DRAFT Run Log for 980421

Present:

Tia	- Cassandra
Andrew	- Osric
Lori	- Celeste
Dave R	- Malachai
Dave K	- Ilk, logging
Sam	- Jean
Ken	- Norton

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

Major Events:

* Begma. Status, Infested.
* Cassandra is Summoned by Princess Chandra
* In the Tower, the Mighty Tower, Clarissa Wakes Tonight

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

Begma. Status, Infested.


Osric and Malachai are preparing for their investigation into Gwen's
inroads into the shadows congruent to the Fringe.  They step through a
ring station from Fringe into shadow. It's dark. No light source. Osric's
fingertip starts glowing.  They're standing on a hard surface, and there
are no walls visible. Osric shifts his finger into a flashlight. They're
standing on a packed floor of either stone or dirt.  They can see a cave
wall about a quarter of a mile off in one direction, and the bottoms of
stalactites hanging down to about twice the height of the ring station.

"Hey - look over there!" Osric distracts Malachai and shifts into a
centaur.  Malachai, still mounted on Bucephalus, and Osric ride towards
the wall. They follow the wall and arrive at a massive pair of
ceremonial doors with "Welcome to Begma" inscribed on them. Malachai
tells Osric that Begma is a shadow near Amber.

Osric pushes on the doors. They seem to be well-balanced, and open
easily, dislodging dust as they swing. On the other side of the doors is
written, "You are now leaving Begma". The walls and ceiling here are
made from dressed stone, and there are holes in the wall that emit the
ambient light. When they look at the crystals, they see stars reflected,
and suspect periscopes.

Osric and Malachai explore their surroundings. There are a few doors and
a set of stairs. There are anti-magic sigils on some of the doors,
designed to keep mages imprisoned, that really bother Osric on a
fundamental level. They climb the stairs, and arrive in a more
traditional-looking dungeon - dank, lit torches in wall sconces,
tortured prisoners chained to walls, and so on.  They continue walking,
and arrive near an area where Malachai suspects the presence of a guard
post. They decide to be friendly, and Malachai calls out, "Hello?"  No
response.  Malachai sidles along the wall up to a corner, and spots a
guard next to a speaking-tube. "Hello" "Halt" "I'm already halted."
"Good. Stay there or I'll impale you." The guard is armed with a long
stick that has a pointy thing on one end.  "Whose castle is this?"
"This is the castle of his Majesty Ronald the Fourth, King of Begma" "I
am Prince Malachai of Amber, and need to see whomever is in charge of
this castle"

The guard mutters into the speaking tube, then asks Malachai if he would
wait with him for an armed escort to arrive. Osric takes a human form,
and joins Malachai.

An armed escort that would be overly armed if Malachai were here on an
announced visit, but not sufficiently well armed to handle an Amberite,
arrives.  The guard asks, "Please escort the two Princes of Amber to the
king".  Malachai allows the error to stand and the escort leads Malachai
and Osric to a waiting room.

The herald comes to attention, says, "The king will see you now", and
the door opens, exposing the throne room.  Instead of the colors of
Begma draped everywhere, the room is decorated entirely in white. On
either side of the throne is the dread statue white.  The king is
sitting on the throne, and looks like he dressed somewhat
hastily. Malachai parks his horse just inside the throne room.

They approach the throne. When Malachai reaches the line where
petitioners would normally bow, the king rises and gives Malachai a bow
from one equal to another, as is proper.  Malachai returns the bow, as
does Osric.

Malachai mentions that the throne room seems to have been redecorated
since his last visit, and the king claims that it is due to the
necessities of cleaning. Many rebellions and attempted revolutions have
left blood everywhere, and it's just difficult to get blood out of
colors.  The king says that the rioters and assassins seem to have no
greater plan than charging the castle and throwing themselves at anyone
in royal colors they can see.

Malachai asks about the statues and is eventually told, after much
hedging, that they are the symbol of a new luck goddess, and that she
has become extremely popular.

As they turn to leave, Osric drops his fringe crystal such that it rolls
in the direction of the king. A servant picks it up and hands it back to
Osric. The gem fails to react to the king when it is within ten feet of
him.  The king tells Osric that he might be interested in acquiring gems
like that one to add to the crown jewels.

They leave the castle, and spot two more statues on their way out. As
they pass through the walled city, they see shrines with drawings of the
statues on the walls and crude home-built copies of the statues.  The
shrine of the unicorn is well-kept but not tenanted.

