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Neville pokes around in Faerie. He trades one of his minions to a dryad for directions to Titania's castle, and ends up near an Amberish-looking castle made of glass. The Pattern there is covered with snail-tracks, and seems ineffective.
Cailin and Natasha have left Amber and headed towards Toram's lands. It takes about three weeks, personal time, for them to shadow-walk the distance. Just before they enter, they are met by a member of the Etiquette Guild, who says that he has been sent to inquire about their personal timing. There is an important personage who would be interested in finding out when they will be visiting her next. Cailin says that it will take some time yet for them to deal with the snow. "I am to convey to you her dismay, then." He hands Cailin a box and walks off. Natasha and Cailin snipe at each other.
The sky is completely black, colorless, and starless. It is cold. Cailin asks for some light; Natasha makes a cotton-candy torch. Natasha plays with potato chips, glowing pickles, and exploding chili. There seems to be a Grue following them. It doesn't appreciate the chili. Cailin throws a fireball at the Grue and it gets pissy. They stuff a marble into a lump of sourdough and toss it at the Grue. The Grue marbles. They identify and marble four more of the creatures. Each of the resulting marbles are larger than his normal ones. They seem to have double the mass of a standard marble.
They wander a bit, looking for interesting stuff.
Jean is inside Gwen's mountain. The two last Sith-lords, guarding their prisoners, approach, look around for Cassandra, spot Jean, and say that they have mentally broken these and that the prisoners will do anything that they bid.
Jean turns to Corwin. "Corwin. Cassandra's Sith Lords have taken prisoners and broken them. They wanted someone in charge told."
Jean tells Corwin the circumstances of Cassandra's ditching her duties. Corwin is less than pleased at the collapse of the chain of command and sends runners all over the place to find relevant people. The guy that was sent to the Torturers Guild returns with someone in tow and then collapses.
Jean fishes the Torturers Guild guy into Gwen's mountain. The guy gates the mooks and their guards back to the Guild. Just as one of the Sith Lords gates out, something goes off behind him but misses.
Jean - "Now you kids behave!"
The guy zaps Jean with something; he feels slightly queasy. "Am I going to have to explain to Cassandra why I had to kill you?"
"I'll destroy her next!" and charges him with a drawn lightsaber.
Jean unracks, and a giant wolf head appears behind the Sith. The Sith look behind him, and yells, "I'll take you with me!"
The sabre hits Jean and feeds him some power before the wolf bites off everything but the Sith's arm. Jean keeps the arm and the lightsaber.
Jean, in the Golden Circle, sees a line of people marching across the land and disappearing. They say that they've been ordered to do so by the all-powerful ones who have eyes. It looks like one of those cross-reality rifts.
Jean sends another saucer through the rift. There is someone up ahead grabbing the people, placing them onto implements of torture, and sucking the life out of them. Jean turns off the running lights and drifts up to the ceiling, shields, and turns Mr. Yuck Green.
Jean asks Dworkin what is going on here. Dworkin says that is one of the big don'ts in Chaos, and would probably make lots of people mad. Dworkin suggests that Jean check with Rainbow. Jean tells Dworkin about his lineage, and Dworkin is amazed at the thought of Jean being the child of Rainbow and Florimel. Jean asks REN. REN suggests that Shiryu or Suhuy might want to know. Melk is a maybe. Somewhere near the gate, Jean with the bug in him says, "Melk? Are you free?"
"Not particularly, but for you..."
Jean explains the rift and the icky-ness about the situation.
Melk says that he will take it up with the proper authorities, and that Jean need worry no more about it unless otherwise notified.
The Jean with the bug moves through the viewscreen into Ferethyn's digs, then exits through the rift in the skies over Arden.
They go to check on Zack; Zack is still screaming. The Jean that was there realizes that the whole army thing only took seconds in this place.
Melk becomes evident in the Serpent's antechamber-room. Princess Chandra is present at the moment. He pays no attention to anyone visible in the room, bows to an empty place in space, says three words in a language that Ilk has no idea what they are. They sound very, very real. Princess Chandra turns pale. Melk bows very low and disappears.
The bow is the respect of a crafter to a master creation, as if the bow a sword-smith would give to his best sword. Ilk wonders if Melk is bowing to his answering machine.
