Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
Caitlin and Etienne are in the attic in one of the abandoned areas of the castle. They look around some more after Etienne examines the Pattern-stones to see if there are any more magical things up here. Etienne finds two daggers that are magical in a case of daggers; they are the only two not to have rusted. Caitlin takes them out of the case and, by throwing one into a beam (cutting a fly in half in the process) demonstrates that they are still sharp. Etienne is impressed (as all that was Caitlin's skill, none of it from the dagger). They poke about some more, but find nothing else of interest. Caitlin takes the daggers with her as they leave the attic and go down to the library.
Etienne pulls out the Trump of Ragasa and concentrates on it. As the link form she attempts to use the force of her mind to stop the wrenching sensation as the Trump link opens, so as to get it to open onto the real Ragasa, not the one they visited earlier. It begins to open, and the link seems to waver. Everyone else who is there joins in the link to help out. The link begins to flicker back and forth, as far as Godofos can tell between the 'wrenched' destination and nowhere, as if the link is unsure of what to do. They decide that this is going nowhere and give up on the link.
Everyone discusses what to do now. In the end they decide that they should try to destroy all the black obelisk things out in shadow, assuming that what's at the end of the other lines of cold going out from Amber are essentially the same as what they found in Ragasa.
At this point a servant enters the library, looks around and heads over to the group. She tells them that the line of cold that went away when they destroyed the obelisks in Ragasa has come back. Damn.
The group decide to return to Ragasa and check whether the obelisks have been put back in place. Etienne and Electra, it is decided (after some discussion), should go to Ragasa first, then fly from the Trump location to the tunnel entrance they went through before, and Trump everyone else through. Godofos has a minor strop about his bad luck, and doesn't think he should go. The others persuade him, and he eventually agrees to go with Etienne. Arun also thinks he should go (as he can fly in his dragon form). This is also agreed upon. Servants are sent off to collect cold weather gear and weapons for everyone.
Once everyone is sorted, they go down to a courtyard, where Electra is. Etienne concentrates upon the Trump of Ragasa. Arun turns into his dragon form. The Trump link quickly opens up and Etienne passes Electra, Arun and the sulky Godofos through to the moonlit shadow. They can see the shallow pit that Jihx blasted previously through the link. Once everyone is through Etienne goes through herself.
Godofos takes a step, loses his footing and slides into the pit. He slides back and forth across it a couple of times before he sticks his sword into the ice and brings himself to a stop, then as an ice pick to haul himself out. However, as he slid back and forth he did see that the obelisk was still down there embedded in the ice.
Etienne and Godofos climb onto Electra. Electra looks not entirely pleased with this. Arun flies off followed by Electra who is struggling a bit with Godofos on board.
Before long they reach the mountains, and they land. As before it is cold and still, with the moon shining on the ice sheet. Etienne Trumps Caitlin and passes Electra back to the stables. A stable takes the reins and leads her off. Then Caitlin and Arun go through the Trump to Etienne.
Caitlin notices that there are some new (very faint) footprints in the dusting of snow outside the tunnel mouth, going both in and out. Hmmm...
Etienne prays to god and an angel appears again. This one is named Zauriel. Etienne asks it to scout ahead down the tunnel for them. It nods solemnly and moves into the tunnel, glowing. Subtle. The others make to follow. Arun casts a spell and goes invisible. Godofos is a little alarmed at this, as Arun didn't tell anyone he was going to do it. The others reassure him. Down they go.
Zauriel flies on ahead, but not too far. This is fortunate when Etienne notices that the deactivated magical trap they passed last time, now seems to have been switched on again. She tells Zauriel to stop. It does. Etienne starts examining the trap.
At about this point Arun, at the back but invisible, looks behind them. He can't help noticing that a huge white-on-white tiger, about 16' from nose to tail-tip, is stalking down the (rather small) tunnel towards the group. Arun calls out a warning. The tiger springs.
Caitlin looses a crossbow bolt at the tiger, which hits, followed by a blast from Jihx's sword that also hits and a blast of dragon fire (a spell) from Aruns dragon-form that misses. The tiger screams in pain and heads for them even faster. Most people press themselves against the sides of the tunnel as the tiger leaps at Jihx. He braces himself with his sword out to the fore. The tiger lands on him, and his sword, knocking him down, but impaling the tiger. He and it skid along the floor, past the others (though it's a very tight squeeze), heading for the trap, which is a disintegration spell (or at least it was last time). As it goes by, Godofos swings his sword and chops the tiger's head off in one blow. It thrashes a bit as it dies, and blood sprays all over the place, particularly over Jihx, right underneath it. He skids to a stop just before the magical trap. Phew. Everything quietens down.
