Castle Keymaster, What to Do?
Act 11 Castle Keymaster
We’re coming toward the end of the Irish knights, only a few more acts before we pause this story and jaunt back to the Manhattan Knights for a little while.
Last Week, we discussed the nature of the castle on Tara Hill, and now this week we start up with a discussion on HOW to deal with the castle on Tara Hill. Much of the beginning of this game was in deep talk and slow moments, so I will try to hit the salient points without boring you.
Scene 1
Dante and Roland have finished their report on everything the Keymaster has told them. And now the knights are facing the creature itself, the Keymaster, with his strange yellow eyes and his tufted ears.
The fae sits on his chair with his legs folded underneath him, feet tucked up on top of his thighs in the lotus position. Despite the kindness to his features, the fact that he is bound to the nightmare castle, Castle number 5, does taint the air with trepidation.
Keymaster: “Be at ease. Remember I am not born of the 5th castle, I was bound to it to keep its evil from ascending. But now forces are at work to keep me from doing this job, chaos reigns. Soon, the five castles will finish their fight and one or the other will become ascendant. Someone must control which castle wins.”
Cutting the Argument:
What follows the Keymasters statement is nearly an hour-long argument [out of game] between the players trying to figure out which castle would be more advantageous to them. I will break it down to only a few points.
Ragnall has become convinced that he is in charge of everything. He was allowed to be the figurehead in charge of Dublin House, despite the fact that the position was meant to go to Davey (being of Core Earth he could actually use the computer and sat-phone), but Davey likes to go-along to get-along. As such, Ragnall placed himself in charge of the House.
Now, while discussing the castle, Ragnall has basically decided that he will move to the castle and rule from there.
Pros and Cons
As to the argument about the castle itself… the main thrust of it was whether they would want to have castle number 2 or 3. [See last week’s post for more details on these castles]. Castle 3 is massive hold, with a whole city underneath it, large enough to hold most of the population of Dublin if need be. The castle also has ammo loaders and massive ballistae and catapults all over it.
Castle 2, is also a very large castle and is of Core Earth, underneath this castle is a catacomb system that is linked to the ancient magic of Earth. The Keymaster also reveals that the wall of fog and the massive rolling surges of magic that the Knights keep feeling [one just happened a few hours ago] are coming from this well of magic. It is then revealed that the Fae, particularly the Sidhe, DON’T want Castle 2 to ascend. If castle 2 ascends then the fae get cut off from the freedom to come and go as they please, and Ireland will be able to remove itself from Aysle and form its own cosm, a Neo-Avalon.
Neo-Avalon?
The knights have been aware of the growing magical power in Ireland over the last few months, and were even aware of the deep fog out to the East. But having the Keymaster tell them that the fog is ringing the whole of the island and that soon Ireland will remove itself from Aysle is quite a shock. The fact that the source of all of this is only 30 miles down the road from their front door is also an issue.
Keymaster: “Beneath the Earth castle is a great catacomb, and within this catacomb rests the greatest of old heroes, druids, and kings. These shades are plotting and waiting for a time to return and save the island. And with the invasion of Aysle, and the return of magic to these lands, the Shades have sprung into action. As I tell you these words, their Champion is traveling around Ireland and awakening the old places of power and bringing back the old magic.”
But Ragnall still wants his dwarf keep; “Can’t we just have dwarf on the top and catacombs below the hill?”
Keymaster: “The dwarf keep and the elf keep both have their own underground, and will replace the catacombs and bar the Shades from working in this reality.”
Ragnall: “Think of the treasuries and armories within the Dwarf hold. We could hold against any army!”
Davie: “IF we lock in Castle 2, Ulthorien and his armies would be barred from the whole of the island, by the fog and the reality storms between cosms. We won’t have many enemies at all at that point. And if we flip his stelae this island would be wholly free of Aysle and we’d be our own land.”
Dark Elf Wisdom:
Ash: “You’re both dumb. We lock the 2nd Castle in… this cuts off the fae from being a pain in the ass and makes life difficult for Ulthorion. That’s a double win. The Shades beneath the castle unleash more magic, empowering all of us. Another win. We can protect this city and build a larger holding. Win. And we have the Keymaster as our friend, he could still change individual rooms in the castle and allow you entry to armories and treasury. Yes?”
