DRAFT Run log for 010109

Major Events:

• Cailin and Natasha Invade Amber, Poorly
• Hamster Oberon Abducts Ingold and Invades Amber
• Ferethyn Gets Pissy; Shiryu Tries to Mollify Him
• Caine Loots Toram's Lands

Cailin and Natasha Invade Amber, Poorly

Cailin points his newly acquired Pattern blade at the Shrine of the Unicorn, and soldiers in the colors of House Moonlight tramp out. When he gestures angrily, the soldiers all fall on their knees.

Jean asks Cailin if they can use them to take Amber. Cailin agrees, so Jean tells Faythe that they now have troops. Jean tells Zack that they have troops now. Zack suggests that they test them.

Jean recruits people from a place where the sun hasn't risen for four days to go take Amber.

Cailin appoints Natasha his captain, and she forms up the troops. The troops are ordered to leave the Hampster Gerard and Hampster Eric a wide berth.

Natasha leads the troops in a charge up the hill, corn-dog held on high. Cailin is holding Auntantric up high. Half-way up the hill, the ground opens up beneath them and they all are swallowed up. Natasha jumps free and tosses the corn dog into the hole behind her.

Cailin points the blade at the altar again, and Bleys's troops in House Moonlight colors come pouring out again.

Cailin notices a spell on the blade - it will summon Bleys's troops from anywhere in shadow. He notices a lot of other spells on the blade, some of which are booby-trapped and keyed to Bleys.

Cailin sends a soldier up the hill, and it is consumed by the trap. He orders another to disarm and sends him up the hill, and he is also consumed. Jean whales in a martyr, and sends him up the hill carrying a sword by the blade. The martyr manages to cut his own head off before he gets half-way up the hill. Cailin orders another soldier up wearing just a breachclout, and he doesn't get eaten. The next guy goes up with a breachclout and a sword, and gets eaten. Cailin sends someone else up while scanning passively, and spots Oberon's signature all over it. Jean dresses a martyr in arms and armor and tells him to walk up the hill. The martyr succeeds, then strips.

Jean speculates that this could be triggered on Bleys's troops.

Natasha conjures a sword and hands it to a stripped soldier. The soldier makes it up the hill.

The martyr leans up against the door. Out of the walls shoot six tiny darts which hit the three people near the door in vital spots. They all die.

Jean orders the martyr inside the castle back to the front door. The martyr leans too far over and falls off the parapet. About half-way down, a crossbow bolt shoots out of a window and hits him. The martyr screams, "Yes! " He lands onto one of the blucite parking spots and is blown into the bay.

After a slight pause, from inside the window two tiny hampster heads poke out from the window, look confused, then pull back in.

Jean duct-tapes a pile of blucite together and has a few stripped soldiers push it up the hill. Three quarters of the way up the hill, there is an explosion, but due to the off-balance nature of the block, it doesn't land in the harbor.

Complaints Department

Neville receives a call from the steward of a Golden Circle kingdom. They have just received a very strange attack. Neville takes two mages and goes off to the shadow. There is a large hole in the castle, several chunks of blucite duct-taped together, some corpses above it, and a corpse on a throne beneath it.

Neville can see that the incoming trajectory was along a shadow path through the air with Random's signature.

They follow the track back, and they're over Arden. There are also a number of large birds shooting up out of the forest at him.

Neville can see a large group of armed people on a nearby hill and heads towards it, thinking that the birds' commander is on the hill.

Confusion Abounds

Jean, Cailin, and Natasha see a flying carpet incoming, with a flock of familiar-looking birds following it.

"Zack - you're here! Are you in multiple places yet?"

"Huh? No."

"So you're not on that carpet."

"No...."

"Do you know who is on that carpet?"

"Should I?"

"I don't know."

"Jean? You can fly."

"Good point."

Jean flies up, sees Neville, and tells Zack that Neville is on the carpet so the birds should be called off.

Cailin asks Jean to tell Zack to tell the birds not to eat the marbles.

Playing with Evil Benedict's Defenses

Neville tells Jean that the chunk of duct-taped blucite fell on an ally of his. Jean says oops.

Neville maneuvers to land near Cailin and Natasha. There is a major magical attack on Neville and company from the castle. His two mages try to defend against it. One of them falls over, the other manages to get the rug down but catches on fire. Neville puts out the fire.

