DRAFT Run Log for 970909 Present: Dave R - Malachai Andrew - Osric Rich - Ferro Dave K - Ilk, logging Tia - Cassandra, Damia Ken - Norton ------------------------- Major Events: * Fixing Merlin * Three Fake House Heads Save House Chanicut * The Search for Serena Begins * Ferro Versus Oberon * Breaking into the Realm of the Logrus Master, part I. ------------------------- Breakfast in Amber Benedict, Corwin, Flora, Theraat, and the pig with the silver arm are eating breakfast when Malachai and Osric enter the room. Corwin is looking hale and healthy. Osric greets him. "You haven't seen Flora around, have you? Not these two - the other one." Benedict and Corwin are talking in half sentences. Malachai and Osric join them for breakfast. Malachai notices that the chair that Damia had placed for herself at High table is at the head of the table, so he's apparently off the hook. Corwin finally gets Benedict to concede to whatever their conversation was about. He turns to Osric, and asks if he would like to go to Pearl. Malachai agrees to come along after Corwin agrees to help him look for Serena after they visit Pearl. Benedict tells Malachai that last night he personally went in and killed the last of the demons that Malachai surrounded and put down a few rebellions while he was in the area. Malachai tells Benedict about his encounter about the white horses. Benedict says that they should have Zacharias or someone similarly competent look at the white dust. Corwin, Malachai, and Osric head out. They go to the stables, where Corwin asks Malachai to lead. Malachai leads them out through Garnath. There is a plaque on the way out that Corwin goes out of his way to brush his horse up against. The plaque lauds Benedict's single-handed hold of the pass against the Garnathans. Corwin doubts Benedict's stated motive for the plaque -- a reminder to all of Garnath of the power of Amber. Malachai is shifting quickly and efficiently. It looks like Garnath is holding a religious party. They seem to be worshiping the goddess Cassandra. They continue. This way out seems slower at first, but after a while, they reach the grassy plain and the tent. The tent is mostly empty - just a few cots, some mildewing food, and two undead guards sitting around playing cards. The zombies are pretty far gone. Malachai asks Corwin if he is planning on taking the zombies with them, and Corwin replies that Norton was going to deal with them. Corwin doubts Norton's ability to overcome his insanity to that extent. Corwin steps forward and back briefly, mutters, "Ah, this is it", raises his arms, and they're standing on a sandy plain. There is a Merlin, hanging motionless in midair. Lazy is lying on the sand, soaking up the sun. Malachai greets Lazy, and Lazy accepts his greeting. Osric goes over and looks at Merlin. He looks stasised. It's a very nice stasis spell. He thinks that the best way to remove the spell would be to take it somewhere that it wouldn't work, like the Fringe. Osric asks after taking Merlin elsewhere. ------ Teenage Rebellion Cassandra is getting a trump call. She takes it, Janus touches a finger to her. It's Corwin. She tries to push Janus through the contact, and fails. "What do you want?" "It's good to see that I wasn't lied to." "What do you want." "To see to your safety." "Not your problem." "...besides, your rules no longer apply to me." "Who died and made you Corwin?" "You did." "I didn't die - I'm right here." "No, you've gotten better. You were dead." "You have no authority over me." "You're my daughter, aren't you? ... you're on my lands, aren't you?" "I'll leave them." Cassandra tries to break the conversation, and fails. Cassandra plays petulant child; Corwin plays the all-knowing and extremely irritating father. Cassandra looks at Darkstar and says, "Make it go away!" "Who, me? I'm just a humble mage. But wait - I have a pendant!" He hands her a pendant, and the trump contact breaks. Darkstar asks for the pendant back, and Cassandra refuses. She's getting another trump call. She refuses it, and it starts getting more and more insistent. Darkstar nags Cassandra for the pendant back, and says that it's too powerful for her. She finally hands the pendant to Darkstar, and as their hands touch, the contact breaks. Cassandra contacts fast kitty. Fast kitty is being scritched by a little girl in a very slow shadow. Cassandra convinces the cat to play tag with Corwin. ------- Fixing Merlin A few moments later, a small black cat with a little blonde girl hanging from its tail zips up, drops the girl, touches Corwin with its nose, and zips off. Corwin looks baffled. "I'm it?" Malachai tells Corwin that he is now expected to touch the cat. Corwin goes over, touches Lazy, and says, "You're it!" Lazy does nothing obvious. The little blond girl calls out, "Daddy!" and jumps into Malachai's arms. "What's your name?" "Jen" She says that he looks like daddy but his eyes are wrong. The little girl is too light to be standard human. She twines her hands in