Il Diario de Niccolo dEste, Principe dAmbre sessione 21

I did a good job making breakfast for the Creator of the Cosmos, the Paramount Master of the Art of War and myself, considering what I had to work with.

After breakfast, I asked Benedict just what Dworkin thought was so important. He told me that Dworkin wanted to merge his Creation with the one accessible through the Agate Spiral. This would shuffle various Powers a bit and render Osric’s Torc inoperable. Benedict had been drafted to guard Dworkin’s back while he worked and could no more get out of the area on his own than I could.

I filled Benedict in on events in Ambre, Osric’s activities and the Charies. He said that Osric was up to something not obvious, else he would have attacked already.

Dworkin was puttering around, taking arcane measurements of the Spiral, gesturing into the air and muttering incomprehensibly. I tried to think of a way to convince him to let me go and came up with two variations on the same theme. Beg until he gave in, or bug him until he booted me out. The second was slightly more dignified. Didn’t quite work. After a couple of minutes of me following at his elbow and asking questions, he looked at me with that horrible crazed-yet-omniscient gaze of his, and smirked.

"Hold out your arm, boy, I need some of your blood."

Oh, shit. I did that thing. Dworkin cut me and filled a cup with my blood. He gestured at me to rejoin Benedict. We watched Dworkin sprinkle blood all around the Spiral. My blood. It wasn’t that big a cup but the casual sprinkling somehow formed a thin, solid line around the Spiral, with no wasted drops.

"Face that direction," he said, pointing away from himself and the Spiral, "You, too, Benedict."

Naturally, we complied. A couple of minutes passed. Dworkin muttered. Nausea washed over me, faded. Then a wave of heat and a thump, as of a body had hit the ground. Ben and I looked at each other out of the corners of our eyes, shrugged. Nothing happened. We looked cautiously back and saw Dworkin lying flat on his back with his arms outstretched, as if he’d been making angels in the dirt. As we tried to wake him up the warped edges of this pocket shadow faded away and we were able to see Cerberus and the cave to Patternside, and an intense Shadowstorm moving away from us in all directions.

We set off towards Castle Odious with Ben carrying Dworkin and soon found mounts and supplies. Trumps did not work at all. I worried that they never would, or that I’d have to relearn the art, or remake all my cards. It took us four days to reach not the scraggly Tanglewood surrounding Castle Odious but Arden itself. Some of Julian’s rangers found us and escorted us to Ambre. Benedict they arrested-- that is they told him (very apologetically) that they had orders to arrest him and take him to the king. They didn’t try to take his weapons or anything.

I didn’t get to see Ben’s and Oberon’s meeting. Probably a good thing. I waited around to see how it came out. A long time. Captain Danesh found me and took me up to a tower to show me something new: the landscape had changed. The ocean was now a small, nearly circular sea surrounded by Arden. There was a castle on the opposite side. Through my spyglass I could see that it was Castle Odious, but clean and undecayed. Also, Ambre the City was larger…I wondered if any of the folk there had noticed or thought that it had always been so.

A bit later the Trumps started working again. I Trumped Julian, who’s backup was Syric, and learned that a big Charybdite army was moving on Arden out of Shadow Fellswith. Fellswith was a major enemy stronghold and we’d need a big army to deal with it.

I followed a plan I’d made months before, anticipating the need for an expendable army fast. I Trumped to Tella and found a Shadow of it with fanatic, more conventional bushi who worshipped me as a god and were ready to go, mustered and ready. At a 10:1 time ratio. (I really doubt that I could do this with anything but a near shadow of Tella.) I Trumped Syric and sent 30,000 through to him and a chain of wizard flunkies. Tiring. I joined Syric myself. It seemed that Raiclee was leading the army, or at least fronting for some Chary general. Osric does love Compulsions. Syric had been slowing them down and concentrating on killing enemy mages. He had some Chary fungus and flying troops on hand just in case the enemy concentrated in a city or the like.

We won. Syric’s troops were the focus of Raiclee’s ire and suffered the most on our side. Rai escaped.

I Trumped Ben to see if he wanted my fanatics for the assault on Fellswith. He said he could use them in a week or two, after he secured the former Castle Odious, now called the Fire Castle due to its location on a live volcano. I settled the army in and gave instructions to obey Benedict – a lesser god in their pantheon.

