Game Log: Session V

November 19, 2000

Morning arrives in Amber.

Sofia awakens, and looks for her house-guest. She finds Serenity in her garden, doing Tai Chi. She promptly joins her and they begin speaking - at which point it becomes obvious that Serenity is evasive. The conversation is somewhat anti-male, and the discussion is about a strange disappearance of a young lady who left the Autumn Festival with Mallory, who is also curiously absent. Sophia heads off to the recesses of the garden to further meditate and gain insight about the current situation. She ends up holding a trump conversation, and remains busy wrestling with the best way to get through current events for the better part of the day.

Sedgewick awakens to the noise of demolition, the opening salvo in a long, ongoing battle with the Amber Civil Engineering and Restoration Corps. Various magical wards and alarms are upset with the vibrations of the destruction of a structurally-unsound building across from his estate. He confronts the foreman, who says "Well, I don't know of a quiet way to destroy a building." Sedgewick thinks about it for a minute, then retires to his villa. His morning routine broken, he is put into a foul mood which does not cease for some time.

Sebastian travels to the Engineering Guild headquarters, where he is given the runaround and accomplishes little. Shortly thereafter, a demon is shaken free of its ward, and terrifies the workers enough to stop their efforts.

Sebastian awakens to a long day of home shopping, that is, looking for a new home. He goes to the Civil Engineering Guild offices, and begins searching, with their assistance, for a new land purchase. His goal is to open a fencing academy, where he will train the Amber nobles and youths in proper sword-work and war-craft, and cull from their ranks a suitable cadre of warriors which will serve as loyal King's Guardsmen and agents.

Consulting with the Guild official, he decides that the best bet is to purchase four adjacent homes and convert them into a single, walled estate with a central courtyard.

Sedgewick tries to Trump someone, when he is interrupted by a visit from Gerard, who is accompanied by an official from the Civil Engineering Guild. They argue politely about the situation, and it ends with Gerard threatening Sedgewick to leave it alone.

Sebastian seeks out his mother Flora, to test the waters for his plan to start a group of elite warriors. She gives him her approval, and tells him to ask Random. She is also in the middle of redecorating the Castle Amber in fall/winter colors, and consults him for some opinions about fabrics for chair-covers, napkins and tablecloths, and new livery for the guards. He leaves quickly.

Sebastian goes to the Library, where he settles into a comfortable chair and attempts to Trump Random. This ends in a surreal, magically-drunken experience which implies that Random is in some sorcerously-induced coma. Worried, he seeks out Vialle, who gives Sebastian a writ of investigation. He seeks out Bleys, to explain what is wrong with Random. Bleys tells him that Random is in Marajes, in a trade negotiation. They attempt to Trump him again. It ends the same way.

Sebastian returns to the Library, where he Trumps Sedgewick to join him. He also tries to contact Rolfe and Mallory, but both of them are unreachable. He learns that Rolfe is on a special mission with the Church of the Unicorn at the time.

They find Vialle once more, and get the Marajes consulate Trump from her. In a macho display of testosterone, they get armed for bear in the Royal Armory.

Sedgewick contacts Sofia, who agrees to join them on this expedition/rescue mission. Sedgewick and Sebastian then retire to the Library once more for a round of chess.

Sofia confronts Bleys with what she considers is incontrovertible evidence that Julian is responsible for the atrocities committed upon the Rebman witch in Arden. She presses Bleys to begin an official investigation, and then goes to console Vialle.

Sedgewick gets a spirit-message of an assault on his home. He returns there via carriage to learn that there has been a disturbance on the second story, a plant, shaken by the demolition, which his overzealous guard-demons obliterated. He re-sets his wards, gets his guns and drugs, and rejoins Sebastian and Sofia in the Library.

The three scions of Amber prepare to Trump to Marajes. Just before going, Sebastian destroys a chess-piece in a pointless and flashy sword-move.

The Shadow of Marajes is ruled by Janis Ubento, and the place is a vaguely middle-Eastern type of world, at least in character. They worship a thunder-god of some sort, along with the Unicorn.

Our heroes arrive and demand to see the Consul, a fellow named Jeremiah. They barge into his office, where they learned that Random disappeared after being found comatose in the Temple. Apparently, he had interfered with an artifact called the Decanter of Souls (cue dramatic music), supposedly the repository of the souls of all former priests of their religion.

