2023/06/21

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: Angelic observation

Four months had passed since the warjack decathlon in Khador, and things were peaceful for Five Fingers. Nothing had exploded, nor were there any impending disasters. And while the populace was content with this state of affairs, Charlotte was becoming increasingly anxious of the dropping of the other shoe. The previous months saw the transfer of Dmitriv to the party, as after he joined the defense force of Five Fingers, it became clear that his abilities weren't quite the usual fare. And though his talents would be wasted in the regular forces, additionally, given his history the high captains wanted a closer eye to be kept on the Khadoran expatriate. During this time a tentative status quo was reached within the party. Outside of the interwork relations, Abe had gathered the funds to purchase Shakes's old shop, which had been left abandoned since his death. Cycles had been reassigned to work with the civil defense force, though the building was left awaiting a new owner, which ended up being Abe.

One morning as the sun rose over Five Fingers, it became clear that whatever respite that had been granted to the city was over. As in the sky above Five Fingers was an archon, ominously hovering over the city. Archons hadn't been seen in Five Fingers since the height of the Claiming, when a number of Thamarite archons assisted in the defense of the city. This archon wasn't like any that people had seen before however, with black and gold armor and leathery wings drawn with screaming visages. Completing the armament of the archon was a spear that was adorned with a book on its side. As the party saw this, they each came to the conclusion that this was a them problem and that they should convene and check in with the high captains. As the party made their way to the high captains, the people on the street were fearing that there was some sort of infernal presence within Five Fingers, as what else would cause an archon to arrive. Charlotte took the time to attempt to quell the fears and concerns of the civilians, stating that Five Fingers had survived the Claiming and it would survive this too. This was of some comfort, though unstated was that despite Five Fingers surviving the Claiming, a significant amount of people died during that.

The party reached the high captains, and walked into the already ongoing meeting. The archon situation was the current matter of the hour, and first and foremost was determining what its purpose in Five Fingers was. During the meeting the current though was that it wasn't here for conflict as if that was the case it likely wouldn't be waiting around. With that possibility tabled for the time being, the next alternative was that it was here to watch something. The what was unclear, though Laryana did confirm that the first official test of the Pandorin engine was to take place soon. This information was slightly concerning, and in the interest of safety the test was postponed until the situation with the archon was resolved. Though to do so more information was needed. The party was asked to get in touch with a resident expert on archons within Five Fingers, one Nicolo Belcari of the Order of Illumination. Nicolo was inspired by fighting alongside archons during the claiming and began accumulating lore and information on the divine emissaries, and thus was a good starting point for the party.

Nicolo could be found in the offices for the Order of Illumination in Five Fingers, which were unusually busy in the face of the archon, vigilants and clergy moved about preparing should the worst come to pass. The party was led to Nicolo's office which was filled with tomes and sketches of archons throughout Western Immoren. Nicolo was happy to assist the party, though he did regret to say that he too didn't recognize the patron divinity of the archon. The best that he could guess was that this archon bore a passing resemblance to those of the God of Man Menoth, though there were a number of differences, most notably the lack of the flames that are associated with Menoth. Nicolo did agree with the party's assumption that the Archon wasn't here for battle specifically. Though as to what it was here for he couldn't say at this point. With no further leads the party turned to Hector to see if his prophetic script could shed light on what sent this archon to Five Fingers. The answer that he received was less than immediately helpful though, being told that the Archon was sent by “The progenitor of the coming apotheosis”.

Abe was presented with another route for investigation, as he had a vision of a crowd of people jovially cheering. Though the vision ended before he could determine anything useful from the vision. Abe wasn't completely out of ideas however and thought that attempting to talk to the archon could be useful, Charlotte was skeptical though didn't stop Abe from obtaining the services of a hot air balloon to get up to the archon. The archon wasn't particularly talkative, though observed Abe as he went through his request as to why the archon was here. As Abe finished up he was thinking that he was beneath the archon's notice, this assumption was dispelled when the archon reached out a hand and touched Abe on the forehead, and imparted knowledge directly to Abe. Abe wasn't able to make too much sense of the archon's alien though processes though got the feeling that it was here to bear witness to a coming transformation. Not willing to have his mind expanded any further, Abe came back to the ground and shared his experience with the rest of the party. As the party was heading to report back to the high captains, Abe was struck with another vision, once again of a place with a large amount of people and cheering. This time Abe made out some specific details, including a sign labeling it as The Treasure Pit. That name was slightly familiar to the party, who recognized it as a casino within Five Fingers.

The party went back to the high captains to keep them updated, as well as to see if they knew anything about The Treasure Pit. Captain Riordan identified the casino as one of the ones that had been experiencing a string of statistically improbable luck from its patrons over the past year and a half. Nothing had come of the investigation into that, though now that it was being referenced through visions, maybe something supernatural was involved. Charlotte was concerned that there was some sort of ritual that had taken place to fleece the casinos and compared the archon's position with the locations of the casinos that were experiencing bad luck. There wasn't too much to glean from that, as there were casinos all over Five Fingers that had experienced improbable luck and while the archon was near The Treasure Pit it wasn't directly overhead. Still with no better leads the party headed out to check out The Treasure Pit. On the way there, Abe had one final vision, this one of a distinctly different tone, the location was still the same, though the sense of joviality was gone as people started losing everything, from there a sense of pain erupted through the vision and the ground began to shake.

Realizing that there was no time to lose, the party rushed to The Treasure Pit, to find those outside screaming, and the ground shaking. With a sense of resignation, the party realized that Abe's visions weren't of things that were yet to come, but rather things that were happening elsewhere. As the party watched from the street, The Treasure Pit ripped itself from its foundation and began moving down the street, devouring those it grabbed with arms made out of the decorative statutes that flanked its entrance. The party engaged the ambulatory casino and was able to return it to a state of inanimacy. As they caught their breath, they noticed that the archon was no longer in the sky above them, whatever had happened here was important enough to witness and once it was over, there was no further reason for it to stay. The party went back to fill the high captains in on what had happened and speculated on the nature of the archon. Charlotte was concerned that the archon was related in some way to the Orgoth as both had motifs of faces. Hector asked his hand one further question: What was the cause of The Treasure Pit's transformation, the answer that he got was that it was caused by “A buildup of transgressions.” Which led the party to believe that the new divinity was some sort of sin eater. Despite this, there wasn't much else to do but hit up Undertow and get a hot meal and a good drink for job completed.