Malachai trumps Corwin, using Darkstar's trump. Before Malachai reaches
Corwin, Corwin responds. "How goes the expedition?" "We're in Begma."
"Aaah." "It's infested" "Eeew" Malachai asks Corwin about his sudden
healing.  Corwin says that he went to a fast place to rest. He claims
that he can't sleep, and that he has had problems adding to his
knowledge store since he died. Corwin says that he's been stacking dead
bodies, and Malachai replies that it seems that Benedict killed everyone
in the castle that he couldn't trust, and that most of the people in the
castle were servants acquired for Cathryne's Pattern Party by
Ilkandacian. Corwin remembers that he needs to have a long talk with his
daughter, but doesn't remember what it was about.

[Corwin only sleeps for the fun of it]

Malachai and Osric head off along the shadow paths towards some of the
other Golden Circle kingdoms.


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

Cassandra is Summoned by Princess Chandra


Celeste, a Norton containing Brand, a Norton without Brand,
ex-solo-ex-Norton-head Ilkandacian, Celeste, a no longer dessicated
Clarissa, and Celeste's vegetable of a daughter are in Clarissa's tower.
Ilk is in trump contact with Cassandra who is standing on the surface of
Darkover and is in physical contact with Gil and the tendri'd Ilk
prime. Janus is inside the blue crystal in the center of the room aiding
Clarissa, while wearing six Jewels of Judgment and carrying
Greyswandir. Toram's soul is in Blackwand, the Morganti great weapon
lying on the floor of the tower.  There is an invisible flying saucer
floating near Cassandra that contains another Ilk, Corwin, and Jean.

[Got Ilk?]

Ilk prime asks Cassandra what tasks she has to accomplish here. She
replies that Celeste wanted to talk to her here, but she doesn't want to
wait for the three days that Celeste estimates it will take for Clarissa
to beat Toram, now that she has a reasonable amount of
support. Cassandra mentions her appointment with Princess Chandra, and
Ilk decides that it might be best to check his messages. The Ilk in the
flying saucer creates a gate to Home. Ilk prime goes through the gate,
gets a status report from Home and House Cara, and checks his
messages. There are two messages waiting for him at House Cara, both
from Princess Chandra. "Now", and "I'm waiting." 

Ilk prime returns through the gate to Darkover, and babbles incoherently
at Cassandra briefly before calming down enough to tell her that
Princess Chandra has left not just one, but two messages declaring her
readiness for their audience.  They decide to depart. Cassandra tells
the Ilk in the tower to tell Celeste that she should look her up if she
wants to talk when she is less busy. 

Ilk prime sends a "It's me, fire and I kill you" message ahead of him
and takes Cassandra and Gil through to the wing of House Cara that
houses Zack, which Zack has customized somewhat for Amberite use.  Ilk
points out the appropriate facilities to Cassandra, warns his troops
that he has a guest and her bodyguard, both of which should be treated
with courtesy, tells Cassandra that he will return in five minutes after
taking a quick nap, and goes to Home. 

Cassandra strips and cleans in a tub. The tub has an odd set of controls
- the color, temperature, and viscosity of the water are all
selectable. Darhyse rests on the edge of the tub, refusing to come into
the water or to leave the shape of a sword.  Cassandra and Darhyse chat.
Gil re-enters the room carrying an armful of clothes that she scavenged
from Zack's rooms and the rooms next door to his. They include several
Amberite guard's uniforms and a harem outfit, as well as some less
objectionable materials. 

Ilk tells some of the inhabitants of Home to try to wake him when five
minutes have passed at House Cara, and to pass a message to Cassandra if
they cannot wake him.  He decides not to risk sleeping while tendri'd,
so embodies and falls over. 

At one point, almost immediately after Cassandra and Gil enter the rooms
in House Cara, a note is slipped under the door which Gil reads. Gil
laughs, but doesn't tell Cassandra what it says. 

[The note says, roughly, "We can't wake him up" and "What's five
minutes?"]

Cassandra finishes bathing and assembles an outfit out of the articles
of clothing that Gil scavenged. Ilk wakes and returns to House Cara,
discovering that an hour has passed in his absence.  Ilk acquires formal
clothing from his closet and dresses.