Laoch Trumped me. He wanted a Trump of an unusual shadow he’d come across. I explained my usual terms, the Good of the Realm (and Me of course) or something worth roughly two days of my time, just to keep people from bothering me all the time. The shadow itself was so interesting – the mechanic arts had been developed there to heights I’d never imagined – that I made him the Trump just for the information, and made one for myself. Laoch played on the beaches and in the bars while I made his.

Took care of business. Sheriffing. Took some fungus and shifterbane to Tella. Visited the Infirmary crew. Made arrangements for larger, and more cultured, groups in Bakkhanalya and started sending bushi there for R & R. (Deirdre wanted them to stay a while.) Got a few desertions to the resort, no big deal. Popped over to the Agate Spiral – Trumps work even better than before – and viewed it’s unguarded self. Wondered if Dworkin was just having me on with the blood or not. Am I an intimate part of this Working? Can’t ask Dworkin (not that he’d tell me) because Oberon whisked him away somewhere. Cast about from Cerberusville and Ygg to get a feel for the ‘shape’ of the Cosmos. Something like a waspwaisted hourglass with one end open – the Abyss – and Ambre at the other end. I think.

I spent some time learning my way around the shadow Laoch found, called Titec. Money is all electronic and goods are cheap to very cheap, even gems and gold. Fortunately they gamble. Interesting art forms new to me. Nasty weapons, a sniper’s heaven. Rumors of something like Trump artists. Amazingly good doctors, surgeons. I want a hospital for my troops. Maybe even for me. I think Laoch had Eric’s fungus purged somewhere in this region.

Back in Tella. Made a Trump of the Castle gate to glue to a wall in the mansion in Bakkhanalya plus one of Ygg. Laoch deserves a bonus.

Rumors in Castle Ambre: Un-Jesse is dead, killed by mental attack (?) at the Spiral. Also there was some sort of failed manifestation there. Glad if failed. Fiona and Ambrose are still missing. Dead? Working with Osric? Gone to the Agate World? No, that can’t be right, not if they’re merged now. Benedict won’t give me any fingermanhounds.

Flitted around with Draco to see about obtaining some of the Real Shifterbane source material but King Swayvill keeps it guarded and the former Flipside is solidly patrolled again. Draco made noises about going in anyway. Probably just trying to out-macho me. Out-stupid me is more accurate.

Talked with Brand, who mentioned that Laoch had a line on Ambrose. I Trumped Laoch. He was dressed in rags, having infiltrated the Chary camp Ambrose was at. He was going to try to grab him that evening. I offered to help him out. He Trumped me a while later and pulled me through, armed for war. We sneaked our way towards the command tents. I noticed others doing the same thing… Syric and Draco. Draco was looking at me when I spotted him. We talked. They were there to get Un-Flora. We switched. I’d take out Flora’s guards with arrows, then Draco would jump Un-Auntie and kill her. Laoch and Syric would grab Ambrose. Worked fine. Unfortunately, Ambrose’s compulsions had been undone by Un-Flora, who wanted to do something spectacular enough to get accepted by the Family. She had walked the Pattern wearing the Torc and was real as real. Life is like that sometimes.

sessione 22

"Taking Care of Business"

Checked in on the High Maintenance Girlfriend but she was busy paying her dues. Teaching Sean and Connor civilized company manners. Amazingly, she was succeeding. I have the highest regard for Oriana but Sean and Connor! She looked frazzled. Later.

I checked with Deirdre about pulling my bushi out. If Syric, bless his little ego, did make a run on Ambre I didn’t want my troops in the way. Let my illustrious elders waste their own forces on him. Dee said they could go but wanted some for fifth columnists in Fellswith. I told her I’d get some specialists.

Did the Search Shadow From Tella trick again and found suitable fanatics who looked more or less like Fellswithers (European, not Asian, to use the terms of my youth) and were expert at city fighting, stealth and quiet murder. Recruited some. While they got ready, I scouted Fellswith. Charies were patrolling two or three shadows out. Chary wizards were alert to any Trump or Pattern use in Fellswith itself. Not good enough to catch me alone and unencumbered --but with a group? Not a good idea.

