Recorded for Posterity by Iain Walker.
Session 1.7 Index Session 2.2
The Gap 113 PPF to 118 PPF
Tamarind has told Random what he is doing regarding Beltaine and Owen but otherwise he is keeping the plan under his hat until he's ready.
It's summer time, and the living is easy.
It is the day before the first night of the full moon in Amber.
More reports of sea monsters than normal have been coming from across the Golden Circle, and more ships are disappearing.
Relations with Rebma are cool, though there is trade and the like. They say they do not know what is going on regarding vanishing ships, but are worried by sea monsters. They are investigating.
The six nippers will be starting school very soon now.
Tristan is in Brand's lab in the Castle, with Brand in his head.
Tamarind is in his villa, out in shadow.
Altair is off investigating the missing ships, doing escort duty one shadow veil behind merchant ships. She has so far found that the vanishing ships are cargo vessels carrying expensive and luxury items. There seems to be no pattern in the routes which have been affected. She has asked Caine to find out the cargo manifests of the missing ships to try and narrow things down.
Damien is supervising the New Museum. Some new buildings will be ready to open soon.
Ibrahim is playing with the nippers in their garden in the Castle. They are kicking a ball about in something that could be described as football. They run about and shout and fall over and so forth as little children will. The guardian creatures seem to be growing with the nippers and are also running about.
Out at sea, Altair is Trumped by Random. He looks serious. "It's about your father," he says.
Altair goes through to him. "He'd better not be dead," she says.
"He's missing," says Random, pouring drinks for the two of them. Apparently he was last reported at sea near shadow Diega. He was investigating the missing ships too. Random says he only just heard today - he got a report that Gerard had not returned to his base of operations in Diega. His ship is gone and he is not responding to Trump calls. Random is about to tell Caine, too.
Altair says she will go to Diega.
Random says she should feel free to involve the rest of us.
Altair leaves, her drink untouched (!).
First, she goes to a practise room and breaks a number of the practise dummies which are there.
Then she goes to see the nippers. Ibrahim is there.
A fight is developing over the ball as Altair arrives. She whistles and the nippers all screech to a stop. Elenor falls over. They all run up Altair and ask for sweeties.
Nurse Ratchett is called to distract them. This she does.
Altair tells Ibrahim that Gerard has disappeared, and she would like some back-up in searching for him. Ibrahim agrees to help.
Altair then Trumps Damien. He takes the call. She tells him that Gerard is gone. "Any trail?" asks Damien.
Altair tells him that she is planning an expedition and would like some back-up. Damien comes through to her and Ibrahim.
Tristan is watching Brand use his body to do magic-type things (in Amber!) when he is Trumped by Ibrahim. Ibrahim asks if Tristan can come through to him. Tristan consults with Brand and Brand transfers his mind back into his shadow body. Apparently he didn't need Tristan for this bit after all, which does not please Tristan. He goes through to Ibrahim.
Ibrahim tells him about Gerard. Tristan is concerned.
The nippers, despite nurse Ratchets best efforts at distraction, notice that Damien and Tristan have arrived and come running up to cries of, "Daddy Tristan!", "Daddy Damien!"
In shadow, Tamarind has finished his Device and is resting in his villa when Altair Trumps him. She tells him about Gerard and the missing ships.
Angelique has broken the toy sword Tristan gave her. She wants a new one. Damien suggests she come to the Museum, choose one from the armoury and ... at this point Damien notices Tristan's expression ... Tristan can make you a safe version.
Angelique likes this idea.
Altair brings Tamarind through the Trump link. He brings with him a box radiating Trump energy. The kids think it's a present for them. Tamarind distracts them with something else, warning them that they'll have to share.
"It's a bit big for a Trump," says Altair.
"It is the culmination of what I've been working on," replies Tamarind.
We bid farewell to the nippers. They all look sad. Altair promises them a beach party when we get back. They perk up.
Tamarind Trumps Random. "It's complete," he says when the link opens up. "I'll be using it this evening." He wants Random to hold onto it until then. Random agrees to do this so Tamarind passes the Box through to him and closes the link.
Ibrahim thinks we should contact Esmée, Margot and Caleb too.
Tristan heads for the armoury to get himself a sword. Damien amends his outfit to travelling gear. "That's a new thing," Altair notes.