Ilk summons his star-core powered demon-shell boat. Cassandra, Gil, and
Ilk board and proceed towards the Assassins Guild. As they travel, Ilk
tries to fill Cassandra in on the nature of Guilds in the Courts of
Chaos, and the differences between apprentices and apprentices to Old
Lords, but cannot answer most of her questions, never having belonged to
a formal guild himself.  After traveling over the sea of multicolored
nasty demons for a while they reach Princess Chandra's chateau.  The
ground beneath the chateau is shaped into a hill that holds Princess
Chandra's home entirely above the demons.

Cassandra, Gil, and Ilk exit the boat. Ilk knocks on the front door. 

An elderly lady opens the door. She introduces herself as Mrinnerra (?)
of the Etiquette Guild, and greets Ilkandacian, head of House Cara, Lady
Cassandra of Pearl, and Gil, her bodyguard. 

She invites them in. 


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

Chaos-Ho!


Norton and Norton, Celeste, Ilk.

[She's your grandmother <em>and</em> your mother and law]

---- retcon ----

[Note - this will be moved to the appropriate place in the above
section RSN] 

Ilk asks Norton if he can borrow Corwin's trump of Ingold
momentarily. Norton claims that he needs to keep Corwin's trumps
together so he can return them to Corwin.  Norton tries to trump Ingold,
gets a brief connect, is recognized, and gets cut off.  Ilk tries to
trump Ingold, gets a brief contact, is recognized, gets a massive
headache, and gets cut off.

Ilk asks Cassandra if she can try to trump Ingold for him. Gil replies,
telling Ilk that Ingold is busy at the moment.  Gil says that Ingold
will be notified of his concerns, and that Ingold will be told that Ilk
is looking for him.

Cassandra asks Norton for her father's trumps. Norton is worried about
Corwin's reaction to him not being able to return the trump deck, and
passes a contract through the trump contact down to Cassandra. Cassandra
reads it - it absolves Norton of any complicity in his lack of
possession of Corwin's trump deck. Cassandra signs the form and passes
it back up, receiving the deck in return. Norton and his Brand look
carefully at each card in the deck before handing it over. Cassandra
checks the deck - it's larger than her father's standard deck, and
contains a number of trump that Cassandra is horrified to see out of
Pearl.

---- retcon ----

Ilk in the tower talks to the Nortons, and they decide that one of the
Nortons should head back to Chaos. Norton agrees not to kill the former
heads on sight, and Ilk gives him a recognition string that he can use
to tell the flying saucer that it's safe to be seen.   Norton asks Brand
for information on how to leave the tower. Brand is unhelpful, and
Norton fumbles around a bit before hitting on a technique that works. 

For just a moment, a dead Faythe appears in the tower exactly where
Norton was, then goes down.  Celeste looks at the remaining Norton, and
says "Stop that!"  Norton agrees to try taking the form of a theoretical
grandchild next time instead of a theoretical child. Celeste is not okay
with that. 

Norton arrives in the desert, and says the recognition string. The
flying saucer decloaks and Ilk in the saucer greets Norton. 

Norton tells Ilk to look like Ilk. Ilk in the saucer shapeshifts into
his human form, and the Jean and the Corwin find themselves alone in a
flying saucer that is rapidly losing power.  Ilk, now no longer in the
saucer, connects a tendril to the saucer and feeds it power. The saucer
stops dropping. Jean asks Ilk for jade bodies over the link. Ilk
constructs two small bodies from the remaining jade. Norton regards them
as crude, and offers to improve them. Norton shapes bodies out of sand
around the jade, one into the shape of a Corwin, and the other into the
weird shape of a theoretical possible cross between Rainbow and Flora.
Jean buds from the flying saucer into the tentacular creature, with no
comments or complaints on the body. 

Corwin fails to enter the silicon Corwin. Ilk asks Norton to help
Corwin. Norton binds the small piece of Corwin soul from the saucer into
the Corwin body.

Jean tries to figure out how to get one of him out of the now unpowered
saucer. Jean in the sand creature tries to pull the other Jean from the
flying saucer to him, and fails.  Jean, now alone, tries to be in charge
of the flying saucer, and succeeds. Ilk stops feeding the saucer power.

