A Note in Andre's Journal
Things are getting interesting. Before I go into exactly how I found myself in the Courts of Chaos relaxing in a sitting room belonging to Brand, I'll recap the events of the last few days.
After turning over my captured messenger for study, I was returning to investigate the shadow of the Black Watch when I got a trump call. Flora contacted me to introduce me to yet another unknown member of the family. Flora scarcely concealed a slim smile when she made the introduction of Samantha Spade, a cute blond woman of undeterminate age. I was not privy to the joke myself, but apparently Flora found the situation amusing. Like myself, she was initiated by Oberon without explanation and left to her own devices. After she has had a chance to settle in and get her bearings, I shall have to compare notes with her. Perhaps we may discover some common thread that might explain Oberon's plan for us.
I was deep into shadow when I got the trump call, so I begged off coming back to Amber for a bit. I soon reached the area where I caught the messenger and began to follow the black roads until I came to a nexus shadow. I took my small dragon form to allow movement and believe I got inside undetected as an Amberite. The headquarters seemed to be a massive mountain, either hollowed out or at least deeply excavated. The surrounding lands were being tilled by serfs of some sort. The shadow was high magic and much of the ecology was damaged. I decided upon a plan to capture one of the serfs for study and came up with a plan to cause trouble for the Black Watch.
The adbuction went off without a hitch and I soon had my captive safely locked away in Amber for study. It was my desire to be able to emulate the serf with creatures under Amber control, supplant them with said creatures to a reasonable degree and arrange an uprising at an appropriate time. Perhaps even taint the Black Watch food supply in the process. Maybe even rescue Thera in the process. Such a plan would require a great deal more knowledge of magic than I can lay claim to, so I contacted Fiona and explained my plan.
Dealing with Fiona is always fraught with pitfalls. She saw the possibilities of my idea and agreed to undertake the raising/finding of suitable creatures. She did have a hidden price though. She wanted me to go find Brand and basically spy on him. She tried to couch this in an excuse that he was more able in such matters than she and would be a far better choice to actually come up with the counter-ward spells needed to get inside the complex. I was not fooled, but I agreed to the undertaking.
The next step was to somehow reach Brand deep in the courts. I only knew three chaosians (one of whom was Black Watch), so I banked on Vramin being able to assist. Fiona wrote a note to Llewella who is said to be able to contact him. I spoke with Llewella, gave her the note and she finally agreed to trump me through to Vramin. He recieved me in a secure room and I explained some of what I was about, i.e. the rescue of a family member. Surprisingly, Vramin revealed that Jade is his daughter and was at the moment meeting with Brand on another matter.
Vramin and I came to an understanding and he trumped Jade to pass me through directly to meet Brand. Brand's retainers are an interesting bunch to say the least. When I layed out my desire for assistance, Brand eventually agreed to assist. Jade jumped on the chance for mayhem at once and soon we had decided to recruit Mykall as well. One of Brand's retainers was "hired" with promises to assist "her" in obtaining an organic body. It's all very complicated, but to make a long story short a handful of us are making plans to free Thera and kill Shurec if we can.