Malachai's hair and hangs from him. She says, "Not daddy!" and whaps both Corwin and Osric when they approach her. Corwin tells Lazy that they're leaving. Lazy stands up. Suddenly, Malachai, Erin, Merlin, Osric, and Corwin are back at the grassy plain. Erin looks at the undead guards and visibly stiffens her resolve. The little girl is still entwined in Malachai's hair. Corwin is now holding a Greyswandir in addition to wearing a Greyswandir. Osric tells Corwin that he needs to take Merlin off to release him from stasis, and Corwin replies that he isn't letting his son out of his sight. Osric modifies his gate spell to take everyone. He finds that the spell is very easy to work, as if he's getting assistance, but he can't tell if anyone here is helping him. They go through the gate, and are standing in front of a Fringe gate station in the basement of a warehouse. There is a 25 foot diameter silvery ring suspended in mid-air. It's black in the middle, and there are silvery ramps leading up to the ring from each side. Osric tells them about some of the effects that they may experience upon entering the gate. Corwin starts walking up the ramp. Lazy follows with Merlin bobbing along behind. Corwin walks down the ramp on the other side, but Lazy and Merlin do not. Malachai ends up with Corwin, sans the little girl. Osric goes through, fetches the little girl, and brings her back to Malachai. Merlin is stretching when Osric returns. Merlin says that Lazy wandered off and went through another ring station. Osric brings Merlin back through to Corwin. "Lazy seems to have gone wandering. Should I go get him back?" Osric explores briefly and finds Lazy basking in a tiny ray of sunlight in another warehouse accessible through a different gate. Osric tries to explain to Lazy that he should go back, because Cassandra will be worried at her absence. A clear mental contact neatly penetrates Osric's shields. "I'll take care of Cassandra" Osric asks Lazy if he can get back. "Yes" Merlin tells them that it took all of his energy to push Sir Erik back out of the flaming shadow into someplace not hot, and that he was forced to stasis himself afterwards to stay alive. Malachai tells Merlin that everything is normal and boring. Corwin barely keeps a straight face. Malachai then admits that some things actually have happened, and that he was lying, but that Corwin should explain. Osric comes back through without Lazy, and says that Lazy said that he would take care of herself and Cassandra. Corwin sighs. They discuss the logistics of note-passing, rescues, and Osric's defenses. The note that appeared on Osric's desk in Merlin's handwriting wasn't Merlin's note. Corwin: "In short - Oberon has declared us in rebellion, but it might not be Oberon, and we're defending the castle. Want to help?" Merlin: "That's nothing?" Malachai: "I said I was lying." Merlin: "Drop the other shoe." Corwin: "Which one?" Merlin: "Which one!" Corwin: "The Courts are under siege, Caine's stuck on the front steps swatting bugs, we seem to have a plethora of Floras, and someone seems to have kidnapped Serena." Corwin asks Merlin to look at the white dust. Osric says that isn't a good place to experiment magically. Osric tells Corwin about the unrest in shadow. Corwin tries to trump Benedict, and fails. Corwin asks Merlin to try. Merlin does so, says, "Nice trump block", and gives up. Corwin asks, "Got a pigeon?" Merlin reaches into his bag, pulls out a cage, shakes it, and a pigeon appears. After some difficulties, they send two pigeons bearing notes to Benedict. Merlin tries to trump Serena, fails, and starts drawing on the floor around the card. He says that she's partially disconnected, and that means that someone is probably either mucking with her mind or mucking with her body. The silver lines seem to take up a life of their own and start curling and recurling in patterns. Merlin mutters under his breath. Osric hangs out. The little girl is snoring in a corner. Corwin relaxes. [I am Marvin of Borg. Resistance is futile. Life is futile.] Malachai asks Corwin what he meant about Oberon not really being Oberon. Corwin tells them that the thing that brought the Gerard's arm answered Dara's trump, and didn't answer Flora's trump, but the arm was apparently really Gerard's. Corwin says that he got into the duel with Gil when she was insisting that she was only giving a message and wasn't going to go back to protect Cassandra. Malachai and Corwin chat about child-rearing techniques. (Read: Corwin bitches about Cassandra) The little girl wakes up and puts some of Merlin's lines in her mouth. Merlin waves negligently and the little girl is in a gerbil ball. "Let me out! Let me out!" The girl rolls around the warehouse. --------------------------- Elsewhere in Chaos - a Bluff Norton shaped as Mandor, REN, Bella, and a fake Ilk are heading towards House Chanicut, along with a honor guard of Norton's making. There are some pockets of resistance along the way. They pass some minor