"My travelling wardrobe," answers Damien.
Then Damien Trumps Esmée. When she takes the call she appears to be somewhere medieval, wearing a medieval style gown. Damien tells her that Gerard is missing and we are going after him. "I'll hold myself in readiness," she says. "Call me if you need me."
Altair Trumps Caleb. He's lounging in a hammock slung between two palm trees on a tropical beach. She tells him what's up and says she could use someone else who can sail. Caleb comes through to her, dressed only in tattered shorts.
Altair worries that this might be a resurgence of the CfV. Damien says he doubts it. She wonders if there is a link between this Nyarlathotep business and the sea monster reports.
Ibrahim gets through to Margot. She appears to be somewhere Parisian, sitting at a table in a street cafe. When told of the situation she says that she, like Esmée, will be there is needed. Ibrahim suggests that if anyone goes missing perhaps people should all return to Amber rather than be spread about in shadow.
"Is anyone else missing?" asks Tamarind.
"Not that we know of," replies Damien.
"I was going to Trump Caine," says Altair. "He's been feeding me and Gerard information from his informants. Caine may have spoken to him recently."
She tells the others that the only link between the missing ships appears to be their cargoes. But first she wants to do a group Trumping of Gerard.
Tristan returns from the armoury, fully tooled up.
We go to a nearby sitting room to do the group Trumping thing.
First, Tamarind checks the Trumps. Caine's, Brand's and Julian's are currently active.
We all concentrate on Gerard's Trump. We do not get anywhere. Tamarind drops out when he realises it is not working. Tristan and Damien drop out too. "This isn't working," notes Damien.
The others stop too.
Altair goes outside and swears, then comes back in.
Tristan offers to shadow shift to Diega and Trump us.
Altair suggests we Trump to the Morningstar, a ship that she has but 'which does not really exist', then Tristan can shift us from there. Everyone agrees with this plan and Altair pulls out a Trump of the stateroom of a ship - in her own style, since she has now learned to draw full Trumps. She concentrates on it and we all go through to the main stateroom of the Morningstar. It goes right across the stern of the ship, with windows across the whole rear wall and halfway down the two side walls. It is quite tidy with a lot of books and charts neatly racked. The charts include one of the newly circumnavigated Amber continent.
We go out of the stateroom and up on deck. This ship appears to have an awful lot of sail for its size, but to be fairly lightly armed. Tristan offers to give Altair wind. As it were. Altair gives orders to Natasha, her First Mate.
Tristan summons a wind and off we go. This is a very, very fast ship, with a vast area of sail for its size; those who know anything about ships wonder how it is not capsizing or breaking its masts off. We barrel along at fifty or sixty knots. And this is not its top speed. Impressive.
As we shadow shift Tristan shifts Caleb some proper clothes. Caleb goes, "Hey!" and shifts his clothes back to the tattered shorts.
Tamarind finds his armour behind a coil of rope and dons it.
We zip through shadow. The colours and conditions of sky and sea flicker and change as we do so. Ibrahim has to concentrate to keep his spells and magical kit from unravelling. Damien has to keep an eye on his spells too.
And after half an hour or so we arrive in shadow Diega.
Tamarind asks if we can slow down prior to landfall. Sails are lowered. People on the harbour walls appear to be rather taken aback as the Morningstar bears down on them very fast, but as sails are lowered we slow down to a sensible speed.
Whitewashed houses and villas with red tile roofs climb the hills around the harbour. On the top of the highest hill overlooking the harbour is a large castle of creamy-white stone where the Deigan royal family live. Their flag, a leaping white dolphin over crossed silver swords on a royal-blue background, is flying from flagpoles on the roofs of the castle towers.
Tristan does not detect any signs of recent Pattern use here other than his own.
The Morningstar slips smoothly into the harbour and we take an unoccupied berth.
As we do so we notice that there are two smallish Amber Navy ships docked on the other side of the harbour - the HMS Spear and the HMS Indefatigable.
After we are docked Altair Trumps Caine. She tells him we tried a group Trump of Gerard, but it didn't work. Caine tells her he had not spoken to Gerard in the past two days. She drops the Trump link.
Tamarind asks if it would be possible to walk the Pattern and use it to teleport to Gerard's ship. Tristan thinks that that would not work - one would really need to know where the ship is.