Corwin asks for his trumps back, and is shown the contract. He asks for
a trump of Cassandra, and Ilk passes over Brand's trump sketch of
Cassandra. They chat.  Cassandra and Corwin trade status
reports. Cassandra tells Corwin that she is outside the Assassins Guild
in Chaos with Ilk, and Corwin says:

"I'm sand, but I'm getting better"

Corwin apologizes to Cassandra for any actions that the other him might
have taken to annoy her.  Corwin interrogates Norton regarding his
current inhabitants, but is sceptical at his responses. Mandor casts a
spell to take over Norton's mouth briefly and reassures Corwin that
there is nobody else there except for him, Norton, and the screaming
one. Corwin seems to be reassured. 

[Mandor really isn't a very good shapeshifter]

Cassandra passes Corwin's trump of her through to Corwin. Corwin looks
for a pocket, and mutters about not having any clothing. Ilk conjures a
standard Corwin outfit for Corwin, and Norton Logrus-pulls a pair of
drytowner pants to Corwin. Cassandra tells Corwin to take off the
drytowner pants - they clash. Corwin takes off the outer layer of pants
holds them over his head, and Norton sends them back, wrapping them
around their original owner's head.

Cassandra and Corwin finish their conversation. Corwin hands the trump
sketch of Cassandra back to Ilk, who tucks it away. 

Ilk makes a gate through to the roof of House Cara.  Ilk goes through
first to ensure a friendly reception, and the rest of the group follows.
Jean in the flying saucer sees the others go through and starts
depressing levers and buttons on the control panels inside him, and goes
rocketing through behind them, pulling up over the heads of the people
on the roof. Several mages present start preparing attack spells, but
stop when Ilk shakes his head.  Ilk shuttles the corpses that Norton had
his undead army stash in some of the empty storage rooms in House Cara
(leaving the ones in House Chanicut undisturbed) up for Norton to
raise. 

The group begins a grand tour of Chaos, with the plan of bringing aid to
the weak houses and guilds. The tour happens to coincide closely with
the locations of the known Vlad bits, which Ilk collects as they go.
Jean in the flying saucer is zooming in large circles around the group,
steadily gaining velocity.


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

In the Tower, the Mighty Tower, Clarissa Wakes Tonight


Brand is having a conversation with Norton. 

Ilk tells Celeste that Cassandra had to leave, but that she should
contact her when they are free again. 

[Celeste, with a quarter of her mind tied behind her back...]

Norton tries to get Brand and Mandor to teach him about magic. They get
lost in esoterica. Norton gets bored. 

Norton has a memory come back... The reason that Norton had stopped
where he did on Earth was because that is where he killed the person
that killed his cat. Brand recognizes the description as Bleys. 

A discussion regarding Bleys and grey spheres ensues. Ilk tells Celeste
more than he should about the spheres. Norton projects his new memory to
Celeste. She identifies the gentleman as one of her uncles that has been
missing for some time.

Celeste - "Did he come into the 'too careless to live' category?"
Norton  - "Apparently"

[Darwin is cross-shadow]

Norton and Ilk discover the presence of the Overworld, and are about to
go exploring when Celeste announces that Clarissa will be waking up in
under half of a day, and will be hungry. 

Mandor encourages Norton to go down to the kitchens to cook, and
convinces Ilk to come along by volunteering to teach him some
interesting magics.  Mandor coordinates and instructs Norton in food
preparation, amazed at the utility of shapeshifting in cooking, and
shows Ilk food-related magic and non-magical cooking details. Norton
tries to follow the magical discussions, but is unable to do so. Brand
in Norton is fascinated, and claims that he tended to do things the hard
way.  Mandor even has a spell for the presentation of the food. 

The food is served up just as Clarissa is coming around and Janus comes
running out of the blue gem, followed by two fish. Norton grabs the fish
and puts them away in an anti-magic pocket inside him.  Norton asks
Janus for the Greyswandir back, and Janus says that he would like to
keep an eye on that black sword. Janus keeps the Pattern-blade
drawn. Ilk remains about two lunges away from Janus. 

Ilk notices that the Jewels of Judgment hanging around Janus's neck are
extraordinarily quiescent, and Janus isn't emanating Pattern at all.
Celeste has never seen Clarissa this scattered before. She's only firing
on one cylinder, maybe half of a cylinder.

The meal is wonderful.  Afterwards, Clarissa declares that she is going
to take a nap, and will return in a few hours.  She departs. Janus
remains sitting next to Blackwand, with Greyswandir in hand. 


--EORun--