Gods And Monsters

Notes : Session 3.5

'The Universe is important; it's where we keep our stuff' - Chalice

Recorded for Posterity by Iain Walker.
Notes typed up by Jane Winter.

Session 3.4   Index   Session 3.6

126 PPF

In the Girasol universe, Beltaine and Chalice have planted their 'Tir-Na Nog'th' sapling on the far side of Corwin's Pattern, roughly in the position occupied by Drasil on the Amber side. They are having a research party, spending some quality mother-daughter time together while learning how to detect and defend against neural buds.

The rest of us appear in the centre of Corwin's Pattern and transport ourselves over to Beltaine and Chalice.

Beltaine produces wine and goblets.

Tamarind asks how she is getting on.

She says they have let themselves get side-tracked somewhat by an unspecified 'new project'.

Notes on defending against neural buds are exchanged.

Beltaine is curious as to why everyone simply let Alicia rummage about in their heads. "Exactly how did you know she wasn't Finndo?" she asks.

Ibrahim explains about using the life-force lens to distinguish people.

Although she thinks Finndo could get round this by becoming more than one person and dividing up his life-force, she doesn't push the issue, dismissing her thoughts with a shrug as 'paranoia'.

Beltaine encourages Chalice to tell Tamarind about their 'project' to look for Pattern Blades in Tir-Na Nog'th. She repeats that although she herself wants nothing to do with Finndo and Benedict, she doesn't intend to interfere in anyone else's dealings with them. But she has reached her trust level and burned her bridges with Amber. Most of all, she thinks Random should (for what it's worth) make a public apology for Bleys' death - since nothing now will convince her we didn't simply murder him on the King's orders.

"I never agreed with his execution anyway..." mutters Tristan.

Beltaine points out that she too asked that he be shown clemency. But it's Random's inconsistency that really troubles her. "What are we supposed to do? Do we execute people for being a threat to the realm in future or not? Some of the time? Depends what their name is? Only on Tuesdays...?"

She and Chalice will come to Girasol with us. Beltaine had hoped witnessing this kind of thing could have waited until Chalice was older, but it's become the kind of thing she needs to be aware of.

Tamarind sketches a SuperTrump of the gardens outside Castle Girasol, taking about half an hour.

When it is complete, he uses it, opens a link, and we go through and head up towards the castle gates. As we do so we notice that the party in the city seems to have stopped. The bonfires have gone out and there are no crowds thronging the streets.

At the gate, the guards ask us to identify ourselves. We do so, and are admitted.

We ask a servant to take us to King Osric. But Osric isn't here, we learn - he is 'at the front'.

The servant tells us that there have been uprisings in the Silver Circle now that the war with the Ordnung is over.

We ask after Sandrine.

The servant tells us that she is with Osric.

"So who's guarding Benedict?" Tamarind wants to know.

"Prince Gideon, Sir," he replies.

We go to look for Gideon and are directed to a guarded cell in the castle keep. We ask to speak to Prince Gideon.

The guards speak through a grille in the door to tell him we're here. He tells them to unlock the door.

"We need to talk to Benedict," Damien tells him.

"We'd like to talk to Benedict," Ibrahim re-phrases.

"Sorry about the news," adds Tamarind, referring to the uprisings.

"Yeah, ungrateful bastards," says Beltaine.

Gideon tells us that the Silver Circle Shadows provided troops to fight the Ordnung, but Girasol protected them. "This could be serious," he adds. "Some of us don't understand why it's happening."

"A bid for independence might be understandable," muses Damien. "But the timing seems a bit ... off."

We go into the cell. Benedict is chained to a big metal chair, with a lot of crossbows pointed at him by guards.

"Hello, Benedict, I trust you're being treated well?" Tamarind greets him.

"Other than being chained to a chair, yes," he says.

Beltaine asks Tamarind to make her a sketch of the scene 'so she can hang it on the wall later'.

"We spoke to your brother, and since that went quite well, we decided to talk to you," begins Tamarind. "Are you amenable to that?"

"I am."

Damien says we got Finndo to agree that trying to defend Amber was going to be hard with the rest of us against him, much, much easier with us working with him, and that defending Amber in the abstract is rather empty without a commitment to real people and places. So he agreed to come back on board.

"Just why were you 'assessing' Osric?" asks Ibrahim.

"He was my brother, and I hadn't seen him for tens of thousands of years," Benedict replies.

Beltaine frowns. "Do you think this is the way we should all should be - judging all the time whether other people should live or die? I mean, that would be a valid point of view..."

"Yes."

"But what are you judging people against?" persists Ibrahim.

"Whether they pose a threat to the realm or the universe," says Benedict.

"And what is it about the realm and the universe that you care enough about to protect from threats?" asks Ibrahim. "Why cut yourself off from the universe, if you do care about it?"

Benedict seems to have no answer to this, and seems a bit puzzled.

"I think it's good to care about the universe," says Beltaine encouragingly. "The universe is important."

"It's where we keep our stuff," adds Chalice.

Beltaine sighs. "What exactly do you think you're doing here?" she asks the rest of us. "Is this some kind of group therapy session? You can't rely on a thing he says - if he ever does say anything - so isn't this kind of pointless?

"And how do you reconcile what was done to Bleys with attempting to come to an accommodation with these two?"

The morality of Bleys' execution is again debated, as is whether bringing him back is a possibility.

"It isn't inconsistent to learn from past mistakes," says Ibrahim steadily. "If it was wrong to kill Bleys, then the best thing to do is try and avoid doing that kind of thing quite so readily again..."

We tell Benedict the conditions under which Finndo is being allowed back, if he swears allegiance to Random under his own name. He has agreed to no more unilateral decisions, no more secrets, and no more putting Family members in danger without their consent.

Beltaine listens to all this with a 'yeah ... right...' look on her face.

"Would you agree to something similar?" we ask Benedict.

"Perhaps," he says.

"What would convince you?" asks Damien. "Who could? Finndo?"

"Perhaps." Benedict is looking thoughtful. He allows that he would like to talk to Finndo.

Gideon's talking cat, Fred, wanders in, and allows Chalice to pet him. She introduces Gideon to Miss Kitty.

Ibrahim worries about Anurerishkigal. Any Family members who should die (by execution or any other way) will find that joining up with Anurerishkigal has become their 'least worst' option.

Damien points out that Anurerishkigal is here not there, and that now the big problem in trying to come back from the Land of the Dead is that it involves being drained down to almost no life-force. He also points out that anyone dying outside Amber faces an extra problem - if they can't Trump to the Land of the Dead version of Amber (as Altair and Tamarind could) or shift Shadow to it (like Brand and Tristan), then they can't get to the nonagram.

Tristan thinks places in the Land of the Dead are just a very long way apart - there are no actual Shadow veils. It's still a very long way to walk, though...

We take our leave of Gideon and Benedict.

Tamarind, Beltaine and Chalice discuss their future family living arrangements.

Beltaine's plan is to commute between Haven and Girasol. She intends to avoid Amber apart from the occasional visit, though she'll always be happy to help any of us out.

Chalice wants to return to Amber where her friends and lessons are, and Beltaine agrees to this as Tamarind, Brand and Deirdre will be able to look after her.

Beltaine is renouncing her title of 'Princess of Amber'.

That done, Tamarind Trumps Osric, and gets through quite quickly. Osric is wearing a dark military uniform, and seems to be in some sort of command tent.

"What brings you back to Girasol?" he asks.

"We have spoken to Benedict," Tamarind tells him. "And we were wondering if it would be possible to allow Finndo to talk to him?"

"Ask him if we can help," suggests Beltaine. "I'm getting to that," says Tamarind. He tells Osric there is a formal message from Random - essentially, to be cautious of Finndo, but please treat him as a member of the Family. He shrugs.

"I know; it's a tautology. Also, is there anything we can do to help?" he concludes.

Osric allows that perhaps we can. We say we will be in touch soon, and close the link.

There is a pause while Beltaine takes Chalice back to their camp by Corwin's Pattern and leaves her there in the care of the soldiers, then returns to Tamarind.

Then we Trump Osric again and go through to his command tent.

"So you've heard of our little trouble," he says.

Damien asks if the rebellions are for independence. Weren't the Silver Circle Shadows nominally independent anyway?

"The Treaty agreements were ... rather binding," says Osric.

"Didn't they at least send a note before taking up arms?" persists Damien.

"No," says Osric.

"If the entity embodying law and order is gone, maybe this is having repercussions," muses Tamarind. That is, chaotic ones...

Osric says what he really needs is information - the insurrections seem to be random, but are spreading. The King and Queen of Shadow Lasart want to secede and are encouraging others to do likewise. But he doesn't know why. He hasn't had any communication with these people and so has no idea how it all started.

He lists the Shadows involved - Lasart, Taragorn, Ombin, Agnitis, Zoran and Baylis. All are large, well-populated and magickal shadows. They are linked by Shadow paths to one another and Girasol itself, though they are far apart in terms of actual travel.

Osric tells us that the rest of the Girasol branch of the Family is now involved in containing insurrections or defending Girasol itself.

