DRAFT Run Log for 970325 Present: Dave R - Malachai Barb - Cathryn Kevin - Zack Tia - Cassandra, Damia Dave K - Ilk, logging Chris - Auricle --------------- Named NPCs: Julian Cara Jesby Gwen Dworkin Benedict Mandor Natasha Theresa Blaze Maria Carlton Bleys Mikail - non-present PC Sethra Dara Merlin --------------- Wandering through Pearl Cassandra is looking for someone that she can report her recently acquired information to, but nobody is around, except for her and her master at arms. She searches the guards' rooms in the castle - all empty. She then goes to the barracks, and finds an army there. Salutes happen. Cassandra sends an orderly off to find the highest ranking person present, and goes to the center of the encampment to meet with him. In a tent in the center of the camp, she finds the quartermaster. He dumps an well mended uniform onto the counter, along with all of the possessions that she had on her when she fell. She changes into her uniform - it fits well, better than what she was wearing before. The sword is better work than anything she could forge. It feels familiar, and it fits her hand well. She looks at her darksaber briefly, fails to recognize it, and hangs it off her belt to deal with later. She looks through the pack of cards - it's a trump deck. She sorts through the cards. Some of the drawings look familiar; most do not. Julian's trump looks familiar - she stares at it. A conversation presumably happens, to which the logger was not privy. ---------------------- Cathryn, Squirrel Queen Cathryn is playing with nuts in a hollow in the ground filled with squirrels, when a large cloaked woman appears in the center of the hollow. The squirrels look at the new arrival and run. The woman asks Cathryn if she is Cathryn, and Cathryn refuses to answer her question. They each try to extract information from the other and fail. Cathryn grabs her, and she's solid. Very strong. The woman looks at the hand on her arm, and says, "Well, if you don't want rescue and succor, I could leave you here to be worshipped by the nuts." They refuse to give each other information. The unknown woman flames Chaosians and Amberites for being self-centered, Cathryn tries to slap her, and she leans back just enough to make the slap miss. She's fast, too. She insults Cathryn some more for a while. Finally, Cathryn agrees to go with her, and directs them in the direction that the ring is pulling. They wander slowly through that vale, and seem to reach the closest point in a shadow where the large nuts have been replaced by giant eggs, each larger than a person. They start wandering around. ---------------------- Plagued by Gwen Zack and Auricle are in one of Auricle's shadows, and are about to head to a government building to acquire a new government for Amber, when a servant runs up to them and warns Auricle that there is a plague that turns stupid people into white dust. They experiment and investigate - it appears that the white dust is of a similar nature to the dust left behind by Gwen statues, and that the plague only exists in one of the twelve shadows. Zack checks out that shadow with magical sight, and notices that someone left some truly massive magical tracks through here. Auricle plays with some of the dust, and Zack notices that the dust is its own power source, and that it seems to have some creational energy in it. It's slowly transforming the jar holding it into more of the same. They continue to work with the dust, and Zack trumps Malachai ---------------------- Malachai went off to deal with various castle functions after Zack said he was going to deal with Benjamin, so he wanders around blowing up little demons with the Wand of Not Yet. He notices that Dworkin's marsipan creation has been wandering around the castle doing good. Malachai leaves it alone. Malachai gets a trump call from Zack. They chat. Zack mentions that he has walked four Patterns - Malachai asks about the fourth - Corwin's pattern? Zack explains about their expedition to the primal Pattern. [Amber - just a storefront?] "...remind me not to walk the Pattern in Auricle's wake" - Malachai Zack mentions the Gwen problems, and the test-tubes in the racks rattle as Gwen is named. Auricle repeats the name, and they rattle again. They discuss Gwen, the missing Cassandra, entry into Pearl, and Ingold's wanderings. Zack and Auricle discuss the white powder plague problem. Auricle suggests examining the places where Gwen statues were spotted previously. They pull out the carpet and prepare to head back to Amber. ---------------------------------- Battling in Chaos Cyndia and the rooks are efficiently blowing through demons, and Ilk is playing wine-fountain, pouring wine onto them from above. Cyndia trumps Benedict - she gives him a report on the effectiveness of tanin. Benedict says that the next point on their tour is a fire in Mandorways. Cyndia sends a rook to Ilk mentioning the next stop is a fire at Mandorways. Ilk grabs a status report from