Ilk, Neville, and assorted others discuss dealing with the wandering bits of Ilk's shadow, which have been rampaging throughout shadow. It is decided that they are a serious threat and should be destroyed.
Unfortunately, there are only a few hundred left with Vlad in Ilk's Home. Neville does something ordered and turns all of the bits within fifteen shadows into stone. Pharaban walks into Ilk's shadow, touches Vlad, and walks out. Vlad now looks like Connor - he's been time slowed.
Neville brings up a new question. "Has anyone seen Dara recently?" Ilk and Neville discuss who might be compromised, and possible actions going forward.
Ilk starts moving Neville to concentrations of the shifters where Neville turns them into stone.
Cassandra and Cailin discuss taking the fight to Gwen. They gather the army of Dzurlords and a number of White Company in the center of Ingold's Pattern.
A message is sent to Corwin via Hunter. Hunter shows up in the council chambers with a message for Corwin with Amaranth's permission. Hunter delivers the note, leaves, then returns with a dead kangaroo-sized rat as a gift for Amaranth.
There is also a somewhat chewed on member of the Etiquette guild that tried to stop Hunter from entering the chambers.
After reading the note from Cassandra, Corwin turns to Random. "Give Jean more drugs."
[Just Say Yes to Random]
Corwin pulls Princess Chandra aside, talks to her briefly, and then Princess Chandra leaves the chamber. She returns in a few moments and announces that she is going to lead a diversionary attack. "I do not expect anyone to survive other than myself, and I am looking for volunteers."
[Here, get those Gungans over there...]
A number of minor houses send a number of lesser members along. Hendrake's head volunteers the imports. Jesby volunteers herself.
A bunch of them step outside the council chambers.
Cassandra gets a trump call. It's Jesby.
Cassandra - "Yes?"
Jesby - "I have an offer for you."
Cassandra - "What is it?"
Jesby - "There are a number of us going on a suicide mission, and I
thought that you might like to come along."
Cassandra tries to break the contact, and fails.
Cassandra - "How did you get my trump?"
Jesby - "Darkstar gave me this. He said that it might come in
handy."
Cassandra - "Could you give it to my father for safekeeping before you
leave?"
Jesby - "Well, it's kinda attached."
Cassandra - "What do you mean it's kinda attached?"
Jesby - "He drew it on my arm when we were bored."
Cassandra trumps Princess Chandra. They chat. Zorro is interested in joining the main attack. Cassandra rejects the offer.
Cassandra and company appear on the side of a verdant hill. The top of the hill appears to have been artificially flattened.
Cassandra recognizes that the image Mikail gave her was more accurate than the one Auricle gave her. She hears humming overhead from the "dog" of which she was warned. It is comprised of many flying flechettes that occasionally coalesce into the shape of a dog.
Cassandra sends many Dzurlords off to deal with the dog; they die and fail.
Cailin starts examining the situation and the creature, and considers pulling in help. He opens a gate to outside the council chambers and asks Raven to find mages. Raven argues with Amaranth about safety.
Cailin gets tired of waiting and enters the council chambers himself, and manages to drag Amaranth back.
Amaranth flips through her book looking for something appropriate. Cailin casts a goop ball around the flechettes, which slows them down somewhat.
Cailin considers gating the dog out to someplace else. He considers sending it to evil Benedict, but then decides to send it to to Cathryne instead upon Cassandra's suggestion. He opens the gate, and Amaranth shovels the pieces through.
[Cathryne is toast]
[Martin is going to have to become King of Rebma]
[Welcome to the Dark Side. Here's your hat. Would you like a
drink?]
They go up the hill and can now see statues of hippogriffs coming to life and moving to attack.
A large number of pigmies jump out of the grass and charge, waving large Morganti weapons over their heads. Amaranth starts pointing at Seroli and melting them. Cailin starts blowing them around with large amounts of wind.
White Company has gained the door and is now looking for a way to open it. White Company and the cats are holding the cats at bay, but there are only about eleven Dzur left.
Cailin continues escalating the wind, and fails to find the speed of sound, but runs out of Seroli to experiment upon. Amaranth tries to cast at one of the statues, and cuts off the spell when something starts tracking it back at her.
"I forgot to mention that."
"You forgot to mention that!!!"
Cailin conjures a wrecking ball and launches it at one of the statues. It bounces, with little effect. A cat plays with the ball, and Cailin deconjures it, offending the cat, who lost its playtoy. Cailin conjures a stone bat and swings it at the statue. The bat turns white.
They manage to destroy the statues by tossing instantaneous rock to mud and mud to rock spells at the statues.
White Company and Cassandra manage to get the door open, using knowledge given to them by those that had been there before. There is a stairwell leading down that is lit poorly by torches in sconces along the walls. After taking a step onto the stairwell, Cailin's stored magical energy goes away and he falls to the ground, arm and legless. Amaranth carries him back out of the stairwell and Cailin re-casts his invisible limb spell.
They dispose of a few Seroli, and then hear the flapping of wings, and there are white Gwen statues approaching from all directions. Amaranth gates out magically. Cailin yetis and runs down the stairs.
There are on the order of a thousand statues ringing the entrance.
Jean is certain that he has seen some of the statues fly away, because this is a nice warm pedestal that he is curled upon. He warns Corwin, is patted on the head, and then conjures a blankie.
[Actually, he just Logrus-pulled himself under Snarsht]
Cailin tries to warn Cassandra and White Company as he passes them, but none of them speak Yeti.
[Yeti being a language with only one syllable, "Aaaaaah!"]