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Corwin stops suddenly, turns his head, and yells to his army, "Prepare for an attack!" Jean gains altitude. An attack happens.
Jean survives the attack. Corwin and his troops are besieged. Corwin's troops are fairly well trained, and so are not completely wiped out by the time that Marial shows up and joins in.
Corwin and Marial are fighting Evil Benedict. Occasionally other people get in the way of the fight and die.
Evil Benedict is missing the end of his left arm from the mid-ulna down.
Jean turns to Shiryu in Ferethyn's ways, tells him that Corwin and Marial are engaging Evil Benedict, and asks if he should request backup.
Occasionally Marial is blocking Corwin's attacks and saying, "Alive, damn it!"
Corwin loses a chunk out of his leg, and doesn't seem to notice, despite the bleeding. At another point he takes Benedict's sword through his mid-section next to the spine, grabs the blade with both hands, and wrenches it out of Benedict's hands.
Corwin is mostly keeping Benedict's troops from interfering at this point - Corwin's troops are all dead.
Jean tries to mind-wipe one of Benedict's troops on the periphery of the battle. The guy blocks the spell and counters. The return spell tickles; Jean becomes a furry flying saucer.
Jean unracks the foe. Lots of explosions, but a few troops seem to get stronger and start throwing magical energy everywhere. Marial does something - Jean's not sure what - and there is a moratorium against magic in the area where she is fighting with Benedict.
Cailin plays with the bird that Tate trumped in. The bird willingly accepts the enchantment that Cailin wraps around it, and sets off in search of the source of the snow.
The Jean by Ingold's Pattern sees a Sha'um with a rider pull up and stop nearby. The cat and the rider fool around.
Neville watches the duel that he helped negotiate on a viewscreen provided by Jean.
The Helgramite gets in several good blows, and knocks a few buttons off his sleeve. The fight continues until the Helgramite steps on one of those buttons and disappears. Neville has Jean zoom in on the button -- it looks very trumpish.
Neville asks the etiquette guild member nearby if Trumps are illegal, and it told that they are. Jean retrieves the button for Neville. The Timballite chases Jean in an attempt to get the button back. Neville makes preparations for the arrival of the button.
Jean stops for a moment and says, "Are you kidding?"
"Hah! I've got you now!"
Jean complains to the Timballite that he should do better in order to not dishonor his House. Jean continues towards House Helgram.
A butterfly flaps past Jean and looks down at the poor, sad man. The poor, sad man looks up, sees the butterfly, screams, and runs off. Jean is disgusted and has about twenty of him saucer the guy and drag him to House Helgram.
The etiquette guild guy looks at Neville for his proof. Neville calls for a volunteer and is told that an etiquette guild member should be sent through the trump for proper proof. The first one gates in a low-ranking flunky, who concentrates on the button and disappears.
Neville looks at the Timbalite. All of his buttons are trumpish, as are all of his jewelry and other removable items. Neville asks Jean to strip him; Jean starts tractoring things off, including body jewelry.
Neville tries to figure out who made these trumps. He has no familiarity whatsoever with the style.
Neville tells the etiquette member that the entire collective stack is trumpish. The member says that the best way to confirm the matter would be to have someone who can do trumps examine them, but since trumps are illegal in Chaos, they have none such who can determine it. Alternatively, they could have the person who had Trumps outlawed examine them, but Rainbow is not available at the moment.
The Timballite did actually win his duel, but in doing so, violated the rules of Chaos.
Jean suggests Dworkin and Dworkin, and asks the group once he is told that Shiryu should be interested in the results as well.
Dworkin - "Neville - oh, that's Eric's son"
Jean looks at the lineage tapestry on the wall. Neville is indeed on a line beneath Eric. Another Jean turns to Neville. "Neville - who's your dad?"
"Why do you need to know?"
"Thanks - that's enough."
Ferethyn, Shiryu, Dworkin, and Dworkin decide that they would like to look into the matter.