Damien suggests that if Altair knows it well enough, why not do a Trump of Gerard's ship? Altair says she will do a sketch of Gerard's cabin.
Word is sent to the other two Amber ships that we are not pirates, but are official(ish) and Caine knows about us. Their captains are summoned to the Morningstar.
Caleb decides to stay on the Morningstar with Altair while Damien, Tamarind, Tristan and Ibrahim go up to the castle to see if they know anything about Gerard's disappearance and recent activities.
Altair lends Tamarind her Trump of the Morningstar in case of need. As she does so she notes that it is her own, very first full Trump ever, and be careful with it. Tamarind notes this.
Damien, Tamarind, Tristan and Ibrahim head up the hill from the harbour. Ibrahim has Tora, his desert eagle, fly up and provide him with an aerial view of what is going on. She circles overhead.
There are a lot of people and (horse-drawn vehicles bustling about their business - this is a busy port due to its location in a shadow where the shadow paths leading out from Amber branch, so that trade from Amber to further out, from further out to Amber, or from one branch to another all has to pass through here. This makes a far more important contribution to the Deigan economy than its own local products (mainly oranges and wine).
Tamarind, in his purple crystalline armour, gets funny looks from the locals. Damien and Ibrahim also get funny looks due to their clothing, though to a lesser extent.
They pass through the warehouse district by the docks and up the hill towards the castle. It is quite hot, but dry. The streets are lined with orange trees, with shops in the buildings, which get larger and richer the higher we go, until we reach the mansions of the Deigan nobility close to the castle itself.
We come up to the castle. It is surrounded by a wide, deep, dry moat with a drawbridge across it, currently guarded by four men in uniforms with tabards bearing the same dolphin and crossed swords on a blue background symbol as is on the flag flying over the castle.
The guards challenge us. Damien introduces us. They ask us to wait while they inform their Captain.
Ibrahim keeps watch through Tora's eyes. Nothing unusual seems to be happening.
Back on the Morningstar, Altair sketches. Caleb keeps an eye on things on deck.
At the castle gate, the captain of the guard emerges and salutes us. He apologises for the delay and introduces himself as Captain de Montoyez. He asks what he can do for us?
Tristan says this is partly a courtesy call and partly to find out who Gerard was liasing with, with regard to shipping. De Montoyez says he has heard Prince Gerard has not returned.
He leads us through the castle towards the keep. The castle really is pretty big, with three nested ring walls, each well defended, with gatehouses and the like. Those of a military bent estimate that the place would be very hard to take by conventional means. However, there are flowerpots and decorations here and there which make it less of a purely military place.
Captain de Montoyez leads us to the keep, in through the main doors and to the Council Chamber. "The King is currently in Audience," he says.
He leads us in. King Phillipe and Queen Maria of Diega are within, sat on a dais at the far end of a room that bears some resemblance to the Amber Throne Room, with a large Diegan banner on the wall above them. Various nobles attend them. King Phillipe is a stern-looking man who appears to be (in shadow Earth terms) in his forties; he has grey-shot black hair, piercing dark eyes and sharp but handsome features. Queen Maria appears roughly the same age as her husband, but her hair remains entirely dark; her features are pretty rather than beautiful and she is rather moon-faced; her eyes are a clear, penetrating hazel.
We bow.
The King and Queen nod to us, and appear to recognise Ibrahim and Damien from their previous visits to Diega.
"What brings you here?" asks King Phillipe. "Is it to do with Prince Gerard?"
"Yes," says Tristan. "And can you shed any light on the situation?"
The King says they were co-operating with Prince Gerard, and are saddened by his disappearance. Captain de Montoyez will help us while we are here. We thank him, bow, and withdraw.
De Montoyez says there are two main sources of information we could consult - the Harbourmaster's Office, and the Office of the Navy. The latter is here in the castle, so we decide to go there first. The Captain leads us there - it is in the middle bailey of the castle.
On the Morningstar, Altair finishes her Trump sketch. She goes to have a chat with the Harbourmaster, leaving Caleb in charge of the ship. He lounges on deck.
The Harbourmaster's Office is a hexagonal vaulted building positioned along the shoreward part of the harbour so as to have a good view of everything going on. It has large windows facing out onto the docks. Inside, it is divided into a 'customers side' and a 'workers side', with a long wooden counter between the two. There are lots of people being served and waiting to be served, merchants and sea captains mainly, from many shadows. On the 'workers side' are many desks with clerks and the like behind them. A desk and chair on a raised dais - the Harourmaster's - has a good view both out the windows at the harbour and down over all the other workers here.
