DRAFT Run Log for 970805 Present: Tia - Cassandra, Damia Randi - Sky Ken - Norton Andrew - Osric Rich - Ferro Dave K - Ilk, logging Laori - Celeste Barb - Cathryn Kevin - Zack ---------------------------- Major Events: * The War in Chaos Continues * The Amber Hillbillies ---------------------------- Abortive Attack on Helgram The rhino goes tromping on ahead down the magic carpet, the faces in its sides screaming as it runs. The rhino catches on fire, still screaming in agony. Norton tosses water at it, and it burns hotter. Ilk describes the scrubbing bubbles to Norton. Norton makes some, but they don't work very well. Zack advances at the head of his Sidhe troops. Corwin observes. Norton jumps off the carpet with some of his troops to look for a back entrance. Cassandra goes with Zack. Corwin goes with Cassandra. Ilk goes in the rear of the Sidhe, providing magical and Logrus support. Cassandra and Corwin argue about protecting Cassandra. They advance. It's a nasty situation, the enemy seems to have been expecting them. Norton makes it inside. There are several hundred thousand troops inside, positioned around the various entrances. They appear mostly Real. He sneaks into a corner, trumps Corwin, and gives stats. Corwin turns to Ilk and warns him that they may have some problems. A defender spots Norton and says, "Hey - you're not (name of person)!" Norton dominates the fellow, and he wanders off satisfied, but enough other people heard the cry, and soon a crowd is advancing on Norton. Norton is pulled back through the trump contact by Corwin. Osric looks back and sees a disturbance below the demons. Norton looks through the demons, and sees siege engines approaching them, which are aimed at them. Norton tries to smush one of the brains behind one of the siege engines, and gets occupied. Cassandra puts a hand on his shoulder and helps. The mind has a name - it's Toram. Ilk has some of his shifters form couches and carry Cassandra and Norton. Cassandra thinks that they're winning - Norton knows that they're losing. They see a large Logrus ball approach. It is screaming, "I am not a prince of Amber!" Zack starts making a barricade, and then flings it at the Logrus bomb. Osric puts up one of his nifty patented shields. ---------- In Amber Ferro goes to talk to Flora. They discuss putting the Pattern back in Flora. They head down to the Pattern room. Sky chats with a Sha'um on the roof of the castle. -------- The Misadventures of Celeste (subtitle: Bad Stuff in Action) Celeste gets a conduit through the barrier around Amber. She sees a snow leopard and a Sha'um at point blank range. Sky sees something very magical appear in front of her. It looks like a cat toy, so she bats at it. Celeste: "Can either of you hear me?" Sky: "Yes." Ferro's finger: "Nice to hear from you again, Celeste." Celeste: "Does either of you know the source of this barrier?" They chat about the barrier. Celeste says that the barrier around Amber looks like the one around the Courts - it's constantly shifting and looks Chaos-made. Celeste feels a tracer working its way back through her tunnel as she collapses it. She begins to trace it back, and backtracks seven hops before she can't trace it any longer. The trace had lots of finesse, and a very tiny amount of sorcerous energy. Celeste orders Faythe out of the room, and then shows Brandt where she last saw Cassandra. He says that it's not a Real place. She shows him the Great Hall of Amber, and then they're both standing there. There are lots of bolts coming towards them, Celeste whips up a physical barrier. She notices that the bolts are still moving through her barrier, just much more slowly. They go to Celeste's empty rooms. No crossbow bolts. No air, either. [When Ferro vaccums, he vacuums] Celeste pictures a safehouse in Manhome. They're in a room that is lit by flickering neon lights. It is empty. "Sorry about the no air thing." (cough) (cough) Celeste remembers seeing a note tacked to the inside of her door, and tries to teleport the door to her room to here, and hits a teleport barrier around Castle Amber. She draws a place-trump for her room, then realizes that she can't take something from the room without going through the trump. ---------------- Springing an Ambush Ilk notices that the Logrus bomb doesn't have any Logrus strings attached to it - it's controlled by magic. Ilk says to Osric, "The Logrus bomb is being controlled by magic. Hit it there." and starts striking at it with a stream of raw magic. Osric doesn't join in, but expands his shield to include the rest of the core group. Zack's shields are being sucked into the ball. Ilk's magical stream is starting to suck him dry when the crystalline shield cuts him off from the Logrus ball. Norton and Cassandra's mental shields go down. They aren't sure of the name of their opponent - it was ripped from their heads. Dutch and two of the other soldiers are missing. The Sidhe are climbing back onto the carpet. Corwin is extinguishing Benjamin who is on fire. Ilk unracks an extinguish spell, and the fire goes out. Zack opens a Faerie gate and