Keymaster: “Yes. Even locked into one form I would still have control over individual rooms. And if it helps your argument, I could lock the hill into castle 2 and still put up the outer curtain wall/castle of the Dwarf Keep. Giving you as castle within a Castle.”
Ash: “Win.”
At this point, the arguments end. The idea of and outer and inner castle pleases everyone, and the keeping Keymaster as a retainer to allow them to retrieve treasures pleases Ragnall.
Who is the Champion and what is the goal of the Shades?
The goal of the Shades might seem to be the birth of New Avalon, but what if there is more to it than that? What if their goals don’t include allowing Ragnall to call himself the new High King of Tara? It is determined that they will have to meet these Shades.
BUT, before that… Who is their Champion? The Knights immediately think it must be the second man who entered the Castle. The man who showed up with an army and went into the castle alone, and who then fought Maximus and his Ghost Legion.
The Keymaster interrupts their musing; “I can answer those questions, I was there after all.”
First Man:
Arawn the Deathmaster arrived and called his wraiths from the dead and had the castle locked into number 3. He retrieved his Black Cauldron and then had the castle turned to the 5th and sent in his wraiths to find his shade. Arawn devoured the image of his past and regained much of his strength.
Second Man:
Arrived with 60 soldiers who set up base in the carport. The man then traveled into the keep alone. In the courtyard he removed his robes, his body was scarred and burned beyond human endurance. He might be Balor the Demon-King of Flesh. The man requested the First Castle and then he walked down to the catacomb doors and dealt with only a small number of the Shades, the first ones.
The Shades shamed him, he had been destined to be a great hero, born in the shadow of the keep, he was the Son of Tara Hill itself. Raised by all. But he descended into evil and allowed his heart to darken. He became one of the demon-kings when he was meant to fight them, and instead Tara Hill had to wait another thousand years before Nauda came to be the real hero.
Balor knelt before the Shades and offered his service. His thousands of years of imprisonment had let him think, to look through his own flaws and his betrayals. The kindness of strangers on the road had awakened his sense of purpose and reminded him of heroic deeds. The Shades returned his youth and strength to him and then set him to bring about the new Avalon.
Old Man on the Road:
Davey: “It’s the old man on the road. The Tree we destroyed freed a lot of evils into the world, and the old man on the road was one of them. We helped him across the street and down the field and brought him to a village. We talked about our mission against Ulthorion and he spoke of killing Ulthorion if he were still young.”
Ash: “And I spoke of my regret of being misled and being a member of Ulthorion’s guard when he was possessing my Queen. Of following orders, I shouldn’t have and how I’m trying to redeem my darkness.”
Ragnall: “Pretty sure I guessed this all a long time ago… or maybe I was just drunk. But yeah, I totally called this.”
Ignoring Ragnall:
Certain that they had encountered and helped nudge Balor to turn toward good they quickly put together the rest of the timeline.
It must have been Balor and a few mercenaries that took the Castle at Derg and killed the petty Baron there. Balor then had to fight through the Ghost Legion before he could move south, and as such Maximus followed him. Meaning, it was also Balor who was currently camped outside of Limerick with an army of Celtic warriors.
Arawn, devouring his own image in the 5th Castle is what caused the crystal castle to start trying to take over, and also awoke many of the images within its mirrored walls.
Keymaster: “In order to allow Arawn to eat his soul, I had to allow almost half of the crystal keep to exist in the world, it was more than I had ever allowed before. And it was more than I should have done. It began to take over and force itself to bleed over. It has its own will.”
More Questions:
What do the Unseelie Fae want?
It’s mixed between them, some want the chaos of the Crystal Keep unleashed on the land and destroying the whole of Ireland, while some merely want the 3rd or 4th castle ascendant to stop Human magic from taking supremacy.
What is calling to the Deep Ones?
An ancient God of the Deep Ones is locked in the Crystal Keep, but only his Image exists. He is trying to summon deep ones to the tower so that he can possess one of their bodies and live again. The Keymaster can easily lock away his room and the summoning would end, but he needs to return to the keep.
Decisions:
With literally more than an hour out of game time spent arguing the merits of each castle and asking all of these questions, and more that I am omitting and glossing over. The group finally decides that they are going to get up and go to the castle right NOW.
And that they will lock it into the castle within a castle, and they intend to send Davey down into the catacombs to deal with the shades.
BUT, we’ll save all of that for next week’s post, because this ACT is fairly short as again most of the time was spent in talking or arguing points.
