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Everyone evacuates the piece of fruit where Mikail was smote except for Shiryu, the fishing goddess, a Jean, lots of marbles, and a Dalkantyr buried under a pile of marbles.
The Serpent's Apprentice dives into the Sea of Chance and tendri's back out again.
Norton and Jean take Faythe and King Laetatio into Faythe's tower so that they can recover.
Cailin goes back to Cataan and scans for magical signatures from non-Mages Guild members. What used to be entire clouds of magic are now just postage-stamp sized flurries. He has only gone up from 4% to 6% of his capacity, and is annoyed at the lack of magic. He hasn't found his signature at all recently, and cannot tell if Jenoir is around.
The settlers on the planet flag him down and complain that things have stopped working, the power just goes away. Cailin is confused -- they aren't using a magic source; they're using a Logrus source. Cailin gates to a Jean in shadow and asks Jean to tell Ilk that something in Cataan is eating Logrus.
When Ilk goes to Cataan, Suhuy is nowhere in evidence. He's a bit disturbed, and decides to gate out magically to avoid conflict. Cailin notices a gate with Ilk's signature over there, and heads there to investigate. Ilk notices an approaching power source, and taps it to finish building the gate. It's Cailin. Ilk exits through the gate, and pulls Cailin with him.
Ilk complains that all of the magic has gone away. Cailin does a shadow-wide search for magic. There are bits and pieces of magic around, and there's a lot in Pharaban's place. One of the little sources is Amber; he's not sure about the other one.
Ilk looks for Suhuy and Ferethyn over the Realms Lord channel, but doesn't find anything. He does find a note in the chamber from Melk, reading, "Ferethyn and Suhuy are missing -- help!"
Ilk and Cailin decide to go to ask the Mages' Guild about the missing magic.
Osric goes off to check on Johnny. He opens a gate to the Fringe. There is only one disk -- the four large openings aren't present. Osric goes into the control center, which is in one of the eight small openings. There's smoke pouring out of the door, and Johnny is buried in the machinery fixing things.
There is an encased form over in the corner -- it looks like Lloyd of London. He apparently used something that looks like a mass of crystal with electronics sticking out of it. Osric checks the crystal; it's broken now, but being constantly regenerated by a machine that is still working. Osric tries to encase the crystal in Fringe power, and it sucks the power from his shell. Osric touches the crystal, and it tries to drain him. Osric picks the crystal up with a piece of plastic. He takes it out of the Fringe into the Abyss, and the crystal grows dark. He takes it into the sea, where it grows and becomes more complex.
Osric makes the crystal in the center of the machinery go away. The machinery wakes up. It's malevolent. He runs back to Chaos. "Melchizedik, help!" Melk looks him up and down, looks Osric up and down, and the entity becomes less malevolent. It's no longer moving. Melk claims that the thing is an Old Lord. When asked who might be best to deal with it, Melk suggests the rest of the Old Lords, Rainbow or Qrelon in particular.
Osric tells Melk that Rainbow is missing. Melk suggests asking Rainbow's mate.
Osric settles down for a nap. He is woken up by an Etiquette Guild member with a rock hammer, who gives him a note and runs. It's from Amaranth, asking where Jenoir is. Osric goes to the Mages Guild and discovers that Amaranth is wearing the regalia of a Guild head. The Guild Hall is collapsing around them.
Cailin and Ilk show up, too. Cailin determines the stuff to held together by magic, which is no more.
Osric grabs Cailin and drags him back to the thing; Ilk follows at a safe distance.
Ilk notices that all of Melk's attention is focused on that thing. It's egg-shaped, and about 5' long.
Laetatio shows up. He says that Ferethyn (in Cataan) started to do something, screamed, and disappeared. He says that there were actively moving trump blocks there.
Ilk mentions that Suhuy is also missing. People are worried.
Ilk checks for Snarsht -- he's talking to Pharaban.
Osric, after checking for advice, summons all of the Old Lords and Realms Lords as King. A pulse goes out. It hits the bridge at Darkover, gets Dworkin, and Dworkin rebroadcasts it to all of the Amberites who are his.
Cailin feels a pressure in his gut that is drawing him to just about where he is.
King Neville feels a pressure that wishes him to be somewhere that is not here. He resists it, successfully.
All of Jean that can do so are streaming here -- all of the barca-Jeans and the ones in Chaos.
The next people to arrive: Faythe, King Laetatio, the other Dworkin, Princess Chandra, Kieron, Marial, Misunderstood Benedict, Hamster Dworkin, Hamster Finndo, Hamster Fiona, Hamster Corwin, King Eric II, Janus, Flora, Benedict, Zack, Martin, Gil, Cailin, Cailin, Duncan, Shannon, Beldin, Calla, Osric, Norton and Norton, Amaranth, ...
... Rose, Harp, Snarsht (late) Pharaban (late), Mystifer, all three of Gauss show up, a dozen and a half mages show up, ...
Not showing up: Darkstar, Auricle, Cyndia, and Rainbow.
Cailin notices that Beldin was the third spot of magic that he found. Pharaban, Amber, and Beldin. That accounts for all of the remaining magic.
Ilk relays to Osric's request to Shiryu. There is a slight shift, and the woman that was fishing in the promontory where Mikail was smote appears. Eight or nine people come out of the ground itself.
A delegation from the Beastmaster's Guild shows up.
There is a wet spot nearby -- it's a chunk of the Philosophers' Sea.
House Cara is marching towards the site.
Kieron looks at Osric and hands the note to him. It reads, "I couldn't come, so I sent them in my place -- Dworkin".
Those people contaminated by the Poisoners' are exiled to a ghetto.
Duncan is cleaning his fingernails with a nice silver dagger. Ilk notices that it is a Pattern-blade.
Neville's cats show up in Snarsht and Pharaban's company.
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