Players In Attendance:

GM: Jeremy Zimmerman

Kai - Kaoru, Daughter of Benedict
Blacky - Vincent, Son of Random
Geoff - Lars, Son of Finndo
Marni - Alice, Daughter of Gerard
Andy - Ferrin, Son of Caine
James - Ansom, Son of Flora

Where we had last left off our brave band of adventurers, the group had finally returned from Rebma, some trying to shake off the effects of neurotoxin from some strange underwater beastie. They'll get better.

Lars starts off the day, groggy from a neurotoxin hangover. His faithful manservant Chadwick informs him that there was to be a council meeting, and offers to go in Lars's place. Lars thanks him for the kind offer, but insists that he go himself, at the very least to catch up on current politics. He gets his things together and heads to Amber for the assembly.

Ansom finds a Rebman woman in the confines of his room (?!?), who is quite nude and seems to be making herself a long-term guest at Ansom's expense. Flora visits, and once finding the nude woman, seems to make (missing/censored data here apparently)

Ferrin spends his morning sharing a brief conversation with Gerard about the council meeting, and spends the rest of it feeding sheet rolls and danishes to Julian's hellhounds - which you could tell Flora was just thrilled to have around. Once the dogs are very much hyper, he heads off to the outlying towns to check on the information network.

The council meeting commences that morning, being held in the dining hall rather than the council building because of the recent destruction. Rebma comes up as one of the hot topics - especially on what to do about the upcoming situations. It seems that the public mood on the matter is reluctant, since Amber has its own problems at this time, and that they don't have the time and resources to disperse to the Sister City under the sea. Another topic that comes up is the situation with the League of the Silver Rose, and the impact of the terrorist bombing action - and also about Corwin's lands. The popular vote is to rip his lands into chunks (and mush discussion came up as to who should get that divided land.), but Julian, Caine, and Gerard are against the idea of splitting it up. Taxes are raised to assist with the war effort.

Vincent gets up at the crack of noon, and shakes off the stench of Rebman saltwater. He heads over to Bloody Marney's and catches up on his information network and how efforts are going to find the League, as well as any information on Reginald Bayle. He makes orders for a cat to be nailed to his back door, and conducts business as normal. Cappuccino, anyone?

Alice spends her morning in the library in the woods, waiting for bad men to come and abduct her.

Kaoru spends her morning kicking the crap out of her monks, thinking that breaking a few ribs in them will help with their training.

As Ferrin is going from town to town grooming his information net on the League, he is mugged by the same strange masked Silver Rose men from before, the same ones that planted the bomb a few nights before. The battle goes incredibly short, when Ferrin trumps away before the battle gets too long. Ferrin then backtracks, and sees the masked foes going through a strange gateway, which he manages to throw his dagger through before it closes. He trumps his dagger back with difficulty, bringing it back from a very strange place filled with barking dogs and a fat man playing darts. Leaving this strange sight behind, he heads back to Amber to make a trump of the strange place, which actually ends up to be a trump of the dart-playing man.

Lars walks in on Kaoru as she's training her pulverized monks, and has a conversation about the current situation of Amber, the Black Road, and the idea of trying to get hold of Benedict.

Vincent enjoys his mid-afternoon bar brawl - getting very righteous on their ass and showing them who's boss ("You fuckin' fucks! I'll fuck all of you and your lesbian fishermen!") He then has a serious conversation with Tristan, the current owner of Bloody Marney's, about his current business practices, and how it would be in Tristan's best interest to run a good establishment with quality service... OR ELSE.

Ferrin gets a hold of Alice via trump, and asks her about the dart-throwing man that he had seen earlier. She doesn't seem to have any idea who the man is, but is very interested in Ferrin's dagger, which seems to be covered in "dream energy" and is very curious on how that happened. Ferrin explains what had happened earlier that day, and Alice explains that she studies dreams, rather extensively it seems. The two of them head back to the scene of the mugging, and investigate where that gateway had opened. It seems that the masked men used some sort of dream conduit through a guard and "traveled" through a dream. Alice admits she can't trace where they're coming from, but if she was to run into it again she could figure out the source. It's decided she needs to do more research on it and ask a few people for advice on the phenomenon.

The two of them catch up with Vincent, Kaoru, and Lars at Bloody Marney's. Lars informs everyone that he and Kaoru plan to go down into Rebma and follow the reflection of the Back Road, hopefully to find the Queen Moire of Rebma. He also warns the group that King Eric plans to recruit people to go follow the Black Road through shadow, and also lets them know about some history about Tritons, and how they were responsible for the death of Finndo and Osric long ago. It seems that Lars's motivation is to stop the now uprising of tritons, by any means necessary.

Ferrin gets hold of Ansom via trump - it seems that Ansom is having an argument with a Rebman girl in his rooms. They talk and Ansom shows up at Bloody Marney's a few minutes later to get a cannoli. As the conversation at the bar continues, Ferrin sneaks off and meets up with mysterious Rebman girl, and the two of them end up having an "amusing" evening.

