2023/07/19

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: Searching out answers.

The party was looking into the secret Thamarite library that Kita had told them of. As Kita herself didn't know of where such a library was, the party turned to the other Thamarite that they knew: High Captain Jannish Riordan. Riordan informed the party that while he had heard of such a place, he was no academic and thus he didn't know of where to find the library. This didn't particularly surprise the party as they weren't really coming to High Captain Riordan for what he knew, rather who he knows. This proved to be the better line, as Riordan then mentioned that he did know someone that should know of the location of the library. Riordan then explained that he had a professional relationship with a Thamarite alchemist by the name of Cynthia Bennett, who occasionally brewed potions for Riordan. Cynthia is a researcher first and foremost and while her area of research is that of alchemy, it's likely that she knew of the location of the library. Riordan then said that last he had heard Cynthia was operating out of the Ordic port of Berck, running an independent lab and a small potions shop on the side to fund her research.

With a solid lead, the party began making preparations to go to Berck to find Ms. Bennett. The journey there wasn't particularly difficult, mostly being gaining passage aboard a ship that was headed to the Ordic port. With nothing to do but wait, the party amused themselves on the ship, with Charlotte's mood being interrupted by Kitten's lamentations in her mind that they were all going to drown. It seemed that Kitten's experience with the boatmen had imparted a fear of water in the warjack, who was sharing in its bad time with Charlotte. After a day or two the party arrived in Berck and began looking for Ms. Bennett. Riordan had told the party that generally Cynthia stuck close to the docks so that she had quick access to any reagents that were coming into a given city. So with that in mind, the party began asking around the docks for an alchemist's shop nearby and were rewarded with the location of Cynthia's shop.

Arriving at the shop, the party realized that their work was going to be slightly more complicated than just showing up and asking for information. Cynthia's lab had been boarded up with notices posted that the shop had been closed under the authority of the Order of the Golden Crucible, Immoren's Alchemist society. The notice said that the shop was closed for practicing alchemy without a license as well as the sale of class 1 restricted potions. At the bottom of the notice it was signed by a name that the party recognized, Aurum Adeptus Ulana Istori, the Crucible Guard warcaster that the party fought during the revolution. As they already had an in with Ulana and seeing no better way to move forward, the party went to the Order of the Golden Crucible chapter house to try and get a meeting with Aurum Adeptus Istori.

The party didn't have to wait long to see Ulana, as the receptionist was rather concerned At Charlotte's introduction that they were old enemies of Ulana and were in town to meet up. As a result Ulana came out to receive the party within a couple minutes and brought the party, minus Kitten, back to her office so they could have a more private conversation. After a few minutes of pleasantries the party asked what happened to Ms. Bennett. Ulana sighed and said that Ms. Bennett had been arrested as a result of an incident where a local noblewoman had used an aphrodisiac potion on a visiting baron which lead to the baron falling into a coma. The investigation revealed that Ms. Bennett was the one to provide the potion, and while she did provide instructions for safe use, such a potion was still a class 1 restricted potion. As a result Ms. Bennett was taken to the Crucible Guard fort of Cote Meru, a nearby fortification that Ord had given to the Crucible Guard. Cote Meru was mostly a crumbling old ruin so the Crucible Guard was currently using it as a prison for rogue alchemists. With the status of Ms. Bennett confirmed the party explained that she had information that they were looking for and asked if they could meet with Ms. Bennett. Ulana agreed and wrote them a writ granting them access to Cote Meru and Ms. Bennett.

The journey to Cote Meru wasn't too difficult, it being only a couple hours outside of Berck. As the party approached, they saw the dilapidated walls which time had not been kind to. Before they got too close to the crumbling fort, they were stopped by a contingent of the Crucible Guard who told them to state their business or leave. The party explained that they were here to talk to one of the prisoners inside and presented their writ from Ulana. There was a pause for a couple minutes as the guards looked everything over, though the party was eventually let in. It was explained to the party that as this was a prison for alchemists they would need to be searched before they were allowed to meet with Ms. Bennett, with the stated reason that they wanted to minimize the risk that anything was passed to the prisoner, especially as Ms. Bennett had been less than a model prisoner and had tried to escape multiple times. The party consented to this, and Kitten was left with the Crucible Guard warjacks that existed at the fort.

The party was led through the passages of Cote Meru before arriving at a small meeting room where they were to talk to Ms. Bennett. As the party made themselves comfortable, Cynthia was led in with a guard escorting her. Seeing no reason to beat around the bush, the party cut straight to the point and inquired if Cynthia knew anything about the Thamarite library. Cynthia tried playing hard to get, saying that she might know something, though Charlotte was more than willing to play hardball and was preparing to leave as a result of the noncommittal answer. As Charlotte was about halfway to the door, Cynthia spoke up and told her to wait. Cynthia then told the party that she wanted them to make the guard wait outside for the rest of their conversation. The guard wasn't particularly happy with this request, though eventually acquiesced to the party and left them and Cynthia alone in the room. Cynthia said that she knew of the Library and how to find it, though if the party wanted her help, they needed to help her. Cynthia wanted out of here and the price for her assistance was her freedom. The party said that they would look into getting her freed and left the room.

The party then went back to Ulana to see what could be done to get Cynthia out of Cote Meru. Ulana stated that that would be a difficult thing to get done. As Cynthia was in jail for both political reasons as well as legitimate ones. At the crux of the matter, as far as the Order of the Golden Crucible was concerned, Cynthia was a stain upon the practice of alchemy, and risked turning public opinion against the science. So in that regard the order was unwilling to see Cynthia released. The party countered with a conditional release to Five Fingers explicitly who's reputation can't get much worse all things considered. This was workable, though Ulana needed the party to perform a favor for the Crucible Guard to help sell this to her superiors.

The favor Ulana needed was the disposal of some escaped experiments. It's a semi open secret that the Crucible Guard has an interest in improving the capabilities of the human body and performs human trials in their research. It is less well known that a number of these experiments don't turn out as planned, sometimes dramatically so. In this case, test subjects that were subjected to compounds to develop psychic powers had escaped. The experiments were a success in that the subjects were granted extraordinary powers, including the ability to fly and move things with their mind, though it degraded the minds of the subjects, turning them into little more than beasts. The Crucible Guard had corralled the experiments to a small forest though lacked the explainable manpower to finish them off. What Ulana was asking of the party was to go in and deal with the experiments in exchange for Cynthia's freedom.

With the only other option being a prison break where they were the first and last suspects, the party agreed to Ulana's proposal. And after a little preparation set out towards the forest where the experiments were hiding. Once again as the party approached the forest, they were stopped by the Crucible Guard who were trying to turn the party away from the area. When the party explained that they were here to deal with the experiments in the woods, the guards eased off considerably, adopting a better you than me attitude. The party then ventured into the woods and began trying to track the experiments. After a little trouble in tracking psychically flying humanoids the party encountered the experiments by the small stream that flowed through the forest. As there was no negotiating with the experiments, a fight quickly broke out, which left the experiments dead and the party not. The party then brought out the corpses to provide proof that they had held up their end of the bargain and went back to Cote Meru to get Ms. Bennett. Cynthia told the party on her release that the Thamarite library was in the Cygnarian city of Ceryl and that she could take them to it right now if they so desired. The party began making the arrangements, while Charlotte told Cynthia that if she was lying to them she would shoot her herself.