I checked with people in Castle Ambre about hiding Trump or teleport traces from enemy wizards. Eventually ended up with Fiona. Agreed to a small favor (this wasn’t for me after all, it was for all of us) in exchange for getting me and my men in. She walked us in, with us wearing blinders, through some sort of starry tunnel right to my chosen Fellswith City site. No idea. She left the same way. I waited until night and dispersed my men through the city without trouble. Killed an important looking Chary on the way out for the hell of it. Trumped away from a few miles outside the city.

Cleaned up and sought out Ori in Castle Ambre. She was finished with S & C’s initial lessons and ready to party hard. (I made absolutely certain that no hint of ‘told you so’ appeared on my face or in my speech.) She’d heard of Texorami and hang gliding – personal flight without magic or mounts – and was eager to try it out. (Ah! Should have tried scuba diving rather than surfing…) Fine with me.. Heard some of the Castle gossip over lunch. Laoch supposedly took out Shadow Graves somehow. (Unlikely, I thought.) Dad had a fling with Queen Moire’s daughter Morganthe and then dumped her; Moire was incensed. (Dammit, Dad.) Trumped Ori and me to Texorami and checked in at my usual hotel

Oriana loved hang gliding. I like it myself. While gliding, Octavian Trumped me and warned me to stay out of Graves. Laoch really had wiped the place out with the Green Fungus spread by construct ‘bees’. Nasty. And all of Syric’s Broken Pattern Initiate gods were dead. Good. There were tough barriers, traps, etc., added by Octavian and others. Fine. Avoiding Graves was one of my minor goals. I suggested we plan a funeral for Syric as there was no possibility of keeping him out of the place. Invited Otto to join us for gliding. He declined, unsure if his teleport spells cancelled momentum. He decided to find out.

Back in Ambre, taking care of business. A constable fell down a stair in my brothel-under-construction. Might have been murder… Sent my bushi home and brought in thirty more to replace the ones who died in the tunnels and act as a personal guard.

Trumped to the mechanical wizardry region. Cast about for a place capable of getting the Green Fungus out of Eric, but not the same place Laoch had used. No point in stepping on each other’s toes. Found a suitable place and spent a couple of days learning the language, a Spanish variant full of technical terms for things that did not exist in my Espania. Took a pair of locals back to Tella as tutors. Caught a hint of Logrus on the way out but could not find the source. Took the tutors back after a couple of days in Tella.

Ambre. Lurked around the City at night, taking stock. The brothel was going well. Crime was down generally. I left orders for Syric’s men to be left to their own devices vis a vis pickpockets and the like.

Some rumors: Syric was growing fingermen, according to Fiona; some sort of creatures were hunting Syric, Raiclee and maybe Octavian. Caine thought they were Syric’s and actually only after Raiclee.

I was in the mood for some action. Rode out into Greater Arden with five bushi but nothing bothered me. Wise.

Cast about and found a nice shadow of Amber’s navy where I was a god.

Octavian Trumped me to borrow a Trump of the Agate Spiral. No way in Hell I’d make a Trump of that thing, but Cerberus’ cave fifty yards away I do have. He was monitoring the site and his alarm was going off now. I went along. Two demonformed guys in Chanicut colors were looking the Spiral over. Apparently they had cut the wards with their Logrus swords. They made threats. We made threats. We fought. We won. Octavian mindraped them: they were on their own, investigating Hendrake use of the site. We tossed them onto the Spiral – Otto’s idea – and flushed them away. I Trumped Benedict to dispose of two Logrus swords. Benedict suggested we just kill any interloping Chaosians in the future rather than dumping them into the Spiral. He approved of Octavian’s alarms. I reluctantly gave Octavian the Trump of the cave, free.

sessione 23

"The Use and Abuse of High Technology"

Made another Trump of Cerberus’ cave to replace the one I gave Octavian. Pondered the odds of Dworkin having connected me to the Spiral, or its wards, in some useful fashion. Likely. Our Founding Father rarely does anything simple. Crap.

Benedict summoned me to battle. I ran my ‘fodder-bushi’ straight in. Eventually three formidable Chary wizards showed up and rained environmental hell on us. We stayed mobile and avoided most of the storms, etc. Benedict Trumped me and gave me a few suicide bombers, gifts from Maximum Leader Omm. We made it into Fellswith the city. New enemy troops came against us, bearing things that looked suspiciously like high-tech energy weapons. Ordered a fast duck and cover, got behind a stone building myself and pulled my warbow and arrows out of the Closet. The gun-toting unit shot its first volley and blew fist-sized holes through a few men and the stone walls they were hiding behind.

