Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
In the fast Enchanted Earth, Arun continues with building a new body for Godofos from samples of skin, hair and blood. This is not easy - bad things keep happening to the body in the form of mutations, deformities, and so on, but Arun keeps trying.
As he does so, Arun ponders on his plan to make shadow egalitarian by making everyone, everywhere, of the blood of Amber. After rejecting a number of what he concludes are highly unethical plans (such as sending out sperm creatures of his desire to impregnate unsuspecting women across shadow) he thinks about setting up 'Arun's cross shadow sperm bank', to provide his seed to all those needy people out in shadow.
He considers finding a shadow where all the men have died off as a starting point for this. He will impregnate all the women on this shadow to give his plan a good starting point. From there he will have a vast pool of children to indoctrinate with his view of 'equality' and carry on his plan!
In Rebma, Moire and Jihx walk up from the Pattern room back to the Castle. Moire ponders whether Connor and Nemain should be spoken too or not - after all, she points out, they are above normal citizens as regards the law. The laws of Rebma do strictly prohibit incestuous behaviour, but Moire is not going to prosecute Connor and Nemain for it, if they are in fact doing it. She suggests that if nothing else they be encouraged to sleep with others, a more open relationship sort of thing.
Jihx does not strongly object to this, and says he thinks he should return to Amber. Moire kisses him farewell, and Jihx goes through the Trump to the Amber courtyard.
Also in the fast Enchanted Earth, Etienne prepares things - gunpowder and spells particularly.
Arun struggles on with the rebuilding of Godofos' body. Eventually the new body reaches the physical age of 22, with all of the detectable deformities removed, so Arun has the timer on the 'body machine' go off - 'Ping!' - and decants the body onto an infirmary bed.
Etienne and the bottle containing Godofos' spirit are summoned, and when Etienne arrives with it the spirit is let out of the bottle to enter its new home. They can both sense the spirit fizzling away as it slowly enters the body. The spirit doesn't seem a very good fit, but eventually it does enter the body, and Godofos takes a breath and opens his eyes.
Arun asks him if he feels lucky.
"Well at least I'm not dead and in Hell any more," he says. He continues that the rest of us don't know what Hell is like after only being in the "anteroom to Hell". He asks for food and drink - lots of it. Luckily it is a saints day so a big feast is already being prepared. Godofos goes off to feast.
Arun is very tired and goes off to sleep. Etienne also goes off to sleep.
[Note: People in the Enchanted Earth refer to Etienne as 'Sister'.]
Elsewhere in shadow, Caitlin continues to direct Skyrie's flying pink castle, SkyDoom, through shadow, from its control tower. She is seeking a shadow hostile to God, very fast and with 'bounce-back reincarnation'.
The shadows she is travelling through seem to be tending to high tech and magical too. Landscapes littered with little temples and the signs of warfare seem to be the nature of the shadows SkyDoom is passing through at the moment.
Jihx arrives in Amber. He Trumps Skyrie, but gets no answer (Skyrie is sleeping at the moment), so he Trumps Caitlin instead.
She resists, so he gives up then tries again. This time she eventually answers.
She lets Jihx come through to SkyDoom's control tower. He asks where Caitlin is going, and she briefly explains, then impatiently adds some further detail when Jihx wants to know more.
Jihx gets bored when Caitlin refuses to let him wander the castle, warning him of the horrible deaths that lie in various directions. Some of these warnings are even true. He goes to sleep on a couch in the control tower.
Caitlin Get bored too, and starts to pass the castle through an area of high turbulence and vastly strong winds, ostensibly to give it extra speed.
Skyrie and Jihx wake up as the castle is thrown about by these vast winds. Jihx just notices it, but Skyrie is thrown out of bed and, rather alarmed by the fact that the solid stone structure of SkyDoom is being tossed about in this way, assumes they are under attack and rushes to the bridge, his three pokemon in tow. Caitlin explains what is going on.
Skyrie and Jihx says they will take over the controls while Caitlin goes off to rest. She does so.
Skyrie maintains his spells and magical items, which are suffering quite a lot from all this movement through shadow.
Jihx flies the castle.
In the fast Enchanted Earth, Arun and Etienne awake and over breakfast consider how to rescue Gerard.
Etienne says that she has spoken to the non-mad God of this shadow and that we could pass through the gate to the palace of Hell in this shadow without being judged (as he is the non-mad God). We could then travel down through the sane God's Hell to Cocytus in the Ninth Circle of Hell, then shift through shadow to the equivalent place in the Hell of the mad God, where Gerard is trapped in the ice, and try to free him (i.e. similar to what we have done to go from outside the gate into sane God's Hell here to outside the gate into the mad God's Hell elsewhere, only done from within Hell itself). She suggests gunpowder to blast him out of the ice; Arun considers using shapeshifting to the same end, either shapeshifting the ice away to free Gerard, of shifting Gerard himself.
However, Etienne does point out that even the Hell of the sane God is inhabited by demons that would attack us.
Regardless of this, Arun thinks this sounds like a good idea, so he Trumps Jihx.
Jihx gets a Trump call, and answers it. It is Arun.
Jihx asks about how Godofos is. Arun explains the problems he had building him a new body.
They discuss Etienne's plan, Etienne joining the link too to explain further. She cautions them against releasing Satan, who is also trapped in the Ninth Circle of Hell, not too far from the ice that Gerard is trapped in.
She also describes a possible plan to trap God in a bottle, acting from the very bottom of Hell, close to Lucifer where God's power is weaker, and using as much combined Amberite power as is available. It is agreed to bring together as many Amberites as possible to do this.
Caitlin is awoken by the voice of the castle, who says the others have a plan, and could she join them in the control tower. She collects her stuff and goes to join the others. The plan is explained to her.
