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When Cassandra was in the guildhouse just after the ceremony honoring Clarissa, a gentleman walked in, accompanied by his son, Cailin. Cailin is 5'9'', reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, freckled, and slender, with runners build, and has no visible weapons. Cassandra is visibly carrying two swords, an axe, a blaster, and a darksaber. Laetatio was the one introduced to Cassandra as Princess Chandra's son.
Cailin talks with his father. They're not in their native reality, and this one has a different "grandma assassin" which makes things much safer for Laetatio - "This one doesn't know about certain childhood pranks that I did."
Tate - "Did you get my note?"
Cailin - "Which one?"
Tate - "The one explaining why you should
stay away from certain people."
Cailin - "No"
Tate - "Oh good! Well, now it's
irrelevant. We can stay far away from them..."
Tate - ".. I wonder if my father is still
alive"
Cailin - "Just for practical purposes, who
is he?"
Tate - "Who?"
Cailin - "Your father."
Tate - "My father."
Cailin - "Yes, your father."
Tate - "My father. Oh, just the youngest
in a line of..."
Cailin - "Assassins?"
Tate - "... no no no no, much better than
that. The youngest in a line of powerful people, but he never really
held much power."
Cailin - "I'm trying to decide whether to
run screaming or kill you. Do we have a name?"
Tate - "Yeah. It's not a real name,
though."
Cailin - "It's not a real name?"
Tate - "No. It's sort of a random
name. Yes, well, Random, that's the
name. You know, the one that taught me not to gamble."
Cailin - "You never said he was your dad."
Tate - "Well, he asked me not too."
Tate tells Cailin that his queen Jessamine, the one who sent him on this mission - she's his cousin.
Cailin - "Let's see... how old am I? last
count I had ninety-one?"
Tate - "Yeah."
Cailin - "We've had some time to discuss
this."
Tate - "No. you're not old enough."
Cailin - "What do you mean I'm not old
enough?"
Tate - "You're only ninety-one. You
haven't reached your two-hundredth birthday yet. Oh, didn't I tell you
that, either?"
Cailin - "How old do I look?"
Tate - "Older than me."
Cailin - "Look about thirty or
thirty-five, right? Prime of my health? I'm over eighteen hundred years
old. Princess Chandra? She's a lot older
than that, and she looks better than me."
Lots of information comes out. They decide that Tate should introduce Cailin to this reality's version of his family. "Think of this as practice, or a dry run."
Tate tries to trump Flora, because Cailin doesn't think she looks too dangerous. He fails. Tate spreads out his trump deck, and starts introducing his son to the Amberite royal family, one card at a time.
Benedict - mister warfare. Dead. Eric - best choice for consort to the queen. Corwin - he's dead. Caine - missing. A lot. Deirdre - she's the most dangerous. Fiona - bitch on wheels is about the right description of her. She's a sorceress. Bleys - the cocksure, the best, he spent a lot of time as a rock. He's one of the two fathers of the queen. Llewella - moistened bink. Brand - other father of the queen. Flora - she got shot in the head. Julian - I wish he got shot in the head. Gerard - if any of the family I would be proud for you to meet, it's him. Random - my father. I drive him to drink, a lot.
Tate tries to trump Random, and hits a block.
They step outside the guildhall to look for Jenoir, and notice the demons. Over in the distance they see a small dot or disk rise out of the sea, swing into a curving arc, then descend back into the sea.
There is a young lady chasing back the tide with her blade. She looks like she's really pissed about something. Tate says that she looks vaguely familiar and goes over to introduce himself. Cailin can hear the conversation. It's about someone named Ingold, who taught Tate blade years ago. She's familiar with him, but doesn't think that she's related to him. Tate introduces Cailin to Gil.
Four assassins approach, Gil brushes Tate and Cailin aside. After a bit, the assassins back off, possibly due to her display of skill. Gil apparently receives an invitation to go on Grand Tour, invites Laetatio and Cailin to come along, Tate declines, and Gil departs.
They continue towards the mages guild.
The Mattress Jean is working on shapeshifting customizations to his body.