Examining the Decanter, the Amberites learn that it was formerly a wine brewed by Oberon during the brief foray he made into wine-making, before granting his vineyards to Baron Bayle in return for some battlefield heroics. Sofia casts a spell of divination, learning that Random drank from the Decanter, and that he was then thrown into a magical stupor of sorts. He was later found by a dozen priests, who were all overcome and killed by the fumes of the distillation. When the fumes had cleared, Random was taken to the infirmary, and was abducted from the infirmary by three men.

Sedgewick, investigating the infirmary, learns that one of the three men who abducted Random wore a golden chain. He summons an air elemental to guide him to the owner of the golden chain. The path leads towards the swamp land outside of the capitol city.

The Amberites all convene at the edge of the swamp. It becomes highly probable that they find a boat, which they use to set forth after the abductors. As Sofia and Sebastian find it difficult to steer the boat without seeing the air elemental, Sebastian throws a handkerchief over the elemental, who looks like a small cream-colored, linen-clad ghost with a blue and gold border trim. It eventually loses the trail, and the heroes separate at that point, Sofia staying behind on dry land to attempt a divination. She is able to locate Random's location, while Sebastian and Sedgewick jump Shadow to attempt to short-cut towards the villainous abductors. Sofia then Trumps back to the boat and gives her cousins more accurate directions.

Sofia sleeps along the journey, worn from her magical efforts. Sedgewick Trumps Gerard, briefing him on what the heroes had learned. Tired, he begins dropping alchemical speed to stay awake and alert.

The sons and daughter of Amber find a small village in the middle of the swamp—a stilt-hut arrangement with several smaller huts surrounding a central main hut, connected by platforms. While they are deciding what to do, a guard spots them and a cry goes out. Magical defenses boil into existence.

The heroes climb onto the walkway, led by Sebastian with his wondrously useful repeating steel crossbow. Sofia has Sebastian's sword, and Sedgewick's hands are full of sharp steel in various shapes and sizes. A battle ensues, and Sofia throws an alchemical, Pattern-embued grenado of some sort, which fails to go off. It falls upon the walkway, unspent.

After killing or subduing all of the guards on the walkways, the heroes realize that the central hut is likely where Random is, and it is also heavily warded and guarded with a magical spherical shield of force. Sebastian repeats his flashy sword-trick with Sofia's grenado, hurling it against the shield, and it again fails to go off, sinking into the waters. Cursing at the wall, Sebastian invokes a word of Power, and brings down the shield-sphere. The grenado goes off underwater, releasing a blast of muffled energy which kills many fish and shakes the earth.

The three enter the central building, where they do fierce battle with a squad of men-at-arms. There is the usual wizard and altar situation, with Random playing a drugged-out rumpled version of the usual unsoiled virgin to be sacrificed. Sedgewick and Sofia engage and defeat the wizard, and the heroes rapidly Trump back to Amber, into Vialle's arms.

Random is quickly given medical attention, and the heroes relate their tale to Bleys and Vialle. Sedgewick attempts a "sober-up" spell, which has only a little effect. He leaves Sebastian with a small ampule of a similar wake-up drug. Sedgewick gets another Trump notice from Gerard, and leaves the Castle Amber at high speed on his land-speeder, heading home to check on his beloved Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.

Sedgewick arrives to find that his home is in ruins, having buried, burned, and sunk some dozen feet at a skewed angle into the earth. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen's charred skeletons are arrayed before the front entrance. The interior floors of his home are covered in a layer of dead maggots of some grisly sort, and all of his magical wards, bindings, and summoned creatures have been set free or escaped, causing pandemonium in the surrounding neighborhood.

With white-hot fury coursing through him, Sedgewick returns to his quarters in the Castle Amber and sleeps, heavily, yet restlessly due to the crash from his alchemical speed high (and subsequent low).

Sofia returns to her home, where she learns that Serenity has vanished once more. She Trumps Llewella, who hasn't seen Serenity either. Sophia ends up trumping Serenity directly, after cursing herself roundly for worrying the young woman's mother. Serenity was down in the Pattern room, contemplating life.

Sofia trumps back to the cottage, and the women have hot cocoa and femme talk for a while. Sophia lets Llewella know that Serenity is back "home" once more. After that, they decide that sleep sounds awfully good.

