Act 4 Part 2
Hunting with the Sidhe
In our last post the Trio got attacked by an overwhelming force and while they were holding their own, mostly. But the timely intervention of a unit of sidhe rangers turned the tide. The rangers are hunting escaped redcaps and the Irish knights have been cleaning up redcap murder sites in several locations. The sidhe offered to release the knights from the curse on them that allows Ulthorion to keep sending warriors to kill them, in exchange for joining the hunt.
The trio agrees. The sidhe lead them off into the tree line, and as they step between trees the air shimmers and they move sideways. Into mist shrouded hills that are overly lush with wild flowers and where ancient oaks stand guard.
The sidhe travel quickly, even Ragnall finds himself moving as if he were twenty years younger. It feels like hours have flown by and yet the three mortals feel no need for sleep or food.
First Stop
Stepping out of the Fae lands back into the world of Aysle is a bit jarring. Everything is less bright, all colors dull and flat. Despite stepping out of wild lands and hills they find themselves on a long beach looking up at a sprawling town that is still partially core Earth. Besides them a massive array of basalt stones create a natural hexagonal pattern out into the sea.
Davie: IS this the Giant’s Causeway?
Sidhe: This is of your world; we have no name for it. The redcaps are in that part of the town.
The Sidhe point to an area off to the side of the main core of the city, what would have been a suburb, but is now a small village besides proper town. The sidhe veer away from the city and head off toward the village without another word.
They spread out and move in silence as they close on the city. The trio of knights follow in their wake, Davie keeping his second question to himself, but he is quite certain that it is actually earlier in the morning from one they left the ravagon fight.
The sidhe outpace the knights, their movements graceful and faster even than Ash, who is the nimblest of the Knights. Raghnall’s new boots, magically imbued to increase his pace are helping but the trip stick together. The rangers halt, a few hundred yards from the edge of the village and make an abrupt left turn to plunge into the scraggy brush and rocky upthrusts.
The Down Below:
The trio double their pace to catch up to the sidhe and find the rangers waiting for them at a hole in the ground. Hidden behind an upthrust of granite, and a mass of thorny brambles that have been cut and strategically used to camouflage the opening. A ranger kicks aside the brambles and sniffs the air, his face twists and he nods.
While the opening on the surface is rather small the cave within the earth is quite large and tunnels run off in gentle, wormy curves in multiple directions. These tunnels run across the whole of Aysle and they don’t quite correspond to the length and depths that they should. One could enter a tunnel here, take a few turns and hours later pop out in London, or go a little further and perhaps end up in Oslo. Ulthorion’s current seat of power.
Despite their jaunts underground so far, the Trio have managed to avoid entering the true Down Below. The sidhe gesture for silence and then they unerringly pick several tunnels and turns without pause, though thankfully they move at a much slower pace.
Redcaps:
The smell of blood is so thick that it is the first thing to give away the location of the redcaps, then their swearing and boastful talking echoes along a little later. The sidhe slow down to a crawl as the tunnel ahead is lit with flickering flames. They crouch low and move into a position to peer into the cavern, leaving enough space for the knights to move up equally.
The redcaps are bunched together around several fires in a very large cavern. Butchered carcasses hang from the wall and an entire sheep is currently being roasted over several spits over the fires. The redcaps are telling coarse stories and drinking beer and liquor out of barrels in the center of the area.
Despite being told that the redcaps were a mix of juveniles and elders, there is no noticeable difference between the creatures in the room, save perhaps that a few of them are a hand span taller.
The “Plan”
The sidhe silently gesture, they will take the group around one of the fires while the knights jump at the slightly smaller unit around the other fire. The sidhe leapt through the darkness, silent as owls gliding in for the kill.
Ragnall takes a moment and prays over the party, blessing their strength of arms. Then Ash leaps into the attack, equally as silent and quick as the sidhe. Davie sighs and then rumbles along after, the Redcaps all turning toward him and the sound he can’t help but make.
Ash uses their distraction to land among a mass of the young redcaps, and in a vicious flurry of blows he kills six of them before Davie finishes his charge into one of the elders. Using the vanquisher blade Davie strikes down one of the elders, the creature is hurt but not slain and the sword glows in Davie’s hands, signaling that it has drunk the blood of a truly evil foe.