The Ilk at House Cara is building walls throughout the Courts, adding towers on the walls, and placing his troops in the towers. He encounters some other walls being created in a similar fashion. They're being made by someone with a local Logrus signature that Ilk recognizes as belonging to someone with whom he was at least on neutral terms before he left Chaos, but whose current allegiances are unknown. Ilk modifies some of his walls in such a way as to send a friendly greeting to the other demon-mason.
Ilk with Suhuy is periodically trying to trump Norton and failing; at one point he asks Suhuy, but Suhuy is unwilling to distract himself enough to make the effort.
Celeste chats with Ilk about the Gwen gate. She considers trumping Brand, and decides to dispose of the Orb first to avoid destroying Brand. She asks Ilk to contact Verra. Ilk contacts Verra. Verra seems to have been waiting for Ilk's call. She asks about their contact being broken.
Celeste starts tugging at Ilk's arm.
Verra - "I have a question for you."
Ilk - "Yes?"
Celeste - "Did you reach her?"
Verra - "That thing orbiting Celeste's head. It wouldn't happen to be
what I'm looking for, is it?"
Ilk - "She was trying to figure out how
to give it back."
Verra - "I see. She couldn't call me
herself?"
Ilk - "Apparently she tried some time ago
and failed."
Celeste - "Well, did you reach her or
not?"
Ilk, vocal - "Yes."
Celeste - "Well? Let me talk to her?"
Ilk - "Did you hear that?"
Verra - "No. Should I have?"
Ilk - "She wishes to talk to you."
Verra - "Good, good. Is she in actual
physical contact with you?"
Ilk - "She can be."
Verra - "I would suggest she not be."
Ilk - "Why?"
Verra - "Just for your sake."
Ilk - "Fascinating."
Ilk - "I'm not really done with her... I'd
like her intact."
Verra - "Oh, she'll be intact
afterwards. Mostly."
Celeste disappears. The orb glows brightly for a moment, then disappears.
Celeste is in an all-black tower room, strapped to a table. There is a gentleman standing over her with a very familiar-looking sword at his side. He has a very startled look on his face. So does Celeste. Celeste is in a considerable amount of pain - the chains are adjusted for a Dragaeran, and she's a bit shorter than that. Celeste screams in pain. "Owww! Who the hell are you?" In very broken Thari, he manages something along the lines of, "Who are you, and what have you done with my sacrifice?" Over the god channels, at the top of her mental lungs, Celeste screams, "Verra!" There is a light chuckle in response. From right behind the tall gentleman, in a window, Verra's face is slowly coalescing.
Celeste screams hysterically at Verra, claiming that she was just trying to return this round thing.
Morrolan appears shocked, and is glancing back and forth between the window and the redhead chained to the altar. He doesn't seem to be okay with someone screaming at his goddess while chained to a sacrificial altar.
Morrolan gestures with one hand, and Celeste's chains melt away. Celeste jumps off the table, and Morrolan backs away from her.
Celeste whimpers and apologizes piteously. Verra is much amused.
Celeste pulls out her trump deck and tries to trump Brand. There is a moment's hesitation before he trumps him, as if something in the back of her brain is sitting up and taking notice about what she is about to do. Celeste whips her attention around and focuses on the thing. It laughs and shows her herself. "Who are you?" It laughs at her, a low, breathy laugh. "Either say something or move." Celeste gestures as she yells at it, and her gesture changes from what she intended in mid-gesture.
[Verra has left the window.]
Celeste thanks Morrolan carefully in Thari. "Are you leaving?" "Yes." "Good. I'm leaving, too." Morrolan walks out the door and locks it behind him.
Celeste trumps Brand. No, she doesn't. She trumps Ilk. There is a skip effect, as if she almost reached one, then reached someone else. She reaches Ilk on grand tour. They chat. Sandy Jean joins the contact. Ilk tries to push Celeste through to Logrus Jean, and Celeste ends up on grand tour. They chat.
Celeste trumps Ilk again, Ilk touches Jean in Chaos. Jean prime tries to pull Celeste through, and fails.
Celeste - "You seem to be having
transport problems."
Ilk - "We're just experimenting."
Jean in Amber touches Ilk in Amber. Ilk in Amber tries to pull Celeste through, and succeeds. "Thank you, guys. You have a ... unique set of skills." Celeste spots Faythe still kneeling in a corner, and observes a lack of Brand.