Cailin's senses observe a major magical attack, it had evil Benedict's signature on it, and it seemed to be pointed at anything magical in the area.

They briefly discuss the attack.

Jean imports the cold people from the cleaning crew to Amber city to start cleaning. Upon arrival, they have a religious epiphany, decide that this is nirvana, and that they don't want to move a stone. Jean is disgusted, and decides not to send any more.

Cailin points the sword at Natasha. Cailin notices interesting reactions to the presence of a decendent of Benedict and a number of spell start unracking. Cailin tries to stop the spells, and barely succeeds in staying keeping them racked.

Cailin orders two troops up the hill armed. Just before they reach the place where the others were eaten by the ground, a bolt of lightning shoots out from one of the towers and fries them. The lightning has Evil Benedict's signature on it.

Neville looks for Pattern traces up there, but cannot see anything beyond the blinding background radiation of the castle.

Neville demands an introduction.

"I'm Natasha. He's mine."

"I'm Neville of House Helgram."

Natasha says that a bunch of sorcerers from House Helgram used to hang out at her place by the Spiral.

Cailin points at two more soldiers and orders them to head up the hill armed. They stop before the char marks, look back at the group, and then start tiptoeing. They are eaten by the mouth, which gets them before they reach the char mark.

A large bundled up tapestry is tossed out of a window. There are two hampsters watching it from the window. They see it get hit by several shafts, catch on fire, get hit by a lightning bolt, hit the ground, activate a blucite bomb and flung into the harbor. The two hampsters are cheering.

Jean tells Faythe that she'll be the regent for the regent in exile for a long time yet, and shows her an animated bug.

"That's Eric and Gerard, the hampsters."

"Eric and Gerard were turned into hampsters?"

"No..."

Neville detects Pattern on the hampsters. They have local Pattern. Jean tries to explain the hampsters to Neville.

Jean asks Benedict if he would like to help them retake Amber, because Evil Benedict has left. Benedict informs Jean that preventing the recreation of the one who shall not be named is more important that retaking Amber.

There is a small disturbance and someone's head appears at a window. And then shoulders. It seems somewhat limp, as if it was being hoisted there. More and more of the body is raised until it falls out the window. Another lightning bolt flashed out of the same tower and vaporizes the corpse. Cailin can tell that the lightning bolt was Oberon's, and was not magic-based. Neville cannot tell if the lightning bolt was Pattern or not.

Jean tries to fish hampster Oberon in, but hampster Oberon escapes from the fish in-transit.

The sparkly red thing that Jean has been guarding has gone missing.

There is mention in the book of a blade of wrath wielded by the Lord of Darkness.

Elsewhere

Time jump -- Savior of Chaos has shown up at the Realms Lord meeting which has ended, the Serpent's apprentice has returned to the Serpent, Ferethyn and Shiryu have left.

Hamster Oberon Abducts Ingold ...

Not long after the Realms Lord meeting has ended, Savior of Chaos receives a trump call from Ingold. Ilk takes the call.

He has been propositioned by a hampster analogue of Oberon, who wants Ingold to be his carriage, because they're invading Amber. The hampster has the Jewel. Ilk checks with Jean.

They chat for a bit. Ingold mentions that Ilk might make a good trump card against the hampster who is holding a blade to his throat.

Ilk tells Pattern Suhuy's apprentice about the situation, who tells Pattern Suhuy. They head over to Ingold, three shadows over. Ingold is inside a ward raised by the Jewel of Judgment. It's magic, run through the Jewel of Judgment.

There is hampster Oberon with a Jewel as large as himself and an army of vermin. Ilk brings up a voder. "Hi, Oberon." The hampster says, "Good, he accepted." and drops the ward.

Ingold rips a hole into the Void; Ilk and Pattern Suhuy decide to meet him there.

... and Invades Amber

A rent opens in space near Amber. Out of the rift steps Ingold, looking very Pied-piper-ish. Riding his shoulder is a hampster Oberon, with one paw entwined around the chain on a Jewel of Judgment as tall as himself.

Oberon has a sword-belt on. The sword in the sword belt is also a Pattern artifact, as Neville can tell.

Neville: "It's nice to know that the Old Lords are taking this seriously."

Hampster Oberon squeaks loudly at the castle. Hampster Gerard and hampster Eric poke their heads out of a window and squeak back.

