DRAFT Run Log for 980310 Present: Tia - Cassandra Andrew - Osric Dave R - Malachai Sam - Jean Dave K - Ilk, logging Lori - Celeste -------------------- Major Events: * Cassandra is Reunited with Darhyse * Jean Walks the Primal Pattern -------------------- Prequel Malachai is standing alone at the foot of Kolvir, next to the stairs leading upwards towards Tir. He sees Flora walking through the sky towards Tir, being overtaken by a large winged beast carrying the blue table to which Flora was attached. He doesn't see Osric and Chen, who are sitting on the table next to Flora. Osric is working on reducing Flora's bonds as they travel. Malachai's view of the battle in Tir through the trump contact was limited and very different - it looked like an uncertain number of beings left the boat and chatted with Norton, then Cassandra grew bored and left the area, walking towards Tir's Pattern. Jean prime can still see the sun in the sky over Brand's garden. In fact, the sun hasn't moved since he arrived in the gardens. The Jean in the giant is still gyrating with Gillian in Garnath. ---------------- Cassandra Recovers Darhyse Cassandra is walking towards the Pattern, and Ilk has a number of tendri following her. She's reaching out for Darhyse every few minutes. Each time, she gets a brief flash of contact and then nothing. The walls shift around her as travels, and occasionally she has to blast her way through walls. Cassandra reaches the Pattern room, and reaches out for Darhyse again. After a bit, she receives a flash. She tries the door; it's locked. She finds a key hanging in a nearby alcove and uses it to unlock the door. She chats with Malachai over their trump contact and tries to decide what to do with the key and how to get back out of the Pattern room without it and without walking the Pattern. She tucks the key into the back of her belt. Cassandra opens the door, and sees Merlin. He's a Tir ghost. He has a staff in his hand. It's glowing bright silver. At the center of the Pattern are Darhyse and Greyswandir. The Pattern between Merlin and the swords is constantly shifting. The Ilk tendri couldn't enter the room, and can't even see into the room. Ilk tries to embody those tendri into an eyeball, but fails. Through the trump contact, Malachai recognizes that the Pattern is changing between Amber's, Pearl's, and some that he doesn't recognize. Cassandra tries to contact Darhyse again. When the Pattern look like Pearl's, she has a momentary contact that is ended when the Pattern changes again. Malachai suggests contacting Greyswandir. Cassandra tries, but doesn't have a link to Greyswandir and fails. Cassandra pulls out Corwin's trump and tries to trump Greyswandir. Her link with Malachai is broken, and she connects with the shambling Corwin corpse. He drools at her. She drops the contact. Cassandra is getting a trump call. It's Malachai. "At least you're alive." "You got through to Corwin?" Cassandra tries to trump Merlin. Her link with Malachai is broken again. The trump is cold, but she doesn't connect to anything. Malachai notices that the Flora who was walking towards Tir was just overtaken by the table. The walking Flora holds out a thumb, and Osric pulls her onto the table. [Speculation about the interactions between the two Floras happens] Cassandra is constantly trying to contact Darhyse, but only gains contact when the Pattern looks like the one in Pearl. She notices an irregular pattern to the appearances of Pearl's Pattern. She starts puzzling out the irregularity. Osric, Rainbow, Flora, Flora, and Chen are arriving at Tir. Osric can see Snarsht. Snarsht is somewhat indistinct at times, but Osric doesn't have a problem with that. Osric asks Flora why they are here and where they are going. She says that they need to head for the Pattern, where those flashes were happening. The Ilk tendri down by the Pattern notice two Pattern sources on a table approaching him directly. Osric and company are flying through the castle straight to the Pattern room. Things seem to be moving out of their way. They arrive at the Pattern room, and Flora expresses disappointment at the lack of a key. They chat about solidness and moving walls. Nobody claims credit for moving the walls out of their path. Cassandra hears a noise behind her. She turns, and sees Flora saying, "Damn. Someone stole the key!" There is some discussion, then a table is jammed in the doorway, propping the door open, and Flora, a little girl, and Rainbow come into the room. Osric stays by the table. Their presence has no effect on the other things in the room as far as Cassandra can tell. Osric greets Merlin. Merlin doesn't react to the greeting. Cassandra tells Flora to shut up and invites them all to leave. Flora comments on Cassandra's poor manners. Osric continues freeing the Flora that is still attached to the table. Osric contributes to the conversation. "Isn't that Norton's sword in the center of the Pattern?" Cassandra is displeased. "No, that's my father's blade." Osric finishes freeing Flora, who climbs off the table. The Floras looks at each other and say, "It's hideous, but we'll have to bear it". Rainbow enters the room, flows over the erratically-dressed Flora, and Flora's dress changes. Rainbow flows back off of Flora, leaves the room, and shudders. "Ah, I hate that." Osric asks the Floras what is going on. They respond that they need to stabilize that Pattern, if only that young lady will get