ayascythe | DSA - Masks of Power (Reply)

Sooo, it's been a while since I wrote here about our RPG (or that I wrote in general), but I'm happy to announce that we. Finally. Made. It. To. The. End.

Retelling the entire plot would be too much, but I'll try to summarise the things that seem most important to me:

Our group revealed several intrigues throughout the entire country, even among high-ranking church members, some of these even had demonic meddling. All those incidents were somehow connected to the royal family Firdayon and seemed to aim to extinguish their line. The group also finds out that the actual heir to the throne (Yaltek) was murdered 20 years ago by a secret society named the "Manticore". Meanwhile, the throne war is still going on, dragging down the country and its people. Timor and his sister Aldare fight for the throne, due to some incidents their other sister Salkya is manipulated to take part in the war as well, but it costs her her life.

Ravendosa, an old friend and supporter of Timor's, meets with the group and asks them to search for a secret testament so that the war can finally find an end. The group sneaks into a castle and finds the testament (it said Timor should be the next Horas/emperor, btw), but what they also find is ... Ravendosa, as a prisoner. Wait, what? The Ravendosa that spoke to them earlier clearly must have been an impostor, so they decide to confront the fake!Ravendosa.

Turns out fake!Ravendosa was actually Timor in disguise (he has a magical mask that can turn him into anyone he wants). He's been watching the group for a while now and finally wanted to meet them. He explains that he has a list of all the members of the Manticore, that some of them are still alive and that he wants to hunt them down and bring them to justice. The group agrees to help him.

Timor takes the group with him to court, because he expects the Manticore to make their next move soon. The war has come to a standstill and it looks like it's going to find an end with Timor becoming the new emperor. There are several festivities ahead and generally, this is the part where there was a lot of roleplaying and relatively little plot (but also my favourite part, because TIMOR and COURT and *flails*). We learned that Timor has a wife and a 13-year-old step-daughter (with whom my character quickly became friends with).

Fun part: during our introduction to court, I failed my etiquette roll so my character had a "blackout" and didn't know how to greet Timor in front of everyone. Me: "I'll do the highest form of greeting I can come up with, better too much than too little." My character: *kneels in front of Timor* Entire court: *ooohs and aaahs and whispers* Only afterwards did I learn that this was basically an oath of allegiance/loyalty to House Firdayon and Timor. WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS BECAUSE IT WAS ACCIDENTAL BUT ABSOLUTELY FORESHADOWING FOR LATER AND WHAT HE WOULD HAVE DONE ANYWAY AFTER WOULD BE OVER.

MASQUERADE BALL. (As expected, the Manticore attacked, but our group managed to protect Timor and kill the attacker.)

Some other stuff happened, and also Timor's wife was killed. He was devastated and sent out the group to find her killers and act out revenge. Turns out, it was her nephews who had gone darkside aka had started meddling with the Nameless (the DSA version of Satan).

After that, the group went out to hunt down the remaining members of the Manticore. Timor went with us in the disguse of a merchant named Miron Drakenheld.

I should probably mention that my character has slowly been falling for Timor during that time, but never dared to make a move up until then. Then he tried to make a move, and it was super awkward and UST and everything, and then he went and declared his love and lust for Timor. There was a kiss and some angsty dialogue ("You are unexpectantly ..." "Arrogant?" "Cautious. You're afraid to disappoint your friends, your family, me, why is that?" "It's ... maybe it's because no one ever really has seen ... worth in me beside my fighting skills." "I can hardly believe that. I mean, you're a terrible nobleman, but you have an honest heart." "I try to hide that fact." "Why?" "The things you shield are less likely to get hit. Tactics 101." "I see."). Then Timor said they should wait with this ... thing they had, until they had finished their mission and they shook hands.

It took a while, but the group found all the remaining members and killed them. Somewhere in between, we also passed the point when my last group died and it felt like breaking a curse to me. One of the last members made some ominous comments before he died that "there won't be a home to return to for you, you can't stop what we already started".