Neville: "So... Oberon... if you succeed in taking over this Castle Amber, will you be staying here or going back to your own reality?"

Oberon: "Going back. I was told that I could help."

Oberon warns them that they will be attacked soon.

Neville convinces his two mages to gate out --- "you're no good to me dead."

Jean tells Zack that hampster Oberon says that they are about to be attacked. Zack says that an force of armed men have crossed their outer marker. Information is relayed back. Zack is counting backwards, slowly. When he gets to zero, there is an explosion as the invading force reaches the land mines.

Neville puts on his Frogdalorian armor. The castle's ambient glow overwashes the Pattern. He also acquires some of the kittens. Neville can detect two holes in his vision. "Ilk? Is that you?" "Yup." "Is the other one you, too?" "That's a friend,"

Oberon starts out offering suggestions, and then finally orders to Natasha. Natasha is not pleased.

The skunks prove to be particularly ineffective because they are large enough to trigger the defenses. Bats prove to be the base of a useful airborne. The troops are being met by hampster Eric and Gerard. Neville tries to make the vermin troops more real, and succeeds. Oberon notices, thanks him, then looks up at the battlements and back at Neville, then smiles.

Neville can detect Trump curdled into the blade.

Ferethyn gets Pissy; Shiryu tries to Mollify Him

In the Realms Lord meeting, Ferethyn has fallen over.

Jenoir says that Ferethyn fell over at the exact same time that Cailin was fucking around with the snow in Thelbane. Marial recommends that Ilk not tell Jenoir that Ferethyn fell over.

Serpent's apprentice goes out into Thelbane proper and checks it out with Logrus. He can tell that the snow is a tracking device for magical workings. The intensity shows the intensity of the magical working.

Ilk fills the room with conventional snow, and the magical snow decreases in volume to make room. When the room is full of conventional snow, the magical snow is gone.

Ferethyn wakes up once all of the snow is gone.

Ferethyn brings in a sample of the snow. It looks funny until Ilk realizes that Ferethyn hasn't actually brought it in; he's just made a place with snow coincidinal with here.

Marial asks Shiryu about some movements of the snow. Shiryu answers, then Marial leaves to distract the snow.

Shiryu gets into a heated discussion with Ferethyn; Ferethyn thinks that the snow is important; Shiryu thinks that it is a red herring. Ferethyn stalks off saying that he will deal with the snow from his own place. Shiryu steps out, goes to Ingold, forbids Ingold from playing with his Pattern at this particular time, "The Council of Lords has decided that it would be inappropriate for you to experiment with your Pattern at this time", and goes back to the room.

Suhuy goes off to look for reality seeds in Toram's lands.

Savior of Chaos goes off to update Pharaban on the anti-Logrus amulets, then swaps places with the Serpent's apprentice in Thelbane who goes off, checks his shape, tells the others, then returns to the Serpent.

Caine Loots Toram's Lands

Suhuy finds a Pattern source in the pyramid in Toram's lands.

He throws a few tendrils into the pyramid to check it out. The Pattern source is a sneaking Caine, investigating the place.

In the very heart of the pyramid is one reality seed. It seems to be somehow powering the pyramid. The interface appears to be a time-damper field around a slowly exploding Logrus-bomb. Suhuy studies it. After several hours of study and a few sacrificed tendrils, Suhuy thinks that if someone threw an exploding Logrus-bomb at him, he could recreate the power-source environment. With Melk's help, he could get farther.

Suhuy looks out along the power threads leaving the heart, and can see that Caine has gotten almost all of the way into the center, disarming everything else in the pyramid and replacing it with his signature. He's not sure how much closer Caine can get to the power source without Bad Things Happening.

Suhuy swaps roles with Savior of Chaos, who warns Caine that he probably shouldn't come much closer to the power source, but can't tell for sure, not knowing how familiar he is with the Logrus. Caine asks Ilk if he can deactivate it, and Ilk says that he can't shut it off, but that he could detonate it, but that might send up a flare that would be noticed and would definitely destroy the temple. Caine decides that there is no need to explore farther and heads off to continue looting ... err ... securing these lands. Savior of Chaos swaps back with Suhuy who resumes looking for reality seeds and other things of interest.

The life-eating grass is still present, but the Gwen temples on Toram's lands are still empty and abandoned.

--EORun--