25 May 2003
The party has been camped on the edge of a river, the central city is growing closer and some attempts at stealth have been deemed worth the effort. Syrone wakes Meridian up early that morning, a time consuming task at the best of times. Once he is relatively cognizant she expresses her concerns with his use of his new-found power. He counters that he is simply using it to maintain order, and is this not the mandate of a Monitor? Possibly, Syrone agrees, but there is a slippery slope between the creation of order and the pursuit of control or the casual use of power for expediency. "Well then, I shall depend on you to remind me should I become too expedient." "Will you listen?" "I will listen, I can promise nothing more, but I will listen." Syrone remains troubled but is able to be satisfied with Meridian's willingness to at least be open to her concerns.
The party heads out soon after. This close to the city interaction with the natives is inevitable and they exchange short greetings with fishermen on the river, holding to their disguises as guardsmen. Fords across the river prove scarce and they travel north until nearly noon before one is located and successfully crossed. The party is now in the immediate surrounding of the city itself and contact with others is unavoidable. The decision is made to stick to the back roads and hope that their disguise is not too closely examined. This proves effective and by nightfall the city itself is reached.
The sight of the almost fortress like walls are more than daunting, both them and the two well guarded gates extremely thick and higher than any fortifications anyone in the party has ever seen. The original plan of attempting to enter by stealth seem almost ludicrous in the face of the monolith of the cities defenses and after many plans are presented and discarded it is decided that their best bet is to brazen it out and attempt to enter the city as a guard patrol. Peter's reluctant willingness to reinforce their disguise with this cohersive abilities does much to add to the plans appeal.
The night is spent resting and preparing. Come morning, the implementation itself is almost anti-climatic, with the party passing easily. They travel on for a ways, eventually finding a run down tavern where they hope to attract little notice. Peter has been spending the time "brushing" the townsfolk as they pass, gathering a sense of the cities culture and a feeling for the layout of the area. He passes this information to Sil Rana, who has recovered from his experiences with Laurent enough to permit the violation.
The group settles in for the day, Peter stating that he wishes to investigate one of the Churches of the Black Unicorn. His "brushing" has given him some feel for the philosophy of the religion and the black status of the Unicorn apparently refers to it being obscured, not corrupted.
Syrone is best able to blend into the locals and economically fortified by Laurent spends some time purchasing appropriate casual clothing for the group. Changed, the group heads down to the main room to gather information and grab a quick meal. Amid many personal moments from the locals, some larger picture information is gathered. It turns out that the Shadow was origionally created by Osric and Finndo, who are apparently buried in a monument some distance to the south. Pilgrimages to the area are common. Concerned that the Circlet may be buried with them, Susan uses his scissors to verify it's location. It's location in the Keep proper is confirmed. Pity, a little creative grave robbing would have been easier. Syrone take Susan firmly in hand and does a little aesthetic triage, his beard neatly trimmed his resemblance to Bleys is far more evident. It's the Prince after a three week tequila bender, but the essence of Bleys is there.
After dinner, the entire party goes to visit the local temple with Peter, who wishes to further his investigations. The temple itself is a simple structure, an ornate roof supported by simple stone columns. Weapons must be removed before entering, a prohibition that Susan is not comfortable with, remaining outside. The rest continue inside and discover a large marble statue of the Unicorn draped in a black veil at the center. Meridian's elemental vision reveals a vast store of energy, but in a form almost impossible to quantify. Peter can sense power as well, almost a truer form of his own religion, opening himself up to it he is washed by a feeling of pure spirituality more intense than any he has ever experienced. Perhaps it is this experience that explains the other, decidedly less fortunate, decisions he would make later.
Eventually a priest comes to speak with them, their avid interest apparently novel. He and Peter begin intense conversation and eventually leave together to speak in private. Meridian is disturbed, not distrusting Peter as such, but wary of his innocent naitivity. He watches with his crystal but sees only intense discourse, the Priest looking increasingly disturbed. Meridian alerts the others, becoming convinced that Peter is telling the Priest everything in a blind trust of the Temple. Sil Rana extends his perceptions and can feel that the Priest is nervous but sincere in his listening. The group is not pleased but having few other options, they wait. Eventually Meridian sees the priest writing a note to be delivered to the King, essentially confirming that Peter has told them who they are and asking his Emminence to please listen to them before executing them. Well, that confirms that.
Peter and the Priest return, just as one of the giant cats arrives to deliver the note to the King. The Priest invites them to the house across the way to await his response. Figuring the cat is out of the bag they may as well play the card as though it was intended the group follows. This nervous acceptance does not save Peter from a quiet but intense lecture on the merits of involving others before risking their lives.