Ilk thanks Verra for returning Celeste intact, and receives a bow in return.
Celeste - "Next time,
Ilk, I look at you, and I say I have the orb
and I want to talk to Verra, tell me to
shut up and sit down."
Ilk - "Got it."
Celeste - "Or I will just give it to you
and you can give it back to her. I don't want to anything to do with
that stupid thing any more. For some reason it really annoys her."
Ilk - "That, or you having it?"
Celeste - "Her not having it, I think is
the issue. What is that thing?"
Ilk - "I don't think that she normally has
it... the emperor of that shadow normally has it. It's a chaos to magic
gateway."
Ilk mentions the possibility of checking his fall in the middle of the gate network and possibly blowing it up.
Celeste - "And this will help her how?"
Ilk - "It might slow the spread."
Celeste - "Do you need help doing
this... ?"
Ilk - "You might end up like her if you
go through?"
Celeste - "I can wait."
Ilk and Celeste discuss going through the Pattern gate together.
Celeste - "I'm just going to be a
passenger, right?"
Ilk - "You're going to be a power
source."
As Celeste prepares to be enveloped, she mentions that she might accidentally take over his mind. Ilk expresses curiosity at Celeste's reasoning. "Because there's stuff in my head" "Have you been hanging out with Norton recently?" Ilk asks if Celeste could use a trump contact to attack his mind as well.
Celeste - "That's even more scary."
Ilk - "And you're just going around trumping
me for use as a transportation network, knowing that there is something
in your head that might like to reach out and take over?"
Ilk decides to go alone. They discuss tossing things through the gate so Ilk can analyze their pattern before catching mattress Jean.
Celeste - "What would you like to see get
thrown through the gate?"
Jean - "Bunnies."
Celeste makes ten numbered blue stuffed bunnies. Ilk makes a glowing globe for use as a light source. Mattress Jean prepares some rats to throw.
Ilk pokes the gate with a conjured wooden cane, and goes through.
Ilk tendris out and stops falling. It's hard to stop falling - the fabric of this place is trying to pull him towards many different gates.
He looks around. There's not much to see. He's in the center of a fairly big sphere, and there's a black plant-like thing throwing out darts in every direction, like a bald hedgehog exploding every second. All of the gates are extremely ordered. The plant in itself is not very ordered, and feels primal.
Bunnies start entering the sphere through scattered gates, and not at regular times. They head in different directions. 006 showed up before 004 and 005, and 007 never showed up - it caught the plant with a grappling hook from the side opposite Ilk.
The entire sphere is composed of gates, and the surface of the sphere is receding from Ilk as more and more gates form.
After Celeste stopped throwing bunnies, mattress Jean started throwing rats through. The rats started coming through scattered gates, as well.
About two minutes after Celeste stopped throwing the bunnies through the gate, bunny 005 came back out into Amber and was darted repeatedly. Celeste creates a mechanical 005 bunny and sends it hopping through the gate. Jean watches the bunny warily.
Celeste - "It's a windup bunny."
Jean - "What's a windup?"
Celeste - "It's a mechanical toy."
Jean - "What's a mechanical?"
Flora - "Gears and levers, dear."
Jean - "What's a gear?"
Celeste - "It's not alive. It's not a
real bunny. It's a make-believe bunny."
This place doesn't feel like a place to Ilk - the placeness of this place is pouring out through the gates.
Celeste asks Jean how many of him there are. Jean counts the number of places that he is in, and declares five, and holding up four fingers. She asks him if there are any of those gates in Chaos.
Sandy Jean - "Hey Ilk? There any gates around here?"
Ilkandacian - "What kind of gates?"
Sandy Jean - "Those bad whitey gates."
Ilkandacian - "No - they seem to be heavily
Patternish, and are probably ordered... I don't see any here."
Ilk asks Verra to relay to Amber for him. She claims not to have any good candidates in the area, except for the empty body leaning up against the wall - Celeste doesn't seem stable enough. Ilk discourages Verra from taking over Faythe's body.
Mattress Jean becomes bored and galumphs towards the place where Ilk said the gate was located. Ilk spots mattress Jean appear through a gate on the far side of the sphere, then immediately fall through another nearby gate.