On their flight back home (on a ship), Timor went to Raoul's room and asked him if he was a good emperor? Raoul was a little surprised but then truthfully said that he didn't know. Then Timor more or less confided in him that working for the throne and the potential of being an emperor has always been a burden for him. He also told Raoul that he is infertile(!), something that pretty much no one knows about, thus a huge sign of trust from Timor. Then there finally was some romping between the sheets, because even an emperor needs a distraction every now and then.

The group returns to the mainland and finds out that the war has broken out again. Apparently, a fake Timor has been doing really shitty stuff in his name (being capricious, sleeping around, etc.) and also started the war again.

On our way to find that fake Timor, the group gets attacked by a demon that tries to distract you with terrible illusions. We defeated that demon, but fun part: Raoul had visions of both his father and brother being disappointed in him and abandoning him, then another vision of Timor calling him a traitor and attacking him. The vision really shook him, so later that day he went to Timor and went: "Just so you know, I would never, ever betray you in any way." Timor: "I know that. I never would have questioned that." Raoul: "Yes, but even in case I might do something involuntarily-" Timor: *kisses him* "Shut up."

The group calls Timor's closest and most loyal friends and together they go to find and defeat the fake Timor. Turns out it was a simple actor that received a powerful demonic mask by the Manticore (it was their last attempted coup). That mask was so evil that it quickly turned the poor guy mad (it was also the one that summoned that demon earlier). The group defeated the fake Timor and in his last dying words he confessed that he had started a last attack on Aldare (Timor's sister) and her son Kadan.

Sooo, the group rushes to the battlefield (that's where Aldare is with her troops) to prevent the ambush. They initiate peace negotiations and just when they're about to explain everything to Aldare, the ambush troops break through and try to kill Aldare. An epic battle starts during wich many soldiers die and we have some close calls for our own group. Just when hope starts to fade, a huge dragon appears and ends the fighting - it's Shafir. (Short explanation: Shafir is the prince of that country - no, don't ask me how that works, in some ways DSA is just really fucking cracky - and Aldare is his wife and that son is actually his(!) - again, don't ask, I have no idea.) Shafir demands that the fighting should end and the small mortal beings should fucking finally get their shit together (not in those exact words but in meaning) and takes the mask with him (we couldn't destroy it and it's too dangerous to be among humans).

Negotiations follow that last 2 weeks. Interestingly, neither Aldare nor Timor become the next Horas, but her son Kadan, with Ralman as regent until Kadan is full of age.

Celebrations, honouring of our group and many, many, many rewards for our characters. (We had one LotR-moment during which Timor said: "No bowing is necessary, we should be the ones who should bow our heads.")

Raoul earlier found out, that his father died during conflicts in his home country. Luckily, his brother didn't and sometime during the celebrations, Leomar finally arrived to see his little brother and tell him how proud he is. ("Look at you, all grown up." - Just thinking about that moment gets me teary-eyed.)

There was a final meeting with Timor, during which he said thank you and goodbye and that their work together would end now ... or maybe it wouldn't. He then offers them to work with him in the shadows, being the heroes that this country needs. Of course, everyone agreed and that WAS THE END.

Footnote information: Raoul went to work for Timor's court and now is officially his lover and will continue to be his lover forever.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR ALMOST FOUR YEARS. FOUR FUCKING YEARS. It was a happy ending that I needed so badly that not even I was aware of how much I needed it. I made it home and out of the car before I started crying and I cried this morning and I'm starting to tear up now. It's hard to describe someone who hasn't played this - or even someone who played this, but hasn't been in my position - how fucking much this campaign meant and means to me. It's like this incredibly long journey that has come to an end now, and I'm happy, oh god, I'm so happy, but I'm also so, so sad to say goodbye now. My character went from a cynic, snarky, self-loathing asshole and disbeliever to a person that is starting to love himself, someone with friends that believe in him, someone who finally found someone who loves him, and all I can think is: LOOK AT THIS, LOOK AT MY BABY. Another part is that I finally found closure after we failed the last time. I can't even begin to describe how much I was fretting over every dangerous situation our characters got in, because I was afraid they could die. Another part is that this campaign is just that fucking awesome and amazing and epic and somehow I think that no RPG will ever be that good again.