DRAFT Run Log for 980519 Present: Sam - Jean Dave R - Malachai Dave K - Ilk, logging Andrew - Neville Tia - Damia, Cassandra ----------------------------- The Party Begins Just after Malachai has finished dressing for formal court, a servant in Flora's livery enters and gives Malachai an engraved invitation to Flora's party, being held before the court. The party is scheduled for about twenty minutes from now. Malachai trumps Corwin, and reaches the dead one. They agree to speak in person in a few minutes. Corwin complains that he is having a problem with digestion - food goes in, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere, and he doesn't expand. Corwin asks after Norton's whereabouts, and Malachai agrees to tell him, but only in person. Malachai trumps Serena. She's finishing the last adjustments to her formal robes. She received an invitation to the party, and the invitation included a handwritten note inquiring when Flora would be throwing a similar party for them. She also tells Malachai that the invitation was not issued to her as Malachai's guest, but in her own right. Malachai is the first to arrive at the party, but the doors to the ballroom are still closed. There are two liveried servants waiting outside the door, standing within eye-shot of each other. Malachai trumps Corwin, and Corwin pulls Malachai through. Malachai notices someone who was looking through a peephole in the door run up to Flora and hold a whispered conversation with her. Another servant takes up the post at the peephole. There is food, decorations, a band, and something in the corner that looks like a large police box that opens every five seconds, disgorging another liveried servant each time. Flora seems to be creating seating placards as she goes, and there is a tree planted in the center of the room. Malachai gives Corwin an update on his recent activities. Corwin writes it down in his notebook. Malachai asks Corwin if he is going to be attending the court. Corwin flips through his notebook, but cannot find any notes about a court. Corwin suggests that Malachai might be able to turn over his guardianship of Amber to Clarissa at the formal court. "Speaking of that, now that you are back, you're in charge again." Malachai notices that Corwin looks like a full, operational Corwin - except for the fact that he's dead. Malachai asks Corwin how he upgraded his condition, and Corwin says that he has healed. Ilk trumps Jean in an attempt to contact the other Ilks. Logrus Jean tags Flora, bringing her into the contact. Flora asks Ilk if he would like to pull her through. He begins to do so, but then Flora realizes that doing so would leave Logrus Jean alone in the party, and she declines. Ilk asks Jean to tag Ilk in Chaos. Sandy Jean tries to fake Ilk out before actually touching him. Ilk waits for the real contact, then sends an update through and drops the contact. Ilk on the grand tour updates the other Ilks on the Chaos side of reality. The group stands outside the closed door for a while, then Ilk mentions to Clarissa that she might want to present the invitation to the servants. Clarissa pulls out the invitation, and one of the servants moves forward to take it. The other servant moves backward to keep an eye on things. The group is admitted through an extensive security check. Augral is very happy with the tree. Malachai sees Clarissa, Ilkandacian, and a five-year old child enter the party. The five-year-old is carrying a furry thing. When they reach the tree, the furry thing unwinds itself from the child and pulls itself into the tree. Malachai can tell that it is arboreal. Jean introduces himself to Jean and hangs out with Flora. Ilk goes over to Malachai and fills him in on the existence of the other Corwin and Cassandra's apprenticeship. Before she enters the party, Damia arranges the guards and tells Bast about the difference between parties in Cobalt and Amber. Bast is not pleased. The door opens and Damia, Bast, Vialle, Random, and two guards walk in. Malachai and Ilk head over to chat with Corwin. Ilk fills Corwin in on the other Corwin and Cassandra's apprenticeship. Corwin doesn't remember his stay in Suhuy's realm very well. He also decides that since there are two of him, he can convince the other one to stay with Cassandra all of the time. Corwin heads over to the bar to see if it works. Dead Damia goes over to chat with dead Corwin. Vialle and Random are heading towards the Corwin/Malachai/Ilk group. Bast is criticizing the lack of durable decorations, niches, and padded benches. Damia reaches Corwin. Corwin is cursing under his breath, and hands a glass back to the bartender. Damia and Corwin commiserate over their undead woes and walk off arm-in-arm to find Norton. A group of ambassadors enter at once. Serena is with the ambassadors. Malachai greets them. Ilk intercepts Random and Vialle and asks Random about