Everyone waits uncomfortably for the guards. There is a great deal of nervously polite small talk.
E, now accompanied by 10 guards. They are polite, but firm. The group accompanies them, with the exception of Diagorro, who was out shopping during the temple trip and has decided that he may be most effective as a free agent for the moment.
The party travels through the city and into the palace keep. Larger than it origionally seemed from the outside, they travel on quite deep before arriving at a throne room. The king is there with his daughter, a noted sorcerer if the talk around the city is at all accurate. Standing next to him is a disfigured entity that appears to be the Prince Brand from the library. As if the group didn't have enough problems.
Introductions are made, Meridian doing his best to make the method of their arrival look intentional. He explains the situation, a speech he has become proficient with given it's oft repetition. The royals listen politely, and as Meridian comes to a close Brand enters the delicate silence, offering to explain some background the group may find useful to know.
He speaks about Osric and Finndo, and how they were betrayed and slain by their father Oberon. How the Pattern made by Dworkin was flawed, that flaw resulting in Oberon's atrocities; and how his attempt to repair that flaw resulted in the Patternfall war the group has read about. The claims he was pulled from the Abyss by the decendents of Osric and Finndo, and they now serve as allies.
The King then lays out his demands. He has little interests in the concerns of the outsiders, his land is not affected by the blight and there is no danger to his own. However, if the group is willing to give him the throne of Amber when the multiverse is repaired, then he feels he could trouble himself to assist them.
To say the group is a bit overwhelmed would be a kindness. They are shown to a suite of luxurious rooms after Meridian requests and is granted the night to discuss their options. Much talk ensues, but no hard fast decisions are made outside of the unanimous agreement that they have no intention of giving the throne to Darius, even assuming it was theirs to give, which is arguable at best.
Sil Rana enters Peter's chambers and confronts him on his actions. Peter is remorseful, but continues in his insistence that he is only doing what he feels is best. That the possibility of a peaceful solution is worth the risk.
Meridian links with Peter and together they are able to make contact with Diagoro. Apparently Tracker has found a secret passage into the keep and with that and Diagoro a free agent they decide to try to negotiate with the King, giving Peter's way at least a chance of working before looking at more extreme options.
While the group is willing to give peace a try, it would appear the King has no such aspirations. The next morning each member of the party awakes to find themselves in a small dark cell, stripped of all but their small clothes. Various abilities are attempted on the cell walls and doors, but they appear to be immune to all of the groups various abilities. Each member of the party individually makes a mental note to bring this up in great detail the next time Brother Peter has a "great idea".
Meridian eventually figures out that while the cell is immune to his abilities, the cot is not. After prying it apart he is able to infuse one of the beams with considerable strength and a very impressive kinetic payload. Counting on the element of surprise and his own combat abilities he smashes the door outwards and enters the hall swinging. The guards initially fall back before his strength and extremely dangerous board-with-a-nail-in-it. But eventually numbers begin to work against him and Meridian begins to loose ground. Fighting defensively, he manages to make it to the other cells and smashes their doors in as well. Freed, the others begin to fight as well and the battle becomes more even.
Then Peter is freed. His illusions shattered by the open betrayal of the King, Peter uses his abilities without hesitation or inhibition and the guards cease fighting the party and form around them, a protective wall of flesh, blank of face and independence. They travel through the lower passages, taking a detour to collect Diagoro who has come to join them through the secret passage.
The party then moves up and towards the throne room, Peter's army of the damned growing with every force they encounter. All are either coherced or slain, and as Meridian smashes open the door to the throne room none has been able to warn the monarch and his accomplices. They have time only to stand and stare before Meridian impails his enhanced beam through the kings daughter Millicent, slaying her instantly and well before she can use her magics in her own defense. The blight sorcerer, who had apparently been disguised as Brand is the recipient of several of Diagoro's explosive arrows but is able to blunt their effect with his own abilities. The King, seeing the lay of things, run out the back exit along with his son Lucious. They are followed by Meridian and Sil Rana. The chase is long and fatal to Lucious. Finally it ends in a room much like the Pattern room in Amber. The door her resists even Meridian's enhanced weapon and he must spend time using his abilities to delete it from reality. By the time he is done they enter only to see Darius disappear from the center of a strange Pattern, split with black cracks. Meridian is able to identify it as a Broken Pattern and it does much to explain the Shadow's immunity to the blight.
The rest of the group has finally managed to defeat the sorcerer, loosing most of Peter's army in the process. Amid the rubble they find their clothes and equipment, and a strange melding of their artifacts that can only be the one combined object Fiona described. Nice of the bad guys to do a bit of the busy work.