troops in House Cara - demons keep knocking on the door and asking if they can come in. When they do so, the invaders flee back into the corners. Strange. Ilk starts building a gate to Mandorways - it's burning there, core of star hot. Ilk warns the others of the environmental dangers at their destination and gives them a quick summary of the local geometry. Blaze puts up a cooling spell. They go through the gate. There is a film of some kind on the stone of Mandorways that is causing it to burn. Ilk Logrus-scrapes a chunk off and tosses it into outer space in one of his southern power depots, creating a wacky religion with some wize guys following a new star moving through the skies... They waffle - what can we do about this? Cyndia arrows towards the burning castle, and she gets colder as she approaches it. Damia yells at her. Blaze tells Damia she's making it cold. Ilk warns blaze that magic unravels near the fire, and she warns Cyndia to stay away. Ilk asks Blaze if she or the other mages can scrape off the film. Natasha asks if a car wash might work. Sure, why not? She makes a pole with a brush that is spewing bubbles, and Cyndia copies it. Ilk Logruses it over to Mandorways, and it actually works. Cyndia and Natasha make many more, and the group scrubs away. When a patch is cleared on the stone, a man appears, looks at their effort, and gestures, and the effectiveness of the bubbles is multiplied manifold. After a bit, the fire is out. Mandor thanks them for their aid, and asks what those devices were called. Natasha, "Uhh... they're called scrubbing bubbles." Mandor solemnly thanks her for the gift of her scrubbing bubbles. cyndia trumps benedict. he acts surprised that they succeeded - two other groups had failed - and says that they should definitely take advantage of mandor's offer. they go in and have tea. ------------------------ A messenger arrives at Castle Amber and tells Malachai that that the transshipment from Chaos has arrived, with many people. Martin said there was urgent information. They chat. ---------------------- Shifting Cathryn spots humanoid footprints in the bowl with the giant eggs. She starts tracking them down, and her guide grabs her and throws them both to the ground. A giant, fire-breathing dragon buzzes them. "What the hell are you doing?!" "Saving your life." Cathryn shifts into a small dragon and starts trying to accumulate mass out of the ground. The dragon is stooping again. The guide throws herself to the ground behind an egg. Cathryn throws herself to the ground - the breath hurts, lots. Cathryn shifts into a fast, heat-resistant form, and ends up as a heat-resistant teradactl. As she takes off, something jumps on her back. She grows an eye back there - it's a male humanoid. He tracks up her spine towards her throat. She goes gaseous, and he turns into a large jar and starts sucking her in and compressing her. She goes into a reptillian form, and he shifts into a sticky plant, she catches on fire, he shifts asbestos. Cathryn looks for her guide - she's lying very still, apparently unconscious. Her opponent is really good, around master class. [He's very frondly] She goes for teeth, he goes wolf. She goes hunter with a gun, and he turns into a swarm of midges blocking her breathing tubes. She goes into a form that doesn't need to breath, and she exudes bug repellent. The bugs change to be non-repellant, she goes bug-zapper, he goes smothering blanket, she goes fire form, the blanket goes asbestos. He's got her entirely in him, she goes caterpillar to eat the blanket, he goes metal, she goes water, he goes blanket to absorb her. He seems to be able to out-shift her along every venue, and she doesn't have Logrus to cheat with. She goes acid, he goes stomach. she eats through, but the walls are toughening, slowing her progress. Suddenly, a tube is opened in front of her leading out. She goes out through it, and Jesby is standing in front of her. Cathryn - "Hi, mom. I was looking for you." Jesby - "May I introduce you to the head of House Cara?" ... Jesby - "He didn't recognize you - we thought you were hunting us." ... Jesby - "Oh, sorry about your companion, I cold-cocked her" Cathryn - "The house is missing." Jesby - "I leave you the house for the weekend, and you lose it?" They chat. Cathryn explains that she was kidnapped and taken to another reality, says that House Cara was overrun with demons and Ilk was trying to deal with them. "Ilk's a good boy, he'll manage." - Cara "You lost your house, and Ilkandacian, all in one weekend?" - cara Cara mentions that Ilk is tenacious and hard to lose - he once tried unsuccessfully to lose him for an entire weekend. "Remind me not to go away again without leaving some considerably more impressive in charge" - Jesby Cathryn apologizes for her inadequacies, and Jesby says that she's young, and will learn with time. Jesby mentions that the shadows around here are sticky. Cathryn admits that she can't move through them, and Jesby is shocked. "It's