Cathryne's whereabouts. Random doesn't know where Cathryne is, and introduces Ilk to Vialle. Random joins Malachai and the ambassadors. Random greets the ambassadors correctly, then asks one of them for a dance. Malachai asks Serena, and the four of them go off to dance. Neville, Roderick, Jerry, and Ben are heading towards the party. On their way in, they pass two walking dead folks on their way out to the gardens, one in much better repair than the other. Roderick and Neville notice their condition at the same time. Ben, the etiquette guild member, declines to comment at first, but is convinced to ask. "Are you well?" "Quite." Ben tries to extract information. "I am Damia, Queen of Amber. And this is Prince Corwin of Amber." Ben expresses a lack of knowledge regarding Amber, and is told this is Amber. Ben asks for an audience to discuss entering her lands to continue their search. Damia - "Well, one of my staff will be holding a court later. Why don't you take up the matter with her?" Damia and Corwin continue their search for Norton. Neville and company enter the party. They recognize Ilk, Malachai, Random, and Jean. They aren't sure if the five-year-old is Rainbow or his son. Ilk notices a member of the etiquette guild and a high-ranking member of the mages guild enter, plus two others with that Chaosian air about them. Neville goes over to say hello to Jean prime, on the off chance that he's really Rainbow. Ilk heads over towards Flora, to ask her if she knows who her newly arrived guests are. Roderick goes over to the buffet table and starts eating. Jerry goes off to trade tricks with one of the ambassadors who is also a shifter. Ben shmoozes with some of the ambassadors from the Golden Circle. Neville and Jean talk about Chaos, and Jean acts odd enough to be confused with Rainbow. He's got practice. Jean mentions Ilk. (Amber) J. Prime - "...Ilk..." (Amber) Neville - "Isn't he Cara?" (Chaos) S. Jean - "Hey Ilk. Are you Cara?" (Chaos) Ilk - "Yup." (Amber) J. Prime - "Yup." (Chaos) Ilk - "Why do you ask?" (Chaos) S. Jean - "Someone wanted to know." (Chaos) Ilk - "Who?" (Amber) J. Prime - "Who are you?" (Amber) Neville - "Oh, I'm Neville" (Chaos) S. Jean - "Neville" (Chaos) Ilk - "More context - is he from a House or a Guild?" (Amber) J. Prime - "Are you a housey or a guildy?" (Amber) Neville - "House" (Chaos) S. Jean - "House" (Chaos) Ilk - "Which house?" (Amber) J. Prime - "Which house?" (Amber) Neville - "Helgram" (Chaos) S. Jean - "Helgram" Ilk asks Sandy Jean to ask the Jean not talking with Neville to tell the Ilk in Amber that the one Jean is talking to is from Helgram. When the Ilk in reaches Flora and Logrus Jean, Logrus Jean tells Ilk that Jean Prime is talking with Neville of Helgram. Flora corrects his enunciation. Ilk decides to be more paranoid than usual, and asks Flora if she enjoys creating the possibility for trouble at her parties. Flora says that it is unlikely that there will be any trouble, "He is being well behaved, and you are being well behaved." Malachai and Serena approach the group. Flora discusses wedding and honeymoon plans with them. Ilk mentions the presence of a gentleman from House Helgram to Malachai. The wedding discussion continues, and they decide to consider announcing their betrothal at the upcoming formal court. Ilk agrees to keep the matter under his hat. Malachai asks Flora why Neville of Helgram is present. She replies that she thought it would be better to have them here where they are well escorted, rather than letting them wander through the castle unattended. Flora lets her gaze drift past Malachai, Ilkandacian, and Clarissa as she talks. Malachai and Ilkandacian wander off in the same general direction. Neville approaches Flora, and greets her. Neville claims to stay away from the political side of things. He asks after the reasoning behind the party, and expresses amazement that there was a kingdom here. Flora goes on and on about the loveliness of the land in these parts. Neville mentions that he noticed some other people from Chaos here. Flora replies that they throw parties for all sorts of people here. "We find an alliance with House Cara a possibly interesting prospect for the future." Neville asks about the undead queen. Flora lies. Neville asks what the king thinks about this, and Flora says that the king has possibly absented himself, possibly permanently. "It would be my pleasure to see you attend the court" Flora tells Neville that he would have an excellent opportunity to seek permission to continue his quest at the formal court. Roderick wanders past Neville and mutters that the people around here are very powerful. He makes a small controlled gesture and a spell goes up over Neville's eyes. Neville can now see power swirling around Clarissa, Ilkandacian, both Jeans, Flora, Serena, a number of the other ambassadors, Tazik, and Malachai. "Can you get us out