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Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
Caitlin is in the Hospital, watching 'Jim' be scanned in the Xenology Department, in a Trump link to Whippoorwill in the Amber Throne Room.
Jihx and Vialle are in a Trump link to Godofos, who is also in Amber. Vialle still appears to be shocked at the appearance of the head of Random in the cabinet brought by the Chaosites. "I'm sure it is fake," she says in a trying-to-convince-herself kind of way.
Caitlin leaves 'Jim' behind and goes through the Trump link to join Whippoorwill. Jihx and Vialle do likewise through Godofos's Trump link.
Caitlin peers into the cabinet and examines the heads. She can sense a faint feel of the blood of Amber in them, consistent with them being what the Chaos delegation claimed; this is rather faint, as if the heads have been dead for some time.
Whippoorwill suggests that the heads be removed to somewhere else, just in case they are bugged or booby-trapped. No-one really disagrees with this idea, but no-one really does anything either, so considering it to be urgent he takes matters into his own hands, picking up the cabinet, putting it on his shoulder and Trumping through to Vitesse.
Upon arrival he is greeted by the innkeeper, tells him to pour a brandy ready for his return, then strides off. He leaves the auberge and shifts through shadow outside, up the hillside to the top, where a swampy plain is revealed. He quickly finds a quicksand pool, and throws the cabinet in, where it begins to sink out of sight.
That done, he pulls out Caitlin's Trump and concentrates upon it.
Back in the Throne Room there is some discussion on the relevance of what has happened.
Caitlin thinks it doesn't matter, and cautions against leading an army into shadow as that is what the book said happens shortly before the Vadgaon worms begin to spread out of control.
At this point she feels a Trump call coming on, and accepts it. It is Whippoorwill, wanting to return. She sees the cabinet of heads sinking into the quicksand behind him, and brings Whippoorwill back through to Amber, where he appears in mid-conversation.
On Gerard's suggestion we all retire to the small conference room behind the Throne Room. On the way Gerard orders a servant to have the news sent into Amber that all the heads are fake.
In the conference room we help ourselves to drinks and sit.
Whippoorwill suggests that it is likely that the heads were fake, but even if they were real that we should not surrender.
Everyone else agrees with this.
Whippoorwill also points out that he, Gerard and Godofos are now known to the Courts of Chaos and are thus vulnerable to being Trumped.
Godofos says that Timandra's mind was very strong but that Castalia's was not, being more on a par with his own. He also points out that the short contact he had with the Chaosites was not long enough for him to get a psychic impression good enough to draw a Trump from, and that this probably works in reverse too.
It is noted that the sarcophagi or the clay-creatures in them were probably Trump engines of some kind. Godofos thinks he could make something like them if he put his mind to it, and had time.
Whippoorwill and Caitlin consider investigating the tree of Ygg, in the zone of shattered shadow, as a possible place from which Chaos are acting against Amber. After a little discussion this idea is rejected, as Ygg is both very far away, and it is fairly clear that the Chaosites are here, somewhere near Amber.
Whippoorwill also suggests that we somehow get a Trump of something near the Chaosites, then remembers the chessboard we sent for before the meeting with the envoys with exactly that idea in mind, and which had not arrived by the time the meeting ended. He suggests that this is something for Godofos to do in the near future.
It is also suggested that Godofos could simply create a Trump of the envoy's ship when they arrive after the deadline, so that we can, if necessary, use it against them later. He agrees to do so when they return.
Whippoorwill then suggests going to Vitesse to think things through, thus lengthening the time that we have before the deadline runs out. This sounds like a good plan. He goes on to suggest that we can draw this time out further by negotiating on details of the Chaosites demands, asking for more information, proof of their word, claiming we do not want an unconditional surrender, and so on.
Gerard decides to stay in Amber, to deal with various preparations that must be made. However, Vialle, who has his full authority, will accompany us to Vitesse for the discussions.
So we Trump to Vitesse, where the innkeeper greets us. We ask for somewhere private to talk, and he leads us to a private dining room behind the main taproom in the Auberge, one that is new to us all. He unlocks it and hands Whippoorwill the key. Jihx brings along his copy of the book.
