Session 3.11 Index Session 3.13
Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
Title for this session by Alastair Beadle.
Arun is still one with Amber's 'shadow'. He can sense everything in the world, and can feel the shadow paths that lead off to other worlds. He can focus on everything and anything in the shadow, and can sense God lurking at the edge of the shadow, off along the shadow paths, but He seems unable to re-enter Amber. In the twelve hours or so he has been there, Arun has not managed to obtain himself any followers as the new 'God of Amber'.
Arun decides to stop the decay of his body so that if he wants to he can get back into it without having to completely rebuild it. He focuses on it and with some effort finds he can control it enough to put in place modifications to stop it decaying, and that also he can animate his body, though his control is poor.
In the shadow in which Amber lies he can sense that Amber is a small spherical world (about two thousand miles in diameter) around which the sun, moon and stars (all of which are very small) orbit. He can sense a psychic presence in the Moon, a mighty presence at that, which seems to be sleeping. He can sense the stars moving about him. He can also sense the Patterns in Amber, Rebma, and Tir-Na Nog'th (though the one in Tir-Na Nog'th does not seem to be actually there, more like a Pattern-like sense in the air over Amber). There are also some inanimate Pattern-like things that he can sense off on the world of Amber, hundreds of miles away from Amber City. The cities of Amber and Rebma seem to be the only settlements on the entire world of Amber. Arun draws psychic maps of Amber for future reference.
At about this point, Arun notices Caitlin, Skyrie and Jihx Trump off to Amber, and Gerard, Whippoorwill, Connor, Nemain and a couple of thousand Rebman troops marching off towards the gates of Amber. He decides to re-join them.
Arun attempts to remain as 'God of Amber' while remote-controlling his body to move towards Amber; he does not have omnipotent Godly power here, but then, God Himself did not seem to have had that here either. He can control his body, though, and moves it towards Amber that way, but it is difficult, so he manages to get himself back into his body, re-animates it, and sets off to join the others.
He turns into his dolphin-like Avatar form and swims off towards Amber at high speed to catch up with the others.
Whippoorwill, Gerard, Connor, Nemain, Whippoorwill's minions, and two thousand Rebman troops march up to the harbour gates of Amber City; the gatehouse and the walls show signs of having been damaged and recently repaired. They approach the gates, but they are barred against them.
"WHO GOES THERE?" demand the guards.
Gerard declares himself, and demands the surrender of the city.
"NO!" shouts one guard. He is heard to be hushed.
Whippoorwill suggests that they are informed that God has been got rid off and they may now consider surrendering.
Gerard suggests that Whippoorwill goes right ahead and does so, as he does not believe they are likely to surrender.
Whippoorwill points out that as the people of Amber don't know him they are unlikely to agree.
Gerard tells Whippoorwill to consider it a test, and continues to encourage Whippoorwill to negotiate the surrender. Whippoorwill finally agrees and goes up to the gates. He shouts up to them that he wishes to talk.
Eventually someone comes out through the postern gate in the main gate to talk to him. They are dressed in the uniform of a Captain of the Holy Roman Empire. Whippoorwill talks to the officer, telling him that the Royal Family of Amber are back and that God is dead.
Talk from the battlements increases at this and a few shouts of "Burn him!" are heard from above.
Whippoorwill tries to convince the defending forces to give up, telling them that the Family would give clemency to those that turned their coats, and free passage out of Amber for those who want to leave. He gives them until sunset to make their decision.
Inside the castle, Skyrie and Caitlin (in disguise as guards) drag Jihx (disguised as a prisoner) along the damaged corridors towards the throne room. They pass a lot of guards, who nod at them as they pass.
After a bit they reach a checkpoint at a point where two large corridors meet and a staircase goes up and down. A dozen guards are on duty here. "Who goes there?" they demand.
Skyrie responds that we have found this spy lurking in the Library.
We notice one guard who is off to the side pulling a bell pull. We can sense that he appears to recognise us all. [Etienne had put the castle on full alert following her learning that we had escaped from Hell, and that people's Trumps and other equipment had disappeared from where she had hidden them.]
All of the guards who are there are quickly cut down, leaving the two maids who also happened to be at the checkpoint as we came up to it screaming in our wake. We 'chase after' Jihx, who is making for the throne room. Guards fall all around as Skyrie makes inept attempts to pretend he is after Jihx, shooting 'at Jihx' but hitting guards instead.
