ROUGH DRAFT Run Log for 970318 Present: Tia - Damia, Cassandra Dave K - Ilk, logging Kevin - Barb Barb - Cathryn Chris - Auricle Jody - Cyndia ---------------- Named NPCs: Blaze Natasha Benedict Warlord Sethra Trialla ---------------- Giant Pigeons Ilk leaves the inside of the Warriors' Guild and notices the AD&D run near Benedict. He asks Benedict if he knows where the Warlord is - no luck. He asks if Benedict has any useful information regarding the current situation in the Courts - no luck. Benedict suggests that Ilkandacian join the gryphon wing with the AD&D run; the run assigns two rooks to watch over him and ensure that he doesn't do anything strange. Cyndia protests being combined with others that haven't trained with them, but Benedict overrides her. Cyndia snipes at Ilk briefly regarding utility in aerial combat; Ilk explains that he prefers to attack from range, so training in formation flying is irrelevant. They fly to the site of the attack - it's House Felicity. Ilk recognizes that the demons that are attacking the house aren't normal demons, they're closer to the ones that were invading House Cara from the inside. Combat happens. Cyndia leads the birds in a flat attack designed to sweep the demons off the house; Theresa is swinging from the claws of her bird. The gryphons form up on the outside of the rook wedge and join the attack. The demons climb onto big birds as they fly by, and the little birds do lice-picking maneuvers. Blaze drops napalm on the house, and napalm falls in all directions, including down. Gryphons start landing on the house, and using the demons as sandboxes. Cyndia, noticing that the demons are healing very quickly from most wounds dealt to them, conjures a box of force in which to confine them. The gryphons start tossing demons into the box. Natasha plays goalie, handing each demon an exploding corndog as it sails inside. Damia experiments with a demon, and discovers that tanin works well against them. She tells this to Natasha, who conjures wine-in-a-box. They start using it as an explosive. Ilk searches for a shadow filled with wine, and starts pulling wine in. The others see the bird that joined them at the Warriors' Guild leaking wine. Natasha is now pouring a glass of wine over each demon's head as it enters the box. Cyndia sends a rook back to tell Benedict that wine is affecting the demons. The battle continues. A few defenders from the walls are unburied and join in the fun. At one point Damia is unseated and the rooks escorting her put her back on her mount. Blaze plays trash compacter in Cyndia's box, creating a fine smear of demon-goo on the bottom. Cyndia conjures a crank for the side of the box. The fun continues. -------------------- Lost and Loster In Pearl Cassandra, Sethra, and the master at arms are riding Trialla, and Cathryn is running behind them in Sha'um form. They're travelling through some very weird shadows. The Sha'um seem to like big contrasts. This makes a hellride look like a walk in the park. They end up in a big, sandy plain, and then Trialla stops suddenly. Cathryn brakes hard, and barely stops before running into the Pattern. A door opens directly in front of Trialla. She goes through, and the door closes behind her. They're in a corridor. Cathryn returns to where Trialla disappeared, and they're not there. Nothing obvious invisible, but lots of magical power. Cathryn goes to look at the Pattern. There are three hairs of the cat in at the beginning of the Pattern. No cat present. Cassandra notices that Sethra just fell over. They speculate whether or not she is alive; she's breathing. "We lost Cathryn" - Cassandra "We lost us" - master at arms Cassandra tries to convince Trialla to go to the Pattern. Cathryn whips out her trump deck. Malachai - nothing Corwin - nothing Cathryn sees what looks like an empty army encampment on the far side of the Pattern, and there is a desk, a cot, a screen, and a washbasin in the center of the Pattern. She goes to check out the encampment - lots of supplies, etc. Cathryn looks for clues. The people here seem to have left in an orderly pattern. Cathryn pokes through a locked cabinet it contains lots of papers, army reqs, etc, all signed by Cassandra. Cathryn waffles. Cassandra whines to Trialla about the Pattern, and Trialla carries them through a series of passages which end up back at the castle. Trialla starts staring at a chicken, ignoring Cassandra. Cassandra throws a knife at the chicken; the chicken gives her a hurt, betrayed look and then dies. Cassandra tries to convince Trialla to go off and get Cathryn. Trialla runs off. Cathryn isn't getting a headache from the Pattern. --------------------- Zack and Auricle Explore the Dungeons Zack and Auricle are discussing the weirdness in the room. They insult Cathryn Zack thinks that he might be able to nuke the spell on the guard in three or four days, but he's not sure. Simply taking him to a magic-dead shadow wouldn't work, either, as the spell would just return when he re-entered an area with magic. Auricle chats with her gargoyle. Her half of the conversation is vocalized. Zack speculates taking the guard to a fast-time shadow; Malachai objects, and suggests that perhaps Caine should deal with him. [Caine and the boat people] Zack writes a note explaining the situation to the guard and drops it on the book that the guard is reading. The guard curses, complains that his mother told him something like this would happen if he joined the guards, rips up the note, and