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Recorded for Posterity by Iain Walker.
Notes typed up by Jane Winter.
At this point, Beltaine and Tamarind are in Shadow Haven with Brand and Deirdre plus a large number of purple koalas.
Tristan and Ibrahim are near the war zone around Corwin's Pattern, with Thomas, Julian and Margot. Tristan is turning Shadows into Ordnung-attracting death traps. Thomas is up in Castle Corvallin with Ibrahim.
Alicia is in Amber.
Damien and Altair are in a hospital Shadow with Gerard.
In the hospital, Damien runs over the options for getting Gerard back on his feet (except he doesn't have any feet...).
Altair is in favour of waiting until Gerard wakes up and letting him decide. She will handle bringing in additional people to look after him. She adds that she wants to talk to Brand, first, and gets out Brand's Trump.
Near Corwin's Pattern Tristan is working hard on his second Shadow of Destiny.
On the battlements of Castle Corvallin, Ibrahim and Thomas discuss close-up tactics against the Ordnung. The troops and commanders have already been briefed on general anti-Ordnung tactics.
Below them, they can see the crystal structures of the Ordnung growing into this Shadow. Amber's armies are arraying themselves in opposition. A refugee train from Rosa Town is visible winding away into the distance.
In Shadow Haven, Beltaine wonders whether it might be possible to somehow 'poison' the disorder that the Ordnung must drain out of Shadows to spread itself and its realm.
Tamarind wonders whether the Ordnung will be creating its own mini-Abysses here, or if it will try to use the real one.
Beltaine has a request for Brand (or 'dad' as she is now calling him). When the current threat to the universe is dealt with, would he mind going off to a fast-time Shadow and coming back when he looks older than she does?
He says he will.
Deirdre adds that she may well do the same now that Corwin is back - so as to be the better able to fight him off.
Beltaine sighs. "Dad - did you ever just have a day when you suddenly realised that the people who are supposed to be in control, and have all the answers, were actually just completely weak and useless?" she asks.
"Yes," admits Brand. "But the problem was, I started to think I could do a better job."
He says things could be much worse - for example, if he had succeeded in his plan to rewrite the universe.
Beltaine's attempt to hold her first ever heart-to-heart chat with her father is interrupted at this point by Altair's Trump call reaching Brand. He listens to what she has to say.
"Interesting," says Brand. "I shall have to think about this."
He closes the link and passes on the information that she checked her Trumps while she was in the Land of the Dead, and Fiona didn't seem to be there (at least by previous standards) to Tamarind and Beltaine.
They are not surprised by this news - neither of them believes Fiona exists anymore.
Beltaine wonders if there is a creature that is the opposite to Anurerishkigal - one of life as opposed to death. She's also of the opinion that while in possession of Fiona, Anurerishkigal may have learned how to disguise its presence and so fool the life-force lenses, one of which Fiona created herself, after all. "Presumably, if you know how to make something, you know how to prevent it working?" she speculates.
Tamarind theorises that maybe Anurerishkigal isn't native to the Land of the Dead - maybe it lives in a sort of 'third space' between the worlds of life and death.
Brand disagrees. He thinks it probably arranged lots of fallback bodies to possess while it was here possessing Fiona. After retreating, it probably came back into one of those.
Brand and Tamarind check Fiona's Trump and sure enough, although it takes a while to be sure, it feels distinctly as though she is alive.
But they decide that Anurerishkigal and/or Fiona will have to wait - the Ordnung is the more immediate threat.
"The other half of the Family had tens of thousands of years to deal with it," points out Beltaine. "We aren't necessarily looking at any quick solution. What do we have that they didn't? Just a real Abyss and the Jewel of Judgement." She thinks a little. "And the spikes. And two more Pattern blades," she adds.
Her resentment at nearly being sacrificed for a handful of Shadows resurfaces. "And guess what? In tens of thousands of years it doesn't look as if Osric ever felt it necessary to say 'hey, better sacrifice five of my own children...' or 'let's get rid of half our forces, that should make us stronger'..." she continues.
Brand suggests they join Tristan and the others. He Trumps Ibrahim.