Altair asks about Gerard, and the Harbourmaster himself comes and talks to her. He knows Gerard is overdue. He leads Altair over to a clerk named Raoul, who was handling the liaison with Gerard. Altair asks Raoul for all the information he gave Gerard. He sets about collating it.
The rest of us are let into the Office of the Navy. De Montoyez tells them we want to know about Gerard's recent visit.
"When did Gerard last sail out of Diega?" asks Tristan.
A flunkey leads us into a room whose walls are lined with large ledger-type books. In the centre of the room are a table and chairs. The flunky goes through the ledgers looking for records of the comings and goings of ships. We also include a request for any information on requests made by Gerard.
From the records, the last time he sailed was a week ago, towards a shadow path which leads away from Amber and towards a shadow named Derima which is also a member of the Golden Circle, known for its mines and metalworking.
Gerard took just his own ship - the HMS 'Unicorn's Flight'. It seems that a recent spate of ship disappearances in that general area was what sent him off in this direction.
Damien asks if there was a liaison officer with Gerard. There is - Captain de Rodriguez is his name. The last report from him states that the Colob, a merchantman from the shadow of Fendir went missing between shadow Fendir and Darima with a cargo of silks and spices.
From the records neither Ibrahim nor Damien can see anything out of the ordinary or suspicious in these reports other than the disappearances themselves.
Tristan reckons that the sequence of disappearances are spread out, so if there was a single culprit they would have to move very fast through shadow - faster than normal sailing via the shadow paths would allow. It would seem Pattern or something would be necessary, or several culprits could be responsible.
Ibrahim also notes that a Trump artist could sketch a ship in port and then Trump pirates onto it when it was out to sea.
We ask to see Captain de Rodriguez. He will be found and sent to us; a flunkey is sent running off to locate him.
We leave the castle, the guards on the drawbridge saluting us as we go, and head down to the harbourmasters office.
Way ahead of them, Altair is looking at Gerard's supply requisitions.
The HMS Spear and HMS Indefatigable (the two Amber ships which are here) seem to be message-bearing courier ships which Gerard did not normally take on patrol, which is why they remain here.
Altair looks at the shipping records. Diega is a node where shadow paths meet en route to Amber, so lots of shipping comes through here.
The others arrive just as Altair is leaving. We all exchange information.
Ibrahim wonders if we should speak to the Ship Captain's Guild. "Try their pub," says Altair.
We go back to the Morningstar. The captains of the HMS Spear and HMS Indefatigable are there, named Blevins and Roberts respectively. Captain de Rodriguez has also turned up at the ship.
Everyone is introduced and we go down to Altair's stateroom/office to talk.
Blevins and Roberts say they arrived with messages for Gerard after he had left. Altair demands the messages. They are handed over. She reads them. Respectively, they are:
Altair sends Blevins and Roberts off to go about their business. Damien asks de Rodriguez if Gerard said anything to him when they last met, anything that didn't go in the reports.
He says that Gerard said he was heading for shadow Derima "to see if he could pick up a trail." It seems as if Gerard had noted the 'pirates' apparent shadow-mobility too. De Rodriguez thinks Gerard had worked something out. He says Gerard was in Diega for a couple of weeks, on and off, before he left this time.
Altair asks de Rodriguez to co-operate with Caine is he turns up here.
We thank him and he leaves.
We bring Caleb down from where he has been lounging on deck, to hold the Trump sketch if we have to go through. If we get through.
We try to Trump to Gerard's cabin...
And we get through. Through the Trump we see a dark, shadowy underwater scene. The HMS 'Unicorn's Flight' has been sunk, deep by the looks of things. The hull can be seen torn open in the background - it doesn't look like cannonball or catapult damage.
Damien wonders if someone could go through briefly to get a feel for the shadow. Tristan tosses an orange through the Trump link, and it is crushed by the pressure of the water. It is definitely deep there. But Altair thinks she could survive long enough...
Ibrahim suggests we find a pressure chamber and pressurise before going through. But he is willing to risk it too.
