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Malachai has just trumped Tazik and Serena into his chambers in Castle Amber, and Bucephalus into the hall.
Malachai: "Welcome to Amber"
Tazik: "Nice stonework"
Malachai goes to the castle staff to get quarters for Tazik. They salute him as "Your Highness" and "Sire", and put her up in the West Wing, which Flora has recently redone.
Bucephalus is brought to the stables by an excited page who introduces himself as Rathor, and Malachai shows Tazik a bit of the castle before dinner. Tazik goes off to take a bath, and asks Serena to show her some of the spices and things she puts on her body. Malachai bathes and dresses the wound on his arm.
The wand of not yet still says, "Not Yet"
Dinner happens. The majordomo escorts Malachai to the throne, that big chair at the top of the high table. They argue about seating charts. The majordomo claims that Malachai would make a much better king than Oberon. The majordomo convinces Malachai to stand by the throne, state that he will not sit on the throne, at least until a reasonable mourning period has been observed, and then have the throne removed and a normal chair put in it's place.
Tazik enters in formal ambassadorial robes, which imply that she is the first ambassador from a highly valued kingdom. Serena enters with her.
[Tazik's g-g-grandfather made Greyswandir for Corwin]
The ambassadors file in; since Malachi is standing, none of them sit. Malachai gives them greeting... Serena glances at something above his head and giggles, Malachai looks up, and sees nothing. As Oberon is missing and Corwin presumed dead, he will have the throne removed and a normal chair put in it's place. Clarissa's chair is also removed, much to Serena's disappointment.
Dinner is being served, he gets a trump call from Serena. She says that he looks very cute with that crown/halo over his head. Malachai tries a Power Word dispel, and Serena says that it's still there. Malachai moves away from the table; Serena says that it fades as he steps away. She tries to convince him that the real crown would look better. Malachai has another place set next to the head of the table and sits down; the High Table adjusts such that Malachai's new position is the head of then table.
The servants are practically tripping over each other in their attempts to impress Malachai.
Some of the ambassadors are tenatively speculating in Malachai's direction when the next formal court might be, such that various treaties might be concluded. He ignores them.
Malachai asks Serena to entertain Tazik for a while so he can conduct some work; Serena declares that they will go shopping, and asks for some of the serving staff to go with her as bodyguards.
After dinner, Malachai looks for a private place from which to trump Flora. He heads to his rooms, and is intercepted by a servant, who tells him that there is a mad donkey eating people in the stables. Malachai reassures the servant that he will deal with it, and continues towards his room. He hears an argument outside his room. One servant is trying to spruce up his room, and Rathor is trying to prevent him from doing so. Malachai states that he would be displeased if anyone did anything to his rooms, and enters his room. There's an extra chest in there; it won't fit through the door. He slams it through the doorway, the top shears off, and countless tiny sprites run out and into the castle, screaming, "We're free, we're free!". There is a black mirror inset on the bottom of the chest, and the sprites are coming out of it. Malachai pushes it the rest of the way out and puts the cover back on. He turns the chest over and tries to cut through the chest the short way to break the mirror with Galantine; he cuts through the side, but his sword sticks into the mirror, which remains intact.
Damia checks on Blaze; she has a pulse, but her breathing is uncertain. Cyndia is looking for Carlton. Teresa is sewing up Beau. They do cleanup.
[Cyndia's pet bird has the highest warfare in the party. Great.]
"Mental note: Next time you can't see the enemy, tell us." - Cyndia to her bird.
Teresa: "Cyndia is going to go look for Carlton"
Beau: "Cyndia is over there arguing with a bird"
They try to ask the mandrakes if they saw what happened to Carlton with no success.
Mandrake silliness ensues.
Some of the mandrakes saw two of the mages disappear carrying a bag, which was struggling against them. That was when they handed over the rock that Blaze was using during the battle.
Beau casts a locate spell on Carlton; he's over thataway, diminishing in distance. Some of the healthy members head thataway looking for him. They go through some nasty areas; they see a number of those mages attacking a flaming, fleeing, dragon. The birds still can't see the mages. Cyndia and the rooks divebomb the mages; Teresa is pulling out knives; Damia is shooting arrows; Marie has faded from view. Their attack is fairly successful until the mages turn their attention from the dragon towards them. Damia grows warm and then bursts into flame. She stops, drops, and rolls. There is ectoplasmic goo dropping onto Cyndia's and the rook's wings.