Seeing no reason to remain until the guard can figure out what happened, the party rides hard out of the Shadow, picking up the wayfinder and Trumping back to Amber as soon as they leave the Shadow's restrictions.
They quickly locate Fiona and show her the merged objects. She feels the icon will be effective for their purpose but now must be placed just so in the Abyss, where it's destruction will kick start the process that will restore the Logrus and Amber. No one in the group has the abilities to place it in the hostile environment of the Abyss, but Zandrene feels she may know a few in her home city of Teletha that may. This will mean making a deal with the exiles of Chaos however. The group takes this philosophically, this is a pattern they are becoming accustomed to. She notes that it will be difficult, they hate Amber. Meridian notes that he has yet to meet anyone who doesn't, they've managed thus far.
Several days is spent in Amber, restocking supplies and spending time with various relatives here in exile. Laurent spends the time making a Trump of Darius and Meridian works on new aspect of his abilities.
Eventually they are prepared and use one of Laurent's Trumps to transport themselves to Parad and follow Zandrene north from there to Talitha. The city itself is surrounded by a grey dust wall, taking nearly half a day to cross even with the wayfinder's assistance. Once reached, Talitha itself is impressive, easily the largest city the group has yet to encounter. They enter without trouble, Zandrene's word enough to get them through the gate. Crowds gather behind and around them, never blocking their way forward, although leaving could be an issue. They are not angry, seeming more expectant and more than a little curious. Eventually they reach the center of the city, where Clopin, Leader of Chaos in Exile waits for them. He is the first they have seen not to hold onto the human template, his form slowly morphing constantly.
Zandrene is acknowledged and introduces the rest. Meridian once again runs through the speech and is once again met with vague disinterest. The argument is caustic, but lacks real heat. Clopin enjoys the small bit of torture he is able to inflict on the decendents of his ancient enemies and Meridian's patients is clearly fraying by the time the Chaos Lord is ready to present his demands.
He is willing to deal, not because he cares any for Amber or her decendents, but because he would see the restoration of the Logrus and the Courts. However, even that is not worth leaving Amber to it's own devices and for his assistance Amber must grant him a representative on the Kings advisory panel and full status and recognition. Meridian is willing to accept this condition, but demands the same for Amber in the Courts. This largest hurdle crossed, the rest becomes matters of legalese and Meridian and Clopin's lawyers spend the next day working out the Treaty of Talitha. Clopin signs and Meridian signs with the understanding that it must be ratified by the King of Amber, when there is such a thing. Clopin is amiable to this, given the promise of Meridian and the others that they will do everything in their power to see that the King does so.
The Pit Diver is summoned and deposites the artifact in the appropriate place. The results are initially anti-climatic, a colorful light show; then suddenly hits with the force once would expect from the kick starting of a universe.
Once the party has recovered themselves and their wits they return to Talitha to find it shaken and a bit dented around the edges but largely intact. It is a matter of hours before the Trumps are active again, hours the group spend helping Talitha clean up and nervously waiting.
Eventually they are able to raise a battered looking Fiona and she pulls them through to Amber. If the effect on Talitha was a little rough, it was positively abusive on Amber herself. Even the Castle shows signs of a severe shaking and dust covers every available surface. Fiona is largely intact although she and the others sent here are bruised and have numerous minor injuries.
Deciding the clean up can wait the party hurries with Fiona down to the Pattern room to see if their efforts bore fruit. They have and the Pattern is once more shining and blue, full of power. However, the statues of the Elders have apparently suffered from the shaking and with one exception lie shattered on the floor of the Pattern room. Bleys stands amid the wreckage, confused and questioning.
Once the initial shock has worn off the group moves in a variety of directions. Suspicion of foul play on Fiona's part hangs in the air like a fog and Diagoro immediately begins walking the Pattern, determined to gain the imprint before Fiona can move to stop him. Laurent trumps in Nuin, supported by Meridian who wishes an ally before things go farther. She is shocked, particularly at the sight of her father's statue in rubble, but seems willing to support the group.
Fiona appears as shocked as anyone else by the destruction and if she had a hand in it, conceals it well. She and Bleys wish to see the contract and offer to sign it, Meridian insists that Bleys do so as acting Regent only, claiming that the Kingship has yet to be determined. Bleys has no issue with this, in appearance at least.
While the others walk the Pattern, Susan and Meridian spend time examining the statues and feel that they may be restored, if the essence of the Elders can be located and restored. Eventually they too walk the Pattern and gain the imprint. Finally all are sent upstairs and Meridian uses his abilities to Seal the Pattern room, requesting that all leave everything exactly as it is.