Jean leads them deeper into House Helgram towards a rift. Neville seems disturbed at the concept. Jean indicates a point in space next to a Mr. Yuck Green-shielded Jean.
Neville walks through. There is no Pattern whatsoever there. None around him, none inside him. The things inside of him are much happier now.
Dworkin looks at the table covered with trumps and says, "Yes, they're trump, but of a very bad design." Hamster Dworkin looks at them, and is told not to touch - most of them lead to very bad places.
Trumps don't work in this place - so Dworkin can't just trump the maker of the trump.
Shiryu tells Jean that he should tell Rainbow that someone has been convicted of violating the trump laws of Chaos repeatedly.
Jean, who is chasing a butterfly through Arden over the fudgesicles, tells his dad.
A butterfly shows up, taps Jean on the shoulder, grabs the guy out of Jean's tractor beams, and heads off.
Neville considers demanding compensation from House Timbal for his missing member. It is pointed out to him by the etiquette guild member present that he would need to insist on a duel, and Shiryu points out that Rainbow would probably be more than willing to duel against one whose house condoned trump use.
Dworkin - "It has been a pleasure running into you again."
Neville starts asking Ferethyn about the powers embedded into his House Ring; Jean chips in as well. The answer: lots of research.
Dworkin tells Neville that he just signed a form affirming the position of the person who appointed him as Steward to Amber.
The group leaves.
Neville notices a piece of crumpled paper in his pocket.
Another etiquette guild member is brought in to keep an eye on the button that was actually used.
The note says, "Go see Darkstar", and there's something trumpish hastily scrawled on the bottom of the note.
A bird lands on Cailin's shoulder and tells him to come with it. He doesn't need protection, and can't bring anyone with him.
The bird takes Cailin off through strange places in shadow. He eventually finds himself in a place that was described to him where there are stars that never see, a river bed that is dry, and there are people wandering about. Cailin seems to recognize the place. His other two birds are not there. Cailin is still following the bird. No danger or death there for Cailin, but death for the other birds.
The bird takes Cailin to a group of people who are all dead, who are all mages, and who are all standing about. They seem to be dead arch-mages. The crow lands on the shoulder of one of the arch-mages. The arch-mages are all gathered around looking at something like a hole in the ground. It is the only liquid in this land of the dead, and in it is something that looks like a snow globe.
Cailin asks the arch-mages if it can be safely touched, and they make room for him. He watches for some time. Every now and then the globe is shaken up, and there are different signatures on the snow. The globe itself has no signature.
Faintly and dimly though it he can see the signature of the birds that he conjured.
"Is there a way to shut it down?"
The mages look at him with hopeful eyes.
"I was hoping for some advice here."
One of them reaches out and touches him, and achieves psionic contact. He tells Cailin that the Isle of Rogue(?) has been inundated with snow, and that they were asked to find the source since no living man could, but that Cailin must be strong enough since he has found it. He indicates that there is not here, and he points to the globe. The globe is just a window.
Cailin pulls a bibliomancy token out and examines the puddle magically. There's just a very tiny bit of condensation in the puddle - water has a very hard time existing here; hence no snow. His magic sight shows him that all of the arch-mages are actively using magic, and that's why the puddle is growing. It's pretty impressive stuff. They're working together to form a cross-shadow scrying.
Cailin turns into a yeti. One of the arch-mages smiles. Cailin acknowledges the smile and heads into the water. He's now in a very snowy place. There is no ground. He's in free fall surrounded by snow clouds. Wind is blowing in every direction at once. Off in the distance, he finds the flash of the bronze color of his bird. He tries to swim in that direction, but can't really affect movement. He tries to shift into as bird, and manages to assume his roc form. With wings, he gains a bit more control over his direction.
Cailin heads towards the birds. They seem to be chasing each other, and they're both lost. Cailin switches into a human, and there are thousands of magical signatures all over the place. One of the birds seems to be following one of the many clouds with Cailin's signature on it.
Cailin tries to shield the cloud and steal its power. The snow goes right through his shield. He has no gage on the dimensions of this place. Cailin considers using magic here, and the idea of a feedback loop comes to mind.