stalks off. Malachai delegates the Benjamin Problem to Zack, and asks Zack to try not to break him. Benjamin, that is. Malachai tells them where Benjamin is being kept, and wanders off to do boring stuff. On their way down to the dungeon, a small, misshapen dwarf brushes past them, heading up to the castle. "Excuse me!" Dworkin pushes past them. Dworkin says that he's looking for Corwin. "I thought that he was in Pearl" - Zack "He spat in my soup" - Dworkin "I'm sure it was accidental - he must have been aiming for you and missed." - Zack Dworkin turns around and heads back down into the dungeon. Zack asks Dworkin how to operate this thing, and shows him the jewel that Dworkin made for him way back when. [See one of Malachai's early diaries for the story, folx - it's before I joined the run] Dworkin says to Zack, "I know you... I know you - you are the one! It's all your fault!" Dworkin takes the jewel. Zack complains, and Dworkin gives him back two jewels, neither of which are tangible to Zack. Dworkin takes those two back as well. "Jewels - that's where I know you from..." and Auricle's gargoyle starts chatting with Dworkin. Dworkin says, "Bye, gotta go", hands Zack back his jewel, and walks into the wall and disappears. The gargoyle tells Auricle that Dworkin thought he recognized him and was telling him all about a flower that he was keeping for him. The gargoyle had no idea what he was talking about. Zack pokes at the wall - one spot gives. Auricle touches the Pattern-spot, and she can see a planetscape on the other side. Her gargoyle can't see it. Auricle walks into the wall. Bump. Zack spray-paints an X on the wall to mark the spot. They go downstairs to talk with Benjamin. Zack and Benjamin talk. Benjamin is completely loopy. Zack tells him that Cassandra is in Pearl, guarding and tending to a wounded Corwin, and she has shut the ways behind her. "This is all a test of your piety. You must wait quietly for the second coming of Cassandra" "Oh, okay". He sits down quietly. Zack sits down and starts ab-libing prophesy. An angelic chorus and a white glow starts forming behind Benjamin, and increases in volume, reaching a crescendo as Zack intones that if he is patient, Cassandra will reward him. [I'm going to kill you, Zack. You'll have to find me, first. You'll have to _remember_ me first.] Auricle suggests that they head down towards the Pattern. A level or two before reaching the level with the Pattern, they notice Dworkin and follow him. He ducks through a barred door, and leaves the door ajar behind him. Zack notices there's a fairly complex ward on the door that will kill anything crossing it that is not decended from or does not contain a piece of the Pattern within it. They go through the door; Zack's clothing and stuff remains on the far side of the door. --------------------------- Cathryn is debating just how related she is to Corwin, and just how fatal attempting his Pattern would be. She wanders around; at one point she bumps into a wall that isn't there. Cathryn tries to go through the wall by shifting, and fails. She knocks on a wooden part, and a demon-looking demon opens it. The demon offers her a chair. They chat. The demon knows lots about chairs. She asks him about chairs near Corwin. He shows her a page, and expands it, and she can see Corwin lying on a stone bier. There is a ring of chairs around the bier. The floor is covered with water, and it's in a giant cathedral. Cathryn asks if she can go into the page; the demon hurredly shuts it. She asks for the nearest chair outside the room, and he opens to a dark page, and bitches about benches. She jumps through. Cathryn flows around in luminous water form for a bit, looking for Corwin. She hears chanting, but a barrier prevents her from reaching it. She tries to trump: Stormy - nothing Corwin - nothing She shakes the chanting rock, and it goes flesh. It's in postulant robes. They chat. After long time, a door opens, the postulant turns into stone, and Cathryn leaves. She heads down one drain and up another. She explores for a while. She tries to trump Malachai - faint stirring then gone. ------------------------------ Zack and Auricle Walk the Primal Pattern. Zack continues along nude, accompanies by a clothed Auricle. The jewel given to Zack and its chain came with him. Although the hallway looks like it has doors off it, the doors aren't really there. They spot a light up ahead, coming from a cavemouth. Just before they enter the cave, They spot a cloakroom. There are three large black cloaks hung here, and some more clothing up on pegs. Zack takes a white robe. Auricle takes all three of the black cloaks. They leave the cave, which exits onto the side of the mountain. The Pattern is here. The real one, that is. Auricle's gargoyle wants to walk this on - it's far more powerful than the one in Amber. They walk down to the Pattern. The Pattern is calling out to Auricle. [Zack and Auricle haven't heard about this Pattern, or about the bleeding thing. That thread was kept quiet by theose involved.] Auricle sets foot on the Pattern, and melts down into it. She and her gargoyle are slurped through it. This one was even faster than the last one - it takes about ten minutes. Zack gives her a ten count then follows. After Auricle emerges in the center, she sees a unicorn. It's watching Zack. Auricle looks at it, and it winks at her then bounds off. She sits down, and the Pattern humps up a bit of energy for her to sit on. Auricle collects a few more memories. She