ROUGH DRAFT Run Log for 970701

Present:

Laori	- Celeste
Dave R	- Malachai
Tia	- Cassandra, Damia
Dave K	- Ilk, logging
Kevin	- Zack
Barb	- Cathryn
Ken	- Norton

--------------

Note: All three of Cassandra's guards are dead - the third one was
killed by the assassin outside the party.

Retcon: Caine was left behind somewhere between Bellview and the grassy
knoll. 

-------

Cathryn's Pattern Party Continues


Later that night, a Sidhe warrior approaches Ilkandacian and hands him a
note from Zack. It's Zack's note to Malachai. Ilk looks at it, and
decides that it would be more prudent to wait until Malachai returns to
give him the note, instead of chasing off after him. 

While Ilk is waffling over what to send back with the Sidhe, a servant
comes up to Ilk and hands him a business-card sized note. On it is
written, "Help! - Auricle" Ilk writes another note briefly describing
what he viewed as the interesting points in the party - the
assassination attempt on Cassandra, and that a group including Corwin
left via Logrus pull.  He gives both notes to the warrior, and asks him
to deliver them to Zack.

A Sidhe warrior comes up to Zack and hands him two notes. One is
Auricle's, and one is Ilk's.

Zack tries to remember that he wants to check out the white statuary
near one of his power sources in shadow.

He tells the Sidhe warriors to guard Titania, and writes a note to her
apologizing for being unexpectedly called away.

Zack leaves Faerie and wanders into shadow, looking for a gift for
Cathryn. He finds a card that shapeshifts into different representations
of the Mandelbrot set. He writes, "Congratulations, your cousin
Zacharias", and as many of Cathryn's titles as will fit on the card,
listing her Amber side titles first.

He trumps into the castle courtyard. When he arrives, he notices that
the complementary key chain he got with the card is no longer with
him. The card is still there, however. He goes to his rooms to check out
his pet rocks... err... guests. Flora has been conscious for short
periods of time and is very bored, and Theraat is still writing. There
are several boxes pushed up against the wall, labeled six, seven, and
eight.  Theraat seems to be shaped slightly differently now - her
hairline has receded a bit.  Zack collects Flora and invites her to
Cathryn's party.  Theraat comes along as well.  Zack decides that they
will be leaving after the party. Flora unfolds a dressing screen, goes
behind it, and comes out dressed tastefully. Zack notices that parts of
the dress are designed to support her weak innards.  Theraat tries to
straighten her hair, gives up, and hacks her hair off with a knife, then
straightens her shirt.  Zack touches up his appearance as well, putting
on a much dressier version of his standard dress uniform.

They head downstairs. There's a really nervous looking guy at the door
to the ballroom. "You're not going to kill me, are you? ... Everyone
is getting killed!"  Zack chats with the guy. He claims to be a member
of the new serving staff, hired for the party by Ilkandacian. He
continues to panic about murder, mayhem, and death, then realizes that
he should announce the newcomers.
 
Guy: "Who are you?
Zack: "Quite possibly the last human being you will ever see..."
Guy: "And who are your ladies?"

Flora beacons the servant over, whispers in his ear, and he faints dead
away.  "Shall we enter?"

Zack looks around. Almost everyone is there, and Cathryn is the center
of attention.

The undead, formally dressed pig leaps off the table and runs over to
Zack.  Zack hands it an ear of corn on the cob, and declines any meat,
telling the pig that he wants some appetizers first. The pig runs off,
drags a person carrying an appetizer tray back to them, then returns to
the banquet table.

Flora walks up to the group, and greets them. "Zack" "Flora"
"Theraat". Theraat looks surprised that this Flora knows her.  The two
Floras chat merrily away. Zack has no idea if they've actually met each
other before, or if they're just faking it.

Zack heads up to Random. Zack asks Random about the floor show - Random
doesn't tell him anything useful, and then restarts the conversation
from the beginning.  Random introduces Zack to an ambassador from one of
the Black Zone kingdoms, and says that he's provided him with some of
the most amazing pharmaceuticals.

Two Floras, Zack, Random, Martin, Velaria, Theraat, Cathryn and
Ilkandacian are there. Benjamin is there. Velaria is in the corner
arguing with this large golem thing, along with Ferro and a little boy.