of here in case of trouble?" "That's why I'm eating." "Do you know who that is over there?" Neville points to Ilk. "That's Cara." Several of the foodstuffs next to the mage disintegrate as Roderick stiffens in shock momentarily. The mage eats faster. "Eat up. The hostess knows who we are." "And we are still here why?" Neville tells the mage that they might be able to ask permission to continue their quest at the formal court. Ilk mingles, occasionally stopping by to update Malachai on the locations and actions taken by the four from Helgram. Malachai chats with the representatives from Vain. They say that the frequency of the obstacles in the water increased as they sailed, until the Kal gave up and sailed back upstream. At one point Bast comes up to Malachai and asks after Malachai's horse. She asks him to stop by and take a look at his grandson, too. "He's a beautiful baby... one of the best that I've produced." Malachai complains that he is not the baby's grandfather, and Bast acts confused. "I thought that the horse was your [Malachai and Serena's] child... he seemed to indicate when we were talking that you were his father." Malachai verbally notes that he should have a long talk with Bucephalus. Bast complains that she has hit on a few people, but didn't receive much of a reaction. She is told that people around here tend towards subtlety, and responds that Damia keeps going on about it. Bast tells Malachai that she's perverted, looks around, then whispers conspiratorily. "I like non-family members!" A discussion about Amberite versus Cobaltian mating habits ensues. Bast expresses surprise when she is told that Serena is not Malachai's sister. Bast is confused by the Amberite philosophy, and decides to head towards the stables. She pulls a jar of lubricant out of her bag and wanders off with a grin on her face. The shapeshifter comes back to Neville with stories about the defenses of Amber, including that Amber seems to have no solid leadership - it seems to pass from person to person, and the current heir apparent seems reluctant, although nobody would tell him who that is. The party continues. ---------------------- Ilk Briefs Suhuy There is a miasma of very tiny Logrus tendrils in Ilkandacian's presence. There is no Logrus signature on the tendrils. There are only two things Ilk thinks might cause this effect. One, the Logrus itself is trying to get his attention. Two, he's gone insane. Ilk picks option number one. Ilk tendris out. He has never tendri'd out while fully rested before, and feels very powerful. Each of his tendrils is being grabbed by one of the signature-less tendrils. Although Ilk's tendrils are not being pulled or moved, they disappear from Home and reappear in the entry-room to the place where one begins walking the Logrus. Ilk makes nice with the Logrus. It makes nice back. Ilk notices that he's not quite as powerful in this place as he was at Home. He's not sure if it is due to a local eddy, or if the transportation utilized his power. There are no tiny unsigned tendrils in this place. Ilk checks the formal entry-way into Suhuy's realm from here. It is not sealed. Ilk enters through the door and closes it behind him, remaining tendri'd. Standing before him is one of Suhuy's servants, one that Ilk knows to be mostly a Logrus construct. It leads him off into one of the main audience chambers. There are several dissected fish about, several dissected mages about, and several dissected demons of all three varieties (before, after, and attacking) about. There is an interesting quality to the room. With the exception of the doorway that Ilk came through, the room is entirely sealed against Ilk's signature. It is sealed against everything but Logrus, and with regards to Logrus, it is only sealed against Ilk's signature. However, the doorway is not sealed against Ilk. After a few minutes, Ilk decides that Suhuy must be waiting for him to embody, and starts doing so. The servant runs its hand through the solidified bits and rescatters him. After another couple of minutes, Suhuy enters through the same door as Ilk, also tendri'd. Suhuy solidifies. Ilk notices that while Suhuy is currently as solid as he normally appears, about three quarters of him is still tendri'd. Ilk also notices that it would have looked like Suhuy had just Logrus-pulled in, if he couldn't see the individual tendrils. Ilk attempts to match Suhuy's trick but failing and just solidifies. Ilk can no longer see the extra Suhuy tendrils, and decides that he really needs to learn that trick. Ilk bows. --- A. Suhuy comments that he can see that Ilk has taken the next step. [towards his learning? education? enlightenment?] --- B. Suhuy was communing with the Logrus and was told (?) that Ilk was taking care of things while he was gone [had taken the next step?], and asked the Logrus to invite him here (?) --- C. Suhuy tells Ilk that he