Tamarind says we should Trump people as soon as they go through to the ship. Damien says he'll Trump Ibrahim.
Altair and Ibrahim collect rope, some wood, thick glass floats and semi-inflated air bags to help them survive down there. They hyperventilate to help them manage for as long as possible, and swig some brandy against the cold. Altair ropes the two of them together and we pass them through the Trump sketch.
Terrible crushing pressure presses in on them both. Ibrahim activates the Environmental Survival spell built into his burnoose, and it begins to protect him against the cold and high pressure. He still has to hold his breath, though.
They swim about searching the cabin. Altair finds a dead body, nibbled by fish. But it is not Gerard. Ibrahim finds a second corpse, also not Gerard.
Back on the Morningstar, Damien decides not to Trump Ibrahim since he realises that Ibrahim was going to use a spell, and Trumping him will cause the spell to go down...
He Trumps Altair instead.
Altair and Ibrahim swim out of the cabin down the companionway. They quickly reach the end of the companionway, where no end should be. It seems the whole stern section of the Unicorn's Flight has been torn off by something. They cannot see the rest of the ship. The torn end looks like the vessel was physically ripped asunder.
They swim out of the stern section and begin to make their way up to the surface, just as Damien gets through to Altair via Trump.
"We're OK," she tells Damien. "But there's not much ship left."
She looks down; she can just about make out that the stern of the Unicorn's Flight looks as if it has been crushed, perhaps in the coils of a vast snake, or sea serpent.
Damien passes this observation on to the others.
Altair and Ibrahim have both run out of air as they reach the surface. Ibrahim almost blacks out; both of them have some pain from the bends, but not too much.
They are in a greenish sea under a yellow-grey sky scattered with sickly-looking grey clouds. A dim grey sun shines through gaps in the clouds. It is quite cold. There is a slight swell and a bit of wind. Some debris is scattered on the surface,
Tristan says the rest of us should go through to Altair and Ibrahim. We splash through the Trump link into the sea, leaving Caleb behind on the Morningstar.
At Tristan's bidding, Castle Corvallin flies down out of the clouds. It lowers its entrance ramp and we climb up on board.
Tristan can sense that this is in the Golden Circle area, with a time flow rate perhaps ten percent faster than Amber. Altair thinks we are between shadows Derima and Fendir.
Castle servants bring towels, hot cocoa and dressing gowns for us all. These are utilised.
We decide we will dive down to the wreck again and search it more thoroughly.
Tristan says he has deep-sea diving gear with tubes and air pumps stored in the castle. He also decides he has a diving bell in an obscure storeroom somewhere (he tells his servants to load the castle with random stuff every now and again for just this purpose). The storeroom, it turns out, also contains a life-size wax statue of Bleys which is really a giant candle (there is wick poking out of the top of the statues head). No-one is sure how it got there.
The diving bell is wheeled up, and a crane is assembled to lower it into the sea.
Tristan digs out his spell rack and blows the dust off it.
Ibrahim says he will Trump back to Amber to get his communication rings. He plinks off, gets the rings and returns.
When he comes back, Tamarind asks him what time of day it was there. Ibrahim says it was late afternoon.
Tristan notices that, as well as the natural shadow path which leads through the shadow, and which we are on, there is a shadow trail as of someone using the Pattern, a few days old, leading in another direction entirely.
Ibrahim wants to hang Environmental Protection spells for those who want them. Tristan wants to rack light spells too, for the first time in a long time. Damien also wants to hang a couple of spells. They go off to Tamarind's fast-time shadow via his Trump of the place.
The three spell-casters, having hung the spells they want, Trump back to Altair.
Altair notes that sea serpents are not known for selling off looted brandy.
Damien asks if the trail could have been Gerard arriving?
Tristan points out that the trail is decaying slowly so we have to be quick if we're going diving. Altair asks if an anchor could be lowered. She wants a plumb-line to follow. A large anchor on a long chain is dug out of the castle storerooms and lowered over the castle walls.
Ibrahim casts Environmental Protection spells on us and passes out the communication rings. Those of us who want them put on diving suits, and we all climb into the diving bell which is then lowered over the side of Castle Corvallin and into the sea. We descend. The water level rises inside the diving bell as the pressure outside increases.
Below us looms the stern section of the Unicorn's Flight, illuminated by a school of glowing deep-sea fish of Tristan's desire.