"Is there a history here?" Damien wants to know. "Did you have to lean on these Shadows to get troops and supplies, or to get the original treaty agreements? Have you had problems with them before - or might they feel they had problems with you?"

"Don't take this the wrong way," he adds.

Osric says they all agreed readily enough to their respective treaties. He adds that in several of these Shadows, the inhabitants regard the Family here as gods.

"If they're rebelling against their gods, then this isn't just a political thing," decides Tamarind.

Osric is about to tell us more about Lasart, when a soldier runs in and tells him the 12th battalion have arrived. Where does he want them? Osric excuses himself and leaves.

We look on Osric's desk and find maps of Lasart, and a briefing dossier. We examine them.

Lasart is a mountainous Shadow, with cities on plateaux, and terraced fields on slopes. It is ruled by King Marea and Queen Kaiam, and has been so for around a hundred years. They seem to have had no previous problems with Osric. The Shadow's religion sees the Girasol Family as gods, and they were happy to provide troops to the anti-Ordnung effort. The shadow provides troops who are plentiful, well-disciplined, well-organised, and not afraid to sacrifice themselves for the cause, if also rather stolid and unimaginative.

The idle thought occurs to some of us that Benedict may somehow be behind this. He hasn't been chained to a chair here for his entire stay, after all...

The inhabitants of Lasart wear robes, the colour of which denotes rank and position in society. Some of these include:

People adopt the following roles:

"I've always had a thing about rebelling against god..." says Damien. He opts for the disguise of a priest.

"The priesthood might not be too popular right now," worries Tamarind.

Damien thinks it more likely the priesthood are organising the theological insurrection.

We disguise ourselves thusly, using the Pattern to find appropriate clothing and so on, and after leaving a note for Osric, Tristan shifts us all away towards Lasart.

As we speed through shadow the land rises up, hills become mountains, the mountains become flat-topped, and then the flat tops grow cities.

"Won't the Shadow path entrance be guarded?" Ibrahim wants to know.

"I'm not following the path per se, just using it as a guide," says Tristan.

Eventually, the sky becomes pearly grey, just as Lasart's sky is supposed to be, and Tristan convinces himself that we are there. Standing on the top of a slope criss-crossed with switchback paths, we can see spires on the top of nearby mountain-plateaux.

Tristan decides there's a pub just over there, around that switchback...

"Should you be messing with the Shadow like that?" worries Beltaine. "Will we still be in the right place if you change it?"

Tristan does not reply.

"Not that I'm suggesting you should interfere with the locals' religious freedom," says Damien, lying. "But couldn't you just change the Shadow so they all play nice again? I'm perfectly willing to do it the hard way," he adds hastily.

"I could do that, but it would be a major Shadow-rewrite," says Tristan. "If Osric hasn't done that himself, there's probably a reason."

We arrive at the pub. The sight of its name - 'The Armed Bottom' - produces suggestions that Tristan be allowed to rewrite the Shadow after all.

A caravan of traders has just arrived, various robed people are relaxing or bargaining outside the inn, and lots of horses are tied up outside, with guards keeping an eye on things.

We go inside, and Tamarind orders beer.

Beltaine asks the innkeeper if they'd like to hear some songs later.

He doesn't see why not, and points out a small stage in the corner. We notice that he is a little more obsequious to Ibrahim (the guard) and Damien (the priest) than to the rest of us.

We take a table and Beltaine begins quietly tuning her harp.

Tamarind wanders over to watch a dice game.

Ibrahim and Damien study the clientele. Damien tries to figure out the social dynamics - which colours of robe interact with, or avoid, which? In particular, how do people react to military and priestly types?

Tamarind's dice partners complain about the curfew and new regulations. "But it's what the priests want, so..."

"Priests," mutters Tamarind, with a dark look at Damien.

Ibrahim notices that the various castes don't mix much. He also spots a notice-board on the far side of the room.

In the background, Beltaine starts a quiet song, using Voice to cheer people up, and make them more chatty and convivial.

Damien notices that people are wary and respectful of himself and Ibrahim, but not frightened.

As Beltaine sings, people do indeed buy and consume more beer. Voices are raised here and there, and the general level of conversation increases.

Ibrahim suggests to Damien that the two of them should drink more and appear to be alcoholic members of their castes, so people get less wary of them.

"Islam never really caught on in your Shadow, did it?" murmurs Damien.

Ibrahim gives him a look, and wanders over to check the notice-board.

A proclamation has been affixed to it:

Catil 6th is apparently a date. There is also a notice regarding the new curfew during the hours of darkness. It's about lunchtime now, we think. Other notices include a 'Wanted' poster for a bandit, and a 'For Sale' advert for a horse. He inspects the latter closely, then pulls himself together and gets back to what we came here for.

As a drunken guard, he gets into conversation with the locals, holding forth against the upheaval in society.

The locals, however, seem to have no problems with their new God, who is 'on the side of the little man', unlike the old gods. "Tirados," they say. "Wants us to be our own kingdom, not under the thumb of Girasol."

Apparently, all the priests had a revelation. "Ask him, why don't you?" they suggest, pointing at Damien.

"Oh, he was drunk at the time," says Ibrahim airily.

Tamarind goes outside, and uses the Pattern to make it likely that propaganda leaflets are blowing down from the mountain-top city. He grabs one out of the air and reads it. It's a bombastic piece of work, written to appeal to the emotions, condemning the gods of Girasol as 'false gods'. The symbol of Tirados appears on the leaflet - a sort of three-leafed clover constructed from question marks.

Ibrahim and Damien take note of the local magic of Shadow.

Beltaine asks Tristan whether anyone has messed about with this Shadow, Pattern-wise.

"Not apart from putting in the Shadow path," he says.

Tamarind wanders back in, and drops his leaflet near Damien, who reads it. 'The priests will move amongst you all to explain', it ends. Ah.

Beltaine moves on to playing nostalgia-inducing songs.

Ibrahim says quite loudly that he hopes the priests are right this time, if they had been wrong before.

People cast nervous glances at Damien.

"But there was a miracle," they say. "Tirados appeared in all the temples simultaneously...."

Damien stands up drunkenly. "You want to hear about a real miracle?" he demands. He describes the Ordnung filing the horizon, but forced back by the power of the Gods of Girasol.

"I saw it," he asserts. "I was an army chaplain. I didn't see any vision of Tirados - didn't even get the bloody memo. If it wasn't for the old gods, you'd all be sitting here trapped, like flies in amber."

People begin to edge towards the door.

"The priests know what they're doing," someone mutters. "They had the revelation."

"He didn't," says Beltaine, pointing at Damien.

"'S'right," agrees Damien. "I was coming back from the front, wasn't I?"

"Funny," muses Beltaine. "You'd think an all-powerful god would have been able to include him..."

People are beginning to give us all a very wide berth.

Tristan is still being quiet and unobtrusive, and Beltaine uses her Voice to encourage people to overlook her, too.

Damien, Tamarind and Ibrahim wander outside. They see a man talking to a ring on his hand. Suddenly a large number of soldiers, a mage and a priest teleport in by him.

"Nobody move," orders the priest.

Tamarind throws a rock at his head, and he falls over, unconscious.

The mage begins chanting, magic building up around him as he casts a spell. The rest of the crowd freeze as the paralysis spell goes off. Unfortunately for him, it has no effect on any of us.

"...finish my bloody ceiling, you bastard," Damien says as he completes the lynchpins to a 'Michelangelo' spell.

"Ready, aim, fire..." Ibrahim does the same for his modified militia spell. This goes off too, Tamarind leaping into the air so as not to be caught in the volley of shot.

At least half the troop goes down with gunshot wounds. The mage stops for a second as Damien's spell hits him, then the magic slides off him as some sort of protective device kicks in.

Beltaine, who has been watching from a window and drinking beer, starts work on unravelling the mage's really quite powerful magickal defences.

Tamarind dives for the mage.

Deciding that Wilkes probably won't work here, Damien throws a distracting dagger at the mage.

Tamarind grabs his target, only to find there's a shell of force around him, and he can't touch him. However, he can lift him up and twirl him around at high speed, which the mage seems to find rather distracting...

Ibrahim has drawn Chrysanthir, and charges in.

Beltaine dispels the mage's wardings, enabling Tamarind to grab him properly and knock him out, by hitting a guard with him.

Damien finishes his beer.

Tristan decides it's likely at this point for the horses tied up by the inn get free and bolt, scattering the guards.

Ibrahim parries halberds with Chrysanthir, slicing their ends off.

Tamarind disarms a guard and takes his halberd.

"Here's a hint gentlemen - leave now and report," suggests Ibrahim.

They ignore this helpful suggestion.

The man who summoned them all is running away.

Beltaine catches him with a Lullaby spell and he falls to the ground asleep.

Eventually, the remaining guards take Ibrahim's advice and run away.

So. We now have a pub, a priest, a mage and an informer. We search our prisoners. The mage has a spell rack and communications ring, not unlike the ones Ibrahim makes. The informer has a similar communications ring.

We move the paralysed people outside so that we can have the inn to ourselves.

