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Session 4.8 Index Session 4.10
Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
In Meeting Room Two in the Keep of Castle Amber, Godofos and Caitlin are rummaging through the captured Trump decks. Caitlin has nabbed the larger one.
The decks all have a dark blood-red back with a black chaos serpent emblem on them. Most of the Trumps are, as expected, new to us.
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From both Trump decks we do recognise Timandra and Castalia from having actually seen them when they visited Amber via the Trump-homunculi, along with four others we recognise from descriptions alone - Chimal, who was with Timandra at the second set of negotiations in Amber, plus Portunus, Parikhan and Anaximander who were described by the velociraptor prisoner Whippoorwill had interrogated.
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Also common between two packs, and apparently drawn by the same person, are Trumps of:
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There are many other individuals in the smaller pack, all apparently drawn by other artists, and all of people who seem to be related to Anaximander. There are also Trumps of many other places, one of which looks like Coraltown.
In the larger pack there are also lots of other people, some of whom bear a family resemblance to Portunus, and Trumps of more places, two of which appear to be Coraltown.
As Caitlin goes through the larger Trump deck, she comes across a Trump with an image of a swirling purple vortex (notably not the storm at Ghenesh). As it is separated from the emanations of the rest of the Trump deck, Godofos immediately recognises it as a Trump Engine. With our consent he removes this from the deck and keeps it himself. He cannot immediately identify the function of this engine.
At this point Godofos also senses that Parikhan's Trump has become active in both packs, closely followed by Timandra's.
Whippoorwill suggests that we choose a Trump of one of the people and snatch them. It is further suggested that we do this quickly before all of the Chaosites are warned of what is going on.
The Trump link between Parikhan and Timandra goes down. Then they both become active again (at this instant it is decided to make the snatch when they are not in contact with someone else) and Chimal's Trump also becomes active closely followed by 'guy with sword'.
The snatch is planned. We all get together and prepare to focus on Timandra as soon as her Trump deactivates. The meeting room table is moved to one side and weapons are drawn. Whippoorwill has his bladed mace, Jihx has his sword, Godofos has his fists with a sword on standby and Caitlin is a weapon. A number of guards are summoned and ordered to get us some 'restraining equipment' (mostly ropes).
Before the restraining equipment arrives Timandra's and Chimal's Trump cards both deactivate.
The snatch is initiated.
Timandra's Trump is the focus of much Psychic effort. The Trump call connects, but link at the other end opens up to a strong mind that is not instantly broken down as Timandra resists out psychic attack. It takes five minutes of intense concentration by all four of us before suddenly the link suddenly and without warning opens. Godofos quickly grabs into the link and pulls Timandra through to us.
The Trump link closes behind her.
Godofos and Caitlin immediately start hitting Timandra, while Jihx stands back, waiting to see if he is needed and Whippoorwill yells "Yield, Yield!" at her. This last has little effect.
Timandra herself hangs in Godofos' grip, remaining conscious but increasingly bloody. The beating stops as it becomes apparent that she is not resisting.
So we strip Timandra of all her possessions. Strangely, she has no magical items or Trumps on her.
She is then knocked about a bit more by Godofos - she stubbornly refuses to be knocked out, though - then gagged and tied up in the corner.
While this is done, Jihx keeps a watch on the Trump decks. The other link has gone down now and been replaced by a link between Parikhan and 'TV anchor woman'.
Whippoorwill suggests we make an immediate attack while we still may have surprise on our side. This sounds like a plan.
Castalia is suggested as a target for this, as her mind is known to be fairly weak.
Only Jihx and Caitlin make the attempt this time while Whippoorwill and Godofos stand by and watch Timandra, Godofos keeping one eye on the Trump decks as he does so.
This time the link opens after only a minute or so of resistance, and seems to be much more a process of breaking down the resistance rather than being let in as was the case with Timandra.
