ACT 8 Damage Control

Scene 1

Day 139 of the Invasion and our Heroes sit around the council chamber in Dublin House. After last night’s deadly encounter with Baron Daedalus, the Irish Knights are consolidating their options.

Hot coffee, some of it spiked with whiskey, is steaming around the table. David, Ash, Ragnall, Dante, Roland, Cheryl, and Nigel (the head of the house guard) sit around the table.

Oddly, David starts the talking by mentioning to Cheryl that they asked the Sage to move into the House and that he wants her to prepare rooms off of the library. He then doubles down by asking that she send a written letter to the Sage reminding him of the invitation. Ragnall reaches out and squeezes David’s arm and cuts off his stream of nonsense.

A full minute of silence unrolls before Roland breaks it, “What happened last night?”

Ash: “We made an enemy of the Baron… well he was always an enemy we just refused his apology.”

Ragnall: “It was never going to be peaceful between us… what we need to do is figure out what the hell he is… and we need to secure our allies.”

Davie: “He’s some type of vampire…”

This then devolves into a long discussion where they try to define what a vampire is. Davie uses movies from earth, mostly old Hammer Films to define a vampire… while Cheryl tries to talk about Irish Vampire, mostly the twisted King Abhartach. But Ash and Ragnall are from Aysle where such things make no sense. They understand the story of King Abhartach as an evil wizard, but undead who drink blood and are immortal are not quite what they are used to.

[I made the decision to not have Vampires as part of Aysle folklore in my game so that we could have players argue how to kill one without everyone at the table yelling stake through the heart and burning.]

Arguments Aside:

Arguing the semantics of fictional versus mythological versus Daedalus serves no purpose and the argument comes to a halt. Ash makes a final stab at Henry, the dead master of House Dublin, wondering out loud how a man could screw up so bad to lose over 14 storm knights in less than a month, and god only knows how many Ord guards.

Nigel: “Thirty men, 30 Guarda in all died with your storm knights. Another dozen retired or left service.”

Silence around the table again. Finally, Ragnall finishes his coffee and refills the mug with just whiskey. “Cheryl, just give us the news while we mull over the shit show we’ve been handed.”

Cheryl: “The castle is back on schedule after the hiccup yesterday. We’re keeping a closer watch over it for any anomalies. More news about the sidhe showing up and interrogating people, we now have a name they are asking about someone called the Keymaster. The number of people who have been assaulted and/or tortured is now over 20.”

Davie; “Torture.” He makes a disgusted coughing sound and shakes his head. Ash nods, even he who once worked in Ulthorion’s army is disgusted by the stories of townsfolk having fingers cut off.

Ragnall: “These people are showing up on our doorstep looking for help and we have nothing to offer them other than the use of our medbay. That needs to change.”

Resolutions:

Ragnall: “Ok. We have a lot of issues and I have to admit that we—meaning specifically Ash, Davie and myself—have been wandering about a little aimlessly. Dante and Roland, I want you to go out and investigate these sidhe. Find out where they are, what they are asking about, and who they are hurting. You are not going out to fight these sidhe, just get the information so we can make an informed attack.

“Nigel, we can’t get anything done with only four guards… I don’t know if we have a treasury, but we do have room and board and defenses. Also running water. Recruit more Guarda, or anyone who looks like they could be capable of fighting. Ok, is tghere anything else we should be aware of…?”

He turns to Cheryl who had an entire second page of news to convey before he took charge of the meeting. Ragnall nods and she runs through the last few items.

Cheryl: “The Hoodies have started acting weird and consolidated into their estates. There is news that a mercenary company has set up south of the city and put up a flag. And finally, there is a troll that moved under one of the bridges across the Liffe.”

Ragnall sits back and mulls that over.

Davie puts in his own ideas; “The mercs are outside of Dublin, let’s back-burner them until they make a nuisance of themselves. We should meet with the Irish today so let’s drive through the Hoody neighborhood and see what’s going on, on the way to the North. The troll… we could maybe check it out, or just put up signs to use the other bridges.”

Hoody Problems

The meeting adjourns. Everyone going to do their business and the knights take the minivan out of the garage and head to the west. Despite having just traveled this way the other day on their way to visit the Yardies, they get turned around and it takes a while for them to finally arrive at a park sitting across from a row of massive brick estate buildings.

In the park a number of Hoodies sit on the swings and turnstile and various benches. They are gathered in silence, not moving, not talking, and they stare at the van as it comes to a halt. The park is on their right side and the estates is on the left, a bunch of hoodies sit on parked cars that have resisted changing to the Cosm and one of them stands up and stares at Ragnall in the passenger seat of the car.

While most of the teenagers are wearing black hoods pulled up over their heads, a number of them are wearing plague doctor masks. They look like a bunch of crows gathered in small masses.

Davie: “Oh yeah this isn’t creepy at all.”