Princess Chandra still looks somewhat pale. "That doesn't bother you?"
"I don't know what was said."
"Oh. The equivalent of, 'Someone else is collecting scales'".
Ilk looks disturbed.
She says something to the effect of, "I think I should go and gather more information simply out of respect."
Ilk and Princess Chandra chat briefly, then Princess Chandra leaves.
Jean has an unusual feeling, as if he had a very close brush with death, and he is fairly certain that the stalactite next to him wasn't quite that thick just a moment ago. After a while, the line stops, because there aren't any more of them, and then after a while longer, he starts to break down the machine.
Jean chats with REN, and REN has Jean send someone expendable to take a look at the guy. Jean decides that it's probably safest not to send someone into Ferethyn's place.
Jean realizes that the stalactite next to him has gotten smaller again.
As he's trundling his machine off, he suddenly turns around and looks right at Jean. Jean allows his screens to look at everything but the guy's eyes. Jean finds himself drifting closer to him. He applies thrust, but it doesn't seem to apply thrust. Jean tries to ram the guy, but stops about four to six inches in front of the guy, just above the machine. Jean unracks. Just before he unracks, he has that brush of death sensation.
REN asks Jean what happened. "What happened where?"
REN explains to Jean that he should send someone through to the other side of the rift. On the other side, is what might have once been a mine shaft, because there is a big tube heading way up and way down, and the charred cavern is around the tube. There is some magma boiling up from beneath.
Ecto-Ilk notices that Jean no longer has any of his spells racked, and asks Jean if he just unracked. Jean and REN, indirectly, deny unracking. Dworkin fills Jean in a bit on what he has forgotten.
Ilk finds a lollipop in the Serpent's antechamber. He eats it. Inside the lollipop is a message. "Ilk, I hope you're getting this. There are going to be some difficulties soon." Ilk has the impression, somewhere in the back of his head, that Princess Chandra is mobilizing her entire Guild.
Jean goes up through the shaft into a ruined city. There is a refugee encampment a short distance away from the city. Jean chats with a little girl. Jean goes to look for her balloon, but it didn't survive the city's passing. Jean finds another balloon and brings it to the girl. Jean chats with a general, who takes Jean to their leaders.
Jean fishes a member of the Ambassador's Guild named Rik to the other reality. The ambassador steps out of the saucer and gives the traditional nice speech. About three-quarters of the way through his speech, someone walks into the room and sits down. There is something primally familiar about him to Jean. Jean asks REN, and puts up a cartoon screen. REN can't really tell, and asks him to show Dworkin. Jean shows Dworkin a cartoon screen of the guy. Dworkin says that it looks a lot like the gentleman that he just blew up.
Jean asks ecto-Ilk to rack some more spells in him. ecto-Ilk throws a tendril out to Savior of Chaos who starts racking spells in Jean.
REN recommends that Jean get his defenses in order. Jean asks Ilk to concentrate on defensive spells.
Jean feels that near-brush with death again, but softer. He realizes that there is something subtly wrong with the controls in that saucer, as opposed to everywhere else. It's almost as if there is a set of ghost hands resting on his controls. The controls don't feel as free as they normally would.
Jean catches a glimpse of a very familiar face in the back corner of the hall for just a moment. It's Princess Chandra. Jean becomes less worried, and decides to lie back and watch the fireworks.
After the ambassador's speech finishes, someone else stands up and gives a fairly generic, "We welcome you" speech that could apply to just about anything. Another person person stands up and very politely asks if they need to worry about being blown up. The ambassador says that he doesn't see any reason that they would be a threat.
Jean's new friend stands up and give what appears to be a welcome speech, but it has teeth in it. Jean pays attention. The ambassador deftly responds, indicating his lack of concern with the barbs. Tempers start to flare as several other nations start getting pissy at each other. The ambassador tells Jean to pretend that his voice is being amplified by the saucer, alters his vocal cords, and responds that they will leave for a while. The ambassador climbs back into Jean, who goes to hover near the ceiling.
A messenger comes in, hands a sheet to the enemy, he glances at the sheet, then turns and looks at it again, and then looks around for the messenger. The messenger is nowhere to be seen. The guy is somewhat pale.
Jean chats with the ambassador, and then they land in a corner of the room.