starts sending Sidhe through. Corwin gestures Cassandra and her bodyguards through, bodyguards first. They go through. Zack sends Norton and Cara members through next, minus Ilk. A second Logrus bomb is impinging on Osric's shields. The rest except for Zack and Osric go through, who then take up the rear. The Warriors' Guild people stay behind. As soon as Osric goes through he feels his shield and the power drain on them cut off hard. Corwin and Titania are in full embrace. Cassandra throws a kick at Corwin's leg, and he spins Titania, deftly avoiding it. Titania says that people cannot die here. Norton tries to die, and disappears. Norton finds himself on the carpet next to the Warriors' Guild people. He dives off. Zack does introductions. As Zack starts leading Ilk towards a gate leading to House Cara, Titania gestures grandiosely, and Cassandra, Osric, Corwin, and bodyguards find themselves in Amber. They're in the gardens near the Connor statue. Zack notices that this is an unfamiliar region of Faerie. Cassandra is getting a trump call. It's Celeste. Cassandra asks, "Is it safe where you are?" "Yes" Celeste pulls Cassandra through. At the last instant, Janus and Gil get a finger on her. The bodyguards start chewing out Cassandra. Gil asks Celeste if she can protect Cassandra. Gil insists that Celeste beat her in a sword fight, and Celeste says that she doesn't need weapons. Gil sticks a dagger in Celeste's side. Cassandra's sword is at Gil's throat. She pushes forward, and it is blocked by Gil's spare dagger. Janus is chatting with Brandt. They're saying something about women fighting. There is a polite tap on the door. "Who is it?" Celeste gives the all clear signal. Brandt is broadcasting on channel. Celeste responds over the channel telling him to stop. He doesn't comprehend the signal from her, and seems unfamiliar with the concept of the god channel. Celeste and Cassandra chat. Cassandra bitches about Corwin. -------- Returning to House Cara The Warriors' Guild people dove off the carpet with Norton. He leaves the area unobtrusively. He doesn't know where the Beastmasters' Guild is located. He only knows the locations of the Abyss, House Cara, and House Helgram. Norton heads towards House Cara, being paranoid and looking for familiar things. Zack sees a familiar-looking blue globe. He pokes his head up into it, and disappears from Ilk's sight. Zack sees a Grecian shrine. It's in shadow. There are lots of statues. Lots of white statues of winged women with sunglasses. He returns briefly, then goes back up for a better look. He returns again, tells Ilk what he saw, and then they continue. There is a big celestial-beginning thing going on ahead. The partiers are singing hosannas and throwing pickles. The center of the party appears to be Zack's destination. As they approach, they notice that the partiers are worshipping Zack. "Whoop, just passing through." They're constructing a shrine for Zack, and calling him the promised one. Zack goes to the center of the shrine, and there is a Faerie gate there. He opens it, looks through, and sees demon legs. He goes through, burrows to the surface, and sees House Cara in the distance. The Cara members who can shapeshift are shifting towards the acolytes. Ilk shoves them through the gate. Zack gives Ilk half of the Sidhe. Zack and Ilk exchange pleasantries, and they go their separate ways. Zack goes to look for Darkstar. ------------------ The Amber Hillbillies Ferro and Flora arrive at the Pattern room. There is a wild-eyed, gaunt, very hairy white haired babbling idiot chained to the doorway scribbling madly on the walls. Ferro asks him what he's writing, and the idiot starts gibbering. "Excuse me, we need to go through..." "You're the one?" The idiot has a heart attack. Ferro notices that the chain is made out of pure Pattern-energy, so he absorbs the chain and opens the door. Dworkin is in the Pattern room, playing jackstones. Dworkin greets Ferro, and says that he's been waiting for him. Dworkin claims that Flora isn't Flora. "She's eight, and she spits between her teeth." Dworkin also claims that Ferro is his only son, Oberon. Ferro replies he isn't Oberon, that Dworkin and Suhuy made him. "Suhuy? My dead brother?" "He's not dead." "I killed him and took his jewel." "Can I walk the Pattern?" "It's Suhuy's Pattern. I haven't figured out how to use the jewel yet." This doesn't look like the regular Pattern - it's shaped differently. Dworkin has some equations in front of him on how to steal back the Pattern. As he plays jackstones, the equations change. Ferro goes to the beginning of the Pattern. It burns when he touches the area near it. Dworkin asks Flora if he can see her spit through her teeth, and says that she lost her front tooth when she was rough-housing with Caine. Ferro sends a little mosquito over to walk the Pattern before he tries to use it. The mosquito is fried. Ferro asks Dworkin how he is planning on stealing the Pattern. Dworkin gestures at the equations. Dworkin insists that Suhuy drew the Pattern with the Jewel and that he killed him and took the