Tamarind arranges them in the area where the troops teleported in, to disrupt any new arrivals to the same spot.

Ibrahim examines the magickal items, and decides it would take too long to work out what spells the mage has hung. He then checks the communications rings. The mage's is shut down, but the one belonging to the informer seems to have an open connection to somewhere. Ibrahim passes the ring to Beltaine.

"Hello... Hello...?" she says.

There is someone who sounds very like a sergeant at the other end. "Who are you?" he demands.

Beltaine tells him we are servants of Girasol, and that the gods are not pleased about this interloper Tirados deceiving the priests with conjuring tricks.

"But the priests have said it was so," says the sergeant. Beltaine senses he isn't overly bright.

"Tell the priests," she says. "That the gods of Girasol are angry, but it's not too late to set things right. Otherwise, we'll just take your new god away and there may be ... consequences..." She wants him to believe her - so he does. Then she gets bored and switches off the ring.

Damien is waving velociraptor-grade smelling salts from the Emergency Velociraptor Sobering-up Kit (EVSK) under the informer's nose when we sense a wave of magic approaching.

Beltaine can sense that it is a containment spell of some kind.

It washes over us. Damien and Ibrahim feel a brief paralysis, but otherwise we're all unaffected. The informer, who had just come round, is paralysed. Damien hands him over to Beltaine, and begins warding the inn.

Beltaine un-paralyses the informer and gives him back to Damien.

When we ask him, in a not very friendly fashion, he claims to be an ordinary trader, doing his duty by informing on us. "You're heretics!" he says.

"Actually," says Damien, still warding. "We're the people who defeated the Ancient Enemy - the Ordnung."

The informer doesn't seem to care.

He tells us that the High Priest of Lasart is the Honourable Botan.

Tamarind asks for directions to this person.

"Maybe they need a new High Priest," suggests Beltaine.

"Don't look at me, "says Damien, still playing the 'disguises game' long after everyone else has got bored with it. "I'm just a drunken army chaplain."

We're told that the Temple is easy to find, as it's the largest building in Lasart City, which is some ten days travel away.

Beltaine senses a new spell approaching and concentrates, singing discordantly at it as she tries to disrupt it.

Damien props up his wardings as he senses the magic descending.

However, Beltaine just manages to slow it down and then turn it back in the direction it came from - whereupon someone dispels it in a hurry.

We decide we should move the paralysed people, in case the next spell proves to be a huge fireball...

Tamarind has by now prepared a Trump sketch of the edge of the city above us, so we open the link and pass the erstwhile pub customers through, the spell on them breaking on contact with Trump energy, but by then they are in the city.

Damien finishes warding the inn. His aim in this being that the authorities will believe we are still inside it.

Tristan is seen to concentrate on something too.

Tamarind feels for Trump energies in the Shadow, and does pick up something, not unlike one of Osric's Trump gates. It seems to be fading and distant, and in the apparent direction of the capital city. We conclude that it is most likely the Trump Gate facility that Osric set up for moving troops, and must have been very powerful for Tamarind to be able to detect it from so far away.

The authorities send another, larger, containment spell down towards the pub. Since they helpfully showed her how last time, Beltaine promptly dispels it.

Once Damien's warding is complete, we shift Shadow away, taking the priest and the mage along with us.

"This uprising only seems to make sense as an intended 'distraction' to Osric," Beltaine comments. "Can anyone think of a who or a why?"

No-one can...

After a while, we pause and wake up the priest and ask him about the revelation.

"It was glorious," he says. "He spoke out of a bright light - all golden, he was. His voice was terrible and magnificent music. He said that the old gods of Girasol were false gods and deceivers."

"How?" demands Tamarind. "All those people who went to fight the Ancient Enemy the old gods protected you from - were they all deceived?"

"Yes."

"By an illusion, perhaps," suggests Damien.

"Yes."

"Just as one might make an illusion of a golden figure in a bright blue glow?" persists Damien.

"No!"

"You know," says Beltaine. "I bet I could convince you that Damien was a god. Or this-" she creates a small silvery sphere of Tir-Na Nog'th stuff and begins insinuating her idea into the poor man's head.

Tamarind asks about the number of priests in the main city, and is told there are thousands, with hundreds in the main temple. The priest also tells us that only those blessed by a true God can use magic.

"Show him a trick, Damien," urges Beltaine.

Damien creates a pillar of fire.

This new God doesn't seem to have blessed Damien yet, points out Beltaine, yet he can use magic.

The priest seems to be realising that something is not 'right'. Unfortunately, he passes out under the strain of the conflict in his mind, which seems to be quite a deep and fundamental one.

"What's been done to these people?" wonders a distressed Beltaine.

"Had the priest been psychically altered in any way?" asks Damien.

From her contact with his mind so far, Beltaine thinks not.

"Well, given the way the populace are conditioned to follow supernatural authority," muses Damien. "They might not need anything more than mass psychology to turn the whole culture round in its worship. The blue glow and golden figure might be sufficient trigger on their own."

A long and repetitive argument follows about whether we should try to return things to the way they were before this 'new' religion, that is, restore the old gods (a position supported by most of us), or get rid of Tirados by spreading wholesale atheism.

"We are not gods," states Ibrahim.

We are agreed that we should undo this Tirados business because of its anti-Girasol crusade, but differ on whether to risk further disruption by trying to overthrow their entire belief system.

Ibrahim doesn't feel obliged to prop up Osric's fake Godhood.

The rest of us don't mind doing so if it minimises disruption - which is what we came to do.

Tamarind raises the possibility that the 'Tirados-effect' (or even Tirados itself, if real) could be something that has emerged, or re-emerged, following the destruction of the Ordnung - it could be Real in the truest sense.

We allow this possibility, and decide to go and talk to the High Priest. If that turns up nothing new, we'll talk to the King and Queen and try to resolve things at a secular level.

Another argument (though less fiery than the last) starts up, between those who think the change from the old gods to Tirados could be done using relatively small changes to the Shadow, utilising the previous theocratic culture (Damien) and those who think it would need major changes to the Shadow or its people, using some serious power (pretty much everyone else).

Eventually, we decide to head off to find the High Priest, in search of some actual answers.

We shift back into Lasart, and Tristan weaves us in and out of Shadow until we're outside the Temple in the capital city.

Osric's Trump Gate stands in the square before it - broken. Statues of the Royal Family of Girasol, also broken, decorate the square. All of us other than Tamarind can tell that the Temple holds a lot of magickal power.

"There's a definite sense of something beyond magickal power," says Tristan. "Something Real."

Damien relinquishes his theory that it could be a local practical joker.

Tristan realises that what it feels like most is a Shadow god that was once bound, and has now been released.

"Hmm. This could ultimately be a self-inflicted problem for Osric," notes Damien. "If he originally submerged the Shadow deity to ensure the natives' loyalty..."

"Up against the Ordnung, perhaps he just did what he had to," points out Beltaine, a little sharply.

"Granted," says Damien, easily. "And we don't even know if it's the case."

Tristan shifts us in and out of the shadow again until we are inside the Temple. We find ourselves in an ornate corridor with lots of mirrors. Oh, and some guards, who begin shouting an alarm.

Ibrahim and Tamarind rush over and knock them out before the alarm can be raised.

Damien shrugs at Beltaine and Tristan, and checks the door they were guarding. It's locked, and magically warded.

The guards have a lot of magickal equipment. One has a key with an aura matching the warding on the door.

Ibrahim tries it and finds that it unlocks the door.

We enter. Inside is a huge domed chamber, hundreds of feet across and high, beautiful in a rather Spartan way, with stained glass inserts set into the curve of the dome, between the ribs of its vaulting. Beneath the dome is an altar, over which is hovering a blue glow with a golden figure within it.

We approach, all concentrating on the Pattern. Except for Tamarind, who as is his wont, prefers to think about the Trumps. The glow feels to us (Tristan particularly) like something of this Shadow, plus magick and general 'power'.

"Hello...?" tries Beltaine.

"Who approaches?" booms a musical voice.

"Can't you tell?" she asks. "If you're a god?"

"WHO APPROACHES? NAME YOURSELVES!" booms the voice, more loudly this time.

Damien makes the introductions. Beltaine is now 'Lady Beltaine'.

"You do not show me the proper respect, humans," it booms.

"Uh-huh," shrugs Beltaine.

"Wrong," responds Damien. "You're the god of this world, but we aren't from this world."

"You are the gods of Girasol," the thing says. We feel power and anger rising.

"No," we say. "Not at all."

"Tell us what happened," urges Tamarind.

It says there was a crystal entity attacking its realm. Then it fell into a deep sleep. When it awoke, it found everything changed, and its people worshipping the gods of Girasol. Some other entity woke it up, it thinks...

Close up, Tirados appears to be a featureless golden humanoid surrounded by an intense, but not blinding, royal blue aura.

Tamarind tells it that the gods - or rather 'beings' - from Girasol fought against the crystal entity.

"Which is now dead and gone," adds Damien.

Beltaine suggests to it gently that the Girasolians were simply filling in for it while it slept, taking care of the world for it...

