DRAFT Run log for 981013

Major Events:

• Norton Holds a Seance to Talk with Damiana

Ilk approaches the port-hole in the ceiling via Logrus. It appears to be a closed door with a hand-print in the center. The hand has one thumb and two fingers. Ilk looks,

Ilk grows an appropriately shaped spare hand and pushes on the hand print. The door moves upwards in response to the pressure. Ilk looks around as he pushes. The fire continues to die down. Ilk shifts his eyes and starts generating light via bioluminescence. The bioluminescence reflects upwards. He tries magical light, but the energy is sucked out of his spell.

Once he passes through the opening, the door slides shut and rotates, leaving the side with the hand-print facing up.

The new room appears to be a standard waiting room. There is a desk with a bell on it next to a sign reading, "Ring bell for assistance." The entire room is lit by a source-less light that is apparently radiating from the walls. There are some old magazines on tables, and a few books on a shelf on the wall. There are no obvious doors leading into or out of this room.

Just behind the edge of the desk is a guest-book, written in a language that Ilk doesn't recognize. Ilk flips through the guest-book. Touching the guest-book has that greasy feel of magic to it, but does not add an entry into the book. Ilk rings the bell. The ringing continues, and becomes louder and louder and louder.

The roof of House Cara is doing a light show for Cassandra's cats.

Cassandra asks for a place to rest. Ilk calls over a member of the House and asks to have a block of seventeen rooms converted to be safe for non-shifters, and describes an Amber-ish environment.

There is a vessel heading towards the group across the sea of demons. Ilk sends a Logrus tendril over to check them out. The vessel seems to contain a delegation from the Warriors' Guild. They are poling their craft across the pile of marble-coated demons. The craft seems designed to flow over the demons.

The servant returns and asks those wishing rest to follow him. Cassandra and Tate decide to stay and wait for the delegation. The rest decides to wait as well.

Cassandra warns her cats about the approaching vessel. Atalanta takes a flying leap from the back of the flying horse, slides across the marbles, bounces off the craft, rebounds back to House Cara, and leaps onto the wall. Atalanta chats with Cassandra, Cassandra asks about the people. Atalanta zooms around the parapet to gain velocity and leaps onto the back of the horse. The horse flies over the boat, Atalanta dive-bombs the boat, bounces off each of the warriors, picking up a few scratches as she goes, then bounces back onto the horse, which flies over the house, and the cat drops back onto the house.

"Zack" in Norton takes a look over at the delegation. Ilk warns the people on the roof to be ready for a possible diplomatic mission or an assault.

Ilk solidifies. Cassandra loosens Darhyse in her scabbard.

The ship bumps against the side of the demon-shell wall surrounding House Cara.

Boat - "Ahoy the house"
Ilk - "Ahoy the boat."
Boat - "Permission to come aboard."
Ilk - "Permission granted."

They tear off their Warriors Guild patches and climb up the gangplank.

"We are here deliberately not as members of a neutral guild to join the fight on the side of the Savior of Chaos. Your orders, sir?"

Cassandra looks them over. They seem fairly well-balanced, possibly a threat, possibly not. "Aren't you going against Guild orders?"

"We are not currently acting as members of a guild."

The warriors ask if anyone has contact with the House of Amber or, more precisely, the House of Cobalt. Ilk asks if Cyndia is well, and they reply that Cyndia wants to pass a message to her family. Ilk mentions that some Cobaltians might still be in Amber. The warrior asks Ilk if we would be willing to deliver the message, and hands it to him.

Ilk on grand tour asks Norton on grand tour if he has a trump of anyone from cobalt. Norton pulls out Paulette's trump, and pushes. Nothing happens. Ilk joins in. They fail - she's dead. But there's now an Ilk inside this Norton, too.

Norton raves about a seance to contact the dead, and asks for candles. "What color?" "I don't know." Ilk conjures a pair of candles of shifting color. Norton asks for a crystal ball. "Size?" "Like a bowling ball." Ilk Logrus-grabs a clear bowling ball.

Norton calls out to the spirit of Queen Paulette of Amber. One of the high-ranking people on grand tour is chortling.