However, as the link opens up we see that the person at the other end is an only vaguely humanoid block of black iron steam powered machinery, watching us through glass camera-eyes. It is roughly the size of two large filing cabinets and has blades, whirling buzz saws and maces dotted over itself. There is no obvious way to grab it! Despite this, Whippoorwill reaches through with his mace, parrying where he can, and grabs for her.
Because she is mind-locked, Whippoorwill does this without trouble. However, he cannot avoid taking some damage from Castalia's defenses, and from noticing that the black iron is hot, too hot to touch without protection. He ignores this for now, and some damage to Whippoorwill later the thing is pulled through the link into Meeting Room Two.
As soon as the Trump link is down Jihx draws his sword and he and Godofos join Whippoorwill in the attack on Castalia. Caitlin continues to attack it psychically, causing it some significant distraction.
Despite this dual attack the thing is shifting shape, armouring itself.
Caitlin asks for psychic assistance, so Jihx joins her.
Seeking a way to stop Castalia more permanently, Whippoorwill ceases attacking and instead Trumps to The Hospital. Upon arrival, he orders the staff there to bring a cryogenic suspension unit ready for immediate use.
They tell him that they have some close by ready for use, and go to make ready.
Whippoorwill then Trumps Jihx.
In Amber, Jihx feels the Trump call coming on, but is busy and so does not take the call.
Whippoorwill, feeling this delay particularly in The Hospital, where time runs five times faster than in Amber, tries Godofos instead.
Back in Meeting Room Two, the Castalia-thing finally keels over.
With that done, Godofos finally answers Whippoorwill's Trump call.
Whippoorwill explains the situation, and so Castalia is passed through to him in The Hospital. However, the Castalia-thing will not fit into the cryogenic unit, as it is both larger than and a different shape to a normal human being.
A larger unit is ordered while Whippoorwill attempts to hammer the thing towards a smaller, more human shape. This is quite hard.
Timandra is also brought through the Trump link and put into a second cryogenic unit. She appears a bit dazed but is still conscious.
As the cryogenic unit closes her mind can still be sensed and is still conscious, even after she should be frozen solid!
So Timandra is retrieved from the suspension unit. As it is opened, Whippoorwill finds that Timandra is now shapeshifted into some kind of crystalline life form, which seems impervious to the cold. We decide to return her to Amber and imprison her in the Pattern Room instead. Godofos, Caitlin and Jihx will do this.
Castalia is put into an the oversized cryogenic unit and taken to the Secure Cryogenic Suspension Ward. Whippoorwill goes along too, remaining in The Hospital to keep an eye on her in case she too shifts into something capable of resisting the cold.
As the three of us leave Meeting Room Two for the Pattern Room, Gerard appears.
He demands to know what is going on and decides to accompany them to observe and get an update on what we have been doing as we go.
We go into the Main Dining Hall, round behind the stairs, through the doorway there and begin the long descent of the spiral staircase to the level of the Pattern Room. As we go, we summarise recent events to Gerard.
In The Hospital, there is no sign of Castalia waking up in her cryogenic chamber.
The medic's best guess is that she is all right, but unconscious. However, they are not used to such patients!
Whippoorwill gives orders that on any sign of activity the patient is to be subdued.
He then Trumps Godofos.
In Amber, Godofos and the rest of us are nearing the bottom of the stairs when Whippoorwill's Trump call comes in. Godofos identifies the caller, accepts the call, and Whippoorwill comes through to join the rest of us.
As we have been descending, Godofos has been keeping an eye on the Trump decks. Various links have been made in the meantime, although none to 'skinny fella', which seems odd to us.
Also, Timandra has shifted back from her crystalline form into her human form.
Jihx hypothesis that the Trump engine card is the source of the 'shadow stretching blurrr thing'. That is, the strange Chaos power. We discuss this, the dismiss the idea as the effect did not appear to be Trump-related.