has been out of circulation for a while, and asks him who knows about his condition. [mentions either lack of desire for people to know he was gone or to know that he is back, not sure about which. Anyone? dkap?] Recent overexposure to order has made him weak. --- D. Ilk says that Dworkin has been loudly complaining for a few weeks about not being able to find him, but people are just ignoring him. At one point when Dworkin was complaining in front of a large group of people, Shiryu said that Suhuy must be off in shadow somewhere with an apprentice. Suhuy is pleased, and says that he must give Dworkin some coffee. "He took some" "Well, I left it there for him." Suhuy decides that he should visit Dworkin and allay his fears - Dworkin's barely stable even at the best of times. Suhuy asks Ilk to arrange for an apprentice to be found off in shadow. Ilk is unsure on how to accomplish this, but agrees to do so. --- E. Suhuy says that he would like to find Dworkin and reassure him that everything is all right, and asks Ilk where he was last seen. Ilk mentions that he last saw Dworkin in a crater on the slope of Kolvir under Tir, after an unfortunate encounter with Snarsht's paw. When Suhuy asks why Snarsht was in Tir, Ilk says it was due to Norton. "And Norton is?" "Snarsht's missing apprentice." "Really? He's alive? It was thought that he died on the Logrus." Ilk explains that he encountered Norton shaping undead cats with Snarsht's face, and mentioned it to Snarsht the next time he was in the Courts. Snarsht demanded to be shown, identified his missing apprentice, was quite annoyed about his pronounced insanity, and demanded that Ilk make it better. Suhuy says that Norton was trained by one of his apprentices that thought that he could replace the master. Norton was going to walk the Logrus and then they were each planning on overthrowing their masters. Suhuy was off dealing with his apprentice when Norton walked the Logrus, and it was believed that Norton failed to survive. [Jean's player - "Wow... Norton is saner now than he was before!"] --- F. Norton's ability to reanimate corpses into walking dead and stuff the souls (if still present) back into the bodies, which can then be healed and returned to life. "I thought that only Snarsht and I had that power, and we had agreed not to use it." Ilk mentions uncertainty as to whether or not Norton can bring someone from undead to alive without Snarsht's help. --- G. Suhuy asks Ilk if he is planning on trying to overthrow his master. Ilk attempts to dispel any thoughts along those lines. --- H. Ilk says that those along for the rescue knew of Suhuy's situation, and Suhuy says that he must then have Ilk to thank for said rescue. Ilk accepts the credit for masterminding the mission. Suhuy expresses admiration concerning the skill of the trap, in that it cut him off the Logrus, and that no Pattern user would think to look for him. Ilk tells Suhuy that one of those involved in the rescue, Jean, son of Flora and Rainbow, is a multi-homed being, and that one of him walked a Pattern in Amber that is not the castle's or Tir's or Rebma's, but . Suhuy mentions that was the Primal Pattern, and displays an image (with Pattern carefully blocked out) from a previous visit for Ilk's edification. Ilk says that he told stories of Suhuy's great deeds and noble qualities while the original Jean was asleep in the center of the Pattern, and Jean then apparently Pattern-teleported to his location. They then trumped to Jean, and their Pattern weenie went to work. Ilk mentions that the others involved were Norton, Celeste, and Brand. Suhuy asks if the Brand is from this reality, but Ilk can only tell him that this one had the imprint of this Amber's Pattern. Ilk is unsure if this Brand also had the imprint of other Patterns. --- I. Ilk says that in addition to the Jewel, the trap was in a place with a different Logrus. Ilk mentions that has visited several other realities and experienced several different Logruses. Suhuy speculates that all of the Logruses might just be different portions of the same Logrus, and that he derived that theory after traveling between realities by exploring a region of the Logrus that he had not previously explored. Ilk says that in the other realities, the other Logruses seemed to want him to walk them. He asks Suhuy if he would be likely to survive that. "Not yet, but you have taken the first step towards assuming a form that can walk the Logrus a second time." Ilk mentions that he learned how to make friends with two or three of the Logruses after a bit of experience with them. Suhuy's response, "We'll have to get you familiarized with some more." Suhuy says that since the cracks have opened up, he has explored a number of other realities and made friends with about thirty other Logruses. --- J. Ilk says that he told Corwin about Suhuy's situation when he was considering