And we discuss various plans:
To help prevent the predicted starvation we discuss the stockpiling of supplies and the extending of farmland around Amber. Vialle tells us that she and Gerard have already arranged for the storage of enough supplies to last all of Amber for about six months. There is some farmland around Amber, particularly since the end of the Patternfall War, but the terrain and the soil is such that farming is not really possible in most places. So Amber is still very much dependant on imports, alas.
The visions we saw in Tir-Na Nog'th of the Courts of Chaos taking over or having taken over Amber are also discussed as possible sources of information. Two of them (the battle of the Black Road and the flag of Chaos flying over an Amber much like it is now) we are fairly sure have not happened in reality (yet!). However, they also do not involve the worms, so we decide to leave that for now.
Vialle points out that Tir-Na Nog'th will be accessible for two or three more nights if we want to go up there again this month.
It is agreed that Caitlin will go out to explore the route through shadow the book predicts says we will take with our army. Whippoorwill and Jihx agree to accompany her. Godofos and Vialle remain in Vitesse and go back to reading the book.
The three return of us Trump back to Amber. Jihx brings a copy of Corwin's Book with him.
We head for the stables. Jihx collects his horse. Whippoorwill collects his horse, 'Thunder', and also summons two of his minions to accompany us, his assassin Delporto and his scout Cespie. They also have horses. Caitlin too collects a horse from the stables.
We ride off out of the Castle, down through Castle Park, along the Royal Way through the city, down from the plateau on which the city lies and off in the described direction - to the south-west.
En route Whippoorwill discusses the 'wall' in shadow Etienne has placed around God's Garden, and whether these would be capable of fending off the worms. We do not know.
After some time Jihx starts to shift us through shadow, following the directions given in the book.
In the early stages of our shifting through shadow there is no sign of anything suspicious or unusual.
After two hours Caitlin takes over shadow shifting so that Jihx can rest, and after two more hours Jihx takes back the shifting duties. They alternate in this as we carry on. Whippoorwill does not get a chance to shift shadow as, although he could keep going for longer, the maximum speed at which he can shift through shadow is much less than that which Caitlin and Jihx can manage.
After twelve hours of shadow shifting there is still no sign of anything untoward, and Whippoorwill is getting concerned that the deadline is looming. We agree to Trump Gerard and propose that he draws out the negotiations.
Whippoorwill Trumps Gerard, who takes the call. We put forward our proposal.
Gerard agrees that, although not ideal, this is the best plan. An approach of arguing about the Courts of Chaos' reliability and asking for guarantees that what they say they will do is what they will actually do is discussed.
We suggest that Moire is contacted to see if she can prevent the predicted cutting off of the shadow paths. Gerard agrees to do this.
We thank Gerard and break the Trump link.
Jihx then Trumps off to Ahnel to mobilise the army he and Godofos have mustered, ready for imminent action. With that done, he then Trumps back to Caitlin and we carry on.
Twelve hours stretches into a full day as we ride on.
As we go, we maintain contact with both Amber and Vitesse.
In Vitesse, Godofos has read more of the book and found out more about the worms. They are apparently ridiculously tough but do not have very powerful minds. He has had no success in devising a specific plan against them.
Whippoorwill suggests that Arun could try a biological attack against the Vadgaon. However, it is pointed out that this may need us to capture one of them. It would also need someone to contact Arun, who is currently out of contact, as is Skyrie.
Godofos agrees to send a creature of his desire to each of them to inform them of the situation and ask them to participate.
With that done, we then contact Gerard, in Amber.
When he takes the call, Gerard tells us that he is in negotiations with the Envoys, who are Timandra and a man named Chimal, or at least the two of them speaking through Trump-powered clay-creatures much as Timandra and Castalia did before.
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He mentions that Godofos has made a couple of Trumps of the ship the Envoys arrived in.