"You being asleep, they may not even have realised you were here..." adds Tamarind.

"If this is the case, there may be no cause for war with Girasol," it booms. "I am a just God."

"All a misunderstanding," agrees Tamarind.

It allows that we may negotiate a truce, and return. It will restrain its troops.

Tamarind asks about the creature that woke it.

It sensed its presence, Tirados says, but can't (or doesn't) tell us anything more about it.

We take a polite leave, retire from the inner sanctum, and Tristan shifts us away.

"God is like a rug," comments Tamarind at this point. In that it covers the entire shadow, that is.

"He was quite sweet, really," says Beltaine.

"It was definitely part of the Shadow, something local," Tristan informs us.

We wonder a lot about who woke it, and why...

Tamarind Trumps Osric, who, when he takes the call, proves to be on horseback on a hill. He tells Tamarind that he 's about to join battle with the forces from Lasart.

Tamarind asks him to hold off any offensive action.

We come through and make a quick report, telling him that the God of Lasart is willing to make peace, since it's no longer convinced that Osric and the other Girasolians usurped it. And that something woke it up. This does not seem to have been just a natural effect of the Ordnung's destruction.

Osric considers this.

Around us is a huge army, arrayed along and behind a ridgeline and equipped, we sense, with plenty of magick. Four miles away down the slope is a bluish blur, the equally large army of Lasart. Osric himself is laden down with magickal gear.

Tamarind asks whether any of the Girasol Royal Family might have 'accidentally' wandered in and woken Tirados up? Anyone who might be prone to poking sleeping gods?

"I doubt it," says Osric. "They all had any such tendencies ... trained out of them."

"I will negotiate with Tirados," he says.

"Could any of the other rebelling Shadows be a cascade effect from Lasart?" Damien wants to know. "And which might be independent centres of rebellion?"

Osric tells us that there are six Shadows he believes to be independently out of control, of which Lasart is one.

The others are:

• AGNITIS - It is a shadow of nearly sheer-sided mountains and bottomless valleys with a low, stormy overcast from which lightning constantly strikes down. Agnitus is inhabited by a race of winged bat-people, ruled by a council of twelve Mages.
• BAYLIS - A shadow inhabited by demonic, heat-loving people who war constantly over resources and for fun, which makes them useful to the Girasolians. The environment of Baylis is very hostile, very hot and poor in water with many volcanoes, earthquakes and geysers so that those not of the shadow require magical or similar protection to survive. We are least likely to get a friendly reception here.
• OMBIN - A shadow entirely of water, with mats of floating kelp. A race of amphibious humans with webbed digits and gills (as well as lungs) live here in rafts woven from the kelp. Fierce sea-creatures inhabit the seas and must be defended against - the people of this shadow provide skilled seagoing and underwater warriors.
• TARAGORN - A shadow of woodlands and mountains. Normal humans led by The Sages live in the trees of the forests. Fierce beasts comes down from the mountains and must be fought in order for the people and their villages to survive. This shadow provides fierce jungle and wilderness-competent warriors.
• ZORAN - A shadow of infinite colourless glassy rock, some of which glows of itself, and through which run any number of natural tunnels of varying sizes. Water drips through the rocks and flows in the tunnels, feeding Earth-type plants and normal human-type people.

All of these Shadows are highly magickal ones. Osric tells us that Baylis and Agnitis present the worst situations conflict-wise.

We decide to try Agnitis, just to see if the situation there is really the same as that in Lasart.

Osric nods, then uses a Trump to create a mini-Trump gate in mid-air, reaches through, and pulls out a book. This he gives to Ibrahim. "This should contain as much on Agnitis as the other did on Lasart," he says.

Flicking through the book, we learn that the bat people of Agnitus can fly, though not in all shadows, but this does make them very useful in the ones where they can. They live in cave systems, both natural and carved out of the rock, the cliff faces outside of which are carved in swirling abstract patterns. They are fierce and honourable warriors using weapons (crossbows and so on) held in their prehensile feet, and are also powerful mages, ruled by a Council of Mages. They have sonar as well as good eyesight. They are pure carnivores who prefer their meat raw and preferably still living. Shadow paths lead to and from the place, but are aerial.

Tristan's eyes light up - we can go by griffin!

We bid Osric goodbye and follow Tristan off into Shadow. The terrain becomes more mountainous and a lightning storm begins overhead. We round a corner and find five saddled griffins waiting for us. We mount up and fly off.

"Oh no!" says Beltaine. "I've just realised who we know in the Family who's stupid enough to wake up sleeping gods. Corwin!"

No one else seems ready to leap to this conclusion, though no one chips in with a defence of Corwin's intelligence, either....

We arrive in a Shadow full of steep mountains, buffeting winds, with lightning down striking all around from a low cloud base. Tristan reckons this is it - Agnitus.

We fly towards the nearest mountain.

As we approach we see brightly-lit openings in the mountainside, surrounded by ornate carvings on the rock face. As we come closer, we can see bat people flying to and fro. As we get close we sense that there is an area of magick around the caves, calming the winds and deflecting the lightning.

The bat people turn out to be short and lightly furred, with long, clawed feet with prehensile big toes, broad torsos, and their forelimbs are bat wings with long-fingered hands halfway along their length. They also have large mobile ears and weirdly snouted faces. Some of them flap up towards us, holding crossbows in their feet.

"Are these griffins bolt-proof?" Damien asks Tristan idly.

"No."

"Hello..." tries Beltaine.

"Hello?" replies their commander.

"We have travelled a long way to speak with you," says Tamarind.

"You may land," their commander tells us, and direct us to the entrance of a cavern. The griffins fly us in.

"We would like to speak with the Council - we have news of import," Tamarind tells them.

"We're here to stop a war," adds Damien, more bluntly.

"The war against the Girasolians? We're all quite looking forward to that," says the officer, who introduces himself as Sergeant Diorlin.

"Got your god back again, then?" asks Beltaine.

Apparently it's a Goddess, and she's no happier than Tirados was.

Tamarind asks her name.

"Arana," he is told.

We make flattering noises about hoping to speak to the Goddess if it's convenient.

Sergeant Diorlin sends a message to the Council of Mages on our behalf. He seems quite impressed that someone has come this far because of their Goddess. In the meantime, he offers refreshments.

We accept this offer and he leads us into the cave complex, which seems to be kept lit and warm by magic, to an ornately-carved room scattered with large cushions. Servants bring in the refreshments - mainly raw meat and water. "We know that out-worlders can be a little squeamish," Sergeant Diorlin tells us. "So I had the food killed first."

"We would be honoured to hunt with you, should we be allowed to return," Tamarind tells him.

"Tally ho..." sighs Damien.

"How are things here?" Tamarind asks Diorlin.

"Hunting is good," he says. "And there is the pleasant prospect of war! We were worried that once the false enemy was defeated, there would be no more war, but now that our Goddess is back and we can fight the false gods of Girasol - a worthy foe."

The Sergeant does allow that the Ordnung was a worthy foe also, false or not.

We suspect that the falsity or otherwise of a foe is not really that important to these people.

From what he says, Sergeant Diorlin has seen combat against the Ordnung himself, so we spend an hour or so swapping war stories with him.

A bat-woman enters the room. "The Council will see you now," she says.

We say goodbye to Sergeant Diorlin, and follow the lady to a portal which, so she tells us, will magically transport us to their capital city. On the way she introduces herself as Nayla. Upon reaching the Portal Chamber we follow her lead and step onto the Portal, a magical circle about fifteen feet across. Nayla, takes a magical rod from her pocket and taps it with a long claw-like fingernail. There's a burst of magic, and then we are elsewhere.

We have appeared in a large ornately carved rock-cut chamber, much taller than it is wide or long, where there is a line of twelve such teleportation circles. There are many openings out of this chamber, at floor level and scattered up the four walls. A great many Agnitians bustle about, on foot and in the air. The teleportation circles seem to be particularly busy.

Nayla leads us through a door out of this atrium area into a tall, ornate cylindrical chamber, where twelve older-looking bat-people of the Council of Mages await, arrayed on perches around the walls. They look down at us as we enter. Magic radiates from them.

"We are honoured to be in your presence," begins Tamarind.

"Thank you for seeing us," adds Damien. "We have a message from Girasol."

Beltaine, Tamarind and Damien then rather paint us all into a corner by suggesting that the gods of Girasol want to make restitution for their actions, so as to effect an alliance against a new third party enemy. Hmm. Well, we can always find one somewhere, and the Agnitians do seem to like their wars...

The Council like this idea, and say we may go to the mountain-top to speak to the Goddess Arana. We are warned to be respectful and to address her as 'Your Glory'.

We take our leave of the Council of Mages, and Nayla leads us back out into the atrium. She summons a servant, who then fetches an enchanted carpet, which we board and which flies us up to the very top of atrium, then into an opening there and up a long spiral ramp into the open air. The roar of thunder greets us as we exit the tunnel.

