Act 12 Final

Endgame Start

The Endgame. The Aysle game has gone slightly off track. Part of the issues have been that I was waiting for various books to come out from Ulisses Spiel so I ended up slowing down of speeding up portions of the game. As a matter of fact, as I write this, I have only just now received the box set that has all of the Aysle material in it, and yet this Aysle game came to a conclusion several months back.

To call back to the original post, 1 FULL year ago when I started these TORG posts. My game was meant to have teams of characters each going into a different Cosm during the invasion phase and recovering a relic from each. As such, my stories in TORG do not wholly align with the setting story… As I’m disrupting the Studios timelines with my own events (because I’m writing and running these games BEFORE I have the timeline of events).

So, this section of the campaign in particular has seen it dragged out as our heroes become part of the governing body of Dublin, and build up their society just as much as they go out and attack creatures of Darkness. This next post is the beginning of the characters really doubling down on the “Sim City” part of the game.

Act 12 Part 2

Last Week, we had our talk with the Shades of Tara Hill. And then Dave went out to call back to the House. He met a sidhe who enlightened him to Fae politics and they parted ways with respect. We pick up our story with Davey making contact with Dublin house.

The News:

[Note to readers, there is a whole scene that is repeated from a previous post. This game and the previous had several weeks off between games and I ended up having to retell some of the same details to the players again, I’ll try to be brief to the handful of you who have read every post.]

A Garda answers the radio and they exchange pleasantries for a while before Davey finally asks for all of the news. The Garda fills him in on the events in the Baron’s territory. Baron Daedalus appears to have fled the city and most of his captains were also vampirized. They were near powerless in the light and rooted out of their hiding holes. The baron’s territory has been absorbed back into the north.

Davey reports all of the successes with the castle and the Shades, while giving his report Cheryl enters the room and demand the radio. Davey has to give a second, shorter version of the Castle news to her.

The House Square:

As previously mentioned, Dublin House, the parking garage, and The Dean’s house all form a single side of a large square of land. The other edge of the square has a main college building, a set of labs, dorm, and several other buildings from the college. The entire middle of the square is a massive green quad. Recently, Dublin house has moved several families of farmers into the Dean’s house and they’ve started to cultivate the lands.

As of this morning a few men came over from the other side of the Quad and have broached the subject of an alliance. It seems the Dean of the college and many of his staff have become wizards and they call themselves the Mage’s Guild. They have invited the knights to come to a meeting with their Grand Magus and talk about a way to unify the entire Square into a single collective.

Other Items on the Agenda:

Davey makes a command decision and asks Cheryl to accept the invitation and make an appointment for the next day, as they are planning on staying at the Castle for the rest of the day and night. He then asks her to take a note, send a runner to Mami and find out if she has a version of Gouffa Dust that will keep out the Fae as effectively as it keeps out ethereal creatures.

He then asks about casualties from the trip to the Baron’s territory and about the Fishmen attacking the Docks.

Cheryl, ever efficient, informs him that she already made the appointment with the Dean for tomorrow mid-day, that the Garda and Ryan had already called in and that besides some wounds there were no deaths. As to the fishmen, they haven’t been seen since the last fight and as a matter of fact everything has been still for hours. Not a single weird event has been reported to the House in more than a day.

Pleased, Davey signs off.

He heads into the castle and wonders if there is furniture in any of the rooms, otherwise they’ll be sleeping on stone floors tonight.

Day 143

The dawn brings much promise. The castle has harmonized and become a permanent edifice. Davey is also relieved to see that the Jeep is still a jeep and he crosses his fingers as he starts the engine. It rumbles to life and the knights pile in, returning to the House. Keymaster is holding the castle for them. Ragnall is still thinking of moving from the House into the castle, his delusions of grandeur are still leading him to want to both be the Master of Dublin House and the King on Tara. Dave and Ash decide to humor the old priest and remain silent as he cackles about his plans.

They arrive back in the garage are greeted by Barry. The Troll is in great humor after the fight in the north. He is very pleased with his bed, clothes, beer, and the occasional fighting.

Taking the stairs up into the lobby of the House the knights find their good humor growing even larger. Cheryl walks by and mentions that breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. Her ability to know what is needed before it is needed is once again a blessing. But before anyone can enjoy their first sip of coffee or tea, there is a knock at the front door.

All eyes swivel to the door, far more often than not it is bad news at their door.

Hoody Spies

Ragnall pulls the door open and is surprised to see two hoodies standing on the stoop. IT takes a moment for him to remember that he actually hired them to go spy for him a few weeks back. He’s even more surprised to see that the master of the hoodies is one of the two on his stoop.

The hoody looks haggard and strange, it takes a moment for Ragnall to realize that the man has thick foundation makeup caked over his features, making his face look like a smooth mask. Both men are thin and twitchy, rubbing their arms and shuddering slightly, swaying on the stairs. Strung out?

Hoodie: “We have your information old man. The mercenaries in the south are holed up in a large house. They have fortified it. But it might not be your problem. The house is more than a mile outside of the town limits.”

Ragnall looks back over his shoulder. Ash slowly shrugs, not really concerned about a band of brigands making a home to their south. Davey looks ready to head back out already.

And then…

Ragnall: “Go on, you were supposed to supply details for my coin.”

The hoodie nods and turns his head to the side, hawking a glop of phlegm out into the street. He continues: “Ok, they’ve added turrets to the roof, and outer fence and put up a few out buildings. They have burned all the other houses around them to the ground. There are 50-60 people living in the compound, that’s counting woman and teens. The mercs seem to be raiding further south and less into Dublin and every time they come back it is with more food, seed, horses, livestock, and other materials to build up their defenses. I would say you have a small fiefdom at your southern border. Most Dubliners have already moved further north away from these gits.”

Ragnall: “Tell me more about the house.”

The hoody sighs; “Three stories, turrets added to the roofline, metal shutters on the lower levels, heavy doors of solid oak, tunnels under the house, brick and stone sheeting going up the walls while we were there. I would guess they will take it to the roof. Is that enough.”

Ragnall grouses for a bit but throws them some more money. He tries hard not to be suspicious of the thick gloves over their hands or their odd behavior. The hoodies quickly withdraw from his porch and suddenly everything feels cleaner.

Trying not to ruin breakfast

The knights suppress their misgivings. The rumors about the hoodies are definitely true. But which version? Are they being replaced by inhuman creatures or are they turning into such things?

The trio go t enjoy their breakfast with their expanding household. Dublin is quickly becoming a hub against the darkness and with the transition to Eire it might come a new capital for the new Cosm. But for now, the Storm Knights are still agents of the Delphi council and still tasked with fighting for the Earth… mostly.

This game session ended with the characters eating breakfast surrounded by their friends and allies, they will be going forth to meet new possible allies in the next session and everything is finally coming together.

ACT 13 will be the final Act for Aysle. Then we’ll be taking this story back to the Manhattan Knights and finishing up a few segments of their story.