The argument passes to a point where the enemy is waxing xenophobic, and Jean can feel his controls being actively manipulated. He starts to drift towards the center of the room. Jean fights back. It is a difficult struggle. Jean concentrates on his controls. The line between them is broken, and Jean returns to his corner. The enemy looks far more pale.
Jean notices that, subtly, the security guards around the hall are being replaced. Jean notices when the ambassador points it out to him. The guys look like the enemy, but in different uniforms. The ambassador suggests that they delay one of the guards from falling silently with a shield. Jean goes back and forth with Ilk a bit, then gets an impact armor spell that the ambassador targets on a guard.
There is random confusion, and weapons start being discharged. Jean notices that as people are dying, their essences are being sucked into the guy's ring. The ambassador can't see the souls. People start unlimbering heavy weapons, and very few living people are left -- those who are alive are faking death.
The enemy walks out, trips over a corpse, screams, and his finger with the ring goes flying directly at Jean. Jean tractors it and brings it into the canopy. The ring has screaming tortured souls in it, like the trump cards. It is unpleasant to have near him.
Not long after the enemy has lost his finger and started screaming, the bullets that were avoiding him start hitting him and he dies.
After a while, there is a polite tap at Jean's side. Jean swivels and bows to Princess Chandra. Princess Chandra acknowledges Jean's existence and asks permission to come aboard. Princess Chandra enters Jean without becoming smaller, yet she still fits. She looks at the ring, and she is doing something to the ring, and each time she does it it stops screaming. He has no idea what she is doing. Finally there is just a single soul there. "This one, I think I shall leave. Perhaps is will have information for us. I do suggest that you allow yourself to at least look damaged and hide in a corner, so that when reinforcements arrive, it looks like you were attacked, too." Princess Chandra and the ambassador leave the saucer and smear powder on the saucer. Princess Chandra suggests that he look wounded, perhaps a broken leg and some blood.
There are members of the Assassins Guild leaving from parts of the room that were never seen arriving. They look at Jean, look at the ambassador, and leave. The ambassador appears out of his depth.
The Serpent appears. The Serpent's apprentice grovels. The kid says, "What are you doing? Is this a new game?" "I'm greeting someone." "I don't see anyone." "You will almost certainly meet him in due time."
The three words are re-spoken and the Serpent is contemplating the result of those three words. The Serpent turns to his apprentice and says, "Assist my little sister."
There is about Ilk a sense of something being added to his essence, almost as if he was alive before, but he is significantly more alive now. Ilk is now more real than just about anyone but certain Old Lords, and maybe even some of them. He's not sure how long this will last; it's definitely artificial, not inherent in him. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he has the feeling that the Serpent just peeled off a couple of empty scales and stuck them in him.
Ilk feels a push with Serpent power from a direction he is not clear on in a direction he is not clear on. He is standing next to Princess Chandra. There is a low-powered Logrus here, a long distance away. This is shadow, not substance. There is Pattern somewhere in this Reality, not the local Pattern or one with which Ilk is familiar.
Ilk bows with the "Summoned, I obey" implication. Princess Chandra acknowledges his presence, as Princess Chandra to an apprentice. She looks around and conveys to Ilk using that of the Serpent that he has learned that there are folks all around and the walls have ears and eyes and to stay as invisible as he can. She is in blatant sight.
He notices that she is even significantly more alive than he is now. This is the first time that he has been aware of it rather than simply assuming it.
People come rushing in. There are Assassins hiding about. People are just failing to notice Princess Chandra, for no apparently good reason.
Jean notices people pouring back into the room with guns, shields, and defensive equipment. The ambassador is crying out weakly for help. One of the rescue workers sees Jean and the ambassador, rests his shield over them, and goes on. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, the shield is raised, and there is a stretcher and a doctor present. They pull Jean and the ambassador onto a stretcher and head towards a hospital.
Ilk sees a really badly messed up Jean and a wounded Chaosian with Logrus.
Ilk stretches out, staying here and following Jean, and notices that assassins have permeated the city by now. There are two buildings that they have completely taken over, and more assassins are appearing every five or seven minutes.
The people in the ambulance don't seem to have noticed that Princess Chandra is sitting on the end of the stretcher.
Jean gives off a beep. "Self-repair systems at ten percent." The ambassador struggles into consciousness and asks for its vehicle to have any raw materials that it needs.
