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Some of Jean who were ex-Julian troops notice a recruiting drive. Good benefits provided, must like travel and be able to handle uncertain environments. Some of the Jean troops sign up, and Jean updates the Dancers Guild.
Marial posts a note on the Realms Lord board, warning of the upcoming "cleansing of Julian".
A woman shows up at House Cara who looks vaguely like Gil and Calla. She claims to be Cailin's bodyguard, and shows him a note from the Assassins' Guild. Ilk recognizes her as Marial.
Duncan finishes a grow-able Pattern net. Just feed power into it (other than raw Logrus, of course) and it will grow. Ilk plays with it briefly, thanks Duncan, and hauls it off with variable Pattern tongs.
Duncan states that he doesn't want to fuck with Ilk and speculates as to his identity. Jean explains that Ilk is the Savior of Chaos, one of the Realms Lords. Duncan exclaims that Chaos is the source of all evil, and people try to explain. Apparently, Duncan's
Jean - "Technically, Amber and Chaos take turns invading each other."
Cailin - "But that doesn't make them enemies!"
Jean - "Chaos is just this place... it's like Amber, but the place changes, and the people change, and the sky changes."
Flora is acquired to explain family relationships and Oberon's rules to the Cobalt-ians.
Flora's tapestry contains a number of half-siblings, violations of Oberon's law, and indirect links, such as Rainbow, Mandor, and Silver Lyra.
Kieron trumps Cailin. They chat. Cailin tells Jean tells Ilk in the tree that Kieron, Titania, and company might be contaminated.
Serpent's Apprentice pours through Jean to Ferethyn's ways to check. He can't see any taint, but that might be due to the nature of the place. He can't even check Titania.
Ilk contacts Ferethyn, tells him about the new net, and explains about the problem.
The Archivist comes out with a box filled with bibliographic tokens. Confusion ensues, and Tate trips, opens the box, and disappears.
Kintani, the cyan dragon, yoinks the box from Cailin.
The Serpent's Apprentice goes outside, manifests, and pokes a few eye-stalks through the doorway into the House. Tokens are distributed to those people who don't already have them.
Duncan, Fredrick, his sidekick, Beldin, archivist, Flora, bear mage, Kintani, Cailin, Serpent's Apprentice, and Cailin's new bodyguard bamf out. Kintani can't read the tokens, so the Serpent's Apprentice takes him along with him.
The only surprise that Ilk has upon arrival is Rainbow handing Snarsht a piece of currency.
Kintani goes over to chat with Snarsht and complains about his form -- in particular, his color. Rainbow acquires a delighted grin when Kintani states that his job is to eat Cailin.
Princess Chandra, Dworkin, and Suhuy are over there.
Time passes, and a pressure builds in Cailin's head. Occasionally, the yetis blur.
Princess Chandra has drawn a glittery crystal blade. It is not a Morganti weapon, and may be the opposite of such a blade. Cailin states that he isn't sure which one is going Toram. At one point when both yeti are blurred, she throws both daggers into his legs. The daggers manage to miss all of the major muscles and arteries.
Snarsht and Rainbow have done an advanced version of the wonder-twin powers thing and formed into a single beast.
Something solid is beginning to form between the two Cailins. When the daggers hit Cailin, his brains re-synced.
That which is Rainbow and Snarsht has lept into the center of the mess. That which is Suhuy has poured Logrus tendrils around all of them. Serpent's Apprentice adds the vacuum cleaner to the mess.
Princess Chandra has disappeared from view; Ilk thinks that she's thrown herself into the center as well.
Dworkin has begun re-shaping reality around them without using Pattern. Duncan can perceive that, and is amazed. Flora has pulled out a silvery globe that Jean has seen before. That's the globe from Rainbow's room. It's one of the only pieces of furniture in Rainbow's room that never changes.
The archivist is sitting there with head in hands and paper ready, waiting.
Something in Kintani's base makeup is demanding that he defend whatever is in the center of that mess. It's based on the dragon council's decree to defend Toram. He warns the Serpent's Apprentice, who ponders briefly, then places a claw over him. Self-preservation wins out over the decree. Kintani eats a Jean saucer, but fails to leave. He tries to eat another, but the next saucer dodges.
Kintani spits a barrel of wixerbrau at Cailin. The Jean-saucer latches a tractor onto the barrel and is pulled out as well. The barrel hits Cailin and shatters. Both Cailins are now very drunk. They both walk towards the center with the needles. He feels the needles being taken out of his hands by something unseen and the needles also head towards the center. Cailin turns around.
Cailin's new bodyguard has also disappeared.
Serpent's Apprentice tries to grab Toram's heart with variable Pattern.
Before Cailin has returned to his original position, the thing in the center has had a chunk ripped out of it, two needles stuck into it, various pieces of it are being piled upon, and the air is vibrating with a growled challenge to a new Old Lord.
After a bit, Jean discovers that he can't bring any more saucers into the area. There are no physical paths remaining.
Kintani keeps throwing himself at the claw arcing over his body, but fails to dislodge it.