We have emerged from an opening in the highest part of the mountain which juts out above a flat area with, at the very edge on its far side, an altar carved from the living rock and covered with abstract swirls. The altar is freshly bloodstained. This seems to be the highest mountain we can see, and its topmost peak nearly brushes the cloudbase.

Nayla rolls up the carpet and quickly retreats to the tunnel mouth, leaving us by the altar.

Damien quickly suggests that if we have to set the locals on a 'third enemy', we should keep the identity of the latter vague. We might be able to link them up to a Shadow with similar warrior culture via a Shadow path later...

"Hello? Your Glory?" calls Beltaine.

We all feel power begin to rise. Everyone except Tamarind (who does the usual) thinks of the Pattern. The clouds roil overhead, then lightning begins to strike continually down from the clouds to a point above the altar, the bolts forming the image of a bat-winged feminine figure.

"WHO SUMMONS ME?" booms the thunder.

"Travellers seeking audience," says Tamarind politely.

"The Lords and Ladies of Girasol did not intend to usurp your rightful position, your Glory," says Beltaine. "They sought only to aid your people in the battle against the Ordnung while you ... slept?" She points out that the Ordnung has been defeated, and that the Lords and Ladies of Girasol did give Arana's subjects good leadership in battle...

"I she slept for a long time," thunders Arana. When asked by Tamarind, she says that she was woken by an unknown presence...

Arana considers our words.

"War is important," she decides. "But justice is also important. I shall consider an alliance with Girasol against this new enemy."

We hedge on the enemy's actual identity and thank her.

She says that if we wish, we may return, at some time later, to hunt with her people.

Tendrils of lightning spill out from the figure, and it fades and fades until it has entirely dissipated.

We go over to the tunnel mouth, arguing over which god was most impressive.

"Maybe they could form a band," mutters Beltaine.

"Are you serious about giving Sebek a drum kit?" Damien wants to know.

"What's a Sebek?" asks Nayla, as we re-enter the tunnel and Beltaine nods her head.

"A hunter," says Damien, vaguely.

Beltaine gives her an enthusiastic description of Sebek.

"Maybe we shall meet him sometime," says Nayla.

Tristan groans at the prospect.

Nayla takes us back down the ramp on the flying carpet, then comes with us back through the teleportation portal to the cave complex where we left our griffins.

"You were most honoured," she tells us.

We agree, say our farewells, and ride off on the griffins through the thunder and lightning.

Tristan shifts us through Shadow back to Osric, and we land by his tent. We dismount and enter.

Osric is here, along with Sandrine and some generals. We report, essentially, that Arana is pissed off and wants something to fight, but it doesn't have to be Girasol.

Tamarind points out that while the Ordnung may have sent to local gods 'to sleep', it was driven off from these Shadows long ago and they didn't wake up. They only woke when it was destroyed. Perhaps the 'presence' they felt was part of themselves that had been absorbed by the Ordnung returning to then...

Damien looks impressed - this is metaphysical bollocks on a grand scale.

We discuss who might be waking these things up.

Beltaine suggests Corwin again.

"Probably not him, if only due to time constraints," says Damien.

Other ideas include a 'trickster god' released when the Ordnung died.

While on the subject of religion, we warn Osric and Sandrine about death gods, and their possible links to Anurerishkigal. We have a brief conversation to update them on that situation. "It's back, and probably looks like Fiona," is our general message.

"Weren't you going to bring me some Trumps?" Osric gently prompts Tamarind once we are done.

"Oh. Yes." Tamarind looks embarrassed and hands over the three decks of Trumps Random gave him for Osric.

We broach the subject of Benedict speaking with Finndo. Would Osric prefer Finndo to come here, or for us to take Benedict back to 'our side' to see Finndo?

"Bring Finndo here," decides Osric. "I would like to talk to him too. But I would like Alicia to escort him."

"Some of us might provide escort too, " offers Damien.

Osric accepts this offer with thanks.

Before we go, Osric offers drinks.

"To new worlds of gods and monsters," toasts Damien.

He then realises that Sebek might have neural buds in his head, and that he should ask Alicia to look at him. He resists Beltaine's well-meaning suggestion that he should let Sebek get drunk first.

We take our leave of the Girasolian royalty and Trump back to Corwin's Pattern.

"What are we planning to do, exactly?" Beltaine wants to know.

"Go back to Amber, see if Finndo is there, report to Random, get Alicia, de-bud Sebek, find Finndo if he's not there, come back," sums up Damien.

Tristan stays behind to help Corwin's guards set up their fortification on this side of his Pattern.

Chalice is collected from where she has been watching the soldiers working on the fortifications. "Mummy! Daddy!" she cries.

And we go through to our universe, then transport ourselves to the Amber Arrival Courtyard. We identify ourselves to the guards and they let us into the castle.

From there, Tamarind Trumps Alicia, and reaches her in a rough dive of a tavern.

He tells her Osric would like her to return to Girasol, and that we will be taking Finndo there. He notices at the same time that Finndo's Trump is active, but not Caine's.

Damien joins the link and asks Alicia if she can spare ten or fifteen minutes before we leave? "I want you to meet someone," he says.

"OK. I'll be back in Amber soon," agrees Alicia.

Ibrahim goes to report to Random and finds the King and Vialle in Random's office, behind desks, doing paperwork.

He tells them that we have spoken to Benedict, who wants to speak with Finndo. And that Osric is agreeable to this, but wants to speak to Finndo first and for Alicia to return too. He then tells Random about the awakening gods, the presence that woke them, and the lack of any obvious evidence of an outside agency. "We also intend to accompany Finndo," he adds.

Random has no objections to this.

"What do you want us to do with Benedict?" asks Ibrahim.

Random is prepared to give Benedict as much of a second chance as Finndo, if he wants to take it. He then asks after Beltaine.

Ibrahim says she's still angry with Random, but otherwise fine.

Random asks after Chalice.

"Fine, too," says Ibrahim.

Random says he has chatted with Finndo, who seems to be adhering to his side of the bargain. So far.

Ibrahim starts to leave.

"Will you give Beltaine a message from me?" Random asks him.

"Perhaps you should come and see her yourself," counters Ibrahim. "She's outside."

Both Random and Vialle come back to the courtyard with him.

Tamarind and Beltaine have meanwhile taken Chalice back to school. Outside of her mathematics class, Beltaine reminds her of the new parental guidelines.

"If you have any problems, don't expect the king to help you - that was my mistake. Go to Brand or Deirdre. If you're really in trouble go to the Priory and stay with Sebek. Avoid Benedict and Finndo..." And so on.

Chalice goes back into her maths class.

Damien Trumps Sebek.

When he gets through (quite quickly) he tells Sebek to write a message to Agrippina on his blackboard saying he's gone to see Damien at the Castle, might be in town later, and will be back before sunset.

This Sebek does, and Damien brings him though.

Once he is through, Sebek demands marshmallows.

Damien sends a servant to fetch some, and a bottle of Raptor Lite.

Alicia arrives shortly after this.

Damien introduces she and Sebek to one another.

They sniff each another cautiously.

Damien asks Alicia to check Sebek for neural buds, and warns Sebek that 'a criminal' may have put something bad in his head.

Sebek reluctantly allows Alicia to do this to him, and she lays her hands on his head and concentrates. After a short while, she does indeed find some buds in his head, and informs Damien and Sebek of this.

Damien suggests she allow Sebek to eat the bits of removed brain.

She nods and removes the buds, holding out the blob of flesh to Sebek on a fingertip.

Sebek eats it. He didn't like this experience, says so, and plaintively demands marshmallows.

The servant with the beer and marshmallows turns up, as do Beltaine and Tamarind.

"You were very brave," says Beltaine, hugging Sebek.

"I was!" he agrees proudly.

Damien gives Sebek some extra pocket money and tells him he can go down into the city.

He sets off happily.

Ibrahim arrives with Random and Vialle. Neither of them approach or speak to Beltaine, or anyone else.

Beltaine concentrates on watching Sebek leave.

Tamarind Trumps Finndo, who comes through.

The situation is put to him, and once this is done he says that he is willing to talk to both Osric and Benedict.

With that settled, Tamarind opens a Trump link to Haven, and we go through with Finndo and Alicia.

Damien glances back curiously at Random and Vialle as he steps through.

Random waves to him. Neither he nor Vialle looks very happy.

We arrive in shadow Haven. Beltaine welcomes Alicia there, and she looks around interestedly.

Then we Trump to Corwin's Pattern. Tamarind miscounts the people in the link as he passes them through, forgetting that Tristan isn't here.

"Tamarind and his imaginary friends," someone mutters.

"I had an imaginary friend once, "says Beltaine blithely. "But it turned out to be Owen..."

And we go through to the Girasol universe.

There are a lot more people about in the vicinity of Corwin's Pattern now, including lots of labourers dressed in black and white who are bringing in building materials and excavating foundations. Tristan seems to have been boosting the local construction industry.

From the centre of Corwin's Pattern, Tamarind Trumps Tristan, and when he takes the call informs him of the situation.

However, Tristan tells him that he wants another ten minutes or so before he joins us. He is currently shifting a column of additional troops and labourers through Shadow towards us.