Zack heads over to Ilkandacian.  Ilk gives Zack his message to Malachai
back. Ilk and Zack chat about the events of earlier in the evening.

Cathryn chats with the Floras, and then with the etiquette guild member
regarding standard gift opening procedures. 

-------------

On the Grassy Knoll


Malachai is getting a trump call.  He's lying on the ground, catching
his breath after pureeing the assassin. He takes it. It's Zack. 

They chat. The scene behind Malachai is a bloody mess with a stack of
things that look like weapons stacked on the ground nearby. Zack can see
blood covering Malachai, most of it not his, and Cassandra lying nearby
with Celeste leaning over her.

They chat regarding the events of the evening. 

Corwin takes the skull of the assassin. 

Zack and Malachai become aware of another link into the Trump
contact, and Corwin joins into the conversation. 

"Corwin" sends his cat back to get Lazy's attention. 

When Cassandra discovers that Zack is at the party, she orders Zack to
leave and Malachai to drop the contact instantly - she doesn't want
Cathryn to find out where they are so she can send more assassins.

The vapids converge on Zack, he drops the trump contact and flees. 

Zack heads to Jesby and tries to pull her aside. He greets her, chats
briefly with her, gives her the card, and says that he is needed
elsewhere but will try to return.

Zack tries to pick up Norton's cat. It leads him towards a window
overlooking Brand's gardens. Zack tries to put the cat on the
windowsill, and it slides back down the wall, as if the window didn't
exist. He looks into the gardens, and sees Lazy and the cube. He tells
Lazy that his master and mistress need him and the cube.  The cube
floats up and through the window, and hovers next to Zack.

----

Malachai trumps Serena. She's on the roof, being guarded by a couple of
gargoyles who won't let her leave.  Annoyed, but safe. 

----

Zack trumps Malachai. They chat. They taunt Lazy into coming to
Cassandra, and Lazy leaps up, through the window, and through the trump
contact in a single bound, landing right next to Cassandra.

Zack puts the little cat down, and it disappears. It pounces up and down
on Lazy, until Lazy cocks an ear, and the cat is stuck in mid-air,
struggling.

Zack goes through the trump contact. The cube follows.

Celeste is mostly done reconjuring the missing Cassandra bits.

----------

Opening Presents


Ilk, Martin, and Random are helping Cathryn open presents.

The first to be opened is in a big box, from Gerard.

Inside is an extremely large, fairly intricate timepiece. On it is a
note, "Good anywhere" Cathryn realizes that it will keep Amber time
regardless of where it is and becomes excited. She sets it to the side. 

The first card is from Flora, congratulating her on her success, and
including an invitation good for an entire year of partying at her
summer home in shadow.

The next box contains a contact device from Clarissa. It's marked, "For
repeated use" Cathryn tucks it away.

There are lots of invitations to things in the Chaosian and Black Circle
area, and pledges of stuff from Golden Circle kingdoms. In that mess of
cards is the card from Zack, with a note on it from Jesby "Yes, it's
safe. It won't explode or anything" She hands that to Random.

Mandor has sent three bottles of his best. She hands them to Ilk, who
tucks them away.

From Celeste is a full set of formal clothing and matching jewelry of
the kind that Clarissa tends to wear. She hands them to Ilk, who tucks
them away. 

She opens one of the unsigned boxes, and a bunch of butterflies come
fluttering out and circle her head. She tries to grab them. 

From the other Flora she gets a snow globe which produces a different
scene from her trip in the other Flora's Reality each time it is shaken.

A box marked "From Sir Erik" contains a big sword, and a note. "Since
I'm not allowed to use them, for you". 

Caine's gift is a small wind-up bird. She winds it up and it flies
around. Ilk looks at it; it seems to be observing everything nearby and
relaying. Ilk recommends to Cathryn that she not keep it with her in any
secret meetings. 

Benedict's gift is an envelope, containing a writ good for one service
from the Warriors' Guild, no questions asked.

Llewella gives her an invitation to the court of Rebma, containing an
offer of titles and so forth. 