houses. Some of them are looking at the demons in their front yards, and some are being wiped out by attacking troops. They save a minor house, accept their thanks, and tell them about a counter-movement forming in House Cara. They arrive at House Chanicut. There are demons rebuilding the house and are lots of warriors around. Corpses of warriors, that is. There is an area where there is nothing, just a boiling puddle of chaos blocking the doorbell. Norton recalls that Mandor has created chaos, but doesn't know how to get rid of it. That Eric part of his mind might be able to get rid of it, but it would need more control, which Norton decides not to give. Norton speaks to someone on the wall who falls off in shock at being directly addressed by the great Mandor. The Ilk clone, as the lowest ranking of the three fake House heads present, is sent inside to find someone of suitable rank. He enters through one of the many holes in the wall, and returns a bit later with a chancellor in tow. "Greetings, this is a very esteemed crowd. Are you here to crush us as well?" "Mandor" tells the chancellor that they are merely here to mention that an alternative exists to the group that was so rude to them. The chancellor says that he will find his House-head and that they will consider becoming more ambiguous in their status. Bella suggests that the group ascend to the roof for tea, and they do so. ------------------------- Beginning the Search for Serena Merlin finishes, says, "Eureka, I've got it!" and hands Malachai the card. It's not quite cold, it's only slightly cool. "It doesn't feel like a trump." "It's not - it's a locator beacon." Malachai and the others prepare to head out. Merlin floats the little ball in the air a few feet behind Malachai. Osric pulls Merlin aside. He tells Merlin that a number of places in the Fringe reset, and he doesn't know why. They chat, then rejoin the others. [Note - Lazy is a he] They head off, shifting after the trump. They go across significant shadow. ------------------------- Ferro Versus Oberon Ferro is watching the guards reseal the door to the Pattern room, apparently with Pattern magic. Ferro looks just like Oberon. They turn to him, "My liege!" The guards tell him that his lord told them to seal the room. There are at least 25 guards here. Ferro heads to the throne room. The stairs are shorter. There is a significant guard presence at every turn. Some guards lock Ferro in a cell for not having a pass. He opens the door, goes mosquito, and continues up the stairs. At the second guard station he notices a magical ward. Ferro tries to go through the ward and bounces. He waits until a guard is heading down, then passes through when they drop the ward for him. He passes through is another guard post with no ward, then another with a different kind of ward. Ferro tails a guard through and sets off an alarm. He exits the stairway, hovers near the stairway, and waits. At one point a force tries to force him into a shape, and fails. He's already in his basic form -- marsipan. This is a very depressing castle. Ferro reforms into Oberon outside the throne room and enters. As soon as he opens the door, he sees something shaped like him sitting at the feet of Oberon. The Oberon on the throne is not clean. He's got half a face - Ferro can see the skull peeled back. One arm is covered with scales, and the other is made out of bone. He looks down at the Oberon at his feet, and says, "Oberon, what are you doing?" "Nothing, my lord." The Oberon on the throne beacons, and Ferro feels drawn towards him by Pattern energy. Ferro absorbs some of it, and approaches the throne. "You are some plaything cooked up by one of my wayward children." "Wayward father, maybe." "My father does not exist. I have assumed his power." "I was made to tell you that you are a bad boy." Oberon insists that he absorbed everything that is Dworkin. "Would you believe me if I showed you Dworkin?" "Lead me there." Oberon makes another creature that looks like him, then says, "You think you can hold the throne, but I'll return and take it from you." As they leave the room, Oberon dodges the killing blow launched at his back by the other. When they reach the basement, Oberon sucks the life force out of all twenty-five guards, then pounds a fist on the Pattern-sealed wall, shattering it. Ferro gestures him through. Oberon takes a step forward and disappears through a rift. Ferro heads upstairs. The guards all get out his way. He mosquito-touches the Oberon copy and drains it. Ferro looks at the other unmaimed Oberon and says, "It's all yours." That Oberon looks around and takes off. Ferro asks a guard if there is a Philosophers' Guild in Chaos. When Ferro tells the guard that Oberon is dead, the guard asks why Ferro isn't running from Benedict. "Great." The guard draws on Ferro, and Ferro buzzes out in search of Benedict. He leaves the castle, and sees a fleet attacking the harbors. Ferro takes a small dragon shape and heads towards the ships. They shoot