In Castle Corvallin, Ibrahim feels a Trump call coming on, which he accepts. It's Brand, with Tamarind and Beltaine, who want to come join them at Corwin's Pattern. He brings them through.
We talk anti-Ordnung measures for a while, mainly the possibility of creating a weapon to channel Abyss against it.
Thomas thinks that the Abyss will burn bits of the Ordnung away, using up both substances - that is, apparently, what happened when both Amber's and Corwin's Patterns were drawn.
"Let's be a bit careful we don't actually just erase as big part of Shadow, though," suggests Beltaine.
Thomas agrees that any such weapon should not be over-used.
Beltaine's other idea is still to use resonance against the Ordnung, probably via the Jewel, since the Ordnung has a crystalline structure. She notes that Greyswandir's resonating had also caused damage to part of the Ordnung enclosing it.
Not far away, Tristan finishes creating the second Shadow of desire. He is exhausted, having just re-written two shadows in close proximity to a Pattern, and so he summons Corvallin and staggers exhausted up the ramp.
Tamarind gives him a drink.
Beltaine sends for pillows and a quilt, and pushes him into a chair.
Brand volunteers to create more of the Shadows of Destiny.
Tristan realises that Brand (a) has a Pattern imprint and (b) is in Castle Corvallin.
He sighs. "Welcome to Corvallin, Brand," he says through gritted teeth.
"Thank you, great-uncle Tristan," says Brand politely.
Brand leaves, to go and do as he said and create more Ordnung-traps.
Tamarind and Beltaine fill Ibrahim and Tristan in on Gerard's rescue, and the results.
Damien collects the soulstone Beltaine gave Altair from her, and Trumps Random.
Random takes the call and brings him through to his office.
Damien makes his report, then says he's going to join the others.
Random uses a SuperTrump to contact Tristan, and when Tristan takes the call, passes Damien through to him in Castle Corvallin.
Tristan peers at Damien through Brand's life-force glass and finds him clean.
Damien returns the two borrowed soulstones to Beltaine who re-strings them at her throat.
More plans are discussed. The most current plan involves spiking (with the life-force draining spikes) and draining the Ordnung.
Thomas and Ibrahim have a friendly arm-wrestling contest to see will be better at hammering in spikes. It turns out that Thomas is a lot stronger than Ibrahim. As a result, they settle for Ibrahim holding and Thomas hitting.
Beltaine says if it will help, she can probably make a spike desolid, shove it into the crystal then let go, making it solid again and hopefully well embedded. She just can't do it very often - perhaps enough to get things going early on?
Tamarind tells us that Benedict does indeed seem to have gone to help Osric.
We amble off to a Shadow that has a wall in it for Beltaine to try desolidifying objects and sticking them into the stone. She tries this with a life-force-draining spike, and finds that she can indeed turn it desolid and insert it into the wall in that state. When she lets go, the wall cracks around the spike, leaving it undamaged and very well embedded. She experiments and finds that she can then make the spike desolid again to recover it.
"Would it work with a Pattern blade?" wonders someone.
Ibrahim hesitantly surrenders Chrysanthir for the experiment. Beltaine takes it and goes desolid, but Chrysanthir will not, though it also does not slip through Beltaine's grasp.
Ibrahim suggests making both him and his sword desolid, since it is 'part' of him.
Beltaine tries this.
Ibrahim goes desolid, but Chrysanthir still does not. No use for pushing Pattern blades into crystal, then, but it does open up the potential for Ibrahim to become potentially invulnerable in combat while still being able to hit things - assuming he doesn't mind holding onto Beltaine during a fight, of course.
Tristan muses that Greyswandir, with its link to Tir-Na Nog'th, might be more amenable to Beltaine's powers.
We wonder what to do with the life-force we plan to drain.
Damien points out that Altair and Gerard might like some.
We decide to ask Brand if there's a way of storing the stuff.
Beltaine asks Damien a couple of questions about necromancy and how it works, which turns into a rambling and fairly lengthy discussion. Does summoning 'spirits' work by getting hold of what Damien calls 'shadow-echoes' of spirits, or real spirits? And does it matter? Ibrahim is of the 'if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's as good as a duck' school of thought on the matter.
