2023/05/17

Last time in the Iron Kingdoms: Vengeance before duty.

The party was setting up everything on Five Finger's side for the trap for Captain Kendrick. Lady Ashcroft had asked if it was possible for the Gannet to take a training voyage into the Bay of Stone so that there was a reasonable excuse for Kendrick's ship to be ordered away from Five Fingers. The high captains were slightly concerned about putting an irreplaceable asset like the Gannet into this but given that the alternative was a hostile warship being within range of Five Fingers itself, there wasn't many better options. As a contingency in case Kendrick proved even more bloodthirsty than assumed, Charlotte asked High Captain D'Lamsyn to position cannons on the southern shore of Hospice Island to provide a defense against the enemy ship. With preparations on their side in place, there wasn't much to do but head to South Shore and set the trap.

In South Shore, the location for the meeting had been chosen in some unused warehouses so that any collateral would be away from the civilians. The Silver Line Stormguard was providing a perimeter for the “meeting” so that Kendrick wouldn't be able to get away after he launched whatever attack he was planning. Despite the ruse that there was a meeting taking place, it was decided that it was for the best that only the party was to actually be in the warehouse to not place more people at risk than had to be. As the party was standing around the warehouse waiting for Captain Kendrick to make his play, people's hair started standing on end eventually including the hair on their head. Xavier and Charlotte recognized this as an incoming lightning barrage of some sort and yelled for everyone to take cover. The next few seconds were apocalyptic, as lightning and thunder bombarded the warehouse, destroying the roof and much of the structure.

As the party came to their senses, the first thought was how long they had before a repeat performance of that attack. Xavier figured that, after that salvo, the party had a couple of minutes at least to find whatever did that and to take it out. Abe and Hector were sent to find the artillery and disable it, while Charlotte and Xavier were trying to draw Captain Kendrick in. Charlotte began calling out to the area, taunting Captain Kendrick and how he should just come down and take his vengeance like a man. While that was going on, Abe and Hector found the artillery and the sole soldier that was left to guard the storm tower. Hector provided the distraction while Abe left his armor and climbed up onto a building so that he could jump down and strike the soldier. As Abe returned to his armor he decided that he was going to appropriate the storm tower for his own use. Hector was returning to Charlotte and Xavier to let them know that the artillery had been dealt with when he ran across Kendrick's hunting party, consisting of him and some warjacks and stormcallers. Unfortunately they noticed Hector and fired off a lightning bolt to stop him, the sound of which drew the rest of the party to the fight.

The fight with Kendrick was every bit as spiteful as one would expect. With Kendrick shooting the party inflicting a grievous wound on Shakes. and ordering his warjacks and soldiers to engage the party. Lightning once again split the air as the stormcallers and Xavier went into battle. Abe still had the storm tower and decided that if Kendrick was willing to use it on the party it was only fair if Abe used it on him. Abe wasn't trained in using it as artillery though, so instead opted for swinging it like an unwieldy lightning mace. As things proceeded, Abe struck down Kendrick with the storm tower, while Xavier dealt with the stormcallers. The jacks were disabled by Shakes and Charlotte who put their mechanical expertise to use to finish off the fight. After the fighting had ended Hector was running around patching up the party and their wounds. Charlotte ordered that the stormcallers be stabilized, though kept unconscious for the time being. Abe did have to abandon the storm tower after the fight as it was never intended to be used as a melee weapon and was dangerously unstable, not long after he placed in a shack it detonated in an explosion of thunder and lightning.

As the Silver Line and Lady Ashcroft arrived to clean up the scene, they were slightly unnerved by the level of destruction wrought upon the area. Xavier's mother was most happy to see that Xavier was unhurt, and Lady Ashcroft joined Charlotte who was brooding over the corpse of Captain Kendrick. The cleanup left questions as to what was to happen next. With the most likely answer being that everyone was going to sweep this under the rug in the interest of keeping the peace. Part of that was that it was likely that Xavier and Charlotte were to quietly have their charges dropped, which was of little concern to Charlotte who remarked that the main thing that Cygnar cared about was their dirt. The true unforgivable thing that Kendrick did here was launching the attack on Cygnarian soil. As the party made their way back to Five Fingers they returned to Undertow and proceeded to get drunk to put an end to this latest disaster.

The coming weeks would see a resolution to the South Shore problem. With an agreement to sell the town and some of the surrounding land in exchange for easing restrictions on Cygnarian ships passing through the city as well as concessions to not place military assets in South Shore. After the deal was signed, High Captain Riordan was rather pleased with himself given the deal. Which even managed to include a little bit of farmland near South Shore under the guise of room for the town to grow if needed. The Silver Line was sent back to Cygnar, and Xavier's mother promised to pass along Xavier's love to his siblings. While Xavier and Charlotte were no longer wanted in Cygnar, it was still recommended that they don't utilize that status for a little bit at least.