Finally, Random looks mysterious and hands Cathryn something. It has a
few air holes in it, and it is vibrating. She cracks the lid a bit -
there's something living inside. She looks at Ilk. He looks - something
in there is exuding shapeshifting energy. He says, "shifter".  She opens
it the rest of the way, and the contents unfold into a mobile diorama,
and a little chaotic play starts acting out in front of her.  On the
bottom of the diorama is marked, "For Cathryn - because nothing else
would keep you amused" She thanks Random, and he gleefully shows her
that it folds back up, too.

Ferro looks at her and says, "What would you like as a gift? I'm not
good at this social thing." ... "What would make you happy?" "To have
my House back." Ferro wanders off, to see what he can do. 

Cathryn takes Random aside. "Why did you invite Zack?" She bitches him
out for the invite list. He explains that he invited the whole family,
because they're family.  

Random trumps Malachai with the four of spades, and extends the contact
to Cathryn. They chat.  "Corwin" joins in.

Cathryn asks Random which trump card is her. He flips through the deck and
pulls out... her trump. Cathryn notices while Random is flipping through
the deck that the standard unicorn is on the back of all of the cards.

Random trumps "Corwin" again, and extends the contact to Cathryn. Random
panics about demons, wanders off, then comes back with Dworkin in
tow. Cathryn convinces Dworkin that she doesn't need a painting of
demons.

-------------------

In the Courts of Chaos


Jesby is talking with someone in Mandor's livery. Apparently, Fereth
showed up. He's holding a portal open in one of the dining rooms
nearby. 

There's a silvery portal opening to a formal sitting room. Above the
portal it says, "There be sorcerers here" Cathryn goes through, carrying
her clock with her. Mandor and Fereth are seated on the room.

Fereth says that he's finally been able to track down and seal off an
annoying irritant that was mucking with time, that goes by the name of
Stormy. He was apparently fooling with power balances that he had no
business interfering with. 

Fereth had two projects - now he only has one, those demons.

Fereth says that Shiryu should be willing to help replace the physical
building of their House if she helps them with their current project
concerning the demons. 

Cathryn asks for a few demons to experiment on. Fereth gestures, and
three of the demons end up pent in a container of power. She reaches
out, and touches the container. It's a greasy feel, as if the air is
thick there. She reaches through and touches one of the demons. Nothing
happens.

He gestures, and the power barrier goes down. She touches them, and they
burst into flames, and then there are four, then five, then six...
Fereth restores the barrier, and the demons stop multiplying.

Fereth says that all of the demons are precisely alike, and do not
respond to any form of communication.

Shiryu walks in. Cathryn bows, and Shiryu nods in return. Shiryu nods to
Fereth, who bows in return. Shiryu doesn't greet Mandor, who appears
content with the situation. 

Shiryu looks Cathryn up and down and says, "No, I think I'll wait". He
looks at Fereth and says, "Maybe you should take her up on it?"  "We
were just discussing that matter."

Shiryu: "No, I'm not ready to pass on my power yet."
Fereth: "Well, I wouldn't have to."
Shiryu: "That's why I was suggesting that you might..."

They mention that since Jesby is helping them by way of her daughter,
they'll make a new House Jesby for a base of operations.

Fereth and Shiryu talk. Cathryn seems to understand the conversation -
it's as if they're talking down to her.

Mandor goes out and comes back, carrying refreshments by hand, no magic,
places it within reach, and drifts back into the background.

They talk about pureeing a couple of Pattern lords and spraying them
across the Courts.

At one point, Fereth looks up and says that someone is trying to locate
them. They decide to relocate. 

Cathryn has a moment of discontinuity, not as if someone moved her with
a Logrus tendril, but as if someone moved everything else around them.

The place where they are is familiar - it's the new House Jesby. No
staff. It's as if someone had taken a slice of her house six years ago
and replicated that. 

Cathryn brings up her Jewel, and Fereth looks a bit worried about the
Eye of the Serpent being this close to the Serpent, and they send a call
out for Suhuy.

------------------

Reviving Corwin


Celeste says that Cassandra will be ready to move in about ten minutes. 
They argue about rushing the move.

Corwin starts pointing out the difference in Norton's head between a
Real cat and a shadow cat.