The standing hoody shakes his head from side to side and then walks toward the car. He makes a show of pointing out the butt of the gun hanging out of his pants. Ragnall rolls down the window and the hoody comes to a halt a couple of feet away.

Hoody: “You geezers looking to score, or just pervs? Ha ha ha… man don’t see many running cars nowadays, won’t be long before this is gone.”

Ragnall: “We don’t need your drugs… we’re looking for information. We are the new masters of Dublin House and we want peace on these streets.” The Hoody shrugs and turns his head to the side and spits.

What’s up with the Hoodies?

Hoody Leader: “Nah man. No problems with you Storm Knights. Hoodies aint no issue right now, we not expanding, we pulling back from the city. We all used to be six different gangs, and now we all together. We defend the Insula,” he gestures back to the estate buildings. “We have our own problems, men and creatures coming out of the sewers, elves with bows hunting people for sport. We want our homes only, not the rest of the city. You need some drugs, you come here and you buy, otherwise we not looking for trouble outside.”

Ash: “Creatures from the sewers? You mean the Underworld, the tunnels between worlds? Lurks? Wights?” The elven swordsman leans forward from the backseat, not quite remembering how to open his own windows in the back.

Hoody; “Nah man… like alligators and weirdos. We busy fighting the creatures in our basements. Hoodies ain’t starting no trouble in the streets of Dublin. At least not my boys. Now if you ain’t looking for drugs… or maybe bullets? Guns? Then you be moving on.”

Davie; “No we don’t need drugs.” He reaches for the shifter and Ragnall stops him.

Ragnall; “You seem to know a lot about what is going on. What about information. Would you sell information?”

Hoody; “Yeah, I can sell info. What do you need to know about?”

This breaks down for a moment as Ragnall doesn’t have specific information he needs right now. “How about I put you on retainer, and when I have need, I’ll roll back through and you’ll work for me.”

Hoody: “Retainer?”

Ragnall; “I’ll give you cash now to keep your eyes and ears open for me, and then if I need something, you’ll supply it.”

The hoody shoves his hand into the car and Ragnall shakes it. He slips the man a few random coins rummaged out of all of their pockets. They really haven’t thought about money for months. With the hoodies hired on retainer they then turn the car to the north and cross the river.

Scene 3 Meeting the Irish:

The trio pull up in front of a large café, housed in the first floor of a four-story brick building. The upper levels are apartments. Besides a few cars parked beside the building there is also a stable and a bunch of men in full chain mail with Irish crosses on their surcoats. Most of the knights watch them park and get out of the van but none of them offer them any challenge. The streets in the area are clean and the people wandering back and forth between the various businesses seem happy. Other knights are out riding patrol and other than the mix of medieval and modern the whole area has a feeling of security and “normalcy.’

Entering the restaurant, half of it is open dining area, while the other half is an old-style pub. No one is in the restaurant half, but the Pub portion is an interesting mix of men in suits, armor, and pea-coats.

Davie pauses in the doorway to the pub as all eyes lock on the trio, “We have a meeting with Gabriel…” the murmur of conversation comes back to life and one of the men in a peacoat and cap gestures for them to follow him.

Gabriel McIntyre

He takes them to the back of the pub and through a doorway into a private room. It has a pool table, several dart boards and a long table dominating the back of the room. It also has a fire place and a couple couches and a large chair set beside the table. Lounging at the fire is a large Irish Wolfhound and sitting in the chair is a very well-dressed man. Behind him two fully armored knights stand at attention with long swords on their hips and HK416 rifles on their soldiers.

Gabriel stands as they enter and the man who led them in bows his head and closes the door. Gabe gestures to the couches and welcomes them to his humble office. He has a rolling car beside his chair filled with glassware and two decanters of a dark amber whiskey. He pours four glasses and pushes the cart toward them as he retakes his seat.

Ragnall eagerly takes a glass and gulps down the whiskey, “Damn… the good stuff.”

Ash and Davie merely shake their heads, Ragnall will always be… Ragnall. The storm knights are a little surprised to find that Gabriel is also a storm knight and that his aura is Light. But only Ragnall is gauche to say something, “Didn’t expect that from a criminal overlord.”

Gabriel surprises them all by laughing.

The Irish, and the Plan:

Gabriel; “My father was more of the broken-nosed thug you would have expected, whereas I was the son that went to Oxford and got my degrees. The invasion wasn’t kind to my father and most of my family turned to elves.”

Ash; “Yeah Donovan mentioned that to us…”

Gabriel; “Yeah. Donovan… he’s more of a throwback to what the family was about. Drugs, prostitution, protection, and gun running. Most of that doesn’t matter in this new world now does it? Drugs will disappear to be replaced with now potions or whatever… guns will run out of bullets or turn into crossbows.”

The Irish Knights find themselves warming to Gabriel, he is better spoken and far nicer of carriage than they expected. So, they employ full honesty and tell him everything about there issues with Daedalus and how they had at first feared that it would start a war in the north, but then last night they firmly challenged the Baron. They then go on to talk about consolidating the various factions into a more cohesive whole. Mentioning that they have allied themselves with White Witch and hired some of the hoodies.