We reach the bottom of the stairs, and go off down the tunnel towards the Pattern Room. The various guards on route let us through without incident. There is a newly-carved Guardroom outside the Pattern Room. The guards there salute and let us in.
As usual, the Pattern shimmers there on the floor of the Pattern room, making everything else appear insubstantial (Timandra slightly more so than the rest of us). There is no sign of any of the Vadgaon worms. Phew. The cage by the Pattern in which we, for example, imprisoned the likes of Lillian, is still there. Timandra is locked into it, tied up, hooded and gagged.
Godofos leaves the room briefly and attempts to Trump Timandra just in case this is some kind of duplicate. He fails to get through, providing evidence that this is the real Timandra, who cannot be contacted because she is in the Pattern Room.
We discuss snatching 'skinny fella' on the grounds that as he has not been contacted, he must be significant in some way.
We also discuss trying to keep Timandra, and the difficulties involved in doing so. It is feared she can shapeshift out of the cage; Arun could certainly do so without any problems. Killing her is also discussed.
Gerard decides to leave us to it and goes off, mumbling something about "having to defend Amber" - the bastard!
Whippoorwill Trumps off back to The Hospital, and then goes off into shadow to find a sealed and Trump-proof shadow to keep Chaos captives in. He quickly realises that this will takes days at least to achieve, so instead he Trumps to the Tunnel to obtain some hermetically sealed coffins which are used there to bury bodies heavily contaminated with chemical or biological weapons.
He has some of these stored in the cellar of his villa in the Tunnel - you never know when they'll come in handy - and so he takes two of them and Trumps back to Amber by way of Godofos, who has remained outside the Pattern room for exactly this purpose.
The two coffins are brought into the Pattern room and Timandra is put into one of them. She does not appear to suffocate, and remains conscious.
Further discussions are had regarding killing her. We still fear that she can escape.
Caitlin and Godofos want to execute her. Whippoorwill and Jihx do not.
"We either kill her, or I'm leaving!" Caitlin insists after some discussion of this point.
Whippoorwill decides that as a junior member of the group he should bow out of the decision.
Jihx thinks that it is the wrong thing to do - but cannot think of a better idea.
It is decided to execute her by throwing her onto the Pattern.
Whippoorwill is interested to see what she thinks of this execution idea, so she is retrieved from the coffin, de-hooded and un-gagged.
When questioned by Whippoorwill she admits that she has heard what they have been saying. "Submit to the Courts of Chaos and you will be spared," is, however, her only reply to our threat of execution.
She is lifted up by Godofos, at which she spits blood into his face and at all of us who are in range. Godofos gets a face sprayed with blood, but the rest of us manage to dodge this.
Godofos dumps her onto the Pattern. Sparks rise and crackle around her. She starts to crawl towards the edge but appears to be caught in the Pattern and finding there to be resistance to this movement. A miniature whirlwind forms above her. As this happens, we all get rather worried and start to step back from the Pattern. The whirlwind expands downwards and engulfs her. Her form starts to fade and become transparent and is then pulled into the whirlwind, which then also dissipates. No trace is left, except for the blood on Godofos's face.
He wipes this off with a handkerchief given to him by Whippoorwill.
We decide to execute the remaining prisoners using the same technique.
Leaving the Pattern Room we make our way back to the stairs and past them into the dungeons. Guards there leads us to the cells containing the two other Chaos captives.
Both the captives are conscious by now. The four headed snake-thing appears nervous and is slithering up and down in its cell. The black leathery-skinned demon appears calm.
Godofos talks to them both. Heavily sarcastic pleasantries are exchanged with the black leathery demon. The snake-thing appears eager to please.
Food and water is provided to both prisoners, being delivered into the cells through lockable slots in the bottom of the doors.
The black leathery-skinned demon asks what its fate is to be.
Godofos suggests that it gives up its claim on Amber and vows never to return, in which case perhaps it can be released.