Zack is putting up a ward. The not-ice is maintaining a precise distance
behind him. Zack tries to convince Lazy to take the block back, and
fails. Zack tries to compact a few hundred years of nagging into a few
minutes. Cassandra and Celeste tell him to shut up.

Cassandra tells Lazy that she wants the block to come with them. Zack
finds himself lifted into the air and suspended the precise distance
behind Lazy that the block is behind him.

Celeste thinks that all of these antics have given her enough time -
Cassandra is stabilized now. 

"Corwin" pulls out a big splotchy orange camera and takes a picture of
Zack. Zack poses in mid-air. 

"Corwin" does something that Norton cannot follow.

Zack tries to not come along, and fails.

The surroundings shift from a grassy plain to a sandy plain and a bunch
of tents. Corwin's body is next to his Pattern. 

Malachai and Zack's heads have that stuffy feeling.

Norton feels over-balanced, as if something he is used to accessing isn't
available.

Norton reaches down and tweaks the Corwin face. It doesn't move, and it
feels like marble.  He tries to bring the body back to life, and fails.

Zack takes a look at the block of crystal. There's a rip cord visible;
he starts unraveling it.

Celeste wanders over to get some fruit off a nearby table.

Cassandra is reaching out for Deryse - nothing.

Norton and Corwin chat internally. They decide that Corwin should get
back into his body, but they aren't sure how. Norton asks Cassandra for
a trump of himself, and he concentrates on it. 


"Corwin" - "...and I'm Corwin and Norton"
Cassandra - "Did you say that?"

Corwin's body sits up and says, "No, I did."

Cassandra faints. Celeste finds that very convenient, keeps her
unconscious, and continues the healing process.

Norton feels the Corwin shape melting off of him.

They chat. Corwin explains that he was in Norton's head, and that they
shouldn't kill Norton - he was extremely helpful. 

Norton cycles rapidly between alive and dead. This bothers Celeste on a
fundamental level. 

Celeste tries to trump Random, and fails.

Norton offers Corwin the Greyswandir he took from Cathryn. Corwin looks
at it, says, "it's not mine", and tells Norton that he can keep it.

Corwin reaches his hand in Cassandra's direction, and Greyswandir comes
out of its sheath and sails over to his hand. 

Corwin reaches out again in a different direction, grabs a scabbard,
sheaths Greyswandir, and buckles it at his side.  

Norton tries to shift his Greyswandir to look different and fails. 

Cassandra wakes up, and questions Norton until Corwin vouches for
him. Cassandra asks for her trump back; Corwin tells Norton to give it
back, and promises to give him a new trump of him.  Cassandra asks for
the other Greyswandir; Corwin tells her that he told Norton that he
could keep it.  Cassandra says that Cathryn took it from an alternate
Julian. "Really. I'll have to thank her next time I see her." Cassandra
says that Cathryn will probably be looking for it.  Corwin tells Norton,
"Keep it safe. Other people are looking for it."

Corwin asks for the skull of the assassin. Norton hands it to him, and
Corwin hangs it off his belt.

Norton turns into a big cat and runs off to play with the Sha'um. 

Celeste has a foreboding feeling about the amount of power radiating from
the block that Zack is unwinding.

Celeste puts a shield up around the block.

Norton asks Corwin if he can give him the Logrus back here.  Corwin
thinks briefly, and says, "no".

Zack notices that the power in the block has Merlin's signature all over
it. 

The block finishes unraveling, there is a great outward flash, and
Merlin is hanging in midair in the center of Celeste's ward. 

"Merlin?" - Cassandra

Zack goes up to check Merlin out. Magically, there seem to be some kind
of anomaly around him, as if all of the magical energy that could be
used had been used up. Magical energy entering the area goes 'tink' and
withers.

Corwin trumps Merlin. He puts down the trump and says, "Yeah, he's
alive, sort of..."

Celeste checks him out. He seems to be alive. Not much breathing, not
much blood circulation. 

? - "Have you ever walked Amber's Pattern?"
Celeste - "Not until you show me Dad's body."

Cassandra warns Zack not to tell Benjamin that he has seen her. 

Many conversations occur, in many directions.

Norton decides to leave the alternate Greyswandir here until he returns
to continue his conversation with Corwin. Corwin mutters a few words,
and it sinks into the sand.