Jihx levers the tiger's body off himself and climbs out. The body is pushed back along the tunnel out of the way. Etienne sits down and concentrates on the trap, praying to God for guidance. Everyone else waits and keeps their eyes open. The trap has definitely been re-activated. She studies the trap and prays some more, then reaches out with her magic and overwhelms the traps magic, nullifying it and making it safe.
She stands up and they proceed.
After a little way they reach the second magical trap. It has also been re-activated. Etienne prays some more and it too is dispelled.
They proceed on down the tunnels towards the King's chamber where, before, the Heart of Winter and the obelisks were arranged. The bodies that were there before are no longer there, and the whole place seems to have been tidied up somewhat.
Before long they reach the King's chamber. It too has been cleaned up. Etienne, Caitlin and Jihx sense that they are being watched.
Etienne speaks loudly to the chamber at large. She says that they have re-visited here to check on the Ragasans. They need to put up their magical traps again. She doesn't mention anything about the results of the check, though.
A short discussion ensues. They decide to try and go to Ghenesh again, with Etienne using a ritual to try and detect the 'magic' that is affecting Amber. This is something they can't do from Amber. This makes the assumption that it comes from Ghenesh, of course.
Arun concentrates upon the Ghenesh Trump and after a short while the link opens up. Godofos is passed through the link first, stepping in a big pile of steaming dung as he does so. Everyone else comes through with more fortunate landing sites.
As they come through, Etienne and Arun feel some kind of magic thing, fading quickly, as if it had happened just before they arrived. An alarm, perhaps?
Etienne tells the others that her spell will take hours to cast - it does have to cover pretty much the entire shadow, after all. A discussion ensues on whether they should move from here to someone else before she starts doing so.
Before Etienne starts, she and Arun feel an area of magic appear nearby. Arun circles the area where it happened.
Etienne pulls out her Trump of the Amber castle courtyard and concentrates upon it. The link soon opens up.
Arun talks to the magical thing. "Leave," comes the whisper from the magical area. It is speaking accented Thari.
Etienne suspects it may be a person. She casts her Enchanting Voice spell. "We are you friends," she says, "We come in peace. Will you not show yourself?"
The voice continue to insist that the group leave. There is some speculation that it is not a being at all, but just some magical recording.
Caitlin suggests that the group go to a nearby shadow and search from there rather than here. Sounds like a plan. Etienne starts walking round the clearing, using the Pattern to change things as she goes. She chooses to go towards a place with fewer trees, a less dense forest. After a time or two round the clearing she achieves this. They stop. Etienne and Arun can still detect a magical presence in the clearing, but it is slightly different to that where they started. Etienne continues on to try and get rid of the presence altogether. After a short while it works, and the presence fades, then is entirely gone.
Etienne leads the group 'towards Amber' some way, shadow shifting the forest more and more like Arden. This happens, and vast magnificent trees of many kinds replace the twisted wintry trees of close to Ghenesh. They continue on towards Amber, as fast as Etienne can go. As they walk Etienne looks out for the power of one of the corridors of cold - she is hoping to find the one leading to Ragasa.
Before they've gone too far, Arun shifts shape into a (rather small) horse, as it's much better for walking a long way. As they go Godofos shifts shadow to find everyone else some horses. The quickly find some, round a corner. Unfortunately they all seem to be sick from some kind of green rotting disease. Damn! They take the horses anyway, and as they shadow-shift Etienne leads them to a small pool of healing effective against the green rotting disease and nothing else. The horses are led in and their condition rapidly improves. Everyone mounts their respective horse and they ride on.
Godofos' horse plays up (surprise!). As they carry on two stallions turn up, showing an interest in the mare he's riding. They fight, and after a little while the winning horse returns and starts trying to mate with Godofos' horse. Godofos is not entirely keen on this, and kicks the stallion full strength do drive it off. Unfortunately, it appears he's a lot stronger than the stallion, and he caves its chest in. It falls over dead. Godofos' horse objects to this rather strenuously. He holds on until she eventually tires herself out. Then Godofos dismounts and leaves it behind. He quickly uses the Pattern to find himself another horse and rides off to follow the others. After a short while he catches them up.
Four hours later (five hours from leaving Ghenesh), Etienne starts to notice a felling of cold and power off to the right - one of the corridors of cold. They are really very near to Amber by this point. She can also feel a little magic there too, as can Arun. They change course to head straight for the 'corridor'. As they get closer, first Caitlin and Jihx and then Arun can sense the power flowing in the corridor. All Godofos feels is cold.
They discuss what to do now. In the end, it is decided that Caitlin and Jihx will follow to corridor of cold back off into shadow, while Arun and Etienne go to Vitesse once again to re-rack spells. Godofos elects to come to Vitesse too, and lounge about the place. Etienne pulls out the Trump of Vitesse and they pass through to the auberge there, with their horses (Etienne's is not Electra, who is back in Amber).