out of the way. Osric offers to help. The Floras ask if he has Pattern. He declines, and they suggest that he move to a safe distance away, like Oklahoma. Osric looks confused. They explain to him that the other side of that wall should be safe enough. Osric leaves the room and hangs out on the far side of the doorway. Rainbow is there, smoking. Osric lights a stogey. Cassandra thinks that the Floras are still by the table when one of them taps her shoulder twice. She reflexively swings, Flora withdraws her hand to allow the blade to pass, and taps her shoulder a third time. Flora explains that they need to walk the Pattern to stabilize it and retrieve the swords. Cassandra snipes at her, and claims that they will end up on a Pattern that they cannot walk and will die. Flora replies that they'll just start when the Pattern is something they can touch, and hope it doesn't change under them, but that they would prefer that Cassandra leave first so she isn't accidentally killed by the backlash. Cassandra contacts Darhyse briefly, and tries to recall her. Nothing. Malachai chips in over the trump contact. "Probably your best chance is to let them walk the Pattern." Osric suggests that they have someone fly over the Pattern and fetch the swords. Flora explains that technique has been tried before, and that things crossing the zone of influence of the Pattern improperly burst into flames and die. Brand used to release birds over the Pattern and bet on which ones would last the longest, and Caine took people he didn't like, threw them over the Pattern, and watched them burn. The Floras chat with each other about Cassandra's lack of manners. Cassandra agrees to step away from the Pattern, but refuses to leave the room, despite the Floras' insistence. Cassandra turns around to face Osric and feels a tug at her belt. She reaches for it and grabs Flora's hand. She squeezes, trying to force Flora to release the key, but finds Flora's fingers intractable. "Now get out of the room or get onto the Pattern." "No." The Floras grab Cassandra by her shoulders and start pulling her towards the Pattern. Cassandra leans away from it, and they use her momentum to shove her out the door and slam it shut behind her. "Malachai, how do I get into the room?" "The key?" Cassandra opens the door. A wave of power that washes over her, knocks her on her ass, and the door closes again. Osric didn't feel anything when that happened. Cassandra announces out loud that she wants Darhyse. Nothing happens. Cassandra and Osric snipe with each other. Cassandra tries to use the Force to summon Greyswandir. Malachai notices the drain from the trump contact accelerating. He tries to maintain a lower level of contact. Cassandra feels the contact slipping, and lets it go. Malachai's trump contact with Cassandra goes down. Cassandra continues to concentrate, until she gets a trump call. It's Malachai. She snaps at him. Osric asks for the key. Cassandra offers to open the door for him. She does so, and is thrown backwards, leaving the key behind in the lock. The Ilk tendri flee down the hallway a bit. The door starts swinging closed, and Osric catches it and looks through the crack. Cassandra crawls out of line with the door and stands up. Flora and Flora are standing on the Pattern. Neither of them are moving. The section of Pattern between them is not shifting, the section in front of them is shifting, and they seem to be having a conversation with Merlin. Osric can't hear anything from the room except for a crackling being generated by the staff. They appear to be standing there casually. Cassandra comments on the lack of motion, Osric looks more carefully, and notices that the Floras are slowly inching forwards. The line that has been walked by the second Flora isn't exactly the same line as the first Flora - there's a kink where the second Flora is standing. Chen pulls out a smudged stick and starts drawing on the wall. Rainbow says, "Fascinating", shifts a finger into a smudged stick, and draws two Patterns on the wall. One matches Amber's Pattern, and the other does not look familiar to Cassandra, Ilk, or Osric. Osric checks inside the room again. The section of Pattern between the two Floras is Amber's, and the section after the second Flora matches the other Pattern that Rainbow drew. Rainbow says the second Pattern is the other Flora's Pattern. Cassandra complains that the second Flora will be ruining Tir's Pattern. Rainbow is uncertain if that means anything, given the uncertain nature of Tir. Osric says that they could just have the local Flora walk the Pattern again when she's done walking it the first time. Cassandra throws a fit, and asks if someone else could be found that could walk this Pattern. Malachai reasons out loud, for Cassandra's benefit, that the Floras must be walking the Pattern in this order and risking destroying Tir's Pattern in order to retrieve the swords for Cassandra. Malachai discusses the ramifications of the Floras' actions with Cassandra, and Osric tries to acquire generic Pattern information from Rainbow. Cassandra relays Malachai's question about rewriting the Pattern again to Rainbow, but Rainbow is uncertain if it will matter. Rainbow expresses worry that the Floras will not have enough time to finish the Pattern even once. Osric calculates their rate of progress, and observes that it will take the Floras about a week to finish, if nothing slows them down. He tells the