Guards begin to appear from all the corridors to prevent out reaching the throne room; this happens really quite quickly.
Caitlin decides that Otto is unlikely to be in the throne room by now, and ducks down a side corridor, heading for the office areas of the Castle. Jihx continues on. Skyrie shouts, "Plan B!" and dives into a room off this main corridor.
Jihx wonders what Plan B is.
Caitlin kills a few more guards as she makes for the office areas.
Arun, swimming along at high speed, reaches the vicinity of Amber. His dolphin-like form leaps out of the water, turning into his dragon war-form mid-leap and flying on towards the Rebman army.
Whippoorwill looks concerned as a dragon flaps down from out of the sky beside them, but Gerard assures him it is all right. Arun turns into his human form and is introduced to Whippoorwill, who expresses surprise at the shapeshifter's powers. They discuss Arun's recent demise and remarkable recovery from being dead.
Arun suggests an immediate attack.
Whippoorwill explains that he has given the occupiers until dusk to surrender.
Arun, feeling that the occupiers have been let off too lightly, approaches the walls. "You lot," he shouts up to the defenders. "I fear there has been a small change of plan. I need to talk to your Emperor immediately."
The defenders, not entirely surprisingly, deny him direct access to the Emperor.
Arun walks up to the gate, lays his hand upon it and, within a couple of minutes, has shapeshifted the gates aside to obtain access to the city. As he does so the alarm is raised and the guards open fire on him. The gatehouse is very well defended, with lots of arrow slits and murder-holes. Arrows pierce his body and boiling oil is poured on him, which hurts a lot, but not as much as being in Hell. He shifts into the most heavily armoured form he can manage (more heavily armoured than his war form, even), but even so he continues to take some damage. He shapeshifts the damage away as fast as he can, but realises that he is being hurt at a somewhat faster rate than he can heal.
Archery fire is also directed at the Rebman army, who raise their shields to defend themselves.
At Whippoorwill's suggestion, and with Gerard's agreement, the army is commanded to advance towards (but not into) the breach that Arun has made in the gate and portcullis.
More boiling oil is poured down the walls.
Gerard assembles his forces but waits for Arun to make a complete path through the walls. He and everyone else outside can see that the approach to the gates is a very well-designed kill-zone, in which people without Arun's powers would probably not last very long.
Arun shapeshifts aside the second gate and portcullis. Then he begins to do the same on the third. And eventually Arun clears the third gate and portcullis aside, leaving a clear path into the city of Amber.
"FORWARD!" shouts Gerard.
The Rebman forces advance in a number of turtle-style formations with their shields arranged around them to avoid the arrows that are still raining down. The boiling oil knocks out a few of the army, but they continue to advance.
Arun turns into his war form and flies up to the top of the gatehouse, where he starts absorbing the defending troops. This does appear to upset them a tad.
Whippoorwill is unsure about this course of action, but continues on. His men are a bit knocked about but the defender's fire, and are taking some damage from the arrows although their armour is largely protecting them.
Gerard leads the army on into the city. A large number of defending troops are arrayed inside the gate, waiting for them. The turtle formations split up and engage with the defending troops.
In the castle, Caitlin continues on down the smaller side corridors, taking out many guards and soldiers as she goes.
Jihx also ducks down a side corridor.
Skyrie bars the door of the room he has ducked into, then Trumps back to the Library before the guards kick the door in. In the Library he quickly Trump sketches the Amber Throne Room, concentrates on the sketch and looks through. He can see that Emperor Otto does not appear to be there. He can also see that the stained glass windows along the south wall (which did depict scenes of battle, Oberon doing Great Things and mythological scenes involving the Unicorn) have been replaced with a variety of Christian scenes. The red carpet which led to the throne has been replaced by a purple one, and the huge banner which hangs behind the throne is no longer the Unicorn banner of Amber, but is instead the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire.
Caitlin continues on, viciously chopping down troops as she goes.
Jihx changes into the uniform of one of the guards he has killed, and continues on. He manages to butcher many guards as he carries on towards Gerard's quarters (which he assumes the Emperor Otto will have taken over).