After the talks between the group, it seems that everyone goes their separate ways, with Lars having a conversation with an old friend, and then off for the evening to make plans to leave for Rebma in the morning.

Ansom returns to his rooms outside of Amber to find them completely demolished. After some investigation, Ansom heads off to find the Rebman girl known as Dayle.

As Lars heads to his room, escorted by Kaoru, they are attacked by six gray chitinous monsters with multiple horns and barbs - poisonous barbs. Lars and Kaoru are quick on the attack and kill them all, but not before both of them get poisoned. But this time, it seems that Lars is prepared with an antidote, which he feeds to Kaoru.

Alice gets a talking to by the librarians of the woods. Where the books are safe. With the trees.

NEXT DAY!

Vincent delivers a goldfish to Lars and Kaoru for good luck and to act as a "canary in the mineshaft". The two of them head down to Rebma and head down the reflection of the Black Road.

Ferrin sleeps in with Dayle.

Vinnie continues his tireless search for information on "Butthole Bayle". He's able to find out that Reginald was made a baronet by King Oberon as a war hero, but it seems that Reginald has taken up the social lifestyle since that time.

Later that morning, Ferrin drops Dayle off at Ansom's place, finding it destroyed like an animal tore through it. After Ferrin leaves for shadow, Ansom shows up and has a talk with Dayle.

Meanwhile, Lars and Kaoru follow the reflection of the Black Road and run into whales. BIG whales. Lars seems to be alright with the event, and Kaoru seems a bit intimidated ("its eye is twice as big as you...")

Ferrin returns from his errands from shadow, and decides to check out Alice's little library in the woods - a library of skulls built into a giant tree deep in the woods of Arden. While Ferrin's exploring, he overhears some of Reginald's men talking about escorting Alice out of the library. Alice starts to go along with their plan, when Ferrin interferes and knocks both of the rogue priests out. Before Ferrin has a chance to find out what is truly going on, he's shot in the side by a crossbow bolt from the priests of the library. After a few frantic trumps and with Vincent and Alice's help, he makes it into the infirmary in Amber and falls unconscious.

Vincent and Alice are looking over Ferrin in the infirmary, when a small "hole" emerges in the room - they follow the link and trump into it, which seems to be a gateway into Ferrin's dream where they find the masked leader of the League of the Silver Rose.

It seems that Mr. Rose is at least a little civil as they sit down to have a small conversation in Ferrin's head. He admits that the only reason he was visiting was because Ferrin was involving himself in affairs he didn't want to be disturbed. Vincent mentions that there are sympathizers to Corwin and him holding the crown, and the possibility of "making a deal". Mr. Rose walks off, leaving Alice and Vincent to find their own way out. They give chase through Ferrin's head, seeing Mr. Rose dive through another gateway. Alice lunges, not quite in time as she becomes stuck in the closing gateway. The masked man leaves, and Gerard trumps back Alice and Vinnie in a "compromising" position. Gerard socks Vincent right into the infirmary, and has a long talk with his blubbering daughter.

Meanwhile, Lars and Kaoru find a safe place to rest in the murky depths below. Did we forget to mention that they both hate Rebma?

NEXT DAY.

Vincent wakes up in the infirmary, his goons close by. He trumps to Alice and the two of them converse on the goings on from yesterday. They eventually rouse Ferrin as well, and go have breakfast.

Ferrin has a short trump conversation with Ansom, and asks him to investigate the most recent murder that was reported in the newspaper. The killing had happened in the same town that Alice studies in.

During breakfast, Vincent, Ferrin, and Alice bring up the incident about the kidnapping from the strange library in the woods. They come to the conclusion that it seemed that Reginald's men weren't trying to necessarily kidnap Alice, rather rescue her from the place she was studying. So, they decide to talk to Reginald Bayle about it directly.

The three of them catch up with Reggie at the Cock's Comb Tavern, where he's chatting up one of his famous wit stories. The three of them chat it up for a bit, and eventually the "kidnapping" comes up. Reggie asks questions about her actions there, and how the priests treat her.

It eventually comes out that these "priests" devour dreams - from her and the skulls of the dead. It's assumed that they are also doing other terrible things to her, but nothing specific is mentioned. Vincent brings up that this should be exposed to King Eric, and Reginald doesn't seem to mind. Ferrin decides to leave, and Vincent attempts to trump Gerard, as his trump disappears from his hand. Vincent eventually gets a hold of Eric and explains what has happened. He also gets a hold of Gerard, who seems to be standing in a room full of skulls, along with Ferrin. Gerard goes through, and leaves Ferrin behind.

They continue conversing and figuring out what happened, when Alice disappears. With a mighty "Eep!" from Alice, they have no idea where she has gone.

Meanwhile, Lars and Kaoru wade through Kelp. Sushi, anyone?

To be continued...