Ilk generates a massive honkin' Sign of the Logrus and tosses it at the far side of the sphere. The Sign of the Logrus passes through the 007 bunny, which catches on fire and collides with the mechanical bunny, which is knocked backwards through a trump gate.
Mattress Jean notices a burning mechanical bunny chasing him. He makes it dead, with pincers and acid and tentacles.
The Sign of the Logrus impacts the sphere, and the entire sphere shrinks. The Pattern-based trump gates impact Ilk, who is currently composed entirely of Logrus energy.
[The GM thinks for a frighteningly long time]
There is a momentary redness, as if a big red eye turned its gaze on him, and a momentary sensation of flowing through the Logrus itself, and Ilk finds himself lying in the entranceway to the Logrus, shattered into shards, each one shaped like a little thread.
Ilk pulls himself together. He checks himself over. He feels like he has been put through a sieve, but doesn't feel drained. His stuff, including his spell rack, is missing. Ilk wonders if his stuff was left in the sphere, on the Logrus, or if the Serpent took it.
[The Serpent sticks the Verra's pearl in its empty eyesocket. Verra complains to Ilk about all of these strange connections...]
[I think there's something wrong with the line. I hope there's something wrong with the line.]
[Jean - you've been getting a trump call.]
[When an elder god calls you, you accept the charges.]
[When the Serpent calls, he calls collect]
The door to the room opens, and Jenoir steps through. Ilk cannot tell if she is from his reality - she doesn't have the Logrus active.
Jenoir drops a racked spell on Ilk, which causes him to be really thoroughly coatracked. Jenoir tucks Ilk under her arm, looks around to make sure that there isn't anything else here, and walks out. Ilk tries to tendri out, and fails. Jenoir takes Ilk back to her place.
Tate and Cailin are at Jenoir's place. Andron is not present. They chat. Tate offers something to Jenoir in magical terms, she accepts, and the two of them go off. Jenoir comes back and greets Cailin more cordially. She tells him that Tate has just given her a mind dump, and that she is willing to accept the possibility of their relationship.
Half-way through the meal, she says, "a moment", raises her arms, disappears with a standard gate spell, and comes back a moment later with a not-moving gentleman under one arm.
Cailin - "What is that?"
Jenoir - "An intruder."
Cailin - "An intruder to the table?"
Jenoir - "No, he was trying to do
something to the Logrus, in a guise that the Logrus might have accepted
more than otherwise."
Cailin - "The Logrus?"
Jenoir - "It's a power source out these
ways."
Cailin - "I'll take your word for it."
Jenoir - "Don't sweat it. I just have to
contact the person that actually looks like this and is this person,
that this person is obviously mocking and taking the shape of. Please,
continue eating..."
Ilk on grand tour is getting a sending. It's part illusion, part gate - it's the illusion of someone cast in front of him. It's very obviously Jenoir's signature, and very obviously Jenoir. Jenoir bows to Ilk as from a master to someone else's apprentice. Ilk returns the bow more deeply than necessary, to not give away his greater-than House head status to those on tour.
[The ranking of high-powered apprentices depends on the master and on the guild. The bow to the apprentice to the master is honoring the master, not the apprentice. The Warlord is technically a journeyman to the Realms Master, so her apprentice has effectively no rank. Guild master > Guild second > apprentice to master > apprentice to second ~= master in guild]
Ilk - "It is a pleasure to be in contact
with you once again."
Jenoir - "It is a pleasure, but it is
also a difficulty. It appears that there is somebody masquerading as
you, and I have bound them over for your judgment."
Ilk - "Is this communication public?"
Jenoir - "It is as secure as I can make
it."
Ilk thinks at the sending, to avoid broadcasting his side of the conversation to everyone on the boat.
Ilk - "It is possible that the imposter
may in fact be one of me."
Jenoir - "You don't have to think. Nobody
else is seeing anything out of the ordinary. They think that you are
just standing there. Give me some credit. "
Ilk - "Of course. I did not know your
intentions behind the communique."
Jenoir - "As far as they know, you are
just standing there, looking at your next destination."
Ilk - "As it turns out, there are several
of me."
Jenoir - "There are several of you?"
Ilk - "Yes."
Jenoir - "Fascinating. How do I tell if
this one is genuine or false?"
Ilk - "Does he have my Logrus signature?