Beltaine mentions that she feels that perhaps our own universe and the one beyond the Pattern are meant to be linked up, and balanced in some way, so it would be nice if people didn't rush to completely separate the two realms again, except as a very last resort.
We try to Trump Brand, but he's not answering.
Tristan takes Corvallin into a fast-time Shadow so that people (including himself!) can rest.
Ibrahim hangs spells.
Damien does a little spell maintenance, and collects a new war-hammer from Tristan's armoury.
Everyone else actually rests.
Once we have rested, we try Brand again.
This time he takes the call. He looks rather tired and says he has finished his Shadow-alteration work. At our request he comes through to us, and we ask him about ways to store life-force.
"In a person, basically," he says.
So, after some discussion, we decide that those lowest on life-force should do this thing.
"Oh, I nominate Damien to go first, then," puts in Beltaine.
Damien closes his mouth.
Tristan is worried that the Ordnung's influence may flow out with its life-force and affect those who take it into themselves.
Brand thinks this is very unlikely.
Tamarind wonders if the large amount of life-force we hope to soon be throwing about might attract Anurerishkigal.
Opinion is divided, between those thinking it might make useful bait and those not actually wanting Anurerishkigal to turn up right now and complicate things any further.
It's decided that Damien will play guinea pig. He does not object to this, and suggests we should attack the Ordnung from at least two places at once.
Brand thinks several places would be a good idea, so that the spikes are widely dispersed.
We fly over the area in Castle Corvallin to survey the scene, and Tamarind makes Trump sketches of several promising locations. Crystal creatures can be seen patrolling the perimeter of the Ordnung itself.
Damien and Tristan Trump Altair and tell her what we're up to.
She says she will stand ready.
We take nearly all the life-force draining spikes with us.
Everyone who is not already so armour up. Brand raid's Corvallin's armoury from some twelve-year-old sized armour. One of Deirdre's silver Celtic-style wristbands turns into a suit of armour; her other wristband turns into a sword. Thomas collects a sledgehammer.
Damien stabs the receiver spike into his chest, determinedly showing no pain, though it really hurts (it is like a pencil covered in razor blades, after all).
And off we go.
We Trump through to 'location one'.
Damien protects the hammering crew and the desolid people.
Crystal creatures turn towards us.
Thomas hammers in a spike held by Ibrahim.
Beltaine pushes in a desolid spike and releases it.
The crystal things are fast, but not fast enough. All four spikes for this site are successfully inserted, and we Trump away before they reach us.
Damien begins to feel life-force flowing from the Ordnung and into him.
We return to Castle Corvallin.
Tamarind suggests there's actually no need for all of us to keep going through. Fair point.
So only Damien and Beltaine go through to the second site.
At location two, Damien successfully defends Beltaine while she inserts another four spikes.
This is repeated at location three.
And again at location four. However, by now Beltaine is tiring and Damien needs to do more defending because of that and as the Ordnung begins to react faster and faster.
On their return this time, Tristan and Damien rip the receiver spike out of Damien's chest. Ouch!
He has reached about one hundred and fifty percent of his original life-force level by now. A dressing is applied to the hole in his chest.
Altair is Trumped again, and comes through. They give the spike to her. She swears a lot as it goes in.
By now Beltaine is too tired to play desolid girl any more.
By now Tristan can, through the life-force lens, a gradient in the life-force of the Ordnung. It is definitely being drained where the spikes have gone in. When the receiver spike is not in someone, he can also see the life-force it radiates simply dissipating into the air.
Thomas, Ibrahim and Damien go through to location five, and successfully hammer home some more spikes.
We continue to do this until, in the end, we cover twelve locations.
Life force flows out of the receiver spike.
Tristan watches, and removes the receiver spike from Altair just before she hits one hundred percent life-force. She swears again.
Brand is then 'topped up'. Followed by Deirdre. They are more stoic as the spike goes in and out.
Beltaine is adamant that Caine should not benefit from this supply of life-force. No-one seems inclined to disagree with her on this.