"There's something about the flying aspect of flight that I really like" - Jody
A guy walks up to Damia, waves his hand over her, and her burns are gone. He tells her to explain who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, and Damia discovers that she can't move. She tries to convince him, and he is unconvinced, but waves his hand and she can move again. She rejoins the battle.
Cyndia conjures the ectoplasm into water.
A mage tries to light Damia on fire; Carlton swoops down, intercepts the flame, and offers Damia a claw. He places her on his back.
A rook gets Cyndia's attention and says some guy told him to tell her to tell him if they are the good guys or the bad guys.
Teresa and Maria seem to be missing, although occasionally some mages still drop with knives in them. The rooks are carrying the attack.
Cyndia lands on the old man's stick. She convinces him that they are the good guys, and he asks how he can aid their battle.
There are seven mages still standing; one of them is on fire.
Cyndia says that the birds can't see the enemy. He raises his stick, and there is a bright flash of light. Two of the mages disappear, and the rooks become much more effective. Three of them fall immediately, and two of them are on the run. The rooks pull back, and Carlton goes into a power dive, engulfing both of the fleeing mages.
Cyndia thanks the man for his assistance. He says that he's looking for someone, and pulls out a Trump of Corwin. She is surprised, as she isn't aware of any other families that use Trump. Carlton does a power landing. Teresa walks over, Maria is still not visible. Damia climbs down Carlton's leg, and Carlton then shifts back to his normal form, more slowly than normal.
Damia recognizes Corwin, but says that she hasn't seen him recently. The old man says that if they see him, they should tell him that he is required at court.
They do introductions; the old man introduces himself as Ingold.
A little while later, Maria wanders back, and hands around a few intricately carved amulets which she describes as their amulets of protection.
Damia asks the man if he would like to travel with them; he assents.
Carlton is doing poorly; he's shaped as a ball several times the size of a human. Damia asks Ingold if he is a healer, he admits to some minor skill in that area. Carlton has two of the mages anesthetized inside him, and bounces along behind them. They return.
Blaze is still unconscious, Beau is propped up on a few whoopie pillows and is instructing Natasha on how to conjure the pieces of a ballista, one at a time. It's about three-quarters done. The others burst into view; there is a stranger with them.
They introduce Ingold to Beau; Beau introduces Ingold to Natasha and the unconsious Blaze. Ingold shows Beau the trump, and says that he is looking for him. Beau says that they are also looking for Benedict; Ingold pulls out a Trump of Benedict and shows it to Damia; she nods.
Beau asks why only she gets to see it; Ingold says that she seemed to know more, and assumed that she was the party leader. Beau explains that he is the leader, but stayed behind on their last expedition because he was damaged.
Ingold admits to some knowledge of a Benedict, and wonders why anyone would look for his Benedict. Beau says they are looking for him because he reputedly has, among other things, a cure for the poison that Carlton is suffering under.
Damia hauls Ingold off to talk to him along and receives some strange stares from the rest of the group.
Carlton explains that he is getting indigestion from the mages inside him, Cyndia starts conjuring a cage for them. Carlton explains to Beau that they took on sixteen mages -- fourteen plus the two who escaped from the last battle. Two almost got away, but Maria got them. Carlton spits out a naked, groggy, vomiting mage.
Damia asks Ingold if he is related to the Amberite family. He admits to some passing association. Damia says that she is certain that that is the right Benedict.
Damia claims that she is looking for Amber, and says that she will answer his question if she will agree not to tell anyone.
Damia: "I have been there before and there were people I would care to find again."
Ingold: "And they are..."
Damia: "Oberon and his family."
Her family doesn't know that she's been there before. Ingold agrees to keep her secret.
Carlton is the father of one of Damia's children.
Ingold tells Damia that Benedict has removed himself from Amber and has set himself up in the Courts of Chaos as one of their guild leaders. It's a place of power, like Amber. "Could you take us there?" "More easily than Amber at present"
Ingold claims that he has run into an accident that has resulted in Trump energy not working around him at present.
They discuss Oberon.
He took the death of his last wife (Paulette) and daugher hard - and has been going downhill ever since. "Mirelle?" "Yes. You knew her?" Damia starts crying.
"Random?" "He's doing well - in Chaos, ambassador there, throwing parties. Apparently fathered the heir to Jesby, or something like that."
Damia asks Ingold to take them to the Courts of Chaos.
Ingold: "What of this shouldn't I mention?"
Damia: "Any of it."
Ingold: "What should I say we discussed when asked?"
