“This is the way the world ends.” I think it’s a quote from somewhere, but forgot where. Anyway it is inadequate to describe the happenings of the last few days since there was significantly more than 1 world ending.
Vialle had been handling everything so smoothly, that after talking to the unicorns, there was very little for me to do. I decided that enough time had gone by that I could go home and get things straightened out there. I would need to pack some things and get someone to care-take the house while I was away. I could have sold it but I liked the option of using it as a safe house. Besides, I’d grown up in that house and it still meant a lot to me despite the extra work. Flora was in her version of Earth, so I trumped her for a shortcut, and got there in record time. I’m going to have to have a trump made of this place.
I had mostly packed what I wanted to take and done most of the bills. More money was needed in the checking account so I went to the bank to deposit some cred-sticks lying around the house. I could have done it over the net, but wanted some exercise. I really need to sell and deposit some of the gold from the salvage; I put that on my to-do list.
It was on my way home that the world ended. The sky clouded over and a storm rolled in. It was obvious that this was not any usual storm. The magic potential headed upward, till even nonmagical people (such as myself) felt as if they were swimming in it. It found an outlet in the Awakened. The orcs were the most obvious as their numbers are higher and they are easier to see. They grew to troll size and got dumber and more violent. Trolls on the other hand stayed about the same size, but got smarter. I decided to get off the street and stopped at the house next to mine, where Mrs. Mahoney lived. She had been a neighborhood fixture for as long as I can remember. She kept the streets safe from low-level mischief by constantly peeking out her windows. She saw anything that happened on her block and was not remiss about letting parents know what their children had been up to. Usually accompanied by a lecture on raising children to be responsible members of the community. Though I don’t remember her ever having children. I rang her bell and was greeted with the muzzle of some sort of weapon. Evidently some had seen the lawlessness that accompanied the storm as an opportunity for payback. Once she saw it was me she let me in and we sat down for some tea.
She had built the gun out of pieces of household appliances, though she had never been a tinkerer before. I did some basic probability manip to make sure the thing would not blow up or catch fire. I got caught up on local gossip and a political review while we watched the world change out her front window. After things had settled down some, I asked her to take care of my house, gave her the checkbook for the bills and such, and went home.
Sinking down into reality had reviled that the neighboring shadows were no longer there. Highly disturbing. I got out my trumps and started to check on who was there. Once I got an unlooked for answer. It was Brand, and he was rude and abrupt; not in the mood to be contacted by a stranger. Many of the trumps had become drawings, with no cooling that indicates a person at the other end. Whatever happened, it had taken out a good number of family members. Hopefully they were just someplace that could prevent trump contact. During the height of the storm they were all inoperative. I was able to contact Merlin and Flora, but they seemed to be stuck in some sort of nightmares that I couldn’t break. I finally got a hold of Archi, and got him to pull me, and all my boxes, through. We headed to Amber to see what the situation was.
When we got through to Amber Julian was handling things. Vialle had had to be sedated as she was sure Random had died. Besides Julian and Vialle, Delwin and Thera were still around, and Melassandra was in Rebma. With everyone helping, we were able to pull Flora and Merlin through. Shortly before the storm, Flora had been under an attack by a demonic looking creature that we supposed was the hunter, so she needed medical attention. Good thing the pixies that had overseen Delwin and Thera’s transportation were still around.
Going through the various place trumps found around the castle we found a few that still worked. The included ones for Deep Arden, Rebma, the place where the Amberites got their glamour from, a stone henge like place, a multi-shadow city, the plane in front of the abyss, a beach by the sea that kinda looked like Scotland, a courtyard for an inn, and the keep of 4 worlds. Turns out this last is where Brand was hanging out.
I commented that I had reached Brand and it was decided that the Amber group should re-establish contact with him. Everyone looked at me, as I was the mentally strongest one here – scary thought that. Since he wasn’t to happy to hear from me the first time, I suggested that I just boost Archi. Once the contact was made, I got booted out. Yes, Brand is Mr. Charming. Brand had some irons in the fire, which included getting bodies for some of his associates. The group in Amber agreed to help in exchange for bodies for Delwin and Thera.
Only Flora did not go to the keep, as she was still mostly comatose. Brand was going to take energy from some flame fountain and use it to create bodies. The fountain had a tendency to make the user meglamaniacal however, so it was the job of Julian and Archi to make sure brand used up all the energy, rather than go toons (again). Brand had a 17-year-old son there named Renaldo who was also to help. I just sat around and lent my willpower to whoever needed it. When it was done, Brand had his wife back (she had been in the fountain), a metal golem had a woman’s body, and Delwin and Thera had finished regrowing their bodies.
We held a council of war, but only managed to list things that needed to be done. Primarily was the establishment of shadowpaths to the shadows that remained. Archi and I would need to learn that. Brand was going to see what remained of Chaos. (I thought Chaos would probably be in chaos.) Vialle was going to have to talk to the nobles and see what kind of damage control was needed there. And we needed to hunt down any other survivors of the family, and hopefully find the jewel of judgment. Despite Vialls certainty, I have hopes that the time-stop effect that prevented us from contacting Random before the storm, protected him from its effects.