Jewel. Flora tries to trump Benedict. No response. Ferro opens the door to the Pattern room, and it looks like he has opened the door into a cave. Outside the cave is a hut made of rough hewn logs. "Where's the castle?" "I could build a castle? That's a great idea!" They see a young Flora spitting at her older brother. [Oberon grew up in a log cabin. No wonder he's so backwards. Oberon is a redneck! Zack should put a gun rack on the back of his flying carpet] They see that the door they came through has a snake inscribed on it. The boy standing on top of the cabin who is being spat at is throwing rocks at the little girl. Ferro lets the door swing shut. "No, don't let it shut..." (click) Dworkin says that Osric has the key, and he's out hunting. Ferro tries to open the door. It's held shut by a weird power. Corwin is playing with his axe on top of the hill. He's chasing gophers. Flora tries her Castle trump. It doesn't work. Dworkin plays with the trump, sticking his hand into it, pulling it out, etc. Flora takes Dworkin and Ferro's hand, and Dworkin pushes into the trump... Dworkin is waving at her from inside the picture. "Pull us through." "It's just paper." Dworkin rips a piece off the trump. "Put that back." Dworkin puts the paper back and smooths it out. It wrinkles. Flora pulls Dworkin back out of the trump. A little red headed kid runs around the corner and whacks young Flora over the head. Old Flora yells, "Stop that!" The kid waves his arms around in a conjuration, and lots of frowny faces appear around Flora, sticking their tongues out at her. "Osric, my son - you know, Benedict and Finndo's brother? The responsible one." Flora reaches Eric via his trump, and he's not too far from Corwin. He's carrying a cage with a lot of dead gophers. [We're going to have gopher stew! Yeehah! Just put the cage on this red gem thing and it heats right up.] Eric is baffled - he's never heard of trump, and has no idea what the voice in his head is. Flora tries to give Ferro her trump of Dworkin, and it passes through Ferro when he tries to grab it. A nice, well-mannered, dark-haired serious young lady approaches them, apologizes for her brothers' behavior, takes out a small stone from a pouch, and whings it at Brand. It hits him between the eyes. She introduces herself as Diedre, and says that she is in charge of this unruly household. She says that she's Dworkin's daughter. Oberon was the oldest of the kids. Flora tries to find out how old Diedre is, and she doesn't have any concept of time. She says that Ozzie left hunting fifteen or sixteen eats ago. Ferro tells Dworkin that the final Pattern will have to look different. "That's what I was forgetting!" "Want me to show you what it should look like?" Ferro starts drawing a Pattern in the middle of the field. They hear jubilant shouts from up on the hill. Corwin and Eric descend, carrying their cage filled with dead gophers. Llewella, a red haired girl with red eyes and red eyebrows, bugs Diedre until she agrees that she can light the fire, whereupon she dances in a circle around a pile of wood, which catches on fire. They're putting the gophers, whole and uncleaned, on sticks and poking them over the fire. The one that has been identified as Brand is making the gophers scream as he cooks them. Bleys and Fiona come skipping in, covered in mud up to their eyebrows, starkers naked. Diedre just rolls her eyes. Caine comes down from the roof, still hucking stones at Flora and missing, as Flora continues to spit at him. [Julian, Gerard, and Random haven't been born yet] After dinner and the obligatory food fight and belching contest... [The belching contest of which all other belching contests are mere shadows...] ... in rides Osric on the Unicorn. There don't seem to be any animal corpses in evidence. Osric looks very smug as he gets off the unicorn. Th unicorn noses through the greasy grimy gopher guts. She picks one out, chows down, then passes another to Osric, who eats it. "Draw faster!!!" The unicorn curls up on her side. Dworkin moves closer to the unicorn, who sidles away from Dworkin and towards Osric. Ferro finishes drawing the Pattern. It's glowing, pulsing, and speaking to him. It appears that he's managed to put the center of the Pattern over Suhuy's dead, buried body. "It appears that maybe you've finished the Pattern. Maybe now you'll be able to leave this little hell that you've designed for us. Good luck. By the way, the children are my little gift to you." The unicorn starts going into labor. Julian, Gerard, and Random are the litter of Osric and the Unicorn. The unicorn starts licking the embryonic sack off the babies. Flora tries to walk Ferro's Pattern. It feels like a dance floor. It's nice and smooth, and offers her no resistance. She saunters to the center. They both go to Gillian on the roof of the castle. There's also a snow leopard up there, curled up and sleeping in the sun. Ferro: "Did they really eat all of those gophers?" Flora: "I don't want to talk about it." Flora trumps Benedict. "Bide." He finishes dressing down a warrior for being sloppy, and