Caitlin and Jihx ride along the corridor of cold, away from Amber. After a while, they are pursued by a pack of wolves that burst from some woods and race towards them. They keep their horses under control, and Caitlin slaughters the wolves in short order while Jihx looks on.
Once the wolves have been dealt with, Caitlin dismounts and quickly butchers one of the dead wolves into trail rations. She and Jihx ride on.
In Vitesse, Arun, Etienne and Godofos are once again greeted by the innkeeper. Godofos and Arun sit down to lunch, while Etienne goes straight to a bedroom and starts praying to god to replenish her spells. Arun lunches very well before also going to a bedroom and starting to re-rack his spells. Because of the time he spent on lunch, he finishes some time after Etienne. Godofos spends the afternoon in the bar.
By supper-time both Etienne and Arun have finished racking spells. They both catch a fine supper (along with Godofos), then Etienne pulls out her Trump of Caitlin and concentrates upon it.
Jihx and Caitlin continue to ride. The land slowly rises, and the forest starts to thin out as they go. About an hour after they parted from Etienne, Arun and Godofos, Caitlin is Trumped by Etienne. They exchange news, but Etienne and the others don't come through. They think it's more productive to stay in Vitesse for a little longer, and they're probably right.
The Trump link is broken and the pair ride on.
In the bar of the auberge, Arun sees a card game going on on the other side of the bar. He goes over and deals himself in. He is pretty much wanting to lose, so he does, a lot. Godofos and Etienne don't join in (Godofos has never been good at gambling).
As they go Jihx and Caitlin eat. She tears the meat, raw, from one of the legs of the wolf she butchers earlier with her filed-to-points teeth. Jihx does not join in the feast, but pulls food from out of one of the horse's saddlebags. As the trees thin out the pair progress faster, and eventually emerge onto open moorland. It is quite cold up here, with a wind whipping across the landscape. However, it is nowhere near as cold as the ice sheets of Ragasa.
Back in Vitesse, Etienne is ready to go. However, Arun is really quite drunk by now. Godofos volunteers to stay and sober him up.
Etienne decides that she would rather have Electra along with her right now rather than the normal horse she was riding, and Trumps to Amber with the horse. She collects Electra from the stable, then concentrates on her Trump of Caitlin. She quickly makes contact. Etienne goes through the Trump link to Caitlin.
She arrives in the middle of moorland, and mounts Electra. The three ride on along the line of cold.
In Vitesse, Godofos has the innkeeper put two tubs of water out in the courtyard, one very hot and one very cold.
After a short while this is done. Godofos goes over to Arun and grabs him, dragging him outside (Arun is both much weaker and much slower than Godofos, it appears, and has no chance to resist). Arun tries to grab a rail on the walkway round the courtyard, but Godofos just keeps pulling and it breaks off. Godofos drags Arun to the hot and cold tubs and forces his head into each one, back and forth at high speed. Arun coughs and splutters and thrashes drunkenly, turning into his dolphin-like form for a while, then back to human.
After a few minutes of this, Arun sobers up, or at least is able to convince Godofos that he has.
Godofos pulls out his Trump of Etienne and concentrates on it. Arun goes into the auberge and arranges for a hamper of supplies to be provided.
Elsewhere in shadow, the moorland continues to rise. Mountains appear in the distance, and rise higher as the group approach. Before too long, a cliff of dark granite becomes visible ahead. There is something lighter, pale gold, on its vertical face. As Etienne, Caitlin and Jihx come closer they can see that it is a full-size vertical replica of the Pattern, apparently formed from the natural intrusion of some pale gold stone into the dark granite of the cliff and mountain. They can also see that there seem to be six black obelisks arrayed around this 'Pattern', very similar to the ones in Ragasa. There are three at the base of the cliff and three at the top of the cliff, in something like a circular arrangement. Etienne can feel the magical power in this place, not dissimilar to that of the Enchanted Earth.
They ride closer. The three obelisks at the top are lost to sight as they come up to the base. At the bottom of the cliff are signs that this place is inhabited - what look like offerings of food, furs, flowers and stone-age weapons (stone-tipped spears, bows and arrows, axes and the like) have been placed at the bottom of the cliff. None of them look like they were put there recently.
At this point, Etienne begins to feel a Trump contact coming on. She accepts it. It's Godofos, with Arun in tow, their horses, and a big hamper of food over the back of a pack horse. They ask to come through and Etienne brings them to the base of the cliff where they are.
The situation is explained.
Then Etienne and Arun feel a surge of magic from behind them, away from the cliff. They turn, as do the others, to see six riders appear, mounted on black horses in ornate black armour, weapons drawn...