I Trumped Dee to tell her about the carbiniers. She knew. I popped out of cover to shoot at the only Chary wizard I’d located, lurking in an upper window of a big warehouse. Might have hit him but it became moot when the last bomber ran into the warehouse and blew it down. With that wizard finished I could drop Pattern Defense and snake about playing with Probability. High-tech or magical, complex weapons were prone to misfires and other hazards. I got it right and most of the guns blew up, killing their users. The rest of them retreated. I had most of the local birds flock over to where any more carbiniers were hiding and blew them up too.

Ben and Dee came in from opposite sides with their forces and we killed everybody we could find. Mass slaughter does not fit well with the romantic image of myself I prefer but once the enemy uses things like the Green Fungus it is time for total war.

I cleaned up and rested in Tella for a couple of days fast-time. Went back to Castle Ambre. Draco Trumped me within the hour. He wanted my help in finding Jesse and Syric, missing for some days and out of Trump contact. Possibly in some sort of shadow trap. I was not enthusiastic. Draco thought they might be up to some mischief together. A horrible thought, that. I decided I wanted something in return, so we went to see Syric’s dear Da. Brand and Syric always operate on a strict favor for favor basis, so Brand was not at all put out. He cancelled my debt to him and found some better armor for Draco.

We set out with entourages of twenty yamabushi and twenty Brandenbergers. Several days later, having avoided several barriers (me) or cut through them (Draco) with his nice sword, we were close. Deep in the high tech area, a region that I was perhaps twice as experienced in. We stopped every so often to acquire effective weapons and practice with them. Draco cut a small hole in what we thought was the last barrier. We established that Pattern, Trump and Magick were ineffectual in that place. I Trumped Bleys to let him know where we were, and that his daughter was very likely inside. Bleys not only got along with me and Draco, he owed us and Jesse for his recent rescue.

While I was filling Draco in on some of my explorations of the area and my all-too-vague assessment of what we could be up against, Laoch Trumped me and volunteered to help. Fine with us. Draco cut a bigger hole and we went in for a preliminary recon. Tried an isolated house but its perimeter security located us. We faded away. Laoch suggested we take a vehicle and its driver. We found a good-sized road and arranged for a large tree to fall on the road. Nabbed a float-van and one local. Locals were not humanoid enough for us to disguise ourselves. We drove the thing out through the hole in the barrier, where it went dead, incompatible with the other shadow’s technology. We mind-probed the driver and picked up his language, a Germanic variant, and some details about his world. The place was tightly controlled but not a true police state, or at least the driver didn’t think so. We acquired a big flatbed truck, loaded the van on it and set out for a shadow with compatible tech and useful features, changing trucks whenever necessary.

Eventually the van started running. We recruited mercs and hackers and went in through a new cut.in driving several vans. Checked equipment: 99% good. Found another isolated house; the hackers defeated the security and we broke in. Killed the only person inside. The hackers went to work. They found that the locals used isolated networks routinely, so we’d have to get access to a government terminal. The hackers found a low-level gov’t office (driver and vehicle licensing). We went there, broke in and let the computer wizards do their work. Government systems were much more difficult. After three hours they found a clue: one agency, the Academy of Natural Science, had put in for a large number of survivor’s benefits. And the Academy was only five blocks away. The hackers produced partial building plans. They did not want to go along on an assault but were convinced by triple pay.

We broke in with hacker help and took out the single night guard – Laoch caught his eye and froze him, Draco cut the door open and I went in. No alarms. Laoch maintained control of the guard while we looked through the monitors. Four rooms held some interest. Jesse was strapped to an examination table/slab, oddly shapeshifted, with wires and tubes running into her and six scientist types watching instruments and monitors. Syric was in another, tied, tubed and wired, with five without scientists. A humanoid was in another, tied, etc. Another room held Syric’s and Jesse’s gear. Laoch’s controlled guard opened the security door. We walked in and killed all the scientists. Laoch started to dress us down for killing all of them when another guy in a lab coat came out of the toilet. Laoch grabbed him and found out the safe way to remove all the wires and tubes. While in mental contact with the scientist he learned that Jesse and Syric had little bombs implanted in the bases of their skulls. We took what records we could and wiped the rest, killed the last two and left, taking the Chary with us. While driving away Jesse woke up and tried to kill herself. Laoch subdued her.