Whippoorwill wonders whether a possible ploy for negotiation, a sign of trust, could be to ask the Courts of Chaos to join us in an attack on Etienne's garden. Alternatively, he suggests, perhaps we should negotiate as if Etienne was a friend and ally. Or as a third option, perhaps we should keep her a secret for now, but try and get her to attack them if Amber does fall.
It is agreed to not tell her anything just yet, but to use her as a bargaining chip with the Envoys. Gerard tells us that he will ready a message to Etienne in case of need, but not send it just yet.
We carry on.
As the trek drags on, we Trump through to Vitesse individually to rest while the others continue to ride.
Caitlin notices that since eating the apple Deirdre gave her she has been dreaming of Tir-Na Nog'th. Not of anything significant, merely of walking its streets. She has also noticed that the 'strangeness' of her psychic impression has been increasing, as if it is blurring and shifting into multiple images.
This does not seem to have affected her ability to be Trumped or anything like that, but Jihx has definitely noticed that her psychic impression has changed.
Two days out of Amber, nearing the outer limits of the shadows of the Golden Circle and the shadow paths that lead out from Amber, shadow starts to become damaged. There are more and more signs of something devastating the environment. Then we begin to notice fracturing in shadow, as if extra shadow veils have been sliced through the middle of the shadows we are passing through. This is similar to the region of fractured shadow which Caitlin found around the tree of Ygg, but is a lot less extreme as the shadows on each side of the fracture are basically identical rather than radically different as the ones Caitlin found are. This makes it easier to shift shadow through than the area Caitlin found, too.
The further we go the more fractured shadow becomes, making it more difficult, but not impossible, to shift through.
As we continue, the shadows themselves start to become more and more devastated.
Whippoorwill begins to draw a map of the route we are taking, and the extent of devastation.
As we travel further and further the shadows tend more and more towards shadows of permanent night, with a large moon overhead, woodland, and a highly magical environment. These shadows become more and more fractured, slowing our progress more and more. The environment of the shadows themselves is also more and more devastated, with vast swathes of destroyed forest, and sometimes with even the moon shattered in the sky overhead.
As we continue on the shadows start to become familiar to Jihx and Caitlin, as more and more similar to the environment of Ghenesh, the home shadow of the Moonriders, before we destroyed it. Bugger.
In the middle of the region of damaged shadow, where Ghenesh used to be, a wall of storm clouds appears on the horizon. We ride closer, to end up in a lifeless shadow of devastated forests, under the light of a shattered moon, facing a wall of storm.
This wall appears to be stationary, however. To Caitlin it feels as if whatever held the structure of a shadow together has been completely destroyed, leaving the contents of the shadow to mix and swirl as it wishes in a completely random and uncontrolled fashion inside the boundaries of the original shadow. As we watch occasional things such as trees or animals can be seen being swirled about in the storm. It appears that when this happened it sent damaging storm surges out into the nearby shadows, but that these have subsided now.
Caitlin can tell that the storm is prevent Trump, magic and technology from working here. Jihx can tell that Trump and magic are not working here. Whippoorwill can tell none of this.
Jihx speculates that perhaps this is the weakness that the Courts of Chaos are using to reach, and threaten, Amber, in the same way that Corwin's blood curse allowed them to reach Amber before. Perhaps.
We discuss using the Moonrider's obelisks to cut this region off, but unfortunately we do not have access to any, and never did work out exactly how they worked anyway. Damn.
Jihx speculates further that this shadow storm is what released the worms.
Whippoorwill attempts to Trump Godofos, but is unable to get through.
The others inform him that Trump does not work here. Oh.
We hatch a plan. Caitlin will head clockwise around the storm to explore it, Whippoorwill will do likewise anticlockwise. Jihx will head back along the original route in until he can Trump Godofos to pass on the news of what we have found.
And we go our separate ways.
Caitlin and Whippoorwill find that making progress around the border of where shadow Ghenesh used to be is quite hard, as shadow is very fractured there, and there is a lot of rough terrain. Whippoorwill finds the shadow shifting here particularly hard.