Cailin kicks off a simple spell and touches off the bibliomancy token. He manages to activate the token before it disintegrates and finds himself in his house, covered with snow. He brushes himself off. The snowstorm outside has gotten extraordinarily heavy, harder, faster, and more intense.
Tate has finished the trump, and hands it to Cailin. Cailin asks him to hand the trump to the healers' guild. They discuss shoveling versus trumping. Tate opens the door, closes it again, and says that he'll trump over.
The Jean dragon flying over House Moonlight, for a mere moment, senses a change in weather. Something in its hindbrain says, "get out now." The dragon gets out just ahead of the major downpour of snow.
Anywhere in shadow where Cailin's signature is in the snow, it's coming down in buckets.
After ten or fifteen minutes, Cailin can't hear any snow outside any more. The air is starting to get thin. The mob trumps into shadow. Tate trumps to the healers' guild. Cailin has undead Cailin keep an eye on his son.
Cailin gates back to the arch-mages. They're still scrying the snow. There's still a lot of snow there. The pool is getting deeper here. The arch-mages seem happy with this, and have constructed several scrying pools from it.
The Sha'um keeps pushing the unknown woman towards the Pattern. Janus has fallen over. Jean provides power bars and other food stuffs. The woman eats, then starts walking the Pattern.
Cailin turns into a yeti and goes back into the snowy place. He turns back into a human. His signature is everywhere. Cailin leaches power from the spell. It dies. Cailin goes around unraveling instances of his signature in this place. Eventually, the only two instances here are his two birds. He blows them up with a spell then leaches those spells dry. Several hours later, he has tracked down all of the new incursions. He can't unravel any other signatures, except for Ilk's, and he doesn't see Ilk's signature here.
Cailin notices that this would make a wonderful tracking spot. He notices that there seem to be other people here, and he starts looking for them.
After Neville leaves, the conversation continues on the topic of lines of inheritance and descendants. The conversation is fairly esoteric, as Dworkin has to explain much to Hamster Dworkin.
Snarsht is carefully examining the student with the foreign Logrus, investigating the possibilities.
Ferethyn has stepped out and left a note for Suhuy and the Savior of Chaos telling them what Marial is doing.
The entire sky over Amber goes blood-red, and the scene in the garden shows good Titania leaning on Zack's shoulder walking towards them. No sign of Bun-bun, no sign of Benedict, the line of moonlight from Tir is still hitting Zack, no sign of evil Titania.
Jeans mutter to themselves. Jean tells Dworkin that the entire sky over Amber has gone blood-red, and that the fight in the garden seems to be over.
Jean waits for them to approach. Zack gently helps Titania sit down. Jean tractors over a couple of chairs.
"Are you well?"
"Not especially."
"Did we win?"
"I won.... it may have been a Pyrrhic victory, but I won."
Jean discusses the sky with Titania. Titania can't see the blood; Zack cannot see his own hands. Jean explains the fun and games with the stairs.
A host of non-corporeal soldiers comes charging up the hill. Zack looks at them and says, "A little late, guys." They don't seem too happy about that.
The person walking Ingold's Pattern sees Gil fall over. The Pattern is now dim enough that it's not setting off Jean's filter.
Jean asks Titania if she is still drawing power from Ingold's Pattern via the trump contact.
Jean fills in Hamster Gerard, who fills in Neville. Jean also fills in Faythe.
The hamsters come out and offer food and so on.
Titania pulls out a small glass box with a spider in it and hands it to Hamster Gerard. "Hold that for me for a while... and don't let it out."
Jean asks Titania if she knows what is on the other side of the dome... no, it's not the sky, I've run into it several times. Titania pats Jean.
Jean tells Titania that Dworkin is now sane... the Pattern was driving him insane, so he was taken elsewhere.
The person stops bothering with following the lines and walks straight towards the center.
Jean heads towards the Ingold's Pattern and decides to not try to duplicate that particular trick.