The four rangers concentrate fire and put 4 arrows into another redcap elder. Despite the four arrows in his chest the elder bellows and charges into the rangers, he is joined by another and the two of them scatter the rangers, knocking two of the sidhe to the ground. Fists fly. Davie’s redcap draws a blood rusted blade from his belt and stabs Dave in the thigh. The sword sinks through the thickest part of his thigh and scraps along his femur where it then firmly lodges, the redcap laughs as he yanks the blade back and forth trying to free it.
Ash turns to help his friend and another elder closes with him. Enraged at the 6 dead redcaps at Ash’s feet the elder jams his sword through Ash. The elven swordsman nearly drops to the ground as he coughs up a gout of blood and staggers back. It is a mortal wound, but not one he’s willing to give into just yet.
Redcap Rage:
With all the blood spilled on the ground, the 4 elders all scream into the air and double their efforts, attacking again as the sound stuns the knights and sidhe alike. The two redcaps among the rangers continue to pummel the sidhe on the ground and blood flies from their fists as they pound away.
Ash’s elder feints high, and Ash raises his sword in a parry, but he’s only using one hand as the other is holding his guts in. The Elder drops his sword slashes Ash’s femoral artery, blood sprays into the redcap’s face and the creature opens its mouth as Ash falls to the ground, rapidly bleeding out.
Davie grunts as the elder he is fighting finally yanks the sword free from his leg and Dave kicks out and hits the elder on his shin. The redcap bounces back a few steps and makes a rude gesture.
Plans suck… 1,2,3 get them is not a plan:
Ragnall ducks through the fighting and slides to the ground besides Ash. Despite his hideous wounds and blood loss, the elf manages to swing his sword in a tight arc and cut his attacker. The redcap falls back, sucking blood from his cut knuckles and Ragnall has enough time and room to lay hands on Ash. The priest mutters a quick prayer, ending it with an invective to kill the redcaps, and Ash’s wounds are closed, the blood loss staunched.
[The healing roll on Ash is huge, well over 60 and David plays a GLORY card. This is the second one in this act, meaning the players are at an advantage for the rest of the ACT]
The rangers manage to fight back on their two elders. They get their men up off the ground, concentrate fire and drop their opponents and then turn to fire on Davie’s opponent. With Ash back on his feet he closes in for vengeance on the creature that nearly killed him and the fight is quick. For a moment all was grim and then once again the tide was turned as the knights snatched defeat from the jaws of death.
Ragnall: You’re all F@#$ing welcome, once again my magic is the lynch pin to our success.
Ash: I killed seven of the enemy, the six of you only killed three.
Ragnall: Boy, you nearly died, without me you’d be a corpse in a pool of blood.
Ash is silent for a moment; Boy? I’m more than double your age-old man!
Breaking the Curse:
The sidhe are grateful for the aid in killing the redcaps and as promised offer to break the curse and take the knights to anywhere they wish to go.
Davie: Didn’t you say that there were more elders? I only count four here.
Sidhe: Yes. They have separated to different corners of this island, spreading their carnage wide. There are two more groups like this one.
Dave looks at the other knights and silent communication passes among them. Ragnall gives a long slow shrug and Ash merely nods.
Davie: We’d like to stay on until the job is done then.
The sidhe seemed very pleased with this and accept the offer. One of them hands Davie a potion of healing and tells him he should drink that if he’s going to continue to fight. Ragnall grouses that he would have gotten around to healing him eventually. Ash makes a snide comment about how Ragnall could be replaced with an adequately stocked potion belt.
Moving on:
The sidhe lead them down a side tunnel and they hardly notice when they shift into the fae world, but when they come up to the surface it is into an idyllic valley with a haze in the air and tall grasses swaying in a warm breeze. In the distance satyrs are playing and singing, and dragon flies fill the air. Only these dragon flies are small lizards with huge butterfly wings.
The sidhe ignore these wonders as they cross the valley, despite the satyrs calling to them to join in the merriment. Time is once again subjective as they cross the valley and then stepping between two trees, they step back out into Aysle.
Davie gapes as he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a bustling city. It is still very much core earth though he can see that Aysle is winning. Despite the asphalt roads and the presence of cars, there are plenty of horse drawn carts and elves and dwarves mixed in among jeans wearing humans. He passes a large clock in a square and notices that it is 1 in the afternoon. At least 6 hours later than when they had stepped out on the beach.