But Tristan has racked some light magic now and casts a large-area illumination spell. Bright light shines all around. The fish swim away very quickly, but we can now see the stern more clearly. It looks as if coils or tentacles crushed it.
In the light of Tristan's spell we can see that there is another section of ship some way off over there.
We put on our helmets and leaves the bell. We clomp across the sea bed towards the stern section, apart from Altair who, with no suit, swims alongside.
We arrive at the stern and climb aboard. We poke about. The two bodies in Gerard's cabin look like deckhands who hid there. One died by having his arm ripped off; it looks like someone braced themselves against his torso and ripped it from its socket - it was definitely not cut off. The other seems to have drowned. The cabin windows can be seen to have been smashed inwards.
We search further and find more bodies (all crew) with sword cuts.
The ships strong-room door has been battered in, apparently with sledgehammers, and the room is now empty.
We notice there are some torn fragments of cloth caught here and there on splinters, nails and the like. The cloth is not that of Amber Navy uniforms. Clothes of the attackers, perhaps?
Altair returns to Gerard's stateroom to try and rescue some of his personal items. His trinkets are there, but all the valuable items are gone, including his extensive charts.
Up on deck there are signs of someone very strong having been in combat, having kicked people through walls and so forth. But there are no fibres embedded in the wood.
Tamarind notes that we have found very few bodies. Even fewer than we might expect from the way the ship seems to have sunk.
Altair thinks the others were eaten, or maybe taken to be sold as slaves. Tamarind notes that this is too risky for them.
Altair (and Tamarind) can sense Gerard's spare Trump deck in the secret compartment in his desk. She extracts it and takes it with her.
We go to the forward section of the ship, which is actually in two pieces - the prow and the middle section. The latter is the most twisted and torn of all the bits of the ship.
We search around. Again there are fewer bodies than we might expect, and some signs of combat. The evidence implies that the looting was done above water, then the ship was sunk. Altair thinks the crush marks look like tentacles - probably used to seize the ship while it was boarded, then rip it apart when the looters were finished. Tamarind thinks the looting was done swiftly. We note hat there are signs of fighting near doors which have been smashed in (such as that of the strong-room), as if the crew put up a defence there.
Tamarind asks whether we could use magic to find out more?
Damien says he could perform a scrying ritual. He goes back to the stern section, where Gerard was, and begins such a ritual. Tamarind goes with him.
The others finish searching the prow and join Damien and Tamarind in the stern, apart from Altair, who goes and sits in the diving bell.
After three quarters of an hour or so Damien finishes the scrying ritual, but it shows nothing, just magical static, as if someone has cast some anti-scrying magic in case of just this kind of eventually.
"Why not ask one of the dead men?" asks Altair.
Damien suspects that the anti-scrying effect could have been a more general thing, erasing all records. But he says he'll try, nonetheless.
Tamarind asks if any necromantic spells really summon the spirits of the dead?
This is discussed for a while, whether they do, or whether they somehow work with the psychic 'echoes' which the real spirit leaves in its surroundings.
Damien tries the summoning ritual anyway. It does not work, for, it seems, much the same reasons as the scrying ritual. Damien examines the anti-scrying magic further and finds that it feels like shadow sorcery, not Amberite magic (that is, no Magic of Shadow lynchpin, a thing that only Amberites can do). It is sophisticated, though, definitely not the work of an amateur. From looking at the anti-scrying, Damien thinks that taking bodies or whatever to another shadow and repeating the scrying would not work either - all traces in them seem to have been wiped away.
Damien tells the others this.
Ibrahim wonders whether we should check some other disappearance sites for a similar magical effect.
We return slowly to the surface in the diving bell (to avoid the bends) and board Corvallin, which then flies off. More towels, dressing gowns and hot cocoa are provided.
As we fly off Tristan tries to make it probable that there are survivors floating over there. He has no luck; they are just some corpses bobbing in the waves.
Tamarind realises that it will be getting dark in Amber about now, the first night of the full moon, and he should return to Amber to use his Device.
The rest of us wish him luck. Damien says to say hello to Beltaine should it work.
Tamarind Trumps off.
The rest of us set off along the shadow trail Tristan detected earlier, in the wake of whoever is responsible for all this...
Session 1.7 Index Session 2.2
The Gap 113 PPF to 118 PPF