As he goes, Whippoorwill puts up markers to map out the boundary of the storm, and to allow us to see if the boundary is actually moving.
Jihx heads away from the site of Ghenesh. After going some distance away he attempts to Trump Godofos.
Quite quickly, Godofos accepts the call, and Jihx passes on all of the news of what we have found.
Godofos cannot think of anything he can contribute that will be useful at the moment, so it is decided that he will stay and research the book.
Jihx decides to stay where he is, on the edge of the zone where Trump stops working. This is a devastated forest, with all the trees lying flat away from the direction of the storm.
He calls down his white hawk, and it stoops from the sky, miraculously recovered from its untimely death at the hands of Jihx's own blast. It brings a telescope with it. Jihx climbs onto its back and they climb up into the sky to keep lookout.
After several hours of shifting shadow around the site of Ghenesh, Whippoorwill notices something moving ahead, some distance away from the edge of the storm.
He sends Delporto and Cespie ahead as flankers and sneaks up on the movement.
By a stand of fallen trees, he finds a group of half a dozen creatures, like feathered velociraptors, moving in a pack. It appears that they would be brightly coloured in daylight. They seem to have hands with opposable thumbs. He can also sense a way through shadow nearby, where one of the fractures through shadow seems to have opened up a shadow path.
Whippoorwill attempts to Trump Jihx and Caitlin, but fails to get through, so he stops and watches the creatures.
They seem to be talking to one another and poking around in the devastation.
One of them seems to find something, and they seem to talk to one another (though they are too far off for Whippoorwill to hear what they say) then gather around and look at whatever it was that has been found. However, they seem to lose interest, and after a bit of activity they move on. They are clearly searching for something.
After a short while there is a bit of an argument among them. One of the velociraptors points back away from the shadow storm, and they talk amongst themselves for a bit. Then the six of them, led by the one who did the pointing, run off through the shadow fracture and are lost to sight.
Whippoorwill and his companions head towards the shadow fracture in pursuit.
His scout, Cespie, looks at where the velociraptors were, and finds the very rotten remains of a dead animal at the point where the creatures found something that interested them. Hmmm...
Whippoorwill finds the shadow fracture and goes through it, taking his companions with him.
The new shadow is similar in type and damage to the one by the remains of Ghenesh, but without the shadow storm in the background. The velociraptors appear to have come and passed straight through the shadow, so Whippoorwill follows them onwards.
After a few more shifts along the path of the shadow fracture, the velociraptors come into view again. They have left the shadow fracture now and are running down the slope of a shallow bowl-shaped valley towards a camp at a speed of around seventy miles an hour.
The camp below is large, the size of a small town with, Whippoorwill estimates, a population of twenty thousand or so. It appears to consist of organic buildings that appear to be made of coral or shell, generically similar to the invasion fleet that we chased off. There is a large shell-like structure visible in the centre, like a keep, surrounded by other buildings that give the appearance of barracks and storerooms. There are three rings of defensive walls in the camp, also appearing to be of shell or coral, all with watch-towers and well-guarded gatehouses on them.
Whippoorwill attempts to Trump Godofos to pass on this news, and after a short while Godofos takes the call.
He tells Godofos what he has found, and they hatch a plot. Whippoorwill moves back along the shadow fracture to the adjacent shadow and brings Godofos through. Godofos then begins to draw a Trump of this shadow.
With that done, Whippoorwill sends Cespie and Delporto back along the shadow fracture into the camp shadow to explore, telling them to be sure to note where they appear so that they can get back again, and ordering them not to reveal themselves.
Whippoorwill then tries to Trump Jihx, but has no luck.
Meanwhile, Caitlin has found no signs of life whatsoever as she heads around the site of Ghenesh in the opposite direction.
However, after some hours she comes to a place where shadow feels different - there are no fractures and the damage to the structure of the shadow elsewhere around where Ghenesh was feels calmed and smoothed away. And definitely not quite natural. It is as if there is a path of intact shadow leading up to the edge of the shadow storm.