We had the implants removed in the merc and hacker shadow. The implants seemed very unusual to the doctors. Both Jesse and Syric tried to kill themselves at every opportunity. Fortunately we didn’t have to keep them subdued for long. We Trumped back to Ambre. Syric believed Brand sufficiently to walk the Pattern. Fiona had to block Jesse’s memories to get her cooperation. Both made odd claims about owning the Castle. Most of the family watched the show.

There’s a rumor that someone commissioned a statue of S&J, strapped to beds and trying to suicide. Tacky.

We viewed the recordings and questioned the Chary. The Chary had been totally taken in by the illusory experience, while Jesse and Syric had not. ‘Killing’ themselves had been their only way to get glimpses of the lab. Towards the end they had killed themselves a lot. Their ‘virtual’ experiences had been extremely accurate in terms of setting and content. They had, for instance, been to the Spiral’s new fortifications, something I had been unaware of. Those bastards had got current, hard information on places all over Creation. Their experiments had been aimed at finding out how the various Powers worked. Between the three of them, they covered Shapeshifting, Logrus, high level Pattern, Broken Pattern and Magick. Not good.

I Trumped Llewella and invited her to tour the high-tech region with me. She was happy to come along. Shopping, essentially, for our own hospital shadows.

sessione 24

"March of Folly"

I found a suitable shadow for my hospital and techno-art ends. Bumped out a shadow of myself and moved in. Started sinking my claws into the fabric of the place. A Shadow-storm moved through. I did what I could to minimize the damage and then traced the thing. Syric had moved Shadow Omicron like a boat through Shadow. Now he and Jesse were leading an army towards the place of their torment. Actually, they were off course. I took Jesse to the barrier and the holes – which had been filled by some black substance. Tough stuff, that. Neither of our swords could penetrate it. We parted company.

Back in Ambre. Listened to rumors. Raiclee was still missing. Got called down to the docks in my capacity of sheriff to view a corpse. The long and short of that was that a shapeshifting assassin had killed and assumed the form of Lord Fenris’ fiancee. When I knew the stiff resembled his fiancee, I told him. The assassin still nailed him, though he killed her (? Damned shapeshifters) too. The murdered woman, a sorceress, was of the noble Ambre house of Jarnefelt. Got a sample of the highly effective poison that had killed Fenris.

Jesse recruited me to help look for Raiclee after finding that the shadow of her torturers was gone. Syric was in on this too. He considered this to be sufficient repayment for my debt to him. Debt? My testimony at the trial. I denied any debt but didn’t mind looking for R.

Syric: "Don’t worry, I won’t kill you."

Me, smiling: "I know."

We tried a variety of things. Syric did a Tarot spread – R. was in dire danger. No lie, she’d disappeared into the Hall of Mirrors, something only – maybe – Dworkin could control. We found a Rai - hunting cat-felinoid thing and tracked Rai into the Other Castle and the point at which she had entered the Hall of Mirrors. Tir-na Goth was next. Nothing, but we noticed that we could see another ghost castle over the Other Castle, something not visible from the Other Castle. Syric flew over to look while Jess and I kept up light contact via Trump. Syric saw ghost Raiclee go into the Hall of Mirrors and get clocked by some old guy an tossed into a mirror. Syric followed. The man really does have a deathwish big as he is. Syric’s fingerman bodyguard wouldn’t leave. I considered killing it (I AM the sheriff), no easy task. Jess said she’d take personal responsibility for it. I let Bleys know what was going on in case he wanted to get his daughter out of it.

Trumped over to Cerberus’ cave, gave him a snack and climbed up behind the middle head and studied the fortification around the Spiral. Felt it out. My blood… and Octavian’s blood were in the binding spell. Which felt strong. Had the feeling that trying to strengthen it more would somehow bleed me into it.

Took off to Ygg and Trumped Dana, the Hendrake woman I’d help escape Sean and Connor. She was actually in the fort. Cautiously exchanged what I thought was dated or slanted information for some of the same. She thought Dworkin was dead or a myth. I tried to disabuse her of the idea, stressing that he was ungodly powerful, unpredictable and Not Someone With Whom to Trifle. I suggested dinner. She suggested an affair; apparently that would enhance her Bad Girl rep in her House. I declined, citing a previous attachment. Not mentioning the fact that I really don’t want to fuck a shapeshifter, let alone one who is technically an enemy.