So we wait in the middle of Corwin's Pattern.

While we wait, Beltaine Pattern-teleports over to her apple tree sapling, gives it a hug, then kneels and buries both hands in the earth at its base. She seems to concentrate on something. She is actually creating an area of Tir-Na Nog'th energy around its roots, so that it is effectively growing from there into this world, but that is not obvious to anyone else.

Finndo sits down and observes the scene.

Alicia tells the rest of us that we had life so much easier with the Pattern in our veins than they did without it. She does not seem to be complaining about this, simply stating it as a fact.

Ten minutes or so later, Tristan arrives with his latest army and greets Beltaine.

Tristan tells Beltaine that the new fortification is coming along nicely.

"Which is the defensive side?" she wants to know.

"Both - inside and outside," he tells her.

"Like a doughnut," she decides. Tristan, however, is not keen on naming his project 'Fort Doughnut', preferring instead 'Castle Moebius'.

With Tristan here, Tamarind Trumps Beltaine and she and Tristan come through to the centre of Corwin's Pattern.

Tamarind suggests going to the Girasol gardens again, but Beltaine points out that Finndo has never been anywhere in this universe...

We puzzle how to take him with us.

He offers to be carried, if that's what is needed.

So Ibrahim picks him up, and we teleport to the park outside Castle Girasol.

"Hi everyone," calls Alicia to the guards up on the walls. "It's me! They won't shoot us now," she adds reassuringly to the rest of us.

"You can put me down now," suggests Finndo.

Ibrahim is glad to oblige. Tamarind Trumps Osric, who comes through.

"Finndo. Greetings," he says guardedly.

"Osric - good to see you again," responds his brother.

They shake hands.

"We should talk," says Osric.

"We should," responds Finndo.

We all go inside.

As we go in, Tamarind concentrates briefly on Corwin's Trump. It does not work, and he thinks the trans-universal barrier is the reason why.

"The Unicorn!" exclaims Beltaine suddenly, for no readily apparent reason. People look at her.

"Who might have woken up those gods," she explains. "Trying to restore the natural order of things, or something..."

Alicia draws Osric aside, whispers something to him and puts her hands to his head.

Finndo, knowing precisely what this is about, makes a vague attempt to look hurt which convinces no-one.

Osric and Finndo go off together.

Alicia takes us to a sitting room and offers refreshments.

A while later, Osric and Finndo return. Osric announces that he is allowing Finndo to speak with Benedict.

"Fine," we say.

"Negotiations have been opened with the gods of all six rebelling Shadows," Osric tells us. Apparently shadow Baylis is still the most problematic. "I might have to remove their Shadow paths to contain them if things can't be settled amicably," he says.

Beltaine reminds him that the bat people want someone to fight....

Osric says he wants Alicia to go and talk to the demon-people of shadow Baylisians.

She seems to have no problems with doing this.

Finndo says he would like to talk to Benedict.

We go down to the cell, where Benedict is now being guarded by Thomas.

Finndo requests a private chat.

Osric is dubious.

"Look," sighs Beltaine. "They can either stage a pointless conversation for our benefit, or you can leave them alone to plot and scheme if that's what they choose to do..."

A fair point. We leave them alone and wait outside.

Tamarind helps Osric to jam Finndo's and Benedict's Trumps.

Fifteen minutes later, Finndo re-emerges. "Thank you," he says to Osric.

Osric puts the Trumps away.

"I and Benedict would like to return to the Amber universe," Finndo says. "I believe Benedict has come to a decision."

Osric considers this, then orders Benedict released.

Benedict stands up from his chair, stretches, and walks out of the cell.

Benedict tells us that while Finndo has grown closer to Amber over the years, he feels that he has grown away. He has decided he doesn't care about Amber or any of her Family anymore, so he'll be leaving and no one will hear from him again.

"In other words, they've decided to swap roles," mutters Beltaine under her breath.

Ibrahim wishes him luck.

Tamarind tells him to keep his Trumps.

Benedict thanks them, and leaves. "You will not be seeing me again," he intones.

Damien nods to him as he passes.

"Goodbye," say Tamarind and Tristan.

"You might want to warn your troops at the Pattern," Tamarind suggests to Tristan.

"Perhaps it would be best if someone were to escort him there," suggests Osric.

Tamarind runs after Benedict and offers to take him to Corwin's Pattern 'the short way'.

Benedict accepts this offer.

That being so, Tamarind Trumps himself and Benedict to beside Corwin's Pattern. He tells the guards Benedict is allowed to walk it.

"Goodbye, and good luck," he wishes his uncle.

Benedict nods and sets off around the Pattern.

Tamarind watches briefly, then Trumps back to the castle gardens and rejoins the rest of us.

"It's done," he tells us.

"Pity about that," says Finndo.

"Not really," disagrees Beltaine.

"It was inevitable," sighs Ibrahim.

Finndo decides he should be getting back too, but agrees it might be best to give Benedict time to finish walking the Pattern first.

"What the rest of us are planning to do?" Osric asks.

"Would it be all right with you if I set up home at Castle Moebius, by Corwin's Pattern?" Beltaine asks him.

"Of course."

Ibrahim says he should probably return to Amber, but would very much like to come back and explore the Silver Circle sometime...

Tamarind also expresses an interest in exploring this side of the universe.

Osric tells us we are all welcome to stay, or visit, if we wish. Then he suggests that now might be a good time for Alicia to go talk to the rulers of shadow Baylis. She nods, and takes her leave of the rest of us.

Beltaine suggests someone should check on Merlin again. Also, she suggests once more, someone should talk to King Random and suggest the creation of a new Pattern, so that there isn't just one route between our universes. "A Pattern drawn on this side," she says.

Tamarind wonders whether there are correspondences between Shadows on the two sides. Perhaps you could destroy a Shadow by drawing a Pattern in the corresponding Shadow in the opposite universe...

Osric grimaces. "That's an unpleasant thought."

We discuss the risks of Pattern-drawing.

Ibrahim wonders whether repairing the Ht'gon An-Rit Pattern would provide the needed link, since this would involve established locations on both sides.

Beltaine notes that the Primal Pattern didn't reappear on this side when Oberon redrew it.

"Plus, it killed him," adds Damien.

Osric suspects that Oberon deliberately prevented the Girasol aspect of the Primal from growing back. He says there was a period of Shadow storms and re-arrangement of boundaries here at the time during which the Primal was repaired.

There is also the matter of who should draw the new Pattern. Probably not Corwin, as this would mean both relevant Patterns would be vulnerable to his blood, and it would be risky to bring Random and the Jewel to this side.

Beltaine thinks it would be best if Osric attuned to the Jewel and drew the new Pattern, since he knows what this side is like and is probably one of those most capable of drawing a Pattern.

She goes on to suggest it would be a good idea for more people than just Random and Corwin (oh - and perhaps, Brand, at least to some extent) to be attuned to the Jewel of Judgement. At least Flora, as next in line to the throne, and Ibrahim. And someone on this side, like Osric...

Ibrahim speculates that if Brand were allowed to draw a Pattern somewhere, it would give him 'closure'.

"I suppose you should talk to Random about this stuff," Beltaine drifts into silence.

"You have ... some valid viewpoints," says Osric.

"Lots of different valid viewpoints," agrees Damien with a smile.

Tristan suggests we go back and talk to the King.

Beltaine says she'll go and see Brand.

But we don't right away. We stay and speculate some more first.

Beltaine thinks the Jewel could be kept in each universe on a rotation basis, say six months in each.

Tamarind worries about how it could be safely transported. "Without the mail coach being hijacked, as it were."

"Another good reason for more people to be attuned to the jewel," points out Ibrahim. "Is the Anurerishkigal situation."

Finndo just listens in fascination.

We decide to go back now, and have an extended visit here later.

"I wonder if it would be theoretically possible for a shapeshifter," says Beltaine, carefully not even looking at Finndo. "To help Nicholas and Gerard? Like, could they 'stretch' Nicholas's legs so he could walk the Pattern..?"

"Or speed up the regenerative process for Gerard...?" adds Damien, looking directly at Finndo.

Finndo looks thoughtful.

"Perhaps," he muses.

"I'll talk to Alicia about this possibility when she returns," Osric says. "Having Nicholas whole again would be nice."

"And we should have exchange visits between the two places," burbles on Beltaine. "Now we're joined up again, it's silly not to get to know one another."

Osric agrees with this, too.

We finally leave, and Trump with Finndo to the centre of Corwin's Pattern.

There is no sign of Benedict.

We go through to the Amber universe and Castle Rosa.

Beltaine tries to Trump Brand, but can't get through. She borrows Tamarind's SuperTrump of the Abyss instead, concentrates, then when the link opens up, steps through to look for her father.

She wanders around by the Abyss, then, not seeing Brand here, Trumps him again.

Back at the Pattern, Damien suggests to Finndo that if he can do anything to help Gerard, he might like to talk to Altair.

"I'll do that," says Finndo, and disappears.

Tamarind suggests the rest of us go to Amber, while he goes to Haven to wait for Beltaine. That said, he teleports off to Haven, puts his feet up and has a purple energy drink, idly keeping an eye on the Trumps as he does so.