Caitlin reaches the area of the offices, but encounters more and more guards the further she goes in that direction. She decides to get out of the area and ducks off down another side corridor, retreating to one of the abandoned areas of the castle.
Skyrie decides to Trump to a point near to the 'Well of Shadows', in the Fourteen Empires (the place he used the Pattern to teleport to previously). He quickly Trump sketches the place he left from when he went there, and exits stage left.
Jihx reaches Gerard's quarters, and to his disappointment finds that they have been redecorated as basic quarters, not Otto's quarters. Before very long lots of guards start turning up and he has to leave by the window to avoid them, swinging down to a lower floor and making good his escape.
At the gates of Amber City, Gerard, Connor and Nemain continue to battle on. They have the defending forces on the ground in front of them and archers and other defenders on the city walls behind and to the sides. Despite this they are not doing too badly...
Whippoorwill watches and learns from Gerard, seeing that weapons work significantly differently here as compared to how they work in The Tunnel; for example, projectile weapons work here. Whippoorwill has his four minions protect him; they appear to be doing quite well at this.
Arun continues to absorb defenders from the gatehouse. He is now twenty times his original size, and the gatehouse has been essentially depopulated. He decides to take out the archers on the walls as they appear to be the most effective force against the Rebman army. He is starting to feel a bit tired after lots of shape shifting, but leaps from the gatehouse in dragon form, shifting his limbs and claws to most effectively rake the troops off the walls. He sweeps along the top of the wall, and manages to rake off more than half of the archers after a couple of passes, with only minor damage to himself.
Back in the castle, Caitlin reaches one of the disused areas of the castle. It is not quite such a good area for hiding in now, appearing to have been burnt out. However, she is able to find somewhere quiet, and having done so Trumps Jihx.
Meanwhile, Jihx is trying to convert the forces he is meeting back to the Amber side. Some of the troops he is fighting seem to be listening, and after a bit half of the group he is currently engaged with clubs the non-agreeing section into unconsciousness. He then gets a Trump call, which he accepts.
It is Caitlin. She tells Jihx that she thinks Otto may be in the office area. Jihx tells her what he is doing, and Caitlin says she will meet him there. They drop the Trump link and carry on.
As they fight, Jihx manages to convert a few hundred men (about half of those he meets) and makes for the offices, Caitlin has less success with converting the defenders to her side, but does convert fifty or so as she continues on.
Skyrie arrives in a shadow close to the Well of Shadow, but without God present. He considers his environment. He seems to have learned how to sense much more about his environment than he could before - perhaps something to do with trying to use powers in Hell so much. He finds that as he concentrates, the more detail he wants the more information he gathers.
He makes for the Well of Shadows, shifting shadow between places with and without God, considering the differences.
In the form of a large dragon, Arun continues to sweep troops off the battlements. By now he has cut the rain of arrows considerably, and removed all the defenders he can get at without landing. Rather than land, Arun goes to defend one of the groups of Rebman troops in turtle formation that is under more attack than the other such formations. Large crunching noises follow as he lands on their opponents.
Whippoorwill starts to test his weapons. The cylinder of poisonous gas that one of his minions is carrying does not appear to work; he can smell it but it appears to no longer be poisonous. Various other things that he tries (of a higher-than-Amber technological level) also do not work.
His men appear to be doing fairly well in the battle; better than most of the defenders, but not as well as the Rebman troops. One of them has withdrawn from the battle as he is not really a front-line fighter.
Gerard is at the front of the army. Whippoorwill and Arun can see that he is fast and dangerous, as are, to a lesser extent, Connor and Nemain. All the Amberites are doing well at killing off the defending troops.
After a couple of hours the defending troops - who are not as powerful and don't have as much enthusiasm for the fight as the Amberites and the Rebman troops - have been broken and the Rebman troops have taken over the gatehouse.
Arun is exhausted, but lets out a roar of success. Whippoorwill is very slightly tired. Connor and Nemain look somewhat tired.
Gerard regroups their forces. "Oh well, on into the city then," he says.
Arun asks if it is necessary.
Gerard says it is, and asks Arun why he attacked the gate. Arun tells him that he wanted to advance the fight.
Inside the castle, Caitlin and Jihx's forces advance.