Corwin asks Norton to say hi to Snarsht for him.

Zack and Norton chat about Norton's recent activities in Dragaera, and
Norton realizes that he and Sethra were about to run an electric current
through the Necromancer to see if she would twitch. 

Corwin asks after Darkstar. They tell him that Darkstar had a recent
trump mishap. Corwin is amazed.

Cassandra asks after Benjamin. Zack tells her that Benjamin is insane,
and wandering around killing people in Amber.  Corwin gives Zack
permission to dispose of Benjamin. Cassandra protests, and they finally
decide to give Benjamin to Norton - Belleview is a safe place for the
insane. Corwin tells Norton that he owes him one.

Norton shifts into an unnoticeable shape - it looks like Bleys, but with a
chin. Zack and Celeste annoy him into changing his form. He merges the
features of the shapes of the redheads in the room - he now looks like a
generic child of Clarissa.

Corwin tells Zack to look up Darkstar and get a special trump of him
from him. 

Corwin sends Celeste, Zack, and Norton back across the barrier to the
grassy knoll.


----------------

Back at the Party


Zack trumps Castle Amber. Celeste, Norton, and Zack go through, and head
to the party.

Random greets Celeste as Clarissa. Celeste tries to get Norton and
Random to talk about the Corwin thing.

Celeste convinces Random to trump Bleys. She joins into the contact -
it's a Bleys construct.

Random tries to reach Bleys, and contacts Benedict instead. Benedict is
fighting.

Random trumps Corwin, right through the barrier, much to everyone's
surprise. 

Random trumps Dierdre. Cassandra takes the call. 

Norton speculates about shifting into other dead Amberites, and seeing
if their souls pop into his body.

Random trumps Cathryn. Cathryn says that she'll be back in a few
minutes.

----

Cathryn excuses herself from Fereth and Shiryu, and heads outside to
experiment. She tries to make a ward and hook the Jewel to it. It sets
the demons on fire, but won't push them away. She can make a sphere with
a radius about twice her height. She experiments a bit more, then heads
back inside.

Cathryn mentions her problems repelling the demons, and Fereth puts a
ward up around the newly created structure, apologizing for having
forgotten to do so earlier. 

Cathryn trumps Random. He's currently about half-way up one of the
pillars in the ballroom.  She goes through to him.  Cathryn heads to
Jesby and gives her a status report. She also talks to Dworkin about the
demon problem in Chaos. He offers to draw a Pattern there; she declines
his offer. 

Celeste, Norton, and Zack talk about trying to recover other dead
Amberites. Ilk wanders over and joins them.  Celeste hands Norton a
trump of Brand. A Flora wanders over and starts giving him directions
and corrections in exacting detail.

Ilk notices that Jesby just winked out, using Logrus, heading Yggwards.

Animate shapeshifting punch bowl weirdness happens. Eye theft is
punished by discorporeation, courtesy of Norton.

Celeste and Norton ask Random to trump Brand. Random trumps Brand, and
gets an answering service. He leaves a message, with some help from
Zack.

Random trumps K'rin, and fails. Norton tries to play with Random's
brain, and connects to an aquarium filled with fish. It's not a
visualization of Random's mind, it's an actual aquarium. Norton tries to
feed the fish, but he's on the wrong side of the mirror.

A servant comes up to Ilk and asks him for directions to Cathryn's
rooms. He asks Zack for directions to Cathryn's rooms, then relays them
to the servant. 

Norton shifts into Eric. Random trumps Eric, and connects.

A few seconds after Norton shifted, Ilk gets a nasty Pattern
headache. Cathryn notices that her Jewel is gone, and that it's around
Eric's neck.

Cathryn insists that Dworkin made that Jewel specially for her, and that
there are many Jewels. "Eric" summons the Jewel of Judgment, and twenty
or thirty arrive.  Eric returns the Jewels taken from those present,
keeping several.

Cathryn tells Random to trump Corwin.  They chat. 

Eric is making adjustments to this body and settling in for good.
"Eric" talks about wiping out the one who was once inhabiting this
body. The group tries to convince him that his own real body would be
more suitable, but he likes this one better - it's self-modifying. 