The rest of us teleport to Amber and upon arrival head off to Random's office.

On the way Damien peers out of a window. Sebek does not appear to have set Amber city on fire. Yet.

Beltaine gets through to Brand, who is, it seems, in a tent by the Abyss, and goes through to join him.

She tells him there is a Pattern-drawing discussion group in Amber he might care to join. She adds that Ibrahim thinks Brand is the best candidate to draw a new one.

"I should attune to the Jewel?" he asks, with a look of hunger. Then he looks embarrassed. "I don't think I should," he says.

Beltaine also tells him she has 'resigned' from the Family.

He looks startled at this.

Then she brings him up to date regarding Finndo and Benedict.

Brand says he will come to Amber with her. He puts away the tent (it folding up into a tobacco-tin-sized package that he puts into a pocket) and they Trump to Amber.

In Haven, Tamarind notices this happening, and so Trumps in behind them.

"How are your Abyss experiments going?" he asks Brand.

"Oh, many interesting results."

Tamarind then Trumps Ibrahim, and they join the rest of us in the corridor outside Random's office.

The King's secretary announces us and we go in.

Random and Vialle are still dealing with paperwork.

Random's face lights up slightly when he sees Beltaine, then falls as she studiously doesn't look at him. He pours drinks all round.

Ibrahim reports Benedict's decision.

Random looks disappointed, but not wholly surprised.

We raise the subject of the need for a second Pattern gateway to Girasol.

Tamarind suggests that having a woman create the new Pattern would be a good start. She'd know how many children she'd had whose blood could damage it, whereas a man might ... lose count.

Beltaine adds that she thinks a Girasolian should draw the Pattern on their side.

We also raise the question of Jewel attunement.

Random says Flora is not attuned, but there is a set of notes explaining the process which he inherited from Eric and would leave for her if it became necessary.

We point out that there are advantages to having more people attuned. For example:

• If it's stolen, there are more people to get it back or use it against the thief.
• If we need it to fight something, the more the merrier.
• Stealing it loses a lot of appeal if attunement is more widely available anyhow.

No one, though, is wildly enthusiastic about creating a two-tier Family, of initiates and non-initiates.

"Perhaps only those with clear roles, whose attunement is an obvious advantage for everyone should be initiated," suggests Damien. Which is a nice idea except that no one can agree on who - beside Flora and Ibrahim - these would be.

Random agrees that he can see good reasons for Ibrahim, Flora, Tristan and Julian being attuned. He does not think Finndo should.

Brand repeats that he does not wish to attune, and Beltaine states that she too would decline to honour 'on account of this door thing in my head'. She does, though, still like the idea of initiation being open to everyone, as everyone seems to have different skills that could make it useful.

Random tells us that one initiate can help another attune without a Pattern. "I'll give the matter some thought," he concludes.

"Oh, and I thought something might have been going to happen," sighs Beltaine.

"Not for the next ten years," says Random.

Brand suggests that drawing a new Pattern close to an existing one would minimise the disruption to Shadow its drawing would cause.

We all leave.

Ibrahim Trumps Margot, who's in her quarters in the castle, and when she takes the call goes through and joins her.

Beltaine and Brand go to her rooms so she can pack. Well, have the servants pack while she watches, anyway.

"I'm very proud of you," she tells him, referring to the Jewel issue.

He looks depressed.

Tamarind catches up with them.

They ask Brand more about his experiments.

He tells them that he has been studying methods of manipulating and storing bits of Abyss. "It's going quite well, but there's some work still to be done," he says.

Beltaine tells him she's going to be hanging out on the far side of Corwin's Pattern for the foreseeable future and asks if he will keep an eye on Chalice.

He agrees to do this.

She tells him that she and Tamarind saw the Unicorn.

"It looked miffed," Tamarind adds.

"Interesting," muses Brand.

As her belongings are packed up around her, Beltaine muses on how recent events have changed her thinking.

"I just don't see the point in being good anymore," she concludes. "Look where it got me. I don't understand how people like Tristan and Ibrahim - I mean, really good people - how they can be good, but at the same time shelve their consciences and follow another's order regardless..."

"And Damien and Tristan with those beloved zombies," she goes on. "What's that all about? Tristan hasn't brought Isabel back for her benefit, has he - how does he know she'll relish the prospect of being able to get old and die all over again? They've just brought these women back for their own benefit - keeping them like a rubber doll in a box, only they haven't found the 'on' switch..."

Brand is getting the giggles.

"I'm just trying to understand stuff, " says an aggrieved Beltaine. "I understand things better when I talk to Tamarind than when I just think about them, 'cos when I just think, everything always ends up getting muzzy and joined up..."

A happy thought distracts her.

"Hey, did I tell you I made a Tir-Na Nog'th bubble around the roots of my tree?" she asks brightly.

Meanwhile, Damien is back in his apartments, seeing what's been happening. There is a message from the museum, reporting a few more words deciphered from the Chaos texts, but otherwise, nothing is new. He takes a bath.

Margot and Ibrahim are interrupted by the arrival of a note from Random. He wants everyone to meet in the dining room at eight o'clock, on a matter of great importance.

Ibrahim tells Margot that he would like to talk to Julian to make sure he's up to date regarding Finndo and Benedict, and they agree to go see Julian before supper.

Damien and Tristan get similar notes, as does Brand.

Tamarind gets one with a hand-written 'PS' specifically asking Beltaine to come too.

Damien notes that it is now about sunset, and so Trumps Sebek.

When he gets through, the view through the Trump link is strangely at right angles to the vertical. Sebek proves to be lying on the floor of a tavern, drunk as a drunken velociraptor can be. There are lizard-like feet visible in the background.

Damien pulls Sebek through, and he promptly throws up.

Damien gets him partially sobered up with the EVSK, scolds him, and takes him back to the velocidrome to put him to bed.

Tamarind and Beltaine move all of her stuff to Haven.

Ibrahim and Margot Trump Julian from a sitting room close to the main dining room.

When he takes the call, he is seen to be in the castle, striding through the corridors. He says he'll collect a few things then Trump them back.

A few minutes later, he does this thing and comes through to them.

Ibrahim asks whether Random has informed Julian of Finndo's new status.

"He has," Julian says grimly.

Ibrahim also informs Julian of Benedict's decision to leave.

Julian hadn't heard this. "Let's hope we don't need him," he says, rather grimly.

Julian is not thrilled by the arrangement with Finndo, but supposes it is better that he's here as himself than masquerading as Caine. He asks for Ibrahim's opinion.

Ibrahim thinks having Finndo-as-Finndo about is little different from having Finndo-as-Caine. Then again, the only 'Caine' Ibrahim has ever known was really Finndo. He can see that those who knew the real Caine might feel differently...

Damien pours water down Sebek's throat and puts him to bed. He writes a note to Agrippina, telling her she was right and can keep Sebek grounded until the Siluridae have left Amber gain.

He then returns to Amber, early for the meeting and intending to raid the drinks cabinet.

In Haven, Beltaine decides to wear colours 'like you and Tristan' and chooses white and silver. That done, the pair of them Trump back to Brand in Amber.

Damien finds Altair and Tristan there in the dining room before him. He asks after Gerard.

"He's a bit better," Altair says. "Finndo has spoken to me about him too." She's inclined to let him try to help.

Tamarind, Beltaine and Brand arrive. Beltaine asks after Sebek.

Ibrahim, Margot and Julian arrive, followed by Corwin and Merlin. Merlin looks rather the worse for wear.

"Been showing him the sights," says Corwin. They were apparently in the same pub as Sebek and the Siluridae.

Damien asks them to try to keep Sebek away from the beer if they see him in a pub in future...

Esmée turns up.

Beltaine enthuses at her about the eligible bachelors in the Girasol universe. "Like Gideon - looks a bit like Benedict, only young, and blonde, and friendly and ... interested."

Esmée looks rather 'interested' herself at this news.

Deirdre and Owen arrive.

Beltaine hugs Owen.

Deirdre glances at Damien. "I heard the Siluridae were back in town..."

"Yes," says Damien sadly.

Caleb turns up looking depressed. "My dad's a huge impostor. Bummer," he says.

Beltaine gives him a warm hug and a large drink, then goes back to showing Esmée her Trumps of our male Girasolian cousins.

"Yum," concludes Esmée.

Finndo sidles in. Tamarind fetches him a drink.

Beltaine glares at both of them.

"Finndo," nods Damien.

Deirdre asks Tamarind about the other side of Corwin's Pattern.

He tells her about the Agnitians and their Goddess, Arana.

A few minutes later, Random, Vialle and Flora arrive. Random greets everyone and asks us to sit down. "I have something to tell you all," he says. "First, Finndo has been conditionally allowed back into the Family ranks." He looks at Finndo.

Finndo stands and publicly swears an oath of allegiance to Random, who makes the appropriate Royal oath of acceptance and protection back. Finndo also renounces any claim he might have to the throne of Amber (much as 'Caine' did at Random's coronation).