Jess contacted me about poisonings. She suspected her mother had been got to. Unfortunately I hadn’t got too far with the Real Stuff.

Castle Ambre, where Raiclee walked in. I told her of our efforts to find her, and of Syric’s disappearance. We picked up Jess and went to the place where Rai had escaped from some elaborate Shadow Trap. Noticed she was shifting shadow in some way unknown and undetectable to me. Tried to test the area inside and got sucked in. Insisted strongly that we leave as NONE of my Powers functioned there. Eventually they agreed. Jess invited us to Hendrake. I had a rather uncomfortable dinner (all of Them demonformed to the extreme, odd food, a Pattern sword on my back I’d taken off the former Duke’s corpse…) there while Jess made inquiries about her mother’s condition and its cure. Turns out Circe was suffering from Chaos cancer, brought on by excessive shapeshifting, no known cure. Or, rather, Swayvill might have a cure but he wasn’t telling.

Back in Ambre, Ori stuck me with keeping any eye on Sean and Connor for an upcoming fest. I recruited Gerard to back me up a bit. Gerard was in a good mood, he’d heard that Sean had been kicked out of Chaos after making a ruckus. Seemed he’d woke up with a male demon.

I considered who to tell of the place Raiclee had taken us to. Its power seemed suspiciously Osricish. I settled on Oberon. Showed him a Trump of the entrance I’d made. Turns out this was an Extreme State Secret. Oberon decided to not kill me, me having been so loyal and all. He kept the Trump, of course. Too many questions and investigations of all of us died at once; the secret would get out anyway.

Took Ori and some of my mage researchers to Lyonne (techy hospital shadow) to get ideas for gearing up on combining techniques, or sequencing them.

Draco Trumped me to warn that Osric had sent assassins against Amber and that Oberon thought I might be a particular target. I told him Raiclee, Jesse and Syric might be targeted as well but couldn’t tell Draco why just yet. A secret that the king might do nasty things to protect. All of their Trumps were warm. Draco and I agreed to try to hit the assassins first, in Arden, with dragons and yamabushi. No luck. We couldn’t find the enemy. We did eventually find Syric and then Jesse in the tech zone and did in the extremely adept fingerman assassin who was chasing Jesse down. There was some dispute over the creature’s Cloak Sword.

Jesse helped me alter Tella to make Cloaking inoperative there. I passed the technique on to Draco and Benedict.

Octavian came up with a back door into Osric’s sanctum. Benedict agreed to help with the understanding that we’d capture Osric, not kill him. Sean and Octavian went along and I was Trump Escape Route Man – Windfall was too glaringly obvious and I wasn’t interested in facing Osric without it. It worked. Osric and Brand were captured. Brand walked the Pattern to negate Osric’s compellings.

Laoch Trumped me and pointed out that Bleys’, Fi’s, Raiclee’s, Syric’s and Jesse’s Trumps were still warm. He, Octavian and I decided to see if anyone was in trouble.

The party celebrating Osric’s capture and (presumed) conversion into a walking eggplant got out of hand. I woke up with Oriana, in her rooms, dressed in part of Droppa Mapantz’ costume. I don’t know why or how. I don’t want to know. Trumped some of my hangover mix and drank it. Better. I’m not Random’s son for nothing.

Got a royal summons to the salle d’arms and fenced with Guard Captain Danesh. Danesh is suddenly much better than he was before. Better than me, by a hair, but not a strong and lacking some of my stamina. Probably, Oberon did something to him, some sort of really great enchantment. Seems the king is displeased with the overall level of martial expertise exhibited by my cousins during the recent crises. Watched Ambrose and Parsifal put in poor performances – though better than Otto or Raiclee – and could see his point.

Raiclee came by while I was helping Ori recover. She said that Dad thought I might need help with the Watch – and didn’t seem to be thrilled with the idea of helping out. I disagreed. We talked a bit. She says she’s fine despite her ordeal. She can tell who has attuned to the Cloak and where they are. Regrets not letting Syric attune. I said I’d mention to him that he might be able to cut a deal with her after all. Then I mentioned her owing me for a Trump and she claimed she’d simply extorted it from me. I managed to maintain a bland façade. Poor little bint got abused by her Uncle and pupped a horde of roaches, after all. Won’t be doing any business with her for a while. May not take calls.