Gabriel: “First I am happy that you sought to keep me in the loop and that you were worried about my people. My goal is to remove the stain of criminality from my people. I am looking to form a working government here in Dublin… with the Queen missing and Ulthorion far away, I want to make this a bastion of law and order. I thought I might be able to work with the Baron as he is so stiff about laws. But his darkness was overwhelming. I am more than happy to ally my powers with you and the Yardies in the south. Perhaps we could share ideas on how to implement a government.”

Ragnall; “I doubt we will all agree on how things should be done, Davie keeps talking about democracy and letting the people speak, but we all know that a council or a single person needs to be at the top to guide things properly.”

Moving on from Government Talk

They table the discussion about how the city should be governed, after all they have to deal with the fallout from the Baron and still get all factions on the same page.

Donovan enters the room, slightly agitated and maybe a little drugged, he sweeps in, with his mouth already running and pauses for a second as he sees that Gabriel has guests and then he starts again.

Don: “We may have some issues. Someone killed Spurs the other night and now the word on the street is that the Baron is arming up. His soldiers have fallen back and they have redoubled…” he then lapses into a running tirade about how they should preemptively roll into the Baron’s territory and destroy all of the police houses. He goes off topic about dividing up the territory and how he would handle the division.

Gabriel shakes his head and then finally silences his nephew. The Knights can see the difference in the two men, Donovan has a dark aura and he is obviously affected by either his nature or chemicals. The juxtaposition between him and Gabriel’s aura of light and clam demeanor is enough to make the Knights realize that they can both trust and fully back Gabriel.

Gabriel: “I am well aware of what is going on with the Baron. We will not be starting the fight, there are too many civilians that might end up in the cross fire. We will strengthen our border and watch the baron. As to Spurs, he was scum, and these gentlemen here ended his life. We have them to thank for that.” Donovan looks at them again. He blinks a few times and sniffs repeatedly.

Donovan, visibly wilting; “Ok Gabe, I just wanted you to know that you could count on me and that I would handle the situation. If you wanted me to, I could handle it.” He sniffs a few more times and then looks at the Knights again and the turns and leaves.

Exit Donovan

Gabriel: “If he wasn’t my sister’s kid…. Sorry about the interruption. I want us to be friends, and to that end, whatever I can offer you in the way of help you have but to ask. First things first, you did rid us of Spurs and I did offer a $20,000 bounty for him. I’ll have that transferred into your van in silver if that is acceptable. I promise that Donovan will be looked after and held back from making trouble. I agree to terms with the Yardies and will abide by whatever peace treaty you can come up with. Again, I would like to talk more about a council, or else sooner or later a king will set up shop and we’ll have to deal with it.

“My only concern is the Hoodies. You say you made contact and that you think they are trustworthy. But my intel says that they are acting strangely. Maybe they are having a war with something underground, that would make some sense. My spies have stated that less and less hoodies are being seen on the streets. Where once there were hundreds of the bastards running around now you only see them in small groups. I also have rumors that more and more of them are wearing full hoods or masks. Makes me wonder who… or what… is beneath those masks.

“But I’m willing to hold back an accept your word.”

Ragnall: “You’ve given us something to think about. The hoodies are all new to us. We’ll keep and eye on them as most of them are near us anyway. We like what we’re hearing, but our predecessor left us in the lurch, our house is empty, we need to bolster our numbers and get everything ready. If the Baron moves quickly enough, he could… snuff us.”

Gabriel nods, “I’ve heard that there are band of Garda holding a townhouse by the river. You might want to send one of your Garda out to try and collect them.”

Davie; “We already did that a few hours ago.”

Gabriel; “Good. IN that case maybe I could offer you a few men. I have four guys; I’ll admit they are kind of goonish… but they are dependable and tough and they won’t have a problem with working with your ex-cops. I’ll send them after you. Anything else I can do for you?”

Ragnall shakes his head, “No, No… we wouldn’t want to cut into your own numbers…”

Gabriel laughs, “I have over a thousand knights and nearly twice that in foot soldiers. All of me people have weapon stashes in their houses and I have armored forts hidden in each city block. I think I can handle sending you four men, to be honest I know feel like I’m shorting you.”

End of First meeting

The Irish Knights leave the bar and find two huge sacks of silver in the middle seat of the van. The meeting with Gabriel was both up-lifting and sobering. They had chosen wisely in allying with the Irish and the Yardies, if only they could have managed it with the Baron?

But those thoughts are swiftly dismissed. The aura of darkness around Daedalus was a palpable thing, he was a greater evil and needed to be excised from the city. Thinking of evils in the city, and realizing that the day had gone quite well and that they were barely past noon, the Knights then decide to see about getting rid of the Troll under the Bridge.

But that is a story for next week.