The Foundation for all to Come

Act 2 The Dragon Raiders:

After the horrors of the tree and the last few days the Irish Knights move on with haste to arrive at Londonderry [Where I have taken great liberties with the landscape, but we are being invaded by an alternate reality, so….]

They get within the mile of the city and crest a large hill and look down on the very much changed landscape. Aysle is more ascendant here, the city is a V cleft by the sea in the north. Both sides of the city are nestled amongst old growth forest, thanks to Aysle. The bay is completely filled with ships, many ready to sail but an equal number in various stages of readiness. The forest on the east and west of the town has been logged back extensively and shipyards dominate the length of the coast.

Two fortresses are being built on either side of the cleft in the newly clear-cut land. The fortress on the East side of the city is fully built, wooden stockades and towers, neat rows of tents in a more Roman style. The west side fortress is still in the ground clearing and wall building phase.

Math Arguments:

Davey has binoculars and he uses them to count the number of tents and boats. While Ash and Ragnall argue over the carrying capacity of the long boats and how many troops would be needed to row them and how many more could be soldiers for an attack.

Davey counts over a hundred boats, but only 50 of them are sea worthy, the rest need at least four to six weeks’ worth of work. But the problem is not really the number of ships, the boats only mean that the army will sit here waiting to be delivered. But that army is already here. Davey quits counting tents when he starts to reach the absurd number of a thousand, and the rest are too far for even his binoculars to allow him to count accurately.

Davey: “Who cares how many soldiers can board a standard boat they have over 20,000 down there right now? This is a massive offensive.”

Ragnall: “Well what the F*** can we do? This is insane.”

Ash: “We’ve done what we’re supposed to do already. We were only here to count troops and boats and make sure both existed. Both exist. Now it’s back to Argo and the Delphi can decide what to do.”

Davey: “That’s it? We go back? Rather anti-climactic… oh wait what is this?”

Target of Opportunity:

Looking away from the city to the roadway wending away to the south, Davey spots a massive wagon train. Looking through his binoculars, he sees that it is made up of several small wagons but in the second slot is a massive 50-foot-long flat bed, being dragged by numerous oxen and pushed by chained prisoners. On the flat bed is a massive stone carved deep with runes and topped with a dragonhead. A man in full plate armor rides astride this stone, yelling encouragement to the whippers in the back to push the prisoners harder.

Ash perks up. In his time in the royal guard, unfortunately when Ulthorion was possessing the Queen’s body, he had seen such stones before. It is the beginning of a Stela, the stones which mark the boundaries of a Cosm and allow it to control reality and drain the possibilities from the Earth. They take a lot of resources to create and once activated they are near impossible to break and pull down.

Ash: “We must destroy that Stone. It would be a massive victory.”

Davey passes the binoculars around to the other two, after they get used to the device, they start planning their assault on the wagon train. They decide to move into a position ahead of the train and then allow it to roll into their kill zone.

Crazy Plans, YOLO:

We start with the standard tactic, Ragnall prayers for his lightning strike from the heavens, he calls on his god and strikes with righteous fury, and plenty of expletives. The bolt of lightning slams down through the armored man riding the stela, the stela, and the wagon below. To the affect that the man in armor literally explodes in chunks, the stela cracks down it’s length, and the flatbed is broken in half and digs into the ground.

Ash opens a portal in the middle of the confusion and launches a fireball through it. It’s new trick he’s been working on. The front of the wagon is engulfed in flames, the raiders at the front of the wagon are also caught on the blast and drop to the ground. IN a flurry, Ash unleashes a second ball of fire that engulfs the back half of the broken flatbed and widens the crack in the stela.

In the mass confusion the slave/prisoners, hit the deck or flee outright and the raiders need to decide between pursuing them or attacking back. The raiders have enough smart to go with the latter and they charge toward the portal, knowing it is a two-way street.

Fighting Withdrawal  

Davey, who didn’t participate in the fight as he is not a long-range combatant, decides to pick up Ragnall and act as his legs. The old man yells obscenities as the thick wrestler picks him up and jogs back into the forest. He cackles.

Ash unleashes a second flurry of fireballs through the portal and into the conflagration around the stela. The stone shatters from the extreme heat and Ash closes his portal before the enraged raiders can use it against him. He then runs after the other two.

It was crazy, it was super-fast, and it was well executed. We’ll never see it’s like again.

This was the end of the second gaming session, but we are continuing with the rest of the act.

Scene 3:

The trio escaped the carnage with ease and skipped down the road back toward Donegal.