others. Cassandra says, "I want to go home. I want to go home," Cassandra disappears. Malachai's trump contact stays up. Cassandra finds herself next to a tent in a plain. She is annoyed, and expresses her desire to get back to Tir, now. Malachai pulls her through the contact, and Cassandra starts walking up the stairs. Osric tries wishing, and nothing happens. The tendrils that Ilk sent looking for Cassandra find her, and give her a bit of help. Cassandra leaves the stairs and accelerates towards Tir. Cassandra finds herself with unsupported, far off the ground. She closes her eyes. Ilk pulls her directly into the corridor outside the Pattern room, then retreats down the hallway away from the Pattern room. A discussion occurs about Logrus users around Pattern, and Cassandra comments that that must have hurt. A paper airplane goes wafting towards Cassandra. She catches and unfolds it. It reads, "Ow." Cassandra tries again. "I want to have both Greyswandir and Darhyse in my hands." Nothing happens. Osric and Rainbow speculate. Another paper airplane floats towards Cassandra. She catches and unfolds it. "There is no Pattern energy around you." Cassandra steps into the cone of Pattern energy, and says, "I want to have Greyswandir and Darhyse in my hands". Cassandra disappears. She's in the center of the Pattern. Both of her hands are bleeding, because she's holding the blades of two swords. Malachai pulls her through. She's now standing at the foot of Kolvir, holding both Pattern-blades by the blade. Malachai pulls bandages out of his pack to work on her hands. [Cassandra almost dripped blood on the center of the Pattern!] Cassandra drops Greyswandir, When she unclasps her hand from around Darhyse, the sword remains sticking to her palm. Cassandra reaches mentally for Darhyse, and passes out. Malachai tries to wake her up, fails, and starts bandaging her hands. When he tries to bandage the hand holding Darhyse, the sword rolls up her arm to expose the hand. Osric sees Cassandra appear in the center of the Pattern and disappear again with the swords. He tries to get Flora's attention, with no success. He walks into the Pattern room, and positions the table so it blocks the door. When he leaves the area demarcated by the swinging door, he feels like someone struck a crystal at its resonant frequency and the crystal is his body. He retreats. The Ilk tendrils following Cassandra find a big hunk of local Pattern energy down where Malachai was standing. ------------------------- Ilk asks Norton to look physically at the foot of the stairs. Norton tries to lure Jean out of his brain with coco, but fails. Celeste in Norton tries to make Jean coco, but is blocked by Norton, so she makes Jean hot chocolate instead. Ilk in Norton - "There are some people down by the Pattern that we might want to pick up." Norton - "Like?" Ilk - "An Old Lord." Norton - "It's always good to have a spare." Norton wants to do something fun with the now-dead hydra body, but Snarsht reabsorbs it. Ilk sends a few tendri down towards Rainbow. Norton starts wandering away to get a better handle on the scope covered by the SEP field. After he goes away a bit, he loses any interest in going farther and decides to wander back. Norton gives Snarsht one of his fish. Snarsht accepts it as his due. Ilk tosses a paper airplane to Rainbow, inviting him to join them. Rainbow declines, saying he should remain with his SOs. Ilk sends the airplane back apologizing for the intrusion. Rainbow mentions that Ilk is leaving and asks Osric if he wants a lift. Osric and Ilk toss the paper airplane back and forth multiple times. Merlin lowers his staff, turns around, and starts walking towards Osric. The two women have just come into full focus and are now moving at high speed across the Pattern. Osric waves at Merlin. Merlin is walking right towards him and looking right through him. Merlin walks through Osric, but his staff and the hand holding the staff impact Osric. Osric steps to the side, letting the staff by, then grabs it to tweak Merlin. When he touches the staff, he achieves contact with Merlin. Merlin is amazed that Osric is still alive. Merlin says that Osric gave his life for him about six turnings ago by throwing himself onto Toram, and that distracted Toram enough that they could explode him. They held a very nice funeral, and Osric is a hero in Amber and everything. "I hold regular throne hours." "Where?" "In the castle." "This one?" "That one." "In Kolvir?" Merlin is apparently King of both Chaos and Amber in his reality. "Last of the Amberites, oldest of the Old Lords." Apparently they beat Toram by Osric throwing himself on Toram, Merlin jamming his staff through Toram and draining his power and Brand shattering the Jewel of Judgment on him. Both Osric and Brand died in the effort. Osric tells Rainbow about Merlin and the staff, and Rainbow goes chasing off after the departing staff. Now only Osric and Chen remain. Chen is drawing a very nice picture of Osric's combat form, despite having never seen it. Under the picture is written one word, "Daddy." Osric is not okay with this. Tir is about to depart for the day. There is only one Flora left, and she is almost at the end of the Pattern. Malachai trumps the Corwin zombie and pulls it through to him. Osric prepares to shift into a flying form that can catch a plummeting Chen. Ilk tries to encourage the people clustered around Snarsht to head down the stairs. Snarsht