Ilk notices a group of people smuggling bombs into the basement of the hospital. The amount of actual explosive should level the building and level half of a block in every direction. They're designed to go off in a chain reaction, a single detonator on the first setting off the rest.
Ilk causes a bag of saline to burst and short out the detonator. The person closest to the bag is taken outside and shot; they go in search of another detonator.
The power on the hospital level with Jean goes out. Jean notices Princess Chandra get up and move rather casually to a specific position, and when someone in a gas mask comes charging in, spraying gas around and waving a weapon, she kills him with a touch, then returns to her seat.
Ilk notices that Princess Chandra killed him without leaving a single mark on him.
The lights come back on. The person is determined to have died of stress.
Ilk causes a car to lose its brakes and hit the guy carrying the replacement detonator across the street towards the hospital.
The detonator is embedded in the guy's body. Ilk didn't do that, but he sees a few assassins nearby.
Their lookout comes running out and starts trying to pry the detonator out of the body. The hospital staff rushes out to try to save the roadkill, notices someone mauling the body, and has security arrest him.
The guards notice the explosives in the basement, rush downstairs, and are shot by the bad guys.
Ilk notices that all of the opposing force look very similar to each other. It's similar to the mark of the broken Logrus that made everyone insane in the same way. They don't have Logrus, and don't seem to have Pattern, but they're Real.
A guy that looks scruffier comes over to Jean and starts poking at him. "Hello, the ship?" Jean plays with the techie, who is disturbed to find out that the ship's medical files were destroyed, is amazed at the AI ship, and ends up hooking some bare electrical wires up to Jean's carapace.
Techie - "Is there anything that he is allergic to, or has religious significance?"
Jean - "I wish I could remember."
Techie - "Damn."
The scruffy guy heads off for some food, and tips his hand in Princess Chandra's direction without acknowledging her presence.
Finally, one of the veterinarians forces the xenobiologists down and has them treat the injuries that they can see instead of worrying about cross-contamination, allergies, and structural differences.
The computer guy comes back with some food and chats with Jean some more.
Ilk looks around and notices five hundred or so of the similar-looking guys around the city, but each of them has at least two assassins flanking them.
As Ilk continues spreading out, he notices that an airplane that had two or three of the enemy and a full load of passengers is now empty of others and is heading towards the city. There are gas canisters on board. Ilk analyzes the plane, and has a slightly leaky hydraulic line leak more actively, to take the plane down before it reaches the city.
The concentration of the enemy is significantly lessened outside of the city. There are only few dozen of them, except for on the opposite side of the planet, where there is a continent filled with them.
Ilk tells Princess Chandra about the other continent, in the same way that she first spoke to him. Upon finding out that she doesn't have any people there yet, she asks him to give a few scouts a lift.
Ilk goes off to one of the two buildings completely taken over by the Guild and looks for someone that appears to be in charge. He tries to signal to him in the fashion that he used to talk to Princess Chandra. That guy doesn't notice, but someone else acts as if he had seen something. Ilk tries to signal to that guy for a while, only vaguely getting his attention, and then manipulates motes of dust into a sparse globe, with indications of their current location and the opposing continent. Ilk causes the globe to disperse.
The assassin asks if they have any scouts on the far side of the planet yet, and says that he has had a premonition that they may need to check it out. An atlas is found, and they look at a map. The assassin pulls out his "trusty pendulum", and Ilk causes it to oscillate wildly across the entire thing. "Damn... we're going to need to step up production." He points to two of them. "You two... gate there." Ilk hoists those two slightly. "Or you'll be getting a lift. Report to us, somehow?"
Ilk takes them through the center of the planet to the far side.
The country is dotted with temples. There are crowds of people praying around the temples. In the center of the temples are big machines. They seem to be doing things. On the altars of the temples they are committing human sacrifices. When the sacrifices die, their souls are being sucked into the machines. They are sending raiding parties to nearby countries to steal more people.
As Ilk drops the assassins off, he can see that one of the machines has just dropped in power and another familiar-looking person has just stepped out. Ilk watches and counts, after about one hundred shadow folk, another one of them steps out.
Ilk conveys the info to Princess Chandra, and heads cross-shadow to check on other shadows.
Jean continues to torment the poor computer guy.
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