Late afternoon finds the trio walking past the area where they encountered the cult and the tree. It slightly dampens their high spirits after the destruction of the stela. Rounding the corner, they see an old man hobbling down the road. At least they think it is an old man, he is cloaked in rags and bandaged heavily, his arm in a sling and he leans heavily on a staff. Shuffling around the road he appears to be talking to himself.

Ash and Ragnall pause for a second as a chill goes up their spines, Davey is oblivious and moves to help the old man. The other two follow at a slower pace and when they get within 20 feet of the old man, he seems to notice them.

Oldman: “How goes the battle of Tara… am I too late, who won… what will I find?” These questions are asked to himself, but he cuts off and turns slowly as the trio comes up behind him. His face is lost within the rags of his cloak.

Within 10 feet of the man, Ash stops again as the hair on his arms and neck stands on end and a chill once again caresses his spine.

Man in the Road:

Oldman: “Friend or foe, I have little to offer and can’t fight you back.”

He raises his head enough that they can see burnt flesh along his jaw.

Davey: We mean you no harm, how are you and where are you looking to go?

Oldman: I’m trying to get back to Tara Hill, to rejoin the battle or discover the fate of my companions. I was wounded, burnt, my followers got me out and patched up, but I’ve been sleeping for a long while.

Ragnall makes a noise in his throat, upset about the way this conversation is going. The Aysle version of Tara Hill and the battle that took place there last was old history, more than 150 years earlier. Davey asks the old man to wait a moment while they confer, the trio drop back a few steps and converse.

Too many variables:

Ragnall tells them about the history of Aysle Tara Hill, Ash merely nods, he knows of the legends as well. He counters with the fact that he is still feeling chills, like someone is watching him. He’s more concerned about whether the old man is causing the effect or if they are literally being watched.

Davey adds to the paranoia, with Aysle interacting with the Earth and mixing to create new things, the last time Tara was a real stronghold was back before the Battle of Hastings, more than a thousand years ago. Also, it’s almost two hundred miles south of their current location, down by Dublin. Either way, it makes the old man either 200 or over a 1000 years old, either one is a an issue.

Ragnall, moving back toward the old man; “You said you were wounded at the battle and that you slept?”

Oldman: “Yes, I was betrayed in the battle, and my followers took me away. A healer looked over me but said I needed to sleep; the burns are very bad. And I must have slept for weeks as they no longer ooze and other than tightness, I believe my skin is healed.”

They interrogate the man, gently for a while, and get a handful of more facts. His name is Bal of Tara Hill, he was an orphan born in the shadow of the Castle and he raised an army to conquer it and make it his own. He believes he has slept weeks and that the date is 179 years ago. He knows nothing about Ulthorion or even about Queen Pella.

Relaxing, almost:

The answer usage them that he is not a threat. The damage done to his body is extensive and he is not a threat. Ragnall makes the decision to try and heal the man further, despite the fact that he seems intact and whole.

The priest lays hands on the man and fills him with healing energy, waves of heat radiate through the man’s rags, almost hot enough to burn Ragnall’s hands. The affect of the healing allows Bal to straighten up and walk with more ease as his joints loosen back up and the burned flesh flakes off. He is a far taller and more intimidating out of his stooped position but he is also still weak after his long slumber.

Bal: You have shown me kindness where many have not, and you have informed me that I have slept through more than a century. I owe you a boon, which I will repay in equal kindness once I have gotten my feet under me again. I never forget a kindness and never break a promise.

The Chills:

Chills race up Ragnall and Ash’s spine, they take a step back and Bal looks to them and then looks beyond them.

Bal: You are marked. Some enemy hunts you and watches you even now. The skilled among you should feel the scrying if you concentrate.

Ash: We have made a great enemy by thwarting Ulthorion.

Bal: Who is this Ulthorion?

Ash: He is a dark spirit that takes bodies and who rules these lands through fear and intimidation. He has usurped the rightful Queen and mislead the people and now he has invaded the lands of this man, David.

Bal: A hostile foreign invader in my home? When I regain my strength, I think I would like to meet this Ulthorion and… break him.

Bal radiates strength and menace for a moment and then he coughs and sighs, his shoulders slump again.

Bal: Can you guide my feet toward civilization and then on toward Tara after?

Good Deeds

The Knights escort the out-of-time man toward a nearby village and then give him directions on how to get back to Tara. He thanks them again and promises that he will repay their kindness for a second time. As he walks toward the town, they notice that he needs the staff less and less. A general sense of unease bothers them all but they shake it off. They have more things to worry about with the mark on them and the wizards tracking their steps.

They rapidly move away from the town, not wanting to draw violence to its sleepy thatch roofs.