at him. He dodges and calls out at them to talk in Thari. Eventually, someone comes out on the deck of the command ship. It's big. "Gerard!" Gerard tells him to land on the mast, and starts climbing up. They chat. Ferro fills them in on his stunt. "So, Bleys, is it between you, me, and Benedict now?" "I'm not Bleys - I'm Ferro!" Gerard insists that Ferro is Bleys, and that Brand, Bleys, and Fiona merged years ago. Benedict took over Chaos years ago. "I am the most trusting of the three of us left." "Why do you want the throne?" "With it comes certain powers." "Such as?" "The ability to end all this." ... "If you go to Benedict..." he pulls out a strange looking tablet, makes some markings on it, and it extrudes a piece of paper. "...deliver this for me." Ferro flies off looking for Benedict, and shifts shadow for the very first time. He doesn't realize that he's doing it - he's over water. He starts heading over land, and then he sees thousands upon thousands upon thousands of troops marching. A mechanical bird comes screaming up to him. Benedict is at the helm. He pops the canopy, throws a net out over Ferro, and pulls him inside. He says, "You are an unknown. Why should I not kill you now?" "I have all sorts of news, and I have a message from Gerard." "Those are good reasons." Ferro hands over Gerard's letter and fills him in briefly. Ferro offers Benedict a new Pattern, and after some thought, Benedict declines. Benedict says that there may be a Philosophers Guild - he left the guilds' structures untouched. He just needed the Courts as a staging ground. Ferro agrees to help Benedict and Gerard hold the castle for a bit against Bleys and Oberon. "Bleys's mind is on top, except when Brand's madness emerges. Fiona is the primary power source for the three." Benedict sends two of his troops off with Ferro to the Courts. They ride off in an armored vehicle. They get to Chaos. It is a lovely place. Everything is very militaristic and ordered. He enters and has his passport stamped and papers signed. They hand him a thick folder, saying, "This is your identification. Don't lose it." Everyone else has folders, too, but his is the only purple one. Ferro tracks down the Philosophers Guild. They're fairly depressing to talk to. Most of their philosophies tend to emphasize the necessity of yet futility in war. The ones who discuss other things meet in private. They were outlawed. Ferro flashes the purple folder. "Nope." "But I'm not from this reality!" "Hey Tor!" "Yeah, whadya want." The old guy looks at Ferro, looks him up and down, gets a cold look in his eyes, then starts making passes around Ferro with his hands. Webs of power cover him and break apart, and other bizarre stuff happens. Finally, he looks back at the other guy, and says, "Nope, Jance. He's not from here." ... "Does it help that I'm made of marsipan?" ... "Wow. Can I keep you?" The old man says that he used to be the head of the Mages Guild, but he wouldn't use his powers for war. Now he's just running a bar. ------------------------------- Three Fake House Heads Save House Chanicut (subtitle: Tea in Norton's Head with Norton, Corwin, Ilk, Ilk, and Eric) Norton, Bella, REN, a chancellor, and a fake Ilk are having tea on the roof of House Chanicut. Norton is reanimating the dead soldiers strewn around the house and having them clean up the evidence of Chanicut's fall. A magical rift opens. The chancellor lifts his hand and says, "He's with me." The head of House Chanicut comes through. He bows, Bella and Norton nod, and Ilk bows. They chat. Norton mentions Osric. "The legendary Osric? He's even older than I am." There is another army approaching. Norton can see that it is pretty substantial; the others just see their wake through the demons. Norton mentions that his forces should be able to deal with the incoming foe. Chanicut is surprised, and asks where Norton acquired the army, as he said earlier that he had no forces with him. Norton claims that revealing the presence of his army earlier might have been taken as a threat, which would have been impolite. Chanicut is also amazed when he discovers that the mess out front is gone, including all of those corpses. Chanicut asks if they can do something about that swirling morass on the front doorstep that killed his predecessor. Norton goes downstairs to consult with the Ilk copy. The Ilk copy relays to Ilk, who, being well rested, agrees to help and switches places with the simalcrum. Norton's modifications to the simalcrum fade as soon as it arrives at Home. Ilk looks at the rift and decides that some Pattern could help speed the process. It's a hole ripped through the Courts directly into the Sea of Chance. Ilk works through Norton's head, controlling his own Logrus, as well as telling the Ilk in Norton's head what to do with Norton's Logrus and the Corwin in Norton's head what to do with Pattern. Corwin, Ilk, Ilk, and Norton chat, drink tea, and work. Norton's sense of randomness and being cracked actually helps the