Watched the girl-cousins go at it in the salle. Kara is pretty good, about Syric-class. Consuela not as good, and Dorothea poor though better than Raiclee. I invited them out to lunch and eventually had a private chat with Kara. She is interested in acting as my lieutenant commander of the Watch. Actually, she’s up for action in general and any sort of real job. She’s Trump-poor, so I gave her one of me and one of Draco. She seems to have a thing for Draco. I explained how I did things, such as my fondness for stealth, and my program with the Watch. We went down to watch HQ and I introduced her around. A message arrived, an invitation to meet with someone calling himself ‘Shadow’, alone, in a warehouse. I had Kara and backup nearby, and her Trump up my sleeve, and went. No trap. He’s a crimelord wannabe. We had a long, ‘hypothetical’ conversation about what I would and would not tolerate, treatment of pimps and whores, ‘help’ with the gaming club and so on. A known crime lord that I could find and kill almost at will, cooperating with the important things, was better than a succession of unknowns not cooperating. I could deal. Seeing that I was a reasonable man, Shadow then revealed that he was a former Charybdite. The tattoo won’t come off no matter what. The only survivor of Fiona’s slaughter at that Broken Pattern, he’d seen the error of his ways. He’d been part of the character assassination but not the Green Fungus attacks. I verified this psychically, though he was a lot stronger. Asked if he had info on the Chary poisons. He presented me with a full kit: poisons and antidotes for Patterners and Logrus users, and shapeshift-suppressor and counteragent. Plus images of where the raw materials came from and what they were. For that, I told him, I might be able to wrangle an official pardon. Rejoined Kara and the watchmen in something of a daze.

Raiclee Trumped me to request/demand a Trump of Draco or a relay. I said ‘No’ and cut her off.

Draco Trumped me a bit later and asked about Chaosian vendettas --- he was suddenly in four of them. I went to Tella with Kara and Trumped Draco in. Had limited info but agreed to help. While speaking, somebody jammed our Trumps from within Tella. Tried to catch them and failed. Gave orders to scan for Trump users to the sorcerers in the palace. Draco mentioned that Circe Hendrake, wife to the duke and mother of Jesse, was said to be dying of some poison. Gave him a dose of the antidote and he went off to try it out --- a grateful Duke Hendrake could be extremely useful to him.

Dad Trumped me to say that Deirdre was missing, her Trump cold, and that Corwin was concerned.

Showed Kara around in Tella (she loved Chrysophylax and he loved the attention) and left her to recreate for a bit. Took the samples to Leone for analysis and chemical duplication. The Ambreite poison was real, and so was the antidote. The duplicate was maybe 80%. Made up 200 doses of the antidote and gave 100 to Oberon with a quick briefing and the images of the shadows where the source materials came from. He ordered me to recon the places.

Gathered Octavian, Corwin, Gerard, Sean and Kara and followed Dee’s trace into Chaos. Stymied by a circle of airless shadows keeping us from her. Chaosians came up and demanded our surrender. Gerard was our only serious casualty --- I Trumped him to Leone. Didn’t want to, but it was Gerard. Popped in space suits from Leone to get through the airless zone. Found Dee and got her out. Trumped Corwin and Dee to see to Gerard in Leone. Grrrr.

Sean and Octavian and Kara stayed to help with the recons. Draco Trumped me during the first foray. Had to assume the Charies would detect that and took us all through to Draco. One of his vendettas was being settled as a formal duel. I volunteered to be his second and the others to keep an eye on the proceedings. The idiot Chaosian used a construct shield as his second, so he faced both of us. The shield was proof against Pattern Swords and spat poison but we killed the guy. Draco took the shield. We probably lost points on style, but fuck ‘em; a kill is a kill. Nobody tried to interfere with Sean and Otto (and Kara) watching. Got a sample of the shield venom.

The shapeshift suppressor and antiagent were cosmetic products, easily available. I ordered a lot.

The Logrus poison antidote was a poppy –like product and the antidote made from animal fat. No problems.

The Ambreite poison was a fungus and the antidote a parasite fungus on that, grown underground in the hives of man-sized, sapient bugs. Raided a Chary trading post and got some of the former --- they don’t buy much antidote – and left.