Beltaine and Tamarind Trump Random to ask for Alicia so that she too can benefit from an infusion of life force.
"We want to top up her life-force. Note that I gave you an explanation and didn't just say 'it's for the good of Amber'. Though goodness knows why," says Beltaine coolly when she and Tamarind get through.
Random looks hurt, and says he will call them back when he's got Alicia ready to come through.
A few moments later he calls Beltaine back and Alicia joins us.
Once Thomas explains the situation to her ("It makes you live longer, or something.") she accepts the receiver spike with no sign of discomfort and her life-force too is topped up to roughly the one hundred percent level. The amount of life force she had before this seems to indicate that she is older than Corwin.
"Who's next?"
"I'm sticking a grapefruit in anyone who tries to give Caine any more life-force," warns Beltaine. "See if I don't."
We call in Flora, who's happy to accept a top up. She would prefer an anaesthetic first, though.
"Anaesthetise Flora's chest," mutters Tamarind. Male Amberites rush to assist with this, and shortly afterward the spike is inserted. Flora winces slightly.
Down below, the Ordnung is visibly fading as the drain of its life force continues. The crystal is becoming less and less substantial, but the spikes are still hanging in there. The crystal creatures are still patrolling, seemingly unaffected. But they will need to recharge sometime...
Flora's life force is topped up to the hundred percent level and the spike removed. She winces again. That done, she thanks us for our consideration, then pulls out a Trump of Amber and concentrates upon it.
"You might like to meet Sebek," suggests Damien to Alicia as Flora does this.
"And Esmée - she's a shapeshifter," adds Beltaine. "I think she'd like to meet someone else who ... understands that."
Alicia nods.
She and Flora vanish in a purple Trump rainbow.
Then Julian is Trumped, brought through, and the situation explained to him. However, he refuses any extra life-force.
Beltaine encourages the rest of us to thank Brand, who made all this shooting up with life-force possible.
"Thank you, Brand," says Damien dutifully.
"Well done, Brand," Julian manages reluctantly. Then he leaves and returns to his troops.
Corwin is called and the situation explained again. Corwin has no scruples about life force top-ups, and comes through to us. He takes his top up macho-style (that is, without anaesthetic). That done, he thanks us and leaves.
Then we think of Jaheira, Ibrahim's (non-Amberite) sister, who at roughly 150 years old is middle-aged as far as the people of shadow Keirei are concerned. Ibrahim certainly thinks we should ask her, so she is Trumps, comes through, and the situation explained to her.
She has no objection to an injection of life force.
Then someone points out that we're not sure how much life force it's safe to give a non-Family member. Very true.
"Let's test it on one of Tristan's criminals, then," suggests Beltaine.
"Haven't they suffered enough?" mutters Damien.
"That's cruel and unusual punishment," objects Tristan.
While the rest of us discuss the matter, Beltaine heads off into Shadow quickly tracks down a rapist, subdues him, and returns to everyone else. She shoves the receiver spike into his chest. No-one objects (other than Beltaine's test subject). We watch as more and more life force flows into him. He begins smoking at the edges when he hits six percent of an Amberite's life-force, and falls over. The spike is yanked out.
Tamarind takes the body and Trumps off to dispose of it. It's unclear if the rapist is alive or not at this point to the rest of us.
Based on this (rather sketchy!) research, Jaheira says she will accept a two percent charge up. This is done, Jaheira sensibly accepting some anaesthetic before the receiver spike is driven home.
"Thank you," she says once the spike is removed and the wound dressed, looking down at herself in an impressed manner. From a still-striking and beautiful mature 150 years old (with the appearance of a fifty-year old in shadow Earth terms), she has reverted to something more like twenty...
Tamarind returns from disposing of Beltaine's research subject and Trumps Jaheira back to Amber.
Meanwhile, Tristan and Brand work on changing the local Shadow conditions so that life-support equipment will work and Gerard can be safely brought through topped-up with life force.
When this is done, Altair goes to fetch him. When she returns with him, enmeshed in a mass of magical equipment, he too is topped up before being returned to his hospital ward.