Second, Random then makes an official apology for the death of Prince Bleys. "Recent events," he says. "Have shown me that my decision may have been mistaken." There is a stony silence.

Thirdly, he informs everyone of Prince Benedict's decision to depart the Family.

Fourthly, he tells everyone that now contact has been made with Girasol and the 'new' Family there, we will need a new Pattern to link the two realms. He also accepts that more people need to be attuned to the Jewel of Judgement. Rather than risk possible resentment from those who are not attuned towards those who are 'chosen', he has decided that all Family members who wish to be may attune to the Jewel after dinner. The Children may attune after they walk the Pattern, should they so wish.

Dinner is served to a rather stunned silence.

Conversations gradually pick up as dinner continues.

Beltaine quietly tells those Family nearest her - Julian and Deirdre - that she asked Random (a few days ago) to be released from her oath of allegiance, and that since he still hasn't bothered to even acknowledge the request, still less give an answer, she has decided to renounce her oath unilaterally and leave for Girasol.

Julian is surprised. "I am sorry to hear that."

Beltaine shrugs. "Why would you care? I mean, no offence, but you and 'Caine' always made it clear you never wanted me in Amber in the first place... Thought you'd be happy..."

"My attitudes to a great many things have changed in these past few years," says Julian. "And you have helped defend the Realm on several occasions now."

Deirdre also expresses regret at Beltaine's decision.

To change the subject, Beltaine and Tamarind ask Julian how things are in Arden.

Tamarind also suggests to Brand that it might be kind to the Abyss for him to stop staring into it for a while...

Margot says she has been helping out at Castle Rosa and Corwin's Pattern, getting the defences back up and people back into their homes. Unlike Corwin, who has been down the pub with Merlin... She says there is relatively little damage except where the Abyssal sprays were used.

"Tristan can help fix those," suggests Tamarind.

Dinner draws to a close.

Random says he can attune people to the Jewel without a Pattern, and asks Flora to take first turn.

They sit, and hold hands over the Jewel, concentrating on it.

A few moments later, she stands, looking rather tired.

One by one, those who wish to attune go over to Random and are led through the exhausting attunement process, which goes something like this:

One sits down by Random. "Focus on the flaw," he says. Candidate mistakenly looks down at the ground. The King sighs. "The other floor," he says.

Looking into the Jewel, one's eyes find the flaw, which draws one in somehow, as if ones mind were leaving ones body. The Jewel glows red. The experience is like being in a red-lit space, wherein hangs a three-dimensional Pattern-like structure. There are little flashes of light, as if other structures or paths are there but out of full sight.

"Now project yourself along the Pattern here," instructs Random's voice.

The candidate wills themselves forward and along the path indicated and seems to fly along and around the three-dimensional Pattern, which sometimes seems tiny relative to them, and sometimes bigger than worlds. There is a sensation as of walking the Pattern, of being taken apart and put back together again, only on a deeper level than when assaying a Pattern.

At the centre, one projects oneself back into ones body. And are attuned!

Beltaine and Brand sit out and watch, looking rather wistful.

"Another drink," decides Beltaine.

Even Deirdre, who has not yet walked the Pattern, is attuned.

And finally, Random attunes Vialle.

Various people express surprise at this discovery that the process is not a blood-related thing.

"Obviously," sniffs Brand. "Dworkin had to attune at the very beginning..."

Random looks shattered.

Beltaine waits until she sees that both Tamarind and Deirdre are fine, then looks across the room at Finndo. "You win," she says, very softly, and disappears through a Trump link.

People consume reviving drinks, and try, exhaustedly, to come to terms with their new and rather unexpected status as Jewel-attunees before crawling off to bed to rest...

However, before he rests, Tristan wants a farewell word with Beltaine. He takes a gamble on where she just went, and asks Tamarind to Trump him to shadow Haven. This Tamarind does, and Tristan steps through a trump-rainbow glow into Shadow Haven.

He immediately sees Beltaine sitting out by the lake, staring off quietly into the distance, her eyes very intent. He walks over to her, obviously relieved to find Beltaine there.

"I'm glad I guessed right about you coming here." He frowns and looks somewhat lost for words. "I wanted to see you before you left - just to wish you luck and a happy life. I hope you're going to stay in touch, especially if there's anything I can ever do for you or for Chalice."

Beltaine gets to her feet and hugs Tristan very tightly for a moment.

Then she steps back, and smiles at him gently.

"Of course I'll stay in touch - I have this Amberite husband, remember ... not to mention, I promised to be at Sebek's birthday party..." Deep breath "Besides, for the foreseeable future I'll be camped out by Fort Moebius, so you'll see me anytime you switch universes. I think I'll build a house there. Never really had a place of my own." She giggles nervously.

She hesitates, and seems to get a bit more control. When she carries on, speaking very simply, she sounds a lot more like the child Tristan used to know.

"I don't mean to cut myself off from all my family. I hope you know that. I love you, Uncle Tristan. I want us to be friends always. It's just that there's no place for me in Amber any more. What Finndo did to me - what he did to my children while I carried them - was unacceptable. And sick. Unforgivable. It makes me feel raped. And my King - the man who is supposed to protect me - supposed to care about me - won't do anything to remedy that. Finndo won't be made to pay for it. Any of it. I'm paying for it instead.

"There isn't room for both me and Finndo in the heart of the Family - and Random chose Finndo. As did all of you - my 'friends'. Even my husband. You all think it's an acceptable trade - I take my hurt into exile, and you get him back."

Her green eyes turn very bitter. "And I suppose that's right. Random couldn't please both of us, so he chose the person who's most useful. And I guess the rest of you did the same. It's not like I'm any real use to anyone. I just can't accept that the reward for loyalty is to be cast aside at the mercy of any disloyal family member who chooses to be so. Childish of me, perhaps, but I just can't accept it.

"I mean - let's think - what is the penalty for Finndo having lied to the King and whole family, committed mental and physical assault against all and sundry, taken false oath, and attempted to damn near murder a whole bunch of us? Oh yes - he should 'promise to try not to do it again'. A promise from a man we know to be a liar - worth nothing. And then he'll be restored to his old position. I mean - what the hell...? And the compensation for those of us he's damaged is ... oh ,yes, nothing - plus, we should see him restored to his old position, free to abuse again as he chooses.

"Do you want to tell me exactly what point there was in trying to be loyal my whole life? Do you? Because it seems to me that I wasted my time on something worthless. I don't know how Julian stands it. I don't know how you can."

Beltaine turns away, wrapping her arms about her chest.

"Finndo always wanted to drive me out of Amber, and now he has. And Random let him. And for that - if I didn't have Chalice and Tamarind to consider - believe me, I could kill them both."

Her eyes turn very cold. "And you may as well know - I still intend to deal with Finndo one day. When I've learned enough. It's funny isn't it? - I always tried to turn my back on power, in case I might hurt Amber - now it's all I want. It's all I see valued by the people I used to respect... It makes me sick to see good people like you falling over themselves to 'persuade' him to 'rejoin' the Family. It really does. Because it's, like, so much for anyone he's fucked over and hurt - they matter less for some reason. All that matters is that he should be persuaded to take another bloody meaningless oath and pacified... Do you want to just tell me why he is so vital that everyone else and their rights can be set aside? Because I tell you true, Tristan, there's no such thing as 'the King's justice' anymore. It's become a joke. And I would have expected you, at least, to care..."

"I do care. But, just as eight years ago, after Bleys' 'execution', I have asked myself 'So, is this better than the alternative?'" replies Tristan. "And I can't think of any workable alternative that is better. All I can hope is by staying in Amber I might be able to change things in the future.

"As for Finndo.... I was his victim too - I would have been trapped on the other side of the universe; Duncan would have been an orphan; I've carried those damn buds of his for probably over a hundred years. Despite that I still believe that executing him would be just as much of a mistake as it was in Bleys' case. I believe that he deserves a second chance as much as Brand did. Those are my beliefs, but I can understand why you disagree; and I doubt that either of us will ever convince the other."

Bel shrugs. "I wasn't trying. You just caught me in the mood to say some of the stuff I've been holding back, is all. I don't care what you - or anyone else - thinks any more. You've made your choice, and I've made mine. I don't need anyone to agree with me. I don't need anyone's help. If I did, I'd have handed out ultimata, and split off more of the Family than just me. If I stayed, that's what I saw happening - and do you want to even think about a situation where me, Tamarind, Brand and Deirdre were on one side, and the rest of you on the other? Been there, seen that vision.

"I'm history. Unless someone forces the issue by threatening me or mine, Amber can consider me dead." She smiles. "In a curious way, it feels rather ... liberating.

"If you ever need my help with anything - then come and ask as a friend and it's yours. Just don't come on behalf of Amber - because Amber's had enough from me.

"You take care, Uncle Tristan. And, please, look out for Chalice for me."

This seems to be meant as 'goodbye'. Tristan nods, walks a little way off, and Trumps back to Amber to rest...

With Tristan's return to Amber, Tamarind Trumps off to Haven to rest and help Beltaine move universe...

Session 3.4   Index   Session 3.6

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