looks at Ilk and jumps, arcing towards Kolvir. About a quarter of the way through his arc, Ilk and Norton can no longer see him. He has apparently left the shadow. Flora's last step on the Pattern is taken just as Tir begins to fade. She turns, waves to Osric, exchanges a few words of farewell, and disappears. Tir fades out. Osric grabs Chen, shifts into a flying manta, and heads down. There is no sign of Rainbow. [Rainbow presumably went with the Merlin-ghost - touching the staff when Tir went away] Ilk prime snags the newest addition to Jean with one of his tendrils and heads down. The Nortons turn into vultures and soar towards Malachai. ------------------------ Hey! They're Shooting at Me! Cassandra wakes up to see Malachai leaning over her. She has a Pattern-blade in each hand. There are two vultures stooping at her, a bobbing corpse approaching her, and a manta. There is a little girl clinging to Malachai. Cassandra sheaths Darhyse. Greyswandir shimmers in her hand, then goes tumbling end-over-end and lands in the hand of the Corwin corpse. He raises the sword over his head, mumbles, his tongue falls out. He strikes the stone with Greyswandir and disappears. Norton puts the tongue in the biohazard box and grills the Corwin simulacrum for the location of his body. Corwin has no idea where Corwin went, and suggests that he might have gone to his rooms. Cassandra tries to trump Corwin and fails - out of range. Norton with Corwin goes sailing off in search of Corwin's body. Norton without Corwin assumes that he has been betrayed by himself, and follows himself. Ilk sends a few tendrils along, including the one carrying Jean's newest body. There is a large amount of gunfire heading in their general direction as Norton approaches the castle. Norton can also hear buzzing. Corwin complains about being shot at, and asks for the body. The Norton in front of Norton turns into Corwin. Corwin pulls Greyswandir and the Jewels of Judgment. Ilk in Norton holds the body in the air. The gunfire concentrates on him, and start poking holes through him. Ilk raises shields, but the bullets tear right through them. Ilk notices Pattern in the bullets, and retreats the body. Corwin is annoyed. ------------------------ Jean Walks the Primal Pattern During Jean's temper tantrum, he notices that the plants are very unwilling to move. The frogs are shredded when their flight path intersects a plant. There are fifteen or so frogs. Jean notices that the frogs stick to the walls - they splatter, and as they heal, they heal into the wall. When they finish healing, they fall off. Jean climbs up the wall, using the frogs as suction cups. His companions exude arms and help. Down gets farther away, up gets closer. He reaches the top. Looking down he sees a chimney going down into the rock. There's a tree next to him, and the hill slopes down towards a grassy plain with a Pattern on it. Jean seems to be standing on Kolvir, and looking at the place where the castle should be. Jean lobs six of the frogs back down into the garden so someone else could get out. Jean's demons cannot shift at all here. He's stuck with a bow tie with two little arms sticking out of it and a top hat with four little arms. Jean puts out a distress call on the Jean-band and heads down towards the Pattern. Some of the frogs escape and hop back towards the hole. Jean puts the rest in the hat. Jean tosses a frog out onto the Pattern. It hits a line of the Pattern, and starts hopping along the Pattern. It hops the whole way, reaches the end, and disappears. Jean throws another one out into the middle of the Pattern, and watches it curve back towards the beginning of the Pattern and starts hopping along the line. Jean throws another one trying to knock the second one off the Pattern, and that one also curves back to the beginning and starts hopping along the Pattern. Jean has four frogs left in the hat. "Follow the frogs." When he starts walking the Pattern, the frogs start jumping all over the place because his hat and bow tie have disappeared. Sparks are rising around him. He is forced to go forward and walk along the lines. He really doesn't like that, and makes a mental note to return later and skip the Pattern. The Jeans in Nortons heads have Pattern energy pouring into them. The head people discuss what to do about the intrusion. Corwin - What are you doing? Jean - Walking. Corwin - You're walking the Pattern?! Corwin explains that walking the Pattern at age five is bad because it will freeze Jean forever at age five. Jean offers to stop, but is told that it isn't possible. Ilk suggests that Jean can probably just shapeshift himself into whatever age he wants. Jean in Norton's head tries to shapeshift. All of the other Jeans try to shapeshift, too. The Jean that is being Logrus-pulled around shifts his shape. Norton notices that the Jean in his head has no idea how to shapeshift. Jean survives. He reaches the center of the Pattern. He's tired and wants to take a nap, so he does so. Jean lies down and takes a nap in the center of the Primal Pattern. Walking the Pattern is not unlike a religious experience. It is wonderful and awesome at the same time. Being five years old, having grown up in the Courts of Chaos, and not having any preconceptions about what the Pattern is like, Jean's mind appreciates walking the Pattern in a rather unique fashion. It actually occupies most of the attention of all of the Jeans. --EORun--