warjack. Laryana then gave the party the location for the temple as well as the brass punchcard to access the temple.

With their plan set the party then hopped the border into Cygnar and began making their way carefully towards the astronomy tower that was the location of the temple. After spending a half a week on country backroads the party came to the astronomy tower. Though just looking at the tower gave the impression that the situation wasn't going to be as easy as a quick in and out. The tower was in ruins, collapsed with the stones that made up the tower being scattered around the area. The party then excavated a path to the basement where the entrance to the temple would be found, and once again the present was rather different from what they were expecting. The large hidden door that was the entrance to the temple was ripped open, with the path to the temple exposed. Hector looked around the stonework of the basement and was able to determine that whoever caused this had opened the temple first and conducted their business there before destroying the tower afterwards. With nothing else to look at the party entered the breached temple to look for warjacks and information about other temples.

Inside the temple the atmosphere was rather quiet. The pipes and machinery that made up the ceiling of the structure were silent. As the party was making their way along they were ambushed by humanoid constructs of wood and stone, which burst out of the machinery and attacked the party. The resulting fight wasn't too much of a problem for the party, and the constructs were eventually defeated. Though in the aftermath of the battle, the party's surroundings had changed slightly. Roots and vines were now growing over the walls and machinery, blocking the path out of the temple. Abe meanwhile, was looking over the constructs to see if he could learn anything about them. He didn't recognize the magic specifically though it reminded him of some tales of the druids that hide in the wilds of Immoren worshiping the Devourer Wurm. Abe was also able to determine that the constructs weren't operating under their own power. The runes on the mannikins seemed to have it be linked with a central controller. Abe and the rest of the party called out for whoever was controlling these to show themselves though the temple was silent once more.

With the route out blocked and their goals still in sight, the party continued forward into the temple. They found what looked to be a manufacturing center, though the machinery was heavily damaged, and the vines that were taking over the temple were growing over many of the surfaces. The party began looking around the room, as they saw what looked to be a number of warjacks that were in various states of half assembly. As they were searching the room, Abe was unfortunate enough to lay his hand on a hidden rune that activated, rusting part of his armor as well as the nearby machinery. The party was then that much more careful during their search, which eventually hit paydirt as an operational warjack was found tucked away in a corner. Getting the warjack to start was difficult as convergence warjacks don't have cortexes like standard jacks in the iron kingdoms but rather are completely reliant on a warcaster to provide them with direction. Charlotte was able to get the warjack on its four feet though found the experience of controlling it to be incredibly disorienting.

The party then found messages that alluded to the locations of other temples in Immoren that would have to be checked out at some point or another. With their goals in hand the party tried to make their way out of the temple though found that the vines and roots that were blocking the way were still doing so and that they were resistant to attempts to destroy them. Even as the party and their warjacks hacked away at the blockage no headway was found. At that discovery the party realized that they would have to find and deal with whatever was causing this phenomenon in order to leave.