remembers walking this Pattern, not being drunk by it. She wasn't her - it's as if someone else gave this her memory. That person was dark haired, light eyed, black cloaked, and male. Auricle is really reved with power. Zack notices that this Pattern is easier than Amber's Pattern. It takes him about an hour, thirty minutes less than usual. Zack bums some power off Auricle. Auricle considers walking the unicorn. Auricle suggests going back to their stuff and going to walk the other Pattern. Zack says, "Why not", and they're next to their stuff. Auricle is glowing with power in the visible spectrum. They head down to Amber's Pattern. Auricle is unimpressed - this one's wimpy. Zack sees that it is brighter than it's ever been before. There is graphitti on the wall - a straight line. The accompanying text says, "This is the Pattern edge on. This is important. -- Mikail and Bleys" Zack and Auricle speculate about Patterns, and Auricle's gargoyle starts speculating on the 3-d object that Patterns could be slices of. It generates a hologram, which looks somewhat like the Jewel of Judgement to Zack. Zack tells Auricle bits about the Jewel of Judgement. As Zack's Jewel moves into the field around Auricle, it starts glowing brightly. She reaches out to the Jewel, and it disappears in a flash of energy. It's not inside Auricle or the gargoyle, but Auricle feels even more powerful. Auricle tries to shift into Zack wearing the Jewel. Her gargoyle spends lots of time trying to make it match her image of the stacked Patterns. When she is done, she takes off the Jewel and hands it to Zack. Zack notices that this looks more real than the last one. He tries to focus his attention on it, and it's sliding his attention towards the Pattern. Zack notices that at some point during the creation of her Jewel, the door to the Pattern room shut behind them. Auricle steps onto the pattern, it takes her twenty minutes. While she's in the center, she can see years of graphitti on the walls. "this one is beacus no one loves me -- mirelle" "I now go to face my greatest fear" (unsigned) In a shakey hand, "If I ever catch Benedict, I will flay him alive" - Eric "Corwin was here" "Clarissa 2, Oberon 0" There is a whole section of the wall that was painted to match Flora's mood at one point. As she sits there, she can see Mikail and Bleys, drunk, writing 'This is the Pattern edge-on' and then Mikail walking the Pattern blindfolded. She can see a dead body of a female Amberite at the center of the Pattern. And she can see herself, looking like her current self, being slurped by the Pattern over, and over, and over... that one looks futureless. Zack follows her. This Pattern lets him know that it's still difficult. He's pretty wiped by the time he reaches the center of it. Upon reaching the center, Zack shlurps some power from Auricle. Zack examines the jewel, and he seems to be racing along a 3-d Pattern inside the Jewel. He's being slurped by it. Auricle notices Zack pouring power into the Jewel. They chat. Auricle bamfs to her lab; Zack comes with her. There is a peastule and a statue of Gwen regrowing in the corner. Auricle pulls out her gargoyle and bashes it against the statue, destroying it. Auricle leads him around the twelve shadows - except for the damaged lab, all of them are completely identical. She starts wandering off towards her government-building. Zack tries to trump Malachai. ---------------------------- Cathryn tries to trump Corwin - nothing. She heads to a high point, shifts into a drill form, and starts drilling upwards. After about two weeks, she reaches the surface. A couple of bovine-shaped herbivores wander by. The drill-shaped Cathryn opens a mouth and eats them. A few more wander by, and she eats them, too. She shifts into a normal form, and starts looking for signs of civilization. She shifts into a bird-form. goes up, sees smoke, and heads towards it. It's only a hunting camp, so she keeps going. Civilization. She checks her ring and gets a pull, and starts following the pull. Finally, she reaches a vanishing point and need to shift shadow in order to get any closer, but can't. -------- Cassandra's temper tantrum is over. She tells Jasper to go find Cathryn, but not to hurt her. Cass and Jasper go to the Sha'um. They play for a while. A cat grabs Cass and Jasper and zips off towards Corwin's Pattern. They stop at the army encampment. They discuss the lethalness of the Pattern. They bump into a wall and chat with the chair guy. They go to the break room. There are a lot of corpses in the break room. -------- Cathryn tries to trump Stormy, nothing. Trumps bleys, ... doesn't get through, but gets a sense of benevolence, and is fairly certain it isn't from Bleys. Trumps Fiona, same thing. She shifts into a Bleys-looking form, and goes to the nearby city. "Aargh - burn!" She shifts to a gaseous form and returns. [In case of emergency, break world] She checks the ring for spells, but there's nothing of a suitable low enough level for these purposes. She's in a grassy bowl. Trumps Random, nothing Trumps Malachai, movement under water, then nada. She hears a chitter from behind her. It's a squirrel. Squirrels start accumulating, nibbling on nuts. Lots of squirrels show up, and they stare at the space in the middle of the bowl. Cathryn shifts into a big squirrel. A few other big squirrels show up, wave at her, and offer her giant nuts. They play with nuts. ------- Cassandra and Jasper take a mover's book and head back to report. --EORun--