using Ingold, who was just recently recognized as Benedict's son, as the Pattern weenie instead of Brand. Suhuy comments that Benedict's line are exceptionally loyal. Ilk replies that they seem to be more loyal to Corwin than to Benedict. Ilk mentions that Ingold has this strange movement power and describes it. Suhuy is fascinated. Ilk mentions that a particular Dragaeran demon goddess, or at least one of her minions, seems to have that power as well. Suhuy says that he will have to acquire an introduction to her at some point. --- K. Ilk says that he told Princess Chandra and Clarissa that Suhuy was back. Suhuy seems disappointed. "So that means that's out, and that's out, and ... sigh" Suhuy decides that he will need to make his presence known. [or something like that], and decides to go visit Dworkin soon. --- L. Suhuy mentions that he noticed that his bolt-hole was full. Ilk tells him that that a ceremony elevating Jenoir to the head of the mages guild was held there. Suhuy asks how Andron felt about it. Ilk says that it seemed like the only viable option at the time. Suhuy says that one of the things that stabilized their marriage is that they were both guild seconds, and now guild advancements have been thrown off as well. Ilk replies that it seemed that the only feasible way of defeating the former head of the mages guild included Jenoir fighting him magically, backed by Andron and a number of others. Ilk starts describing the situation of the roof of House Cara: Ilk was drinking tea, along with Norton shaped as Mandor, REN, whom recently accepted an apprenticeship with Rainbow, and Bella, who recently requested extreme sanctuary from House Cara... Suhuy exhibits impatience. Ilk skips ahead and leaves out a few details. Andron arrived, shaped as Snarsht, offered his support if they could find where Toram had imprisoned Jenoir, and after some work, they recovered Jenoir from a fairly nasty trap in one of the rooms in Suhuy's realm. "We didn't manage to disarm it, but I left a note on the door" Suhuy says that he hasn't had much time to check for traps yet. --- M. Suhuy asks Ilk if he knows where Norton is. "Well, one of him is with me touring Chaos, and another is in Amber." They discuss the implications of that statement. Suhuy is astonished, both that Ilk has multiple selves, and that the various Ilks are completely independent and have no built-in communications network. Suhuy says that Ilk's life may depend on instantaneous communications, and is surprised that the Ilks distinguish between each other. Ilk expresses the concern that the three newer Ilks might have been unduly influenced or corrupted by Norton, and they've been trying to minimize the damages that would cause. Suhuy expresses confidence in his ability to tell if the other Ilks are true Ilks. Norton's desire to have company is mentioned, as is his expulsion of his head people into separate bodies. In a farther attempt to explain his newly acquired multi-homed nature, Ilk mentions that the initial fight with Toram ended when his mind and soul apparently escaped into a Morganti soul-eating weapon before they managed to finish him off, but his body was destroyed. His mind then possessed Norton, who was taken to a order-based power source called the Spiral, and the soul-bearing sword was taken by Clarissa to Darkover. Suhuy mentions that the Spiral is heavily magical. Ilk says that he recently went with a group to Darkover and tipped the balance in Clarissa's favor. Ilk says that someone walked the Spiral carrying the possessed Norton, which resulted in one possessed Norton and one unpossessed Norton, which started fighting each other. Most of the mages from Cobalt were focusing their power through Merlin against the possessed one. Apparently then Celeste trumped Merlin and accidentally pushed a bit too hard, and distracted him, which resulted in the Spiral being broken. Suhuy expresses the opinion that the Spiral being broken is a Bad Thing. Ilk says that the last piece of the enemy appears to now be an anti-magic shadow, wandering through the halls of Amber. One Ilk is with Clarissa, who is in Amber preparing an attack against it. Suhuy decides that they will kill two x with one y by going to Amber, acquiring Dworkin, then going off to dispose of this last piece. "Although Clarissa is quite talented, this really isn't her area of expertise." --- N. Ilk starts to describe the Houses' and Guilds' political problems and lists the current factions. Suhuy expresses disinterest. --- O. Suhuy asks if Ilk's cousin is running House Cara now that REN is occupied elsewhere. Ilk says that one of him is with Norton, collecting and reassembling the pieces of Vlad, and that the House will be turned over to him as soon as he is capable of running things. Suhuy says that he wants Ilk to accelerate the repairing process, and that he will eventually want at least two