That could be an approximation to a determination."
Jenoir - "He did not seem to have the
Logrus up when he was in the room of the entrance to the Logrus. That,
in itself, is suspicious."
Ilk - "I'm not sure where all of me are at
the moment. It is possible that one of me is there."
Jenoir - "Would you do me the honor of
allowing a doppleganger spell to stand in your stead for a few moments
for you to come over and satisfy our curiosity?"
Ilk bows his assent. Jenoir pulls Ilk through the contact, leaving a simulacrum behind. Ilk is swapped end-for-end and arrives in a well-appointed room, with Jenoir, the person who was supposed to clean the box after the ceremony in the assassins guild, a strangers, and a not-moving copy of himself. Jenoir seems to be radiating magic. Not just spells, but a nimbus of ambient magic around her, resting on her shoulders like a mantle. Cailin just sees that she's extremely magical.
Ilk bows to Jenoir, from apprentice to guildmaster to guildmaster.
Jenoir - "You'll excuse my guests. Apparently somebody I've known for quite some time, and his associate."
Jenoir - "This is Ilkandacian. Are you yet going by the title
people are giving you? Savior of Chaos?"
Ilk - "I hadn't heard that one, myself."
Jenoir - "Aah. A few of the locals..."
Cailin's fork is down.
Ilk - "Well, I did save a number of the
houses from being destroyed."
Cailin - "I see."
Ilk - "It seemed appropriate. And it really
annoyed the people trying to destroy them."
Tate - "Ilkandacian. Pleasure to see you. You are
wearing your honor well."
Ilk - "Thank you. I think."
Tate - "Princess Chandra honored him."
Cailin - "Princess Chandra."
Tate - "Honored him recently."
Ilk asks Jenoir if she could provide him with safe conduct into that one's mind. She reaches into a side pouch, pulls out a small stone, and hands it to him. She says that it will prevent anything from returning along his mental paths, and warns him that he should not try to use it more than once - the second time, he would not be able to return.
Ilk reaches out to Ilk through the stone. It's an Ilk. They cross-dump, then Ilk withdraws mentally from Ilk.
Cailin notices a very, very good resemblance between Ilk and Ilk.
Ilk - "It does in fact appear to be me."
Jenoir - "Well, then. I apologize for
your discomfort."
Jenoir frees the coatracked Ilk.
Ilk - "Not in the slightest. I am grateful to know that the Logrus has such a skilled and dedicated guardian."
Jenoir - "Suhuy said he needed to make a brief trip and did not trust that you had the time to guard it, so he asked me to."
Ilk describes the black plantlike thing and sphere of trump gates. Jenoir claims no knowledge of the phenomenon. Cailin seems stuck on the notion of multiple consciousnesses.
Cailin - "You have multiple
consciousnesses here?"
Ilk - "I would imagine that you could have
multiple consciousnesses in most places."
Cailin - "Very well, then."
Both Ilks blur around the edges until there is nothing left, then reconstitute themselves.
Cailin - "Have you ever managed to do
that?"
Tate - "Not my bailiwick. I'd say that's
some pretty advanced shapeshifting."
Ilk - "Logrus, actually."
Tate - "Logrus. I didn't know that you
could do that with Logrus"
Ilk - "You can do anything with the
Logrus. If the Logrus likes you."
Tate - "Aah."
Ilk - "If it doesn't like you, you don't tend
to come off it on your first walking."
Tate - "Nobody I've talked to tends to
express the Logrus as if it had any likes or desires of their own. I'd
like to talk to you about that."
Ilk - "...possibly the aspect of the Logrus
that you are familiar with is..."
Tate - "Terrifying?"
Ilk - "Less personable."
Tate - "Being from my end of the universe,
it is somewhat terrifying."
Jenoir sends Ilk from grand tour back to grand tour.
Tate turns towards Ilk with a questioning glance. "Seeing that you have some familiarity with the (winces a moment) Amber side of things, you couldn't tell me how things stand there now, could you? Who's alive, who's around, who's available?"
Ilk, Tate, and Cailin talk extensively about the current situation in Amber. Some highlights:
Tate - "Eric
is dead? How did he do that"
Ilk - "He died once during a little ruckus
when some people on this end of reality and some people on that end of
reality decided to stage a war. And then he died again when he tried to
possess someone, that someone being Snarsht's apprentice, and that sort of
annoyed Snarsht."