Caitlin considers this, and concludes that it has been made like this after the destruction of Ghenesh. She notices that the shadow here consists of a strip of flat rocky land and large inlet of sea, with the land dropping into the sea in such a way as to form a very large, very good harbour, definitely suitable for mooring ships. Caitlin further concludes that this was the staging post for the naval attack we thwarted.
She decides to Trump Jihx.
Elsewhere, Jihx is scanning the ground through his telescope from the vantage of hawk-back.
He feels a Trump call coming on, and, identifying the caller as Caitlin, takes the call. Despite her being right next to the shadow storm that was Ghenesh, Trumps appear to be working, perhaps because of the calming of shadow that has been performed here. She tells him what she has found, and he goes through to join her.
Caitlin describes what she has found, and they decide to split up. Jihx will continue around the storm, while Caitlin following the new found path off into shadow.
This they proceed to do.
Caitlin proceeds along the path she has found, which does seem to be an actual shadow path. She begins to pass through shadow veils, but at this stage these only lead to shadows with minor geographical changes.
Whippoorwill has no luck in Trumping Jihx, and so decides to return to the shadow storm and carry on from there.
This being so, Jihx and Whippoorwill eventually meet up in the shadow where the velociraptors were first seen.
They exchange news, then head back up the shadow fracture to the shadow before the one containing the camp, where they find Godofos sitting on a tree trunk drawing.
They pass on the details of what has been found to Godofos and then Whippoorwill Trumps Caitlin.
When Caitlin takes the call, they propose a theory. That the shadow storm is acting as a 'wormhole' leading here from the Courts of Chaos, out of which the Chaos armies are arriving. However, there is no evidence one way or the other for this as yet, so we decide to carry on much as we were.
Caitlin carries along out away from the shadow storm.
After a while the rocky ground along the edge of the sea turns into more normal ground, and she begins to finds evidence of a fairly large force having passed this way recently, going in the same direction as her. There are large paw prints from a cat-like creature the size of a horse, footprints from some sort of two legged lizard that moves very fast, cloven hooves (perhaps those of minotaurs like those we saw in Amber), two sets of similar ape-like footprints (long-toed feet with opposable big toes), and finally the tracks from a large number of wagons and other vehicles.
She estimates that in total the army must number roughly a quarter of a million.
At this point she feels a Trump call coming on, and accepts is. It is Whippoorwill. She tells them what she has found.
Whippoorwill and Jihx go through the Trump link and join Caitlin.
Jihx pulls out Gerard's Trump and begins to concentrate on it with the intention of giving him a warning of the forthcoming attack.
As he does so some sails can be seen in the distance coming towards them.
Caitlin puts Jihx's telescope to her eye and looks at them. They seem to be the same type of Chaos ships that we fought before. They seem to be damaged. We conclude that these are the survivors from the attack two and a half days ago.
Gerard responds to Jihx's Trump.
Jihx tells him the news.
Gerard tells Jihx that the flow of ships into and out of Amber has stopped, so it appears that the shadow paths into Amber have been cut. The negotiations, however, continue.
Gerard then asks about the camp Whippoorwill found.
Whippoorwill admits that this is still a mystery. He also admits that he is curious about what the fleet will do when it arrives at the shadow storm. Whippoorwill uses the Pattern and 'finds' a couple more members of his squad, Callam and Olec. He details them to follow the ships to the shadow storm and find out what happens to them.
We discuss the idea of mining this shadow path. However, this shadow is magical rather than technological, and none of us know magic. Oops. We consider who we could ask to help. Gerard, Lillian, Vialle, Arun, Skyrie and Moire may have the magical abilities to assist.
Whippoorwill and Jihx decide to Trump to Godofos to see how the investigation of the camp (now known as 'Coral Town') is getting on.
Caitlin decides to follow the army to see if she can catch them up.
Caitlin heads off, and quickly judges that she is moving faster than the army by using her Pattern powers and due to the natural lack of speed of an army on the move.
After a while, the path of the army diverges from the edge of the sea and heads inland. She judges herself to be on one of the natural shadow paths around Amber, and Trumps Gerard to pass this news on.