Ilkandacians to serve as full-time apprentices and go with him when he meets with other Guilds. "As many of us as you require are at your disposal." The possibility of acquiring more Ilks from Norton is raised by Ilk. Suhuy mentions that he doesn't have any other appropriate apprentices - the others are all either on projects that they cannot interrupt or dead. Suhuy seems annoyed that Ilk is wasting time with House matters. --- P. Suhuy implies that walking the Logrus a second time is not only an option, but a necessity. ".. and you will eventually meet the Serpent." "Is that an occasion that I should look forward to?" "No." "Fear?" "No." (some help on that quote appreciated, too) --- Q. If the rescue had been much later than it did, Suhuy might have finished coming to an understanding with the Jewel. It would have given him access to Pattern, but would have left him quite insane. Suhuy expresses that he now understands that the Eye of the Serpent was given willingly. Ilk mentions that if Suhuy wants a Jewel of Judgment, Ilk could probably get one for him. They're all over the place - Dworkin seems to be giving them away as door prizes. Suhuy says that those Jewels, including the one he was trapped in, aren't Real, and that there is only one Eye, and the Serpent currently has it. --- R. Ilk expresses some concern regarding multiple Ilks going with Suhuy to Guild negotiations. Ilk states that if he is tendri'd, then it seems that at least some of the other Heads might not notice his presence. Rainbow, at least, has claimed to lack the ability to follow Ilk's tendrils and has not exhibited an ability to observe to tendrils. Suhuy warns Ilk to never underestimate Rainbow - he's an especially devious one. "I currently seem to be on good terms with Rainbow." "It is good to be on good terms with Old Lords. I would hate to have to train another apprentice... or another Old Lord." [Jean's player is not okay with that] Suhuy says that he would want Ilk to accompany him embodied, and makes it clear that it doesn't matter if the others know that there is more than one of him. --- S. Ilk mentions that the last time he was in Tir, the Pattern there was oscillating between Amber's, Pearl's, one that Rainbow recognized as being from the Amber of the alternate Flora walking it, and one or two others. Suhuy warns Ilk that there will be some major fluctuations in Pattern in the near future - he is planning on using Tir's Pattern to channel Pattern power into Chaos to get rid of the demons. Ilk mentions the presence of many high-powered imported Logrus users and mages in this reality, and relays the information gained during the interrogation of the now-dead hit squad in Tir. He expresses concern about the possibility of the imports ravaging the Courts once the protective sea of demons is gone. Suhuy tells Ilk not to worry, and and says that the Logrus might become hungry. Ilk is okay with that. --- T. "The marzipan one, Ferro, has apparently been drawing a lot of Patterns... he drew part of one in the basement of House Jesby, but Shiryu sent him elsewhere before he finished ... Ferro ended up getting drunk by the mixing universes, despite my warning him to keep away from that. Then Dworkin walked in, I told him that his son was just drunk by those mixing universes, and Dworkin got sucked in as well." "Our son, not his son!" Suhuy explains that Dworkin couldn't have created Ferro alone, because he has never had the touch of life. Ilk says that Ferro told him that he was created by both Suhuy and Dworkin, but that Dworkin has been claiming paternity quite insistently recently, and it was just a slip of the tongue. Suhuy says that Dworkin has been claiming sole custody recently, but that Dworkin shouldn't be allowed to raise children. Suhuy says that he'll have to fish Ferro out at some point, then take over and try to raise him properly. --- --- U. Suhuy walks out the door of the audience chamber, and Ilk follows. Ilk notices that the block against his signature faded out of the wall as he left the room. He asks, and is told that the room blocks the signature of everyone within it but Suhuy. They discuss the merits of hard blocks with a few specific holes through them, versus blocks that are only against specific signatures. Suhuy says that it is easier to apply more power against wider blocks, and that wider blocks keep out more of the Serpent, which make it more difficult to draw power from the Serpent. Ilk expresses curiosity regarding Serpent power. Suhuy raises his right hand. "Logrus power." Ilk sees Logrus power swirl around Suhuy's right hand. Suhuy raises his left hand. "Serpent power." Ilk sees absolutely nothing. "Is it necessary for one to meet the Serpent before drawing power from it?" "It is almost impossible to draw power from the Serpent before meeting it." --- V. Ilk describes the Logrus bombs. Suhuy says that they are