"Can we destroy your Pattern if necessary?" Tristan asks Corwin.
Corwin is reluctant.
Beltaine also objects.
"I'm just warning that it may be necessary," says Tristan.
Brand wants to work on the Abyss-channelling weapon idea, so Tamarind uses his SuperTrump of the Abyss to pass Brand through to there.
As we watch and life-force drains out of it, flaring off into the air, the Ordnung fades away to the point of insubstantiality, when the spikes start falling out.
We Trump in and reclaim them for re-use. As we re-insert them the Ordnung continues to shrink. We speculate on the effects of flaring off all of this life force on the shadow in which it happens, to no real conclusion. We repeat the insertion process as the Ordnung fades away.
Eventually, the crystal creatures work out that they should run off with the spikes, and begin to do so.
However, we do not let this stop us. We hunt the creatures down and recover the spikes.
In the process of this, Tamarind manages to capture one of the crystal creatures by restraining it.
Beltaine returns to Haven to get her strength back.
Damien goes with her to re-hang the healing spells he's used up.
By the time they return to the rest of us, Tamarind has locked his creature in a cell in Castle Corvallin.
However, once released from its bonds it takes it a whole thirty seconds to begin hacking is way through the iron cell door.
Before it escapes, Tristan shatters it. The fragments fade away into nothingness.
Tristan then starts work on some proper magick that will make a cage to hold such creatures properly. Then realises that they can get through Empowered armour, and also that we know this stuff to be resistant to magick.
Instead, he starts work on a spell rack so he can hang Stone Binding spells.
The race to collect spikes as they fall out of the shrinking Ordnung and replace them further in while preventing their theft by Ordnung-creatures continues.
Damien insists that Ibrahim casts a healing spell on himself. This he does.
By now we think it is time to try some other measures.
Tamarind Trumps Random and when he takes the call, requests that he come through to join us, and bring the Jewel.
Random says he'll go and get it and call back.
Not much later, he does this thing and comes through the link to join us.
Tristan and Damien offer him a life-force fix.
Random thanks them, but says he doesn't need one right now.
"What about Vialle?" suggests Tristan.
"I'll ask her when I get back," Random says. Tristan remembers that, from looking at her through Brand's life force lens, Vialle seems to have about ten percent of a young Amberite's life force. That is, not dissimilar to that of other non-Royal Amberites.
Damien mentions that he has plenty of excess life-force to share later.
The preliminaries dealt with, Random studies the Ordnung, and does something with the Jewel.
"It's a crystal entity and a thing of order," says Damien helpfully, just in case the King has already forgotten everything we told him about the Ordnung earlier.
"Just do what you feel like. You being King and all," adds Beltaine, perhaps less helpfully.
"I need to get closer," Random says. "Who will come with me?" To protect him, that is.
"He's not worth it," mutters Beltaine.
Random looks hurt.
Thomas, Ibrahim and Damien volunteer to accompany Random on his excursion. Tamarind Trumps them through to a location near to the Ordnung and keeps a link open to Damien.
While the others keep the crystal creatures off him, Random activates the Jewel. They feel power from the Jewel moving up and down the scale as Random searches for the Ordnung's resonant frequency.
Suddenly, there is an answering resonance from the Ordnung. And it's not happy. In addition to the resonant vibration, there is an audible and psychic shrieking as the resonance takes effect.
"Damien, I don't like this..." mutters Tamarind over the Trump link.
"I'm prepared to reserve judgement," says Damien calmly, still fighting off crystal creatures.
The undertone of shrieking rises and rises, and then - CRACK...K...K...K!
A crack appears in the crystal mass of the Ordnung. Damien interposes himself between Random and it, in case of shrapnel. Fortunately, there is none.
The Ordnung continues to crack. The nearby crystal creatures explode. Parts of the Ordnung begin to fall off.
Beltaine joins the group and tries to use her vocal harmonic powers to help accelerate things a little. This does help somewhat. She suggests that she could do more if she were in some way in contact with the Jewel...
A fair point, She and Random join minds to exacerbate the destruction of the Ordnung.