When he takes the call, she tells him what she has found, and asks him if he recognises the shadow (she does not, but then, she has spent much more time in shadows far from Amber).
Gerard looks through the Trump link, and decides that Caitlin is near the shadow of Cashgar. This is on a shadow path that will bring the army into Amber from the west, along the base of the mountain range of which Kolvir is the eastern end. He identifies the shadow of Calagat, closer in to Amber, as a good place for an ambush, thanks to its terrain consisting entirely of steep-sided valleys. He says that he will mobilise his forces, and drops the Trump link.
Caitlin then attempts to contact Jihx.
Elsewhere, Godofos takes Whippoorwill and Jihx's Trump call, and brings them through to the shadow next to 'Coraltown'. Godofos hands each of them a Trump of this patch of ground.
We plan a 'snatch mission' into the camp, to take some prisoners from whom we might find out more about what is going on.
Jihx calls up his hawk in small form, and it swoops from the sky to it land on his arm.
Godofos goes off into shadow to raise more armies for the defence of Amber.
Jihx feels a Trump call coming on ,and identifies it as being from Caitlin. He accepts the call.
Caitlin tells him about the army and the planned ambush in shadow Calagat. This will occur in a couple of days.
It is decided to attack the Chaos army from behind using Jihx and Godofos' army from Ahnel at the same time as the ambush, which will also coincide with Whippoorwill's army attacking Coral Town. That decided, we break the Trump link.
Whippoorwill and Jihx slip through shadow to Coraltown, where they sneak around a bit to look for Whippoorwill's scouts.
Jihx sends his hawk up into the air and looks through its eyes into the camp, although as the only living thing here it is rather noticeable, so he does not send it close.
He sees that there are guards on the walls, small figures flying in the air and much activity within the walls, with a few dim lights in the central area. Some of the troops on the walls seem to have more than the standard number of arms and tails - that is, four and one respectively! Others seems to have huge bat-like ears. There appear to be large, probably flying, creatures stabled in the camp as well, and also occasional patrols outside the walls. These patrols consist of both groups of small dark-winged figures in the air and packs of velociraptors on the ground.
Jihx spots Whippoorwill's scouts Callam and Olec first, lurking among the dead trees. The scouts do not see either of them approaching until they make an identifying sound.
We quiz them on what they have found.
The scouts think there are indeed twenty thousand troops in the camp, and confirm that there are airborne troops among them.
Whippoorwill and Jihx consider the best way to take some prisoners. Unfortunately all of the Chaos forces seem to move around in groups, and all of those who come outside the walls stay at least a hundred feet away from any cover where attackers could lurk. Damn.
They think some more.
Elsewhere, Caitlin, following the Chaos army, has caught up with the rear of the army itself. She begins to shift from side to side across their trail, using her enhanced Pattern skills to pick up volunteers to join her army at record speed.
Jihx returns to Ahnel and begins Trumping troops through to the nearby shadow of which Godofos drew the Trumps. This is quite a slow process as he must pass each soldier through the Trump link individually; given the size of his army, he estimates that this will take a day or two...
Whippoorwill also goes off on a recruiting drive, leaving Callam and Olec behind to keep watch. He quickly returns with the remaining seven of his original minions, plus ten Thracians, Roman gladiator-type warriors bearing nets and tridents.
With them he sets up an ambush to capture some of the enemy. Whippoorwill uses the Pattern and summons up some useful hail-bearing cloud to cover the ambush.
Hailstones begin to rain down all around, and under their cover Whippoorwill and his forces move out of cover towards a group of bedraggled looking velociraptors. Nets are thrown at them; three are caught, but three of them, seeming to be as fast as Whippoorwill's minions, dodge aside and begin to run off. So they are shot dead before they get very far.
Whippoorwill has his minions pick up all six velociraptors, alive and dead, and Trumps Jihx. When Jihx takes the call he goes through and joins him in Ahnel, bringing captives and squad with him ready for the interrogation...
The "Now These Her Princes Are Come Home Again" Top Page.
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