seeds, and that you prime them with a power, then they consume that power and form a Real place, an island in the Sea. Ilk asks how one of his power and skill set would counter such a device. "Poorly." The technique would involve feeding the seed more power than Ilk could channel without burning out, and then dealing with [something else]. Ilk says that his first attempts to examine one closely kicked him cross-reality. Suhuy is not surprised. Ilk says that the enemy threw three of them at him and his companions in Chaos, and tossed another into Amber. "What were the three against you feeding on?" "Logrus." "What was the one in Amber feeding on?" "Logrus." "So the fool doesn't even know what he's wasting?" Ilk mentions that the former head of the Mages Guild seems to have problems accessing Pattern. One of the best techniques that they've come up use against him involved tossing lots of Pattern power into the battle, since he is unable to access it. Suhuy expresses something about how severely limited the fool is, trying to become an Old Lord. Ilk says that their favorite attack involved Pattern-grenades holding those fish. "So the fish are yours?" "No, they're Norton's." "I'll have to have a word with the boy." Ilk gives Suhuy a description of the fish's operating parameters and tells Suhuy the frenzy and quiescent triggers, showing him samples of the Brut and undead flesh. "What is that hideous artificial scent?" "I'm not sure - something from the shadow that he spent a good deal of time in after he walked the Logrus." "So that's why he's insane." Suhuy says that nobody should spend time in a shadow willing to create that scent. Ilk volunteers to give Suhuy some of the fish. Suhuy declines, and says that something will need to be done about the fish - they throw off the balance. Ilk asks Suhuy if he should destroy them. "They don't necessarily need to be eliminated, but the balance must be restored." Suhuy goes on briefly about difference between a static and a dynamic balance. When the subject of Norton's undead armies comes up, regarding the quiescence trigger, Suhuy mentions that those will need to be eliminated, because [balance again? the powers that be don't like it?] Ilk mentions that there are two people that are currently undead that might be good to restore to life before destroying all of the undead - Corwin and Damia. Suhuy doesn't think that the Powers That Be would be in favor of that, but agrees to try as a favor to Ilk. And the presence of a second, still living, Corwin only hurts matters for the undead Corwin. --- W. Suhuy tells Ilk that he will to attend to him on his trip to Amber. Ilk brings up the complications of there already being one Ilk in Amber, and the presence of members of Houses allied with the enemy there as well. Suhuy warns Ilk that any political differences he might have must not get in the way of his important work. --- X. Ilk asks if he should be tendri'd or embodied, and is told to be embodied, due to the large amounts of order where they will be going. --- Y. Suhuy opens the door to the anteroom, then opens the door to the Logrus room. There is a momentary eddy, and then Suhuy is closing the door to the Pattern room. Ilk and Suhuy are inside the Pattern room. There is sufficient Pattern there to make Ilk uncomfortable, even after dismissing all of his tendrils and dropping the Logrus. Ilk observes Suhuy gather that power that wasn't power and do something like a Logrus pull straight up to the roof, taking him along. Ilk isn't very comfortable with being pulled through Pattern-laced ceilings and floors. There is a gargoyle band on the roof, still jamming. Suhuy looks around, says "Ah, there", and Logrus-pulls Dworkin to him. Dworkin comes up to Suhuy and gushes. They embrace, and exchange pleasantries. Dworkin refers to Suhuy as his brother, and Suhuy refers to Dworkin as his little brother. There is a polite clearing of a throat behind Ilk. He looks around and notices the ghostly Pattern-Suhuy standing behind him. Suhuy Ghost - "So this is the Suhuy you mentioned?" Ilk sticks a physical tendril over to Suhuy, taps politely at his shields, and transmits, roughly, "Alternate Suhuy from another reality, drew a very powerful Pattern, dead and ghostly, behind us." Suhuy disentangles himself from Dworkin. Suhuy and Suhuy nod at each other and keep their distance. Dworkin whines about whose turn it is to invade whom. Suhuy plays along. Suhuy ghost turns to Suhuy and comments, "Yours is so much more better behaved than my Dworkin" The Suhuy ghost mentions that someone named Florimel is holding a party downstairs, and says that they might want to join it. Dworkin whines about there being a party and not being invited, so Suhuy hands him an invitation. Ilk can see that the invitation was Logrus-pulled from the stack near the door. Dworkin bounces up and down and makes gleeful noises. --EORun--