Caitlin is less subtle than Jihx. She gets fewer converts but they are more loyal (or at least more scared of her and what will happen if they betray her!).
News from the gate where Gerard and the others are attacking has not yet reached the castle, but Caitlin spreads word that Gerard with a massive army is advancing on the Castle, and the conversion rate goes up.
After a few hours of fighting, Caitlin and Jihx (and their respective forces) meet up. They are both quite tired at this point, and suffering from some minor injuries; even Caitlin cannot dodge large numbers of attackers for ever in the confined space of the castle corridors.
By this point Caitlin has discovered that Otto is definitely thought to be in the office area of the main castle keep. They lead their forces that way.
After a long struggle the two of them reach the office in question. While the guards who have converted to their side guard their backs they kick in the door and go in. Inside, the office has been redecorated in magnificent Imperial style. Standing there is the Emperor Otto, resplendent in magnificent gold-plated armour, sword at the ready, but also standing behind a group of twenty guards, all with their swords drawn and ready. Otto demands their surrender, and tells them that God will smite them for what they have done.
Caitlin and Jihx state that God has been defeated, Etienne is gone and he must give up now, or die.
"Attack!" shouts Otto to his guards. They move forward, as do Caitlin and Jihx. Combat begins, in the course of which Caitlin cuts down three-quarters of Otto's guards, while Jihx accounts for the other quarter. The guards outside gape at this exhibition of killing power.
With the last of guards cut down, and Jihx and Caitlin advancing on him, Otto gives up, drops to his knees, and begs for his life.
Otto tries to be defiant, but against Caitlin and Jihx this doesn't last for long. When asked he agrees to send out orders for the surrender of his forces; he sits down at his desk to write these orders.
While Otto does this, Caitlin Trumps Gerard to tell him the news. Gerard is definitely pleased with this result.
Runners are called in and the notes penned by Otto ordering the surrender of the defending forces are sent. Other runners are also sent off to have the flag of the Holy Roman Empire lowered from where it flies over the city.
Down by the gatehouse, the others see the flags being lowered. Gerard Trumps Jihx and passes through a folded-up Unicorn flag, which he had in a saddlebag. A runner takes this off to be raised over the castle in place of the flag of the Holy Roman Empire.
As the Unicorn flag is raised over the Castle, a cheer goes up around the gatehouse and also from parts of the castle.
Out in shadow, Skyrie investigates God.
As he goes, passing through more and more shadows, he finds that there is definitely something about the structure of shadow which supports God and allows Him to exist in a shadow. There are some shadows that could support God, but which it appears He has not yet reached.
In shadows containing God Skyrie also finds holes through the shadow veils leading into the adjacent shadows - shadow paths, similar to those around Amber, though often much smaller.
Skyrie also investigates the Trump-proofing of the Godly shadows. It feels as if the entire shadow has been altered to stop Trumps working there. He can feel how the shadow has been altered, but cannot think of how to undo or work around that alteration (though he has a few ideas, these do not pan out in the end). He thinks he needs more knowledge of Trump.
Magic has also been changed in these shadows, and rather than what it was before now derives exclusively from the power of God.
Back in Amber, the surrender orders are sent out and the former Emperor Otto is paraded about by Caitlin and Jihx to prove to the recalcitrant that they have won. They leave the castle and head down into the city with him.
At the gatehouse, the surrender order arrives and is announced to the troops there. The defending troops lower their weapons, then hand over their weapons to Gerard's forces. "Good work, all," Gerard booms to everyone. He claps Whippoorwill, Nemain and Connor on their shoulders. Ouch.
Gerard, Whippoorwill, Connor, Nemain and the Rebman troops walk through the lower city, up the stairway to the level of the plateau on which most of the city sits, and up towards the castle along the Royal Way.
Gerard and the others meet Caitlin and Jihx and their forces halfway down the Royal Way. Caitlin and Jihx greet them with Otto on his knees in the middle of the Royal Way.
A large crowd has gathered, seeming to be split half and half among the original inhabitants of Amber and the new Christian inhabitants Etienne imported from shadow after deporting many of the survivors of the original Amber population (this seems to be the split among the troops, too). The crowd's feelings seem mixed - some are relieved that we are back, but many are scared of us, too.