effort. The Eric in the corner whines that nobody plays with it; they respond that Eric is impolite. The group succeeds in disposing of the rift, causing it to move to somewhere that is not within the Courts, and possibly snuffing it entirely. Ilk builds a ward and swaps back with a shifter, who is then shifted more Ilkish by Norton. "Ilk" and "Mandor" return to the roof, to applause. Ilk, upon returning Home, notices that Rainbow is about two-thirds of the way up the ramp that he created for Rainbow's amusement. He's taking a step up, then a few steps back, and generally oscillating back and forth along it. Ilk greets Rainbow and Clarissa, extends the ramp a bit farther, checks his logs, then goes back to sleep. Jesby levitates the entire tea party to the ground where the rift once was, a place that is strangely devoid of demons. Norton starts subtly generating more troops out of demons, mostly Godzillas. At first, nobody takes credit for the troops, and everyone but "Ilk" and Norton are surprised by their appearance. At one point REN stretches, and says, "I haven't done this in years". Norton sees the enemy about to attack, and says so to Chanicut. "Really? I'd think that they would wait a bit longer." One of the Godzillas topples. Bella pats Chanicut on the head, and tells him to leave this to the professionals. Norton gives his hounds the order to attack the enemy's flanks. The undead are being extremely effective, as they're Real and much harder to kill than when they were alive. They're made of the dead from both sides, which farther demoralizes the foe. Norton also has his forces bring the newly dead back behind the lines to a place close enough for him to raise them, too. At the back of the enemy forces, one of Norton's Godzillas sees this glowing halo around some man who looks like he's in holy robes. He's throwing spears of power through the enemy, and the enemy can't get close to him. He's almost emanating some form of Pattern. He's also mostly ineffective, as he's pureeing one opponent at a time. It's Benjamin. Norton makes a Cassandra-hare, and Benjamin changes direction to follow it. Bella suggests that they move on to some of the other Houses. REN says that he will make a few more gargoyles before they go. Norton makes some Cuthuli. Chanicut comments on their similarities to his mother-in-law. Chanicut asks the group where they are heading, and the group is appropriately noncommittal. Chanicut asks if they would be willing to leave some of their troops here to defend his House, and they agree to leave a force. Norton's army has now reached critical mass - they outnumber the enemy by three to one, and the enemy is on the retreat. Bella picks out an honor guard of fifteen troops. Chanicut comments on the astonishing lack of magic in the battle, and asks them if they will be safe with such a small honor guard, then thinks briefly and withdraws his question. They leave. ------------- Breaking Into the Realm of the Logrus Master Andron meets up with the group as soon as they are out of sight of Chanicut. "Now that was a pleasant experience." He says that a couple of mages tried to rain on their parade, makes a patting gesture with his hand, and a six or seven puppies come scampering up to him. Norton looks at them. They're shapeshifting mages thinking very hard that they are little puppies. Norton shifts them into actual puppies at Andron's request, as Andron seals away the knowledge of what they were so they will be tortured by their memories for the lifetime of their new forms. They decide to wait for Norton's undead to win the battle before leaving the area. Andron gives Norton some power, and Norton gets a runner's high. They chat about advancement within various guilds. They ask Ilk to get Ilk. Ilk got a few more months rest after closing the rift, and was hanging spells for the last bit. Clarissa hands Ilk a full Morganti blade, saying that it might come in handy. It's contained within a glowing blue sheath. Clarissa warns him that she expects it to be returned. Ilk puts it inside himself. Rainbow just got off the ramp and was hanging spells as well. Ilk puts up a ward around the fake Ilk and swaps himself and Rainbow for it. Rainbow gesticulates as if he just apported in. They chat. Rainbow says that he is tired of slogging through demons, so he has designed a quick ways to the opening of Suhuy's domain. They go through the ways as they continue to chat. Norton mentions Toram's name, and Andron says that isn't a good idea. Jesby nods, and Andron starts talking about the weather. Jesby nods again, and Andron says that he just stopped listening. They arrive at the entrance to Suhuy's realm. Ilk bows to the assorted nobility present, gives a grin to REN, implying "I vastly prefer doing this to running that stupid House", and pours through the hole. It is one of the hardest things that he has ever done, and he has to almost completely become the Logrus to do it. Ilk starts dismantling the block from the inside. --EORun--