It politely declines this offer, suggesting that others will also because, if they return to Chaos unsuccessful, their families will be killed. Although from what it says they are not families as such, but instead are Coteries, whatever they are. It does say that it and a few others amongst the Chaosites will not suffer that fate because of their status; those whose Coterie is threatened are here to atone for some form of transgression to which it and the others are not party. Apparently those whose Coterie is in danger have transgressed in some fashion, and are being punished, whereas he and the others are here voluntarily.
When asked, he tells us that Timandra's spitting of blood was probably just a gesture of defiance.
However, no immediately useful information is gained from the conversation.
Whippoorwill takes the handkerchief with Timandra's blood on it and Trumps to The Hospital. Upon arrival he asks for it to be analysed. The staff put the handkerchief into a sealed bag and go off to do this.
He then checks on Castalia, and finds that she is the same as before - unconscious.
He then Trumps back to Jihx.
There is a brief discussion of options, including the possible snatching of more Chaos leaders.
We reject this at this stage as they are probably ready for another attack by now. Instead, we decide to go to Coraltown to see what the status of the battle there is.
Godofos uses up one of the Chaos Trumps and when the link opens can see through it that the destination location is badly damaged, and half-full of solidified lava. In the background Coraltown is visible. The battle appears to still be raging. The other Trump of Coraltown works in the same way and seems to provide a similar view.
Godofos then decides to try the Trump or Timandra to check whether the person we killed was a fake or not.
He makes a quick sketch of the dungeon so we can return here easily - strictly this is not allowed but he doesn't care - and we Trump up to the Arrival Courtyard.
Once we have identified ourselves to the guards, we try Timandra's Trump. We obtain no response.
We then decide that, as he has not been contacted yet and so should be ignorant of what is going on, 'skinny fella' could be safely snatched.
We try his Trump, but unfortunately do not get through.
The Trump of the place of pillars by water also does not work. We wonder why anyone would have a Trump of a Trump-barred location. Perhaps it is a shadow into or out of which one cannot Trump, but where Trump is possible inside the shadow...
It is thought that perhaps the place of pillars is a Trump of somewhere in the Courts of Chaos, and that 'skinny fella' is there too. If that is so, then we are too far away for them to work.
So we Trump to the tree of Ygg, to be halfway to the Courts of Chaos, to try again.
Unfortunately the Trumps of 'Skinny fella', Timandra and the places of pillars are still un-contactable from here.
Godofos attempts to Trump Finndo, who we know to be dead, and Ghenesh, which we know to be destroyed, to compare the feelings he gets when he does this to what he gets from 'Skinny fella', Timandra and the places of pillars. He cannot feel any difference.
It is possible that these places and people are in Trump barred shadows.
More discussion ensues. Should we attempt another snatch? Should we try contacting some of the other cards in the Chaos Trump decks?
Jihx jokingly suggests that we snatch the Coterie members who are in danger whose Trumps are in the decks and throw them onto the Pattern. To his distress Caitlin likes this plan!
"I am not sure that killing them does a great deal," she adds, however.
To avoid long-winded discussions such as these Whippoorwill suggests that we have a leader who will just decide what to do. Godofos is not keen on the idea, but it is agreed that we will try it out.
As junior member Whippoorwill rules himself out as leader.
"If it's Jihx, I'm not playing," Caitlin states.
"If it's Caitlin, we're all doomed," Jihx states.
By default, that leaves Godofos. And so he is voted leader. "Oh great. The only person who did not want a leader becomes leader!" he protests.
However, now that he has the job, he then makes the decision to initiate some more snatches and execute any resulting captives.
We compile a list of targets, starting with those known to have the weakest minds.
The only target to really come out of this is Parikhan, who Godofos and Whippoorwill suspect is the two-headed creature they saw near Coraltown, and who had a mind about as strong as that of Godofos. Then we hesitate again, wondering whether they will be ready for another snatch and make a combined counter-strike.