Ilk teleports out to get Snarsht. 

Cathryn trumps Fiona, and pulls Clarissa through.  The group mobs
Clarissa. She doesn't seem to appreciate the reception.  She squeezes
the rock, and she and the rock disappear.  Celeste tries to trump
Clarissa, and fails. She contacts her over the channels, but Clarissa
refuses to return to Amber to help. 

Random offers them drugs, and they take the small hourglass-shaped pods
from him. Cathryn opens hers. She asks for a trump deck from Zack, and
he hands her an ordinary tarot deck. 

Cathryn trumps Eric using one of Zack's cards. They chat. "Eric" hands
her a trump for Dierdre. She tries it, and gets Cassandra. 

Celeste opens her hourglass, too. 

The new punch bowl is waving at them. It holds up a hand. Celeste shakes
its hand, and it pulls her in.

Cathryn trumps Ilk, and asks after Dierdre. Ilk suggests that Cassandra
may have Dierdre's soul. Cathryn trumps Corwin to tell him the
news. They chat, and Corwin hands her two small glittering blue
octagonal pills. She asks Random what they do, and Random tells her that
blue food will make her immortal.

Zack notices that Celeste is being suffocated and Eric is failing to
pull it off her head. Zack joins in, and it still doesn't come off.
Zack slays the punch with his Morganti.

Celeste asks after the punch bowl; Zack says that it went to punch heaven.

Cathryn, distraught over the tragic death of the punch, trumps the
punch. It gathers itself together and talks to her. It waves to Zack and
tries to pluck out his eyeball, he slaps it away, then Morgantis it
again.

"Eric" looks through his trumps. They scare him. They're extremely
powerful, and a single glance could suck him through them. Celeste asks
after Eric's trumps. Eric's pants disappear. Zack hands Eric a new pair
of pants.

Celeste starts looking through a trump deck that was handed from Zack to
Eric to Celeste.  Flora winks at her.  She sees this cute redhead, and
trumps him. She reaches this crystalline thing that claims to be an
answering service.  The answering service says that it's been receiving
prank calls all night, and threatens to trace the call.  Celeste talks
loudly about trying to bring Brand back, and that Brand's definitely not
a she. Another mental pattern comes onto the call, and tells her to come
with it.  The others tell that it's a trap, and that she shouldn't go
through. She finally drops the contact, and says that it's the bad one.
She babbles briefly about the "bad one".

Celeste sits on the floor and pouts. She complains that the dead are
coming back but the one she wanted didn't come back because she got the
bad one.  Random hands Celeste a small sphere of Jello. She takes it,
and it collapses in her hand.  Celeste becomes very happy.

Cathryn trumps Cassandra accidentally again. 

Ilk returns, with Snarsht in tow.  A little part inside Norton chuckles.
Snarsht is in enraged cat form. Cathryn is all ready to give him a
message, but then she subconsciously moves away from him. Celeste and
Zack move away, as well.

Eric has Snarsht in his face. He tries to use the Jewel to keep him
away, and fails. He really wants to draw a sword now...  Eric orders
Zack to give him his sword.  Zack feels that Snarsht has done something
to him. Zack pulls a sword out of thin air and tosses it to Eric. It's
an ordinary, boring piece of steel.

Eric takes off towards the Pattern, with Snarsht in hot pursuit, and Ilk
and Zack following Snarsht.

Celeste's form itches. She becomes big and orange. Cathryn tries to
trump Mikail. She disappears. 

"Eric" feels like he's being played like a mouse. He doesn't like this,
and turns and attacks. Snarsht throws him into the air and bats him
through shadow. Snarsht follows Eric's trajectory using the Logrus, and
Ilk follows Snarsht.

Zack tries to follow, realizes that he cannot traverse shadow from here,
and trumps Eric. He gets a brief impression of crunch squish, and the
contact is gone.

Celeste comes up to Martin and bugs him about his Pattern blade, wanting
to know who gave it to him. He refuses to tell, because of "the
rules". They go around in circles for a while. Martin accuses Celeste of
being stoned.

Celeste trumps Corwin using a fake deck. Martin still fails to believe
her. Celeste trumps Martin. He still fails to believe her. She follows
him around whining at him.

--EORun--