Gerard stands up in the stirrups of his horse and makes a speech to the assembled citizens of Amber. "Although you may not recognise me in this form, I am Prince Gerard of Amber, Your Regent..." he begins.
His speech is highly inspiring to all - apart from Caitlin, of course. Gerard tells the citizens that God is dead and the Royal Family of Amber is in charge again, as is Right. Those who are newly come to Amber and who want to leave may do so; those who stay will be expected to swear allegiance to the newly restored regime. Any that leave should take notice that the Royal Family of Amber is back, and will re-establish their control over the Golden Circle in due time.
When Gerard finishes his speech some of the crowd cheer enthusiastically. Others look very unhappy. The crowd slowly begins to disperse.
Whippoorwill and Arun argue over what to do next.
Arun wants to go after Etienne. Whippoorwill suggests negotiating with her instead. Gerard suggests moving to the castle to discuss this, rather than doing so in the middle of the street in front of half the population of Amber City. Everyone agrees that this is a good idea, and we head off for the castle.
Out in shadow, Skyrie continues to examine shadows, moving on to shadows that seem to be immune to God.
Having done this he then goes in search of mechanisms for getting rid of god from a shadow, and methods for preventing god from entering a shadow in the first place.
Using the Trump of The Tunnel that arrived in the latter he received from Llewella, Whippoorwill sends his men back home to re-assemble.
Having done this, Whippoorwill asks what to do to retake the Golden Circle, given that Gerard and Lillian were killed last time they went out.
Jihx says that attacking God rather than the causes of God is the solution.
Plans are discussed.
Elsewhere in shadow, God informs Etienne that the part of Him in Amber is dead. This does not make her happy.
She forms a new army of half a million men and begins racing with them through shadow towards the outskirts of Amber. She also brings along a 'GodSeed' spell...
Time passes in Amber.
Over that time a number of anti-Royal Family uprisings occur in the city, in a vain attempt to restore the Holy Roman Empire. They are dealt with without too much difficulty.
Many of the people Etienne imported pack up their lives and leave the city. The original inhabitants abuse them both before and while they do so.
Caitlin mistreats the former Emperor Otto with beatings and starvation, but Gerard prevents her from going too far. Caitlin suggests keeping him as a pet in a cage in the throne room, feeding him on scraps, but Gerard refuses to consider this idea.
When she and her army arrive at the edge of Amber, Etienne casts her GodSeed spell, then leaves.
A few days after the restoration of the Royal Family to control of Amber, we all feel the presence of God again. However, it is very weak. Almost at once, Arun manages to free himself from his body and expand out into the 'shadow' of Amber. Once there, he attempts to destroy the growing God.
Shortly afterwards, a messenger comes running in. He tells us that an army has then sighted on the edge of Forest Arden, moving towards the city, and that the forces of Amber are grouped to meet it.
Jihx wants Etienne caught and killed as she must be nearby.
Caitlin protests that killing her with God present is pointless, as she will be resurrected, or at least go to Heaven.
In return Jihx tells her that something must be done.
In the entirety of the Amber, Arun finds out that the God is a seed that is growing, based on a relatively simple spell. Because it is still in a weak and unformed state, and knowing something about God from his and Jihx's efforts earlier, he is able to stop it growing any further.
Arun notices the approaching army. He remote-controls his body and tells the others about it, then tells them that he can destroy God. They tell him to do so, and so, rather than merely stopping this local God from growing any further, he attacks and utterly destroys Him.
Having done so he then returns to his body and joins the others in riding out to fight the incoming army.
Arun feels that he can easily destroy the GodSeed spell in any shadow it is in, and also that he can kill God if He is still weak and growing as he was here. He is far less such he would able to do so much against a fully-grown and established God.
Jihx wants to get Etienne and convinces Connor, Nemain and Gerard to assist in a group Trumping of her. They all concentrate upon Etienne's Trump.
Meanwhile, Etienne has departed Amber and arrived in one of her Trump-proofed shadows, leaving her army to fend for itself.
Jihx, Connor, Nemain and Gerard fail to make Trump contact with Etienne. Damn.
In shadow, God tells Etienne that the GodSeed spell she used in Amber has been destroyed. Etienne decides that Amber and Rebma are lost to God.
And on the edges of Forest Arden, the Amber troops rally to meet the invading army...
Session 3.11 Index Session 3.13