Somewhere in the forest outside Cobalt, Damien looks up, looks around, and asks Damia, "Are you expecting a call?" "What?" "There seems to be some kind of spectral activity trying to reach you." "What do we do?" "Ignore them - they'll call again if it is important."

Norton says that sometimes they need to try three times, and calls out again. Damien says that the callers are being insistent. Norton calls a third time, and Damien lowers his shields.

Damia - "Hello?"
Norton freaks out.
"Hi, Norton. How are you?"

Someone on grand tour just stopped laughing. Ilk can see Damia's face floating in the bowling ball. The color of her face is changing at the same frequency as the candles.

Ilk tries to pass the letter through the crystal ball. It bounces. Ilk opens the letter and holds it facing the bowling ball. It says, briefly, "Here in Chaos, having fun and killing things. Home is boring...."

Damia asks Ilk to tell Cyndia to have a good time. Damia tries to break the contact. Ilk and Norton snuff the candles. Damien raises shields again.

The bowling ball disappears from grand tour. They hear a whistling sound in atmosphere. Damia and Damien look up and see a crystal bowling ball falling towards them. They dodge. It impacts, and they can see a clear globe with white flakes floating around in it. There is a tiny Ilk and a tiny Norton in a tiny boat, waving.

Grand tour is now almost out of Houses - there is only one House left, then they'll have to head into the Black Zone.

Norton works on building winged crawly spies and sends them out across Chaos.

Osric and Cailin trump Tate and ask him if the eavesdropper is still present before they come through.

Celeste checks for the eavesdropper, notices it, and sends a note to Ilk.

"Do you recall the earlier thing I mentioned? I'm re-mentioning it, and perhaps you might want to mention it to others. Quietly."

Ilk tendri-vibrates to the others, but his tendrils are trumped away by Tate's shields. Ilk on grand tour sends a tendril out to Cailin, tosses a bug out there, and they chat. They decide that Osric will go try to distract the eavesdropper elsewhere, and then come back to Chaos in a bit.

Cailin steps through Tate's trump. Tate welcomes his son inside his shields. Cailin asks about the shields, and is given a spare trump of them. Cailin tries the card and gets a nauseous feeling.

Osric goes to another shadow where there is a Fringe gate and fires a few spears of his power at a mountain nearby. The mountain shudders and breaks open, revealing massive amounts of machinery inside.

He scans. She's filling up this area. He closes off all of the gates from this area but one, go through, and shuts this one from the other side. He gates to another gate. The place where he emerged is a fairly rocky, barren area. The next gate is at Achmed the Third's weapon dealership. Osric checks his meter, and there is nothing here. He goes into the Fringe and visits his control center, and checks that area. The newest invasion appears to be contained.

He goes back out and chats with an friend, and a banquet.

Ilk waits about half of an hour. Celeste says that the eavesdropper is still there. Ilk contacts Osric. They chat, and Osric decides to nap in the Fringe while the folks on House Cara sleep there. Osric concludes the feast, then goes to the Fringe to rest.

Tate decides to stay there. Cailin asks one of Cassandra's bodyguards for a lift to Princess Chandra. He makes a gate, and Cailin steps through. Cailin is now in the reception room, and Princess Chandra is at her desk.

Cailin asks Princess Chandra about his recent re-orientation to match this reality, and speculates on how this might effect his lineage - namely, that he might not be Tate's son, but might be Princess Chandra's grandson. Princess Chandra cuts her hand and drips some blood into a glass. The blood steams. "If you drink that and live, you are of my blood. if you do not, you are not of my blood."

Cailin complains about the fatal nature of the test. Princess Chandra suggests that he might choose to prove his ancestry by his grandfather, by walking the local version of the Pattern. They talk about Cailin possibly joining the Bards' Guild.

Cailin decides to abstain for a while from joining the guild. Princess Chandra recommends that Cailin not return to House Cara immediately - things could be quite (complex?) there soon. He is told that rooms are set aside for him and his father here and that he is welcome to the hospitality of her guild.

Princess Chandra relates the story of Tate's conception and birth to Cailin.

A butler takes Cailin to his rooms. Cailin works on reassembling instruments in his rooms.

--EORun--