Reported to Oberon, giving Sean, Otto and Kara all due credit.

I checked on Gerard in Leone. He’s fine, but a bit embarrassed about getting taken out. Wants in on the action against the Bug & Fungus World. Had ambrebane antidote made up and specially scented & flavored for each relative --- upon reflection I decided to not leave anyone out.

Worked out how to make barriers on my shadows. Kept them simple: semitransparent walls (like at Graves) twenty yards inside the ‘edges’ of the worlds. Since Cloak, Shapeshifting and Logrus don’t work in them, getting through the walls should be difficult. Installed at Leone.

Trumped to Ambre and walked the Pattern. Shadow hadn’t put any compulsions on me. Rested in Tella.

Trumped Octavian and got him to accompany me to B&F World --- we got spotted fast. Twice. Otto objected to retreating. Explained about the Big Chary Wizard. Otto gave me a shot to compare. I felt it through Windfall… but Big Chary Wizard is stronger.

Brand Trumped Otto and we both went through to Ambre. They discussed problems with intruders. Otto said some old, powerful man named Loki was skulking about and capable of walking right through his wards. Also some worries about Raiclee’s spawn. There are hundreds of them.

Draco Trumped me from the Courts. The embassy had been attacked and Lora was injured and poisoned. I took her to Leone, grumbling to myself. Too many relatives using the place. She had three different poisons in her, one of them a lesser version of the ambrebane. She’ll be laid up for a while. I set up security to guard her and to keep an eye on her.

Back to Castle Ambre. Reported to Oberon about B&F. He designated Eric to lead an expedition to the place. Found him in the salle d’arms and fenced for a while. Bruises, some blood, picked up a couple of pointers. For sorcerous backup I called up Llewella and Mirelle, both of whom were up for a little action. We’d move out in two days.

Spent several days fast-time in Tella making Trumps. [Kara wall-Trump for Watch hq, 3 shift commanders, Gerard, Ygg] Octavian contacted me and convinced me to take him to Leone with one of Raiclee’s spawn for examination. (Spawn sounds so much better than child when you are going to be treating something unkindly.) It --- he was a male adolescent. Highly resistant to any sort of toxin. The techs did an initial work-up on possible pheromonal chemicals and got sufficient tissue samples for cloning. Technological duplication, that is, part of the standard procedures and used to grow replacement organs and other things. I’m really not used to this kind of thing yet. Took care that the poor bug couldn’t get a good fix on Leone. Otto had ‘borrowed’ him from his mother. Buggboy’s mind was lightly fried so I didn’t get any real idea what the spawn are like. Do they have personalities we could appreciate?

Just hours before the raid on B&F World, Otto Trumped me wanting me to go raise troops to help him right away. He evidently has an inflated idea of just how fast I can do that kind of thing. Also couldn’t afford to leave the raiding party for long. Oberon would be pissed. Remembered the troops I’d raised for the destruction of Fellswith and excused myself for an hour to Trump there, get them alerted and hand them over to Consuela, who was acting as Otto’s assistant.

Back with Eric, Mirelle and Llew. Llew got a Trump call that died and initiated one of her own, pulling one Marcus through. Marcus was an ‘associate’ but was put in charge of one of the wings of Eric’s army. (I got the other, Eric the center.) Probably Llew’s son. The mission was something of a bust. The Charies had realized that the family would send an army and vacated with all their stash, leaving only a token rearguard. Interrogations revealed that the bugs were addicted to drugs the Charies traded for the poison. They’d be going through withdrawal --- or death --- real soon now. Re the magical ambience of the place, Llew and Mirelle pointed out that one could simply Edit or find a shadow to match.

On the way to report to Oberon I saw Eric and Corwin ride out towards Arden, together, just the two of them. Dee said that Oberon had ordered them to settle their differences one-on-one.

Dee also told me that Draco was having troubles in the Courts due to a sudden civil war there. I Trumped him and went through to help out. King Swayvill and several other highly important Chaosites were dead at the hands of Charybdites or rival Houses. We looted Thelbane a bit (picked up a couple of Logrus dirks for turning into spear-heads later) and looked in on the Logrus. It’s a big, organic, entrail-looking thing. It looked like it was diseased. The Charies had poisoned it. We Trumped Oberon and Brand to ask if that was a good thing or a disaster. Nobody knew. Draco evacuated the Embassy.