Tate - "I'll ask you about the second one
later."
Cailin - "Snarsht?"
Tate - "Snarsht, big cat, head of beastmasters'
guild. I'll introduce you later. Very big. Don't mess."
Ilk - "Brand... that's a good question."
Tate - "That's a good question?"
Ilk - "Zacharias is Julian's son, a good fellow"
Cailin - "Someone spawned with Julian?"
Tate - "Zacharias is a good fellow? What
happened?"
Cailin - "Maybe the acorn fell far from
the tree."
Ilk - "There are very few people who can burn
through the trump blocks or the Logrus blocks, and I haven't heard of
anyone blowing through the Pattern blocks."
Cailin - "I'm just curious, who put the
blocks up?"
Ilk - "Well, the blocks on this end seem to
have been put up by the forces that we inconvenienced recently..."
Jenoir chuckles. "You're so diplomatic!
He beat the snot out of them."
Ilk - "I would have hardly claimed sole
credit."
Jenoir - "Many people understand that
you, as the savior of Chaos, beat the snot out of them."
Ilk looks horrified.
Jenoir - "They're talking about elevating
your whole House, you know."
Ilk - "It's already a major House."
Jenoir - "To the major House"
Ilk starts whining.
Ilk - "I didn't want to be... I was looking
at maybe number seven or so... something nice and inconspicuous in the
middle."
Jenoir - "No. The Major House."
Ilk - "What about all the others? Wouldn't
they be annoyed?"
Jenoir - "If they survive it."
Ilk - "I'm on good terms with a number of the
others... I wouldn't want to see them destroyed."
Jenoir - "I'm only telling you what the
gossip is, what all the minor houses are talking about, and what the
other people in guilds are talking about.."
Ilk - "I see. Were they planning on checking
with me first, or starting by trying to attack my allies?"
Jenoir - "Oh, very probably. But who
knows - pitchforks, burning brands, something like that."
It is mentioned that there are currently two queens running Amber - Clarissa, who is alive, and Paulette, who prefers to be called Damia, who is walking-around dead. When Celeste is introduced as Bleys's daughter, Bleys's niceness is emphasized by Tate. Ilk warns him, "I think out Bleys is different from yours." Malachai is introduced as Corwin's son, and recently acknowledged as regent of Amber by the Queen. The concept of Gerard having children amuses Tate. Jenoir seems amused, visibly thinking of Andron. Ilk warns Tate and Cailin against Dara, and gives them her magical signature. Dara's Pattern-amplified Logrus is compared to Benedict dealing with a charging rhinosaurus. Tate expresses a desire to meet Random's daughter by Jesby. Cassandra is mentioned as Corwin's daughter and Princess Chandra's newest apprentice. Jean is introduced as Rainbow and Flora's son. "That's Jackie!" The concept of Ferro seemed to disturb Tate quite a lot. Beldin's parentage takes a while to explain. Norton is credited with preventing the loss of a large number of Amberites. "I'm sure that you'll introduce me to all of you at some point... I can't believe that I just said that to a complete stranger." Tate asks Ilk to keep an eye out for Jackie, Talos, and Ivy, who are also from his reality. Tate says that he tried to come with the others, but got stuck - it was a transport problem. Tate and Cailin bicker.
Tate asks Ilk if he could give them a lift to Amber. Ilk glances at Jenoir. Jenoir leads them to her transport room. Jenoir opens a gate. Ilk looks through. It's to the stable yard. Ilk goes through. Tate looks at Cailin, gestures him through. They follow. Jenoir says that she will keep in touch with Ilk locally, and closes the gate.
Mattress Jean came out of a gate, shredded a flaming bunny, then looked around. He's in an area that seems like an area sliced out of a disk by a rotated fourth-order polynomial.
Jean tries to give Ilk a second chance to grab him, and galumphs on past where the gate was. He gets bored, and starts exploring the area.
Sandy Jean on grand tour bugs Ilk about going someplace less boring. Ilk admits that he will need to find a new trump - he lost the old trump of Jean in a big Pattern-Logrus mess. Jean in Amber goes over to Celeste to ask for a new trump.
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