Despite the busy streets filled with people, no one seems to notice them. They move among people like ghosts and finally come to a stop besides a large warehouse. Despite the modern Earth door, one of the rangers kneels down and picks the lock expertly, and then opens the door half way. The sidhe file in one at time, quickly followed by the knights.
Second Redcap Camp:
The warehouse is dark, the electric lights either dead or turned out, and once again in the distance, flickering fire light casts light in a cozy circle deep within the building. The smell of oak and beer fills the building and the rows bedside them are filled with a mix of steel kegs and old oak barrels.
Davie squints in the dark and then swears under his breath, “We’re in the Guinness Brewery or at least a storehouse… Dublin?” Ash shakes his head and holds a finger to his mouth. Davie grins anyway but keeps his mouth shut.
As they move closer to the firelight, the smell of old yeast and beer gives way to a strange odor of wet dog and freshly spilled beer. They come to the dock area of the warehouse, several pallets and old barrels have been broken and used to start a fire on the concrete floor, a number of holes have been punched in the roll up metal door, giving the only ventilation to the smoke which is otherwise filling the upper levels of the warehouse.
Besides the mass of redcaps sitting around the fire, drinking directly from kegs, there is a strange goblin covered in heavy armor, a faceplate, and what look like old cartoon style black bombs, he’s lighting a cigar with a modern handheld MAP torch, in his other hand he holds the chains leading to two massive dire wolves. And as luck would have it he is facing away from the fire and directly at the knights as they stepped out of the shadows into the light.
Boss Maggot
The goblin grins as he drops the chains to the floor and both dire wolves immediately rise to their feet. They start to growl as Boss Maggot pulls one of the bombs off his chest and lights the wick with his cigar.
The bomb sails into the Knights and the two groups—Rangers and Knights—go in two directions. The explosion of smoke and shrapnel gets the redcaps on their feet and bedlam ensues, as the bulk of the blast strikes the sidhe. Their cloaks catch fire and the rangers scatter into the rows, cursing and rolling along the floor slapping out flames.
One of the dire wolfs leaps on the lead ranger and they go down in a tangle of color-shifting cloak and snarling fur. The other wolf bee-lined for Davie and the large man sighed, always the damn wolves. Dave steps back from the snapping jaws and slaps the wolf on the nose. It backs up like a normal house pet, and not the pony sized beast it really is.
Warehouse fight:
In a surprise, the redcaps start the fight with missile weapons, launching bottles, knives and empty kegs toward them. The missiles go far from the mark and have little effect. Ragnall blesses the knights again and steps back, gesturing for them to take the fight.
Ash moves into the wolves, first decapitating the one on Davie and then going to help the ranger with his. Boss Maggot screams as his pets are both dispatched in mere seconds. Davie slams into the goblin, punting him back four yards into a trio of empty kegs. The clatter of the armored goblin and empty kegs is thunderous.
Boss Maggot: Maybe we could negotiate?
No Peace:
The rangers form a firing line, joined by Ragnall and unleash a volley of arrows back into the redcaps. The arrows cause some minor cuts but otherwise are ineffectual against the redcaps. Ash opens a portal to behind the recaps and drops on one of them, killing him instantly.
[Ash rolls an awesome attack and plays a GLORY card… that’s three in this ACT, and 6 or 7 in the overall Aysle storyline!]
Davie falls on Boss Maggot and kills the goblin before moving toward the redcaps. This fight is going far easier on them than the one in the tunnels. The redcaps all turn on Ash and stab at him repeatedly… once again he is reminded that the small creatures are extremely fierce and savage. Their knives plunge into him over and over, he does manage to warp reality enough that many of the wounds are turned aside or changed, but once again Ash is reminded that lethal as he is, he still has organs and is mortal.
Bleeding and angry, Ash lashes out and cuts several of the redcaps, dropping one of them, and weakening the other two. The rangers then unleash another volley and drop the final two.
Ragnall shakes his head and walks up to Ash. He prays again, and the wounds close on the swordsman.
Ragnall: FUCKING… LYNCH PIN.
Ash ducks his head.
And Pause:
This was the end of the gaming session but the there is still one more group of redcaps to kill. So, next week we will finish this ACT and start the next ACT. The final fight and then the Sidhe will bring our heroes back to Castle Berg.