asks, "Yes?" Flora starts explaining their misadventures, and Benedict interrupts them and says that he has heard of alternate realities and doesn't want to hear more, and that there must be a crack down by the Pattern. [Finndo and Benedict did kill each other in a duel when they were elevenish] Flora goes off to prepare for the dinner party. Ferro rests, and then finds out that a guard disappeared down by the Pattern room and that they didn't find a body. ------- In Amber Corwin is muttering, "at least she took her bodyguards with her" Osric asks if they will be heading to Pearl any time soon, and Corwin replies that it will be his next stop. "You can stay here, but don't touch the statue, or you'll be stuck." Bleys shot a crossbow at him about a year and a half ago, and it's still getting closer. Fiona and Rhiannon have been trying to do something to help him for years. Osric and Corwin head into the Great Hall. Corwin tells Benedict that the affair in Chaos did not go well - the enemy was well prepared. Benedict says that he knew so, and Corwin replies that he thought that he did. A hand comes into the room and tells Benedict that he should establish a picket around the Pattern room. The hand waves hello to Osric and then starts laughing hysterically. ------------------ Summoning Reinforcements for House Cara Norton reaches House Cara at about the same time as Dutch and some of the other Amberite guards. Ilk arrives with the Sidhe. The ground is shaking with the feet of the approaching army. Ilk opens a shadow gate to Home, and opens the flood gates. Home is calling out "intruder alert, intruder alert..." It's Clarissa. Ilk greets her, and after a bit of beating around the bush, asks her for some aid. She agrees to send some through. Clarissa says that this place is very conducive to meditation, and that the nature of the place throws people seeking her awry. "Enjoy your stay" Some Dragaeran troops show up through Ilk's gate. They're Dzur, and say that they've been ordered to follow him to the death, even though he's only an easterner. Ilk shifts into his Hawklord form. "I prefered the easterner." Ilk shifts into a Dzurlord form. The leader looks him up and down, and says, "Now we can fight and die with honor." Celeste gets a disturbance on the channel. It's very brief and very fast. She sends through "Domna - I want to talk to you!" Norton sends a tendril to Snarsht and asks for help. Snarsht agrees to send some. There is another ripple in the air in front of them, and Rainbow appears. Ilk and Norton bow and greet him. Rainbow asks if they know where Flora is. Ilk says that she just headed to Amber. Rainbow starts folding back up, and Ilk interrupts his departure, mentioning that it might please Flora if Rainbow helped the House that to which her favored nephew Zack belongs. Rainbow stops unfolding, chats briefly. Rainbow agrees to help, does something, and passes REN through himself. REN shakes Ilk's hand, then shifts into another form, saying that if he stays in that form he might be mistaken for a House head. He's just acquired an apprenticeship, to the Dancers' Guild. REN refuses to be delegated as a general, but gives advice that Ilk uses to arrange the troops, and says that he has already sent out queries to allies, in Ilk's name, of course. ------------------ Visiting Clarissa Cassandra breaks a hairstick and is suddenly in a bubble. Everything around her is shifting so rapidly that it is making her sick. [She was the cause of the intruder alert that Ilk noticed - Clarissa fits right in.] They converse, and at one point some elven-looking troops walk across the inside of the sphere containing Cassandra. Cassandra asks to go to Pearl, and she ends up near Oberon's pavillion. Clarissa contacts Celeste, and they chat. Clarissa is non-helpful and irritated at losing her work on her latest project. A Clarissa-image appears in front of Cassandra, apologizes for not being able to send her to Pearl, and sends her to Celeste. Brandt takes Celeste, Cassandra, Gil, Janus, and himself somewhere. He looks at the giant eggs, sets up an easel, and starts painting. Cassandra trumps her tutor. They chat. Janus, in a flying leap, knocks Cassandra to the ground. Gil knocks Celeste and Brandt to the ground. A moment later, a fire breathing dragon strafes them. "My easel!" "Brandt, take us home." "Okay... I can't." "Why?" "I don't know. I hit something and slid." Celeste tries to teleport them to the desert, and cannot establish a connection. She tries to trump back to Manhome, and fails. She tries to trump to Amber, and fails. She tries to trump Faythe, and fails. She tries Darkstar, and connects. He's unconscious. Brandt takes them all back to where they were, in Manhome. He takes them all back to the egg place. He chases Janus, Gil, and Cassandra away. He beckons Gil over, and the two of them disappear then reappear. He tries it with Janus, and succeeds. He tries it with Cassandra, and fails. Conversation happens. Gil, Brandt, and Celeste finally disappear. Cassandra, after some discussion with Janus, trumps to Castle Pearl. --EORun--