At one point, Cailin feels a piece of earth hit one of him at the same moment as his other body is tackled from behind. Simultaneously, an explosion passes from the center through the place where Cailin's head was. Cailin's new bodyguard is now sitting one one of Cailin's chests.
Ilk announces to the group that the plan has not gone horribly awry -- this was the plan, to bait the former head of the Mages' Guild here and destroy him.
Ilk sends a variable-Pattern-coated Logrus tendril in to tear out Toram's heart and place it on another variable-Pattern Moebius strip.
After some time, all that is left is a bloody mess, only slightly more than a smear.
Princess Chandra takes the Cuisinart from Ilk's tendrils and sucks up the last few bits.
Kintani complains, and is released. He walks over to one of the yeti, steps on the clod of dirt, and pushes down.
Kintani - "I'm not sure what happened, but I'm somehow certain that this was all your fault."
From under the puddle of goo emerges two streams of differentiated matter that coalesce into Rainbow and Snarsht.
Cailin orders Rainbow and Princess Chandra to check Titania. Princess Chandra is holding the Cuisinart and breathing slightly heavily.
Kintani goes over to Princess Chandra and lies down. She gives him a mission - to tell the Dragon Council what has happened here, that the one called the Protector has attacked her. She gives him a small golden thing.
Dworkin and Suhuy look at each other and simultaneously say, "Time to go fishing!"
Cailin complains about Cataan and the anti-dragons. He argues somewhat, and Rainbow and Snarsht agree to lead. Princess Chandra asks Jean for a whale.
Kintani climbs into the whale and is fished to an elder dragon. The large dragon pats the whale, which goes off looking pleased. The elder dragon leads Kintani off to a council of even older dragons.
The story is told, in its entirety.
Princess Chandra is still in Vanir's Wrath. Rainbow and Snarsht have each grabbed a Cailin. They say that since Cailin is an Old Lord, they can go through the Sea of Chance.
Ilk chats with Princess Chandra. She recommends not going into Cataan, and not risking getting sucked in.
The four of them turn and disappear. Cailin's bodyguard says, "Wait for me!" and disappears as well.
The Serpent's Apprentice follows them in briefly to watch. Rainbow seems to be shifting himself rapidly into the same form. Snarsht seems to be unaffected by the Sea. Cailin is still a yeti. His feet are tingling slightly.
People in Vanir's Wrath talk about escaping. Jean offers them a whale.
The Serpent's Apprentice climbs back out of the Sea into Vanir's Wrath, and realizes that entry into the area is keyed. People climb into the whale and leave.
The Serpent's Apprentice dives into the sea again and searches for Laetatio. He finds him, that-a-way, on a very small promontory, plucking petals from the only flower on the promontory. "She loves me, she loves me not..." They chat briefly, and Tate climbs into his mouth and grabs onto a few teeth. The Serpent's Apprentice swims back to Chaos and spits Tate out near Gauss.
People emerge from the whale near Gauss.
Cailin has reached the outside of a silvery bubble. Rainbow and Snarsht are arguing about the best way to penetrate it. Finally, the Beastmaster takes the Cailin that was with him, goes off into the Sea, finds a huge-looking turtle, and hands it to Rainbow, who shifts large and elastic, and snaps himself, launching the turtle at the silvery thing. The turtle splats, but leaves a tiny crack. The two of them grab Cailins and dive through.
Cailin is in a familiar place - Old Cataan. He has access to his full arsenal, and things are coming for him.
Gauss says that Cailin is now there, and is now beset. Gauss passes through Darkstar to Old Cataan; Darkstar trumps the archivist and starts pulling people through.
Cailin notices that if any of the magical side of the attacks hit, it be very uncomfortable, and he can't even see the anti-dragons.
Cailin's signatures are his and almost-his, not Toram's.
The Serpent's Apprentice goes to the Serpent's Antechamber on his return. Shortly after that, a dragon shows up and asks if he would grant his presence to the Dragons' Council. Ilk agrees, and follows the dragon across the Sea of Chance.
The council chambers consist of a sandy declivity inside a cave or declivity. There is no outside light; the floor glows somewhat.
Ilk is not the largest dragon here; he's the third largest. They treat him with great respect. They thank him for keeping this one from disgracing them. They haven't been reminded of their elders in some time...
Ilk asks the Council about the anti-dragons. For some parts, he needs to drop out of Dragon into Thari.
One of the dragons asks for leave to address the Council. He tells tale of a place that was slowly eaten in a manner similar to the one that was described. He say that he had left that promontory because it was being eaten, and that they eventually reached the Wyrm beneath, and it did not respond quickly enough, and was consumed by the Sea.
No other dragons speak up. The head of the Council apologizes that they could not be more useful, and they ask him to take the small one off with him.
The Serpent's Apprentice gathers up most of the Jeans there along with Kintani and heads back.
Kintani remains on Snarsht's doorstep. Ilk gives him a magical recording device to ask Jean to ask Ilk to contact the Serpent's Apprentice. Serpent's Apprentice wanders off, and Kintani asks beastmasters to teach him Thari, and when that fails, they start teaching Jean to speak Dragon.
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