Jihx suggests Trumping Anaximander, as he has a theory that he is the black leathery demon in the cells.
A combined plan is devised. First, we will attempt to open a Trump Gate to Anaximander. If we can open the Trump gate then he cannot be in the Amber cells so we will lob through Godofos' portable Trump Gate and activate it to pour lava through to the other end. Then we will Trump one of the others and snatch them.
So we Trump back from Ygg to Amber and, from the Arrival Courtyard, concentrate on Anaximander's Trump. It does not take long before the link opens up, and we are looking at a leathery black-skinned demon who appears to be in a cell. Jihx's theory is thus confirmed. Anaximander says hello. We drop the Trump link.
This highlights the fact that if the other Chaos people wanted to they could Trump him and take him away! So why haven't they?
We use Godofos' new Trump sketch of the dungeons to travel there. As we arrive, the guards point out that this is illegal. Godofos still doesn't care.
We remove each prisoner in turn, bind them, and begin to transfer the two captives to the coffins in the Pattern room to prevent their being Trumped away.
Portunus is distressed by this prospect, and that of death. Anaximander seems unconcerned, however. "I have lived a long and full life," he comments. "And I do not fear death. Though I would have quite liked to be part of the battle at Chaos, I made my decision and chose this more challenging mission."
Whippoorwill asks Anaximander why they haven't escaped.
"Ah, that would be telling!" he says.
As we head for the Pattern Room, Godofos and Caitlin suddenly feel a burst of Trump coming from inside Portunus, as if he is somehow engaging a Trump link.
Godofos and Caitlin immediately attack him, hindered somewhat by Portunus' barbed scales.
Portunus hisses in pain as Caitlin stabs through him with her sword (his having four heads in this form makes her reluctant to try for decapitation), and the 'Trumpness' flickers. He hisses a word and Caitlin is suddenly wracked with pain, which is more than a little distracting.
Seeing what is going on Whippoorwill joins the attack with his mace.
The snake slumps to the floor unconscious under a single blow from Whippoorwill.
During all this Anaximander just steps back and watches.
Caitlin decapitates the snake creature, four times. This appears to be terminal. She then chops up the pieces.
Godofos and Caitlin can sense a very faint Trump power in the snake-thing, that fades away as it is cut to pieces.
Anaximander is locked up in a hermetically-sealed coffin in the Pattern Room. The other coffin is put on top of it, to hold the top down.
The Pattern Room guards are told to keep a close watch on him.
We then decide to try the 'snatch' plan on Parikhan.
We Trump back up to the Amber Arrival courtyard to do this. Upon arrival we warn the guards there about what is about to happen, and give them permission to fire if necessary.
Godofos Trumps his portable Trump Gate and brings it through to us in Amber. He gets it ready and linked up to a shadow full of lava while Parikhan is Trumped by the combined minds of the rest of us.
After a minute or so of hard effort the link opens up, revealing a large rhino sized, double headed, four legged, multi-trunked, fanged creature. It is apparently alone in a featureless room.
As soon as the link opens up, Godofos throws through the portable gate and turns it on. As he does this a dozen tiny things are thrown back through the Trump link in the other direction by one of Parikhan's trunks. All of us apart from Godofos feel magic dissipating on them as they arrive, as if they had spells cast on them which have now been destroyed by arrival in a different shadow.
Immediately the tiny things grow into full sized mantichores!
The Amber Arrival Courtyard is suddenly somewhat crowded.
Jihx reaches through the Trump link and grabs Parikhan by a tentacle/trunk, pulls her through, and begins to attack her mind. The other three and the courtyard guards begin to attack the mantichores.
Caitlin leaps at a mantichore and thrusts her sword up through the bottom of its head. This does not kill the mantichore and she gets out of the way as sweeps its claws at her...
Session 4.8 Index Session 4.10
The "Now These Her Princes Are Come Home Again" Top Page.
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