One of the guys has several streams of blood pouring out of him.
Gil is lying there unconscious, and the other guy is holding onto the ankles of the fallen guy.
The walker approaches the bleeding guy and gets a massive static shock. Ingold disappears.
Vague communication happens between the Jean and the new arrival at the Pattern.
Darkstar gingerly slides his foot out and touches the space next to the line. He eases his weight onto it, carefully. He then stretches out, and makes it to the center in three steps. The Pattern doesn't zap him.
Darkstar yells back to Jean, "The Pattern is dissolving from the inside out!"
Darkstar tells Jean that he should tell those interested that Ingold seems to have succeeded in unraveling his Pattern.
Darkstar waves the smelling salts under Janus's nose. The person waves the salts under Gil's nose. "They're supposed to be breathing, right?" "Yes!" "How do you make someone who isn't breathing breathe?"
Darkstar forms a bellows and gingerly pumps air into Janus's mouth. He generates another one for Gil.
Jean asks some of the redheads if they can heal Amberites.
"How are Amberites different from anyone else?"
Jean's description of an Amberite: "Two lungs, and a heart, and two arms, and those leg things."
Gil's pulse is there, but ragged. Janus's pulse is very slow and hard to find.
Brendhyn joins them and starts doing CPR on Janus. Brandt joins them as well.
Jean tells Dworkin, Dworkin, and Shiryu that our Titania has won, and Ingold has drained his Pattern enough to unravel it. Jean points out that Janus and Gil are in bad shape, and that Ingold was bleeding and disappeared in a zot.
Jean asks Hamster Oberon to help him find Ingold. Hamster Oberon steps through a few rifts, waving at Dworkin and company as he passes through Ferethyn's ways en route to our reality.
Hamster Oberon says that the way he found Ingold last time was to find the person resonating most strongly with the Jewel.
Janus finally coughs, sits up, then groans and sits back down again. Janus looks around and at the people present. Brendhyn starts working on Gil. Janus gestures over the unknown person and whispers something in her ear before collapsing again.
Jean can see the line unwinding in front of his eyes. It finally reaches to the edge, and Pharaban carefully rolls up to space where the Pattern used to be.
Jean tells the group that he has asked Hamster Oberon to find Ingold. Darkstar says that he tried to trump Ingold and failed.
Jean notices that Hamster Oberon is tracking on the battle between Marial, Corwin, and Evil Benedict. Jean warns Hamster Oberon off and rifts him back to his own reality.
Jean tells Dworkin and Shiryu that neither Hamster Oberon or Darkstar can find Ingold. Dworkin says that Darkstar is the one who taught him trump. Dworkin suggests that perhaps he should teach Jean trump at some point.
Gil wakes up, looks over at Janus, and kicks him once in the leg.
Gil introduces the unknown person to Jean as Calla. --- she's Janus's.
Jean fishes in two inflatable pillows. Darkstar inflates them. Gil hits Janus with her pillow before settling down. Jean fishes in another pillow for Calla.
Snarsht is sniffing around the beleaguered student, probing and testing him. Suhuy is tendri'd out in the room. The Logrus inside it snaps, moves to attack Suhuy and smacks off one of Suhuy's tendrils. The local Logrus emerges and smacks the foreign Logrus. The student doesn't seem to notice.
Snarsht leaves the room. Suhuy sends some tendrils with him.
"That was the only bit of duality in the student, and it is now gone. But, I can read in the form of the student that he is non-local, and has never been local."
Suhuy tells Snarsht of this one's house lineage.
Snarsht speculates that perhaps the Logrus in him was reaching out to alter memories to ensure that he was in an acceptable place.
Suhuy: "Is he a tool or just a refugee?"
Snarsht replies that he is not a refugee, he's either a tool or a spy or a plant. He has probably been cut loose from whatever his means of communications was, but still bears careful watching.
Snarsht speculates that he will probably fail at one of the next tests, due to a lack of skill. He should probably be eased out gently so that the letdown isn't that great, but there will definitely be a letdown.
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