Damia: "Corwin."
Ingold: "Met in shadow, had a passing fancy?"
Damia: "Yes. Accurate enough."
They return.
Carlton is shaped like Carlton, but has a billowing cloak over his back.
Beau asks them to tell him a story; Damia says that Ingold can take them to benedict.
Damia goes to look at Blaze; Ingold asks what's wrong with her. They explain; Ingold asks if they would mind if he poked around a bit magically. He does so, Beau goes to sleep. Cyndia and Natasha make a padded box in which to move Blaze.
Rest happens. Cyndia and Natasha conspire about the mages. They torture the mages, using invisible rooks inside the cages as tools.
"I won't tell you anything! The blessed angel instructed us to tell you nothing!" - captive mage
They seem to be religiously-based. This blessed angel has rejected the evil of their family...
They threaten to stew the mages.
"We are infinite in ranks! We will overcome any obstacle! Kumba-ah!"
"We just took out thirty of you - how many are left?" - Cyndia
"Hundreds! No, I mean... we will overcome any obstacle!"
He claims that the angel's son just visited them
"If I had my ring, I'd blast you where you stand! If I had my pendant, I would ward off your gaze! If I had a rock, I would throw it at you! I am a great and powerful sorcerer! ... I'm not intimidating you, am I?" - mage to Cyndia
The mage rants. Ingold suggests that they throw him in the pot.
"You're clearly working for the wrong people." - Cyndia
"What's your retirement plan like?" - mage
They conjure a still-bleeding head of Lovi; the mage starts ranting about them having killed the angel, and tries to reach through the bars to annoint himself with the blood. The mage goes into a religious fervor, and starts making even less sense.
"Your angel is dead; you might want to consider another career move" - Cyndia
A rook suggests that Lovi deliberately sent these mages after them to get caught. It agrees that abandoning their current path is a good thing; it's too regular, too easy to waylay or ambush.
Ingold has gone back to looking at Blaze. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think that someone started a religion against you"
They chat about Lovi; she was declared outlaw and a standing order was issued for her execution by the queen after her gruesome killing of at least one of their family.
Ingold seems to think that their battles indicated both their honor and their lack of practice in the art of battle. He doesn't think that it's fair unless you're at equal risk as your opponent, but admits that it might be conceit on his part, as he is skilled with the sword, as well as familiar with the magical side of things.
Ingold asks Cyndia to gather power for him, so he can help Blaze, since she seems to be able to more easily contact her power source than can his. After ten minutes or so of this, some color has returned to Blaze's cheeks, and her breathing has deepened.
Natasha looks up and says, "Where?" Cyndia's rook is circling higher and higher. She goes rook and swoops around the camp, waking people up. There is a darkening to the sky, and lightning is flashing around.
Beau reaches to the Gem of Fate, and looks up. Major magical power; it looks like the opening of a major gate. Beau eats the power from the theatrics, but the gate itself keeps opening.
Natasha pulls out a big thorny stake, plants it in the ground, and puts the conjured Lovi's head on the pike. Beau decides to confuse them, to make it look like the mages killed Lovi.
Ingold volunteers to delay them by redirecting the gate back on itself. He lifts his staff, there is a buzzing sound, a flash of light, and he says, "Done" Beau notices that the gate is much stronger than it was before, and Ingold explains what he just did.
"You work magic very quickly, on a very high level." - Beau
"Well, I've done it before. It was hung." - Ingold
Cyndia conjures lots of Lovi pieces, spewing blood. They discuss the artistic merits of their little scene.
Beau asks about the trip; Ingold confuses them.
A hole is torn into the reality here in a way that Beau can't even conceive of; they enter. There doesn't seem to be an up or a down. There is resistance against movement, but it is uniform in all directions. Everybody and Ingold comes through, Ingold follows them through and shuts the gate. When he shuts it, there is nothing for Beau's Gem to detect other than them. The birds are gliding along after them. It seems like they are travelling for two days, or no time at all, and it's the time that it took Ingold to walk from the back of the party to the front of the party. Beau and Cyndia pull out their pebbles; they are glowing. Ingold raises his arms, and there is another opening. They walk out, Ingold is the first one out. Everyone is out, the pebbles have stopped glowing. Ingold looks around and says that they are unfortunately shaped for this place, but will cast a glamour to disguise that. He suddenly looks like a demon. Carlton feels very powerful here. They look around, they're on the shadow-side of the Abyss, looking towards the Courts.
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