lovely - we have some fresh dragon meat if you want some" - Jesby They eat. ----------------------- Tea with Mandor Maria is there, Natasha is there, Blaze is there, Cyndia is there, Damia is there, and Ilkandacian is there. Mandor is cordial and polite. There are three steel balls orbiting over his head, and one marsipan ball. A magnificent spread has appeared, along with a number of perches with birdfood in front of them. Cyndia is tired and hungry - she just created several hundred scrubbing bubbles. Maria seems not really focused, just there, and Natasha is playing tourist. Blaze is shoveling the food down at a great rate. Damia was burned slightly, is suffering in silence. Ilk is eating heartily, not having eaten or rested since before the Logrus-battle with Dara and the imposter. Tea is civilized. The AD&D run asks about Carlton, Ilk promises to go into the Shapeshifters' Guild to ask after him. Tea ends. Cyndia trumps Benedict. He says that most things are under control, and that he is plotting an invasion of the Shapeshifters' Guild to acquire Carlton. Cyndia says that Ilk offered to go get info, and Benedict asks if she really trusts him, "No" "So we can still invade?" What do you know of Ilkandacian? House second in Cara, a member of the council, and a Logrus user... nothing damning, nothing convincing. Cyndia asks Ilk to check out the guild. Ilk teleports to the Shapeshifters Guild. The entryway is empty, and the guild is in a panic - Theresa is roaming around in the guild, leaving scores of stasis'd shifters behind her. Ilk Logruses a note back to Cyndia telling her that the guild is in turmoil due to Theresa. He starts tracing the path of stoned shifters - Theresa is heading directly to the center of the guild Cyndia writes a note back saying that she's probably looking for Carlton and that the group is going to Benedict's. They group trumps to Benedict. All of the other strike teams are arriving at the same time. Benedict dismisses the rest, and invites them into his hall. Damia and Natasha go to the healing station. Cyndia mentions that their cousin is creating mischief in the shifters' guild. Benedict asks if she is decended from him. "By the shortest route, g-g-granddaughter." "Shortest route? ... you'll have to show me a family tree." Cyndia laughs. [family buckeyball] Cyndia goes to sleep. ------------------------ Cathryn gives Jesby and Cara the skewed, Cathryn-centric view of the world. Zack's name is mud, Ilk's name is mud, Bleys and Mikail's names are blacker than mud. She covers her expedition to other realities, the battle with the imposter, and the quest to find her mother. Jesby mentions pruning several branches of the family back. Sethra was tracking and transportation, and she was left behind, too. Just before the end of their conversation, Cara stands up, raises his hand, and melts. They continue talking. There is a thump, and Cara's body is thrown back into the hole. Jesby melts and Cathryn follows suit. Cathryn sees Jesby as a film on the floor, pouring upwards. The woman who brought her here is muttering something about "...no shapeshifter is going to cold-cock me again." She is spraying an aerosol into the air, and when the edge of it touches Jesby, she is forced into her normal form. The woman hits her on the top of the head, and throws her back down into the hole. There is a picture of Merlin's face on the can, and under it is printed, "Shape-a-way!" Cathryn melts back inside, takes her normal form, and yells back out to stop spraying that thing. They chat. Cathryn apologizes for her being cold-cocked. They snipe at each other; Cathryn tries to extract information and fails. The guide picks up both Cara and Jesby, one over each shoulder. They head back to the castle in Pearl. As they shift out, Cathryn sees a dragon lying unconscious on the ground with a fist-print in its skull. She shifts along in the Amberite fashion. --------------------------- Zack and Auricle are about to shag across shadow looking for gwen statues. Zack leads them towards the nearest place where a Gwen statue was, in the direction of Amber. His attempts to shift towards them are not having any success. Auricle knows where some statues are, but she can't shift to them, either. They head to Tremere, hellriding on their shag carpet. --------------------------- Cathryn is sorta-hellriding towards castle Pearl. After a bit, they stop in a shadow with a picnic bench, and her guide drops Cara and Jesby on the table. She can't tell if Jesby is awake, but she can see rivulets of Cara running back up the table and reforming. An eye opens. They chat. Cathryn fills them in briefly on what has happened. They continue. Cathryn tries to trump Merlin. His trump gets warm, not cold, but when she stops pushing, the card goes back to being cold. She pushes again, and the card gets very hot. The three of them chat as they follow their guide. They reach the castle at Pearl, and are greeted at the gate by guards. --EORun--