At this, Tamarind comes through the Trump link and joins their contact.
Damien also joins the contact.
Eventually, as there are no crystal things to defend against any more, everyone is in the power-link with Random and the Jewel, concentrating on the destructive frequency.
The Ordnung shatters off away into the distance, into tiny pieces that fade away...
Tristan joins the link too...
Beltaine tries to channel a kind of Tir-Na Nog'th chaos at it - the sense of infinite possibilities, change, and random ideas. This too is sent out through the Jewel. As she does this, Beltaine feels as if a door has opened somewhere in the back of her mind, and becomes aware of a psychic presence watching through it - one as powerful as the Ordnung.
The rest of us also feel this. Tristan thinks it resembles Oberon, and promptly leaves the link.
Damien reinforces his efforts.
Everyone other than Tristan finds themselves in a mental link-up, and projects various things through it:
The Ordnung continues to shatter, fade and retreat. We pursue through Shadow as it is driven back, until we are in sight of the defensive walls around Corwin's Pattern. Projecting Impossigon thoughts seems to help more than surreal art works.
The dome over the Pattern shatters, leaving no visible signs of the Ordnung.
Random, exhausted by now, topples over and is caught by Tristan.
There is a distinct reduction in the Jewel linkage and power amplification. As this happens, Beltaine feels the 'door' inside her head swing closed.
Beltaine, Tamarind and Damien are still holding on, unaware that they have moved up to 'Jewel over-indulgence' speed.
"Can't Tristan attune to the thing so we can carry on?" demands Beltaine. "Or let's get Corwin - he's already attuned."
Damien is in favour of this, and so Tamarind begins to Trump Corwin. Before long the link opens up, and when the situation is explained, Corwin comes through to join us.
Tristan worries about the legality of someone other than the King using the Jewel.
An argument ensues.
Tamarind and Beltaine Trump off to shadow Haven to avoid it, to drink purple energy drink, and come down from their Jewel high. Beltaine can feel that the 'door' in her mind remains open a crack...
The others Trump Flora, as named next-in-line for the Throne, and when she takes the call bring her through. The situation is explained to her.
Once this is done, she is very decisive - especially when she notes that the Ordnung is already growing back over Corwin's Pattern, crystal spires becoming visible over the walls around it.
"Go ahead - take the Jewel and kill it," she instructs.
We Trump Beltaine and Tamarind, who are in bed, and when they take the call tell them we're about to go after the Ordnung again.
They come through and join us.
"Did we miss all the dull stuff?" checks Beltaine.
"Yes," sighs Damien. "Now let's go."
Tristan Trumps Brand. He wants to call him in to help finish off the Ordnung on this and the other side. When Brand takes the call he can be seen to be on the edge of a more-than-usually roiling Abyss. When the situation is explained, he comes through to assist.
Corwin takes the Jewel and powers it up again. We all link up once more.
On touching the Jewel, the 'door' in Beltaine's mind swings slightly wider again. She mentions this.
Brand reminds her that when he left her in Tir-Na Nog'th it was his hope that she would gain a link to the power there.
"Is this power an Oberon thing?" demands Tristan.
"Basically, no ... not as such," says Brand, helpfully.
Meanwhile crystal spires are re-growing through the centre of Corwin's Pattern
"Must be someone out there who's experienced at fighting the stuff successfully," mutters Beltaine. She begins to concentrate on Delwin.
We approach Corwin's Pattern.
Damien concentrates on his weird art.
Those attuned to the Impossigon concentrate on that.
Beltaine feels something coming through the 'door' in her mind. She lets it enter, and proves to be channelling a Tir-Na Nog'th ghost of Delwin. She allows it to take her over... A hazy image of Delwin superimposes itself on her own figure.
"If we hit it there," says Delwin's voice out of Beltaine's mouth. "It'll shatter."
"Dad? Is that really you?" asks Thomas. The Delwin-ghost does not answer.
'Delwin' aims the moonlight crossbow he's suddenly holding carefully, and shoots at a certain point of the Ordnung. The bolt bounces off. Nothing else appears to happen.