Sebastian summons his engineers to the Castle Library and begins drawing up plans for the fencing academy, and begins commissioning a crest to be drawn for this group of worthies. He then goes to sleep at his Castle quarters, to better begin the good work tomorrow.

In the morning, Sebastian breakfasts in an outdoor cafi, reading the city newsletter, and gives Manfred, his manservant/squire, orders pertaining to the recruitment of warriors and fencing hopefuls. The newsletter is full of stories about the destruction of Sedgewick's home, the resulting wave of demonic and supernatural mayhem which ensued, Arden's status of becoming near impassable, and a number of skirmishes in the Golden Circle. It is also noted that Camellia's new "armed escort/no tariff" policy is being met with mixed to poor response.

Sebastian then retires once more to the Library, a sort of unofficial base to him. He returns to the still-comatose King's side, and tries to waken him with Sedgewick's wake-up potion, to no effect. Next, he tries to Trump the King in contact with his actual person, but meets with no success save for a shared experience of a deeply drunken trance.

Sedgewick seeks out Fiona, and finds her in a hidden smithy, where she is ritually creating swords. They have a somewhat cryptic off-camera conversation.

Sebastian, on a whim, in the Library, attempts to Trump Corwin. He amazingly succeeds, despite the extreme distance. They speak, and Sebastian introduces himself. Corwin brings him through to where he is, a strange, wild place of untamed nature, in what seems to be an alternate sort of Shadow universe. They speak for some time more, and Corwin agrees that he might come to Amber's aid if need be. Corwin, hearing of the plights which Amber is suffering, warns Sebastian that the most likely next target is to cut Amber off by sea. Corwin claims that he regrets that he cannot leave his new realm, and sends Sebastian back magically to the Library.

Sofia and Serenity spend the morning working a variety of enchantments in the Ballroom, then return to Sophia's workshop to try their hand at locating Sophia's unseen gift-giver/watcher. Afterwards they have lunch together, and begin making plans about what to do about the Julian situation. They are joined by Gerard, and the conversation turns somewhat hostile, with Serenity taking the offensive against Gerard, and Sofia insisting on the Prince Julian's guilt.

Raised voices turn to shouts, and suddenly, there is a welter of activity as psychic energy and shields are thrown into the space between them. It looks as if the argument will come to blows! Sofia defuses it, and when calmer heads are prevailing, all agree that the next step is to seek out Julian and learn his side of the story and if he will confess his guilt.

Realizing that the stakes have just become very high, and the situation very serious, Sofia goes to Bleys and requests a suit of armor. Bleys, unhappy about seeing his little girl grow up and fighting wars, reluctantly agrees to get her suited up. They talk a while about what to do regarding Julian, and how to best diffuse the situation, and he suggests taking Fiona along with Gerard and Serenity to tomorrow's foray to Arden.

Sophia listens to his council, and after getting her gear put together, tromps downstairs to the Fiona's forge for some more femme-a-femme talk. Fiona agrees to join the party going to talk to Julian, and she and Sophia make further plans for various smithy/enchantments in coming days. Fiona also offers to take Serenity (and Sophia herself, even though she's getting a little old for it) under her wing as far as prepping for a Pattern Walk goes.

Sedgewick is also up to matters of his own devising, and his exploits remain unknown at this time.

Sebastian, on the other hand, flush with the sensation of victory with his meeting Corwin (an idol of his among the Elders), decides to do the unexpected, and Trumps Dworkin. The old, mad wizard appears, and when Random's condition is explained to him, he agrees to help. He first ransacks the Library's shelves for some reference materials, forcing Sebastian to carry the stack of books. Dworkin goes through the Castle, returning great sections of it to the state it was in its heyday, some millennia ago. Sedgewick is Trumped and comes to meet the old lunatic grandfather for himself.

All of them take Random from the infirmary to Dworkin's secret study. After examining the sleeping King, Dworkin's ministrations are highly unorthodox and somewhat unpleasant, but are caught on a imaging crystal which Sedgewick has thought to bring along. Random is predicted to recover in a few days to a week, and he is returned to the infirmary.

Sedgewick sticks around to speak with Dworkin, and is rewarded with a not altogether useful but still cryptic warning about cats.