Damien throws his war-hammer at the same spot, and some cracks do appear.
The Delwin-ghost appears surprised he had no success. "But I suppose I'm a bit behind the times..." he comments.
Beltaine releases his ghost and feels him fade away, back through the 'door'. She can feel a number of ghosts milling around behind the 'door' in addition to the watching Oberon-like presence.
She allows another ghost through the door and feels it taking her over. It turns out to be Oberon...
"Oh fuck," say Brand, Corwin and Deirdre simultaneously as Oberon's form superimposes itself over Beltaine's.
Brand drops out of contact with the Jewel.
Damien asks 'Oberon' for options - ones that do not involve stranding people on the other side of Corwin's Pattern, that is.
Like Delwin's ghost, from his words ghost-Oberon is not very up on current events, not reacting to the presence of Tristan or Brand, for instance.
Tristan Trumps to the centre of Corwin's Pattern, driving in spikes so as to begin draining its life-force. It begins to fade back and away...
'Oberon' reaches out through Beltaine's mind to the Jewel...
Ibrahim adds Impossigon power to the mix.
Damien stays in contact with Beltaine/Oberon.
Oberon, using the Jewel, makes the nearest bits of the Ordnung shatter over the Pattern, until nothing of it remains on this side...
Brand Trumps Tristan and passes all of us, including Corwin, through the Trump link to the centre of Corwin's Pattern. Only Deirdre and Flora remain behind.
"Deirdre - don't let anyone destroy the Pattern!" shouts Tristan across the width of the Pattern.
"OK," shouts back Deirdre, raising a hand in acknowledgement.
And we all go through the Pattern to the Other Side.
Damien suggests going a mile high in 'that' direction as our next base of operations.
"No!" disagrees Tristan. "We can retreat from here..."
The rest of us agree with Tristan.
'Oberon' translates all of us to a point away from the Pattern. We have no choice in the matter. Damn.
"Give me the power," demands the Oberon-ghost.
We do.
The crystal spires of the Ordnung crack and shatter.
Tristan and Thomas try to break out of the link and Trump Osric, but 'Oberon' will not let them out of the circle of concentration, so they carry on.
Damien tries to concentrate on Hans Belmer's dolls, having concluded that whether Oberon or the Ordnung is confused, it'll still be a plus.
The Ordnung continues to shatter and retreat away from us, shrieking all the while.
"The young ones have done enough," says Corwin.
"No, they haven't," corrects Oberon.
Corwin considers this, then turns and knocks Beltaine unconscious with one punch to the chin. The Oberon image around her flickers and dies. Ibrahim catches her.
We are all very tired.
A semi-conscious Beltaine murmurs that the door is still open in the back of her mind, just the merest crack.
Now Tristan and Thomas Trump Evan using Tamarind's SuperTrump of him.
When he answers we see that he is in Girasol. He goes off to find Osric, holding the Trump link open as he does so...
Osric and Sandrine prove to be in their office.
Evan explains the situation, and Osric joins the Trump link.
Tristan asks that Osric and Evan come through to us. They do this thing.
We ask Osric if Benedict is here. He says Benedict is indeed here. "But he seems ... diminished ... since I last met him."
The situation is explained to Osric, and he Trumps us all off to somewhere where we can rest and recover. Upon arrival it seems to be a large Mediterranean-style villa with a lush garden and pool surrounded by a pillared colonnade. The air is warm and fresh. Tristan can sense that the properties of this shadow enhance both healing and recuperation, and indeed we all begin to feel refreshed as soon as we arrive.
Beltaine holds onto Tamarind rather desperately. "Will I have to be Oberon again...?" she asks.
Everyone assures her that she won't.
Under the circumstances, she has no hard feelings at all about being punched out by Corwin.
We rest in Osric's pleasure palace. Damien repairs his spells, most of which have gone down, what with all the Jewel and Pattern power flying around.
Most of us sleep.
When we wake up, breakfast is served in the garden. Osric, Benedict and Corwin arrive as we sit down. Also Thomas and Brand.
Brand and Osric think we have damaged about thirty percent of the Ordnung on the Girasol side so far. So far, so good, then.
We also discuss copying the design of Nicholas' armour to help Gerard while he regenerates. However, Osric tells us that Nicholas can survive without his armour, which allows him to move, not to live, and so may be of less use to Gerard than we had hoped....
Damien is in favour of attacking on several fronts to keep the Ordnung busy. And summoning reinforcements.
Osric nods and Trumps Sandrine through, and then someone we recognise from his portrait as Cornelius (bleached hair, sunglasses), who comes through with a wolf. Una is also Trumped in.
The situation, and the plan, is explained to all of the newcomers.
And Tamarind Trumps us all to an area high above Corwin's Pattern, and we fall, Osric using the Pattern to shift us all away as we go...
As we fall, Tristan finds a griffin to ride, and Damien a Bennu Bird (a sort of Persian phoenix). Osric politely pauses for them to do so, then continues.
We fall, then fly, then drift through the sky until Osric brings us out over a definable border area with the Ordnung on one side and normal, if dull, Shadows on the other.
We repeat the whole 'sticking in spikes via Trump raiding parties' operation.
As the Ordnung's life force is drained from it, Osric accepts the receiver spike and is topped up to full Amberite level.
Sandrine refuses, looking as if she finds the whole idea rather distasteful.
Benedict also refuses a top-up of his life force.
Once the Ordnung here is thoroughly spiked, we try the Jewel concert once more, with Corwin again at its centre.
"Do you need anyone else today?" asks Beltaine hesitantly.
"We need you," says Tamarind, incautiously.
Hmm... That makes sense to her. She opens the door in her mind, and summons ... herself. But one that would be helpful. As the ghost moves in through the door and takes her over, its image flickering into life around her, she and Tamarind realise it's the near-somnambulant version of Beltaine from their 'New Kingdoms' Tir-Na Nog'th vision.
Brand also appears to recognise this Beltaine, 'in a way'.
We explain to this Beltaine the kind of help that's needed.
"Bad dreams, Beltaine," clarifies Brand, to whom she seems to be looking for instructions.
"Oh ... All right ... Father ..." she says dreamily.
Brand actually looks somewhat disturbed by this ghost.
The two Beltaines pour 'bad dreams' through the resonant Jewel link as everyone else contributes all they can.
Cracks begin to appear in the Ordnung ahead of us.
We advance.
Damien abandons his focus on Belmer and Geiger to concentrate on what he knows of the Impossigon.
We can't help noticing how psychically powerful Una and Cornelius are - not as much so as Beltaine, but at least equal to Tamarind.
As well as contributing to the link, Brand also seems to be studying the Ordnung as we march closer to it, despite Tristan's attempts to have him concentrate fully on destroying it.
And gradually over days, the joint assault crumbles the Ordnung.
We have to stop every now and then to rest. And for the real Beltaine to come back. But otherwise we attack as hard and as constantly as we can.
The Ordnung slowly drains.
"Sorry," says Damien to it. "But you shouldn't have been so set on eating the rest of us..."
We advance. It dies. And dies. Shrieking all the while.
After two days of this, the last crystal shatters and fades away. And we seem to have killed the Ordnung. For good...
Time to get the real Beltaine back...
"I love you," Tamarind reminds her constantly, trying to strengthen her sense of self.
"And don't forget the plans for Sebek's next birthday," adds Damien.
The dream-Beltaine gradually fades and the real Beltaine returns, feeling rather confused. And tired.
We Trump back to by Corwin's Pattern. We wonder whether only Corwin and his descendants can walk it, or whether anyone of the family can. Brand studies it for a while.
"I think anyone in the Family could walk that," he says after a while. "Not just those descended from Corwin. After all, Corwin meant it as a replacement for Amber's Pattern."
Osric and Sandrine consider this, then agree to give it a try. They call in all of the younger adult Girasolians to come and walk it.
Thomas walks it first, and though he obviously struggles, survives the experience.
Then Una and Cornelius walk it. Then all the rest of the Osric/Sandrine/Delwin branch of the Family, until all who are old enough have done so...