Jihx Trumps Connor and Nemain to ask them to participate. They eventually agree to take part, but only after Jihx promises them that will not be sent back to the burning sands of the Seventh Circle of Hell. They come through to Jihx in SkyDoom.
Etienne goes back to the fast Enchanted Earth to see if Godofos is up for the trip. There is some concern that his not having re-walked the Pattern yet might put him at a disadvantage.
Arun Trumps Lillian, who appears to be in Amber Castle, and the plan is explained to her as well. She comes through to SkyDoom too.
Caitlin remembers that Vialle mentioned that the Jewel of Judgement might be useful, and that some servants had been sent to the Library in the Castle Amber to find out about it. Jihx Trumps back to Amber to find out what they have discovered.
Upon arrival he goes to the Library. A librarian greets him and he asks what has been found out about the Jewel.
He has given a report which has been prepared for him. In summary, it says that no-one in Amber knows where the Jewel is. Apparently, according to Gerard King Oberon used it re-draw the Primal Pattern and once he had done so teleported back to its edge with it, and died. At that point a red bird picked it up in its claws and flew off with it, to take it to Prince Corwin who was at that point on his way to the Courts of Chaos. So, no go there, then.
Etienne Trumps through to Godofos, and explains to him the plan to rescue Gerard and stop God by going into Hell. He readily agrees to come along for a bit of revenge, and doesn't seem worried that he hasn't walked the Pattern since being placed into this new body.
Arun, in SkyDoom, gets a Trump call, and accepts it. It is Jihx, who tells him he has had no joy on the Jewel of Judgement front. He comes through to SkyDoom.
Lillian asks for her Trump deck and other cards back from Skyrie, then asks who he is. Introductions are made.
Skyrie suggests that Hell could be used as a way to resurrect ourselves, if necessary. The power of judgement would remain there, but it just would not be used on us.
In the fast Enchanted Earth, Etienne tries to Trump Caitlin, but Caitlin resists and Etienne doesn't get through. Etienne explains to Godofos that Caitlin's mind has become very strong lately.
In SkyDoom, Caitlin gets a bag of useful random stuff from a castle storeroom.
Etienne Trumps Arun instead and everyone in SkyDoom goes through to her in the fast Enchanted Earth. Skyrie goes last, having SkyDoom fold up into its bracelet form before he comes through as he begins to fall from the sky.
Etienne opens up the armoury of the Palace of Rome to anyone who wants anything, limited only by the local level of technology and so on.
As people tool up, Skyrie suggests the use of Trump power to power weapons. Lillian agrees with him, and says that that is how Finndo's airships were powered. Skyrie points out that Jihx's sword is Trump powered too.
People ask about firearms, so Etienne demonstrates an arquebus. Caitlin is contemptuous of its primitive nature, and mentions the more advanced guns available elsewhere, but Etienne says it is the most advanced type of gunpowder firearm that works here - she has experimented!
A couple of barrels of gunpowder are suggested as a means to extract Gerard from the ice.
Arun wants to take a cannon which is off to one side, but Godofos refuses to carry it. Godofos stocks up on other weapons instead.
A cart is suggested to carry all the heavy equipment. Caitlin suggests bringing a picnic too!
Etienne opens a door and finds a handcart loaded with two barrels of gunpowder and a picnic hamper waiting behind it.
Connor and Nemain find a jewellery box on a shelf with their armour-pendants in it. Jihx finds a snake ring in the same box; it looks just like the one he found himself to be wearing the first time he went into Ante-Hell, so he takes it and puts it on. Connor and Nemain also find their crystal daggers (which turn into swords) and trigger their pendants so that they turn into armour, of very similar design to Jihx's, but more of a greenish-gold colour.
Etienne offers signs of God (crucifix pendants) to everyone as partial protection from the demons. Most people take one.
Skyrie picks up two self-loading, self-cocking crossbows.
Lillian and Caitlin get armour. Lillian's is a chain shirt and trousers with a breast- and back-plate plus greaves and forearm pieces. Caitlin's is a suit of light, un-encumbering chain mail. The very fact that Caitlin is choosing to wear armour gives some indication of how seriously she is taking this...
Arun casts a spell on one of the armourers - something to free its target from the shackles of their conventional thinking and let them think freely (it is something he developed to help spread his ideas of equality and egalitarianism). Etienne and Skyrie notice him do this.
Etienne is not keen on Arun magically tempering with her people, so she casts an 'Undo Magic' spell on the man. He burns with orange flame for a moment, then the flames go away, having burnt off all the magic and leaving the man entirely unharmed. The man thanks Etienne and excuses himself.
And we are ready to go.
Etienne casts the 'Open Door To Hell' spell on the cupboard in which we found the cart. And a massive black iron door appears, as usual. She lifts the bar and we all go through into Ante-Hell. Etienne pushes the handcart with the gunpowder and the picnic hamper.
As before, we are on a path in dark menacing woodland with, just in front of us, the gateway inscribed with the poem ending in 'All hope abandon ye who enter here'.
Caitlin asks how to identify the demons, as opposed to the damned souls of Hell. Etienne explains how the demons, as fallen angels, are all hideous in appearance and so should be easily distinguishable from the damned, who generally look human. Demons can be killed without any problems.
Etienne walks on through the arch with her handcart. Arun goes next, followed by Jihx, Godofos, Connor and Nemain. Skyrie, Caitlin and Lillian wait in Ante-Hell.
Those who went through the archway find themselves on a plain of mud sloping down to a wide, fast-flowing black river. They appear to be being bitten by invisible insects which do not seem to be bothered by people's armour; Jihx seems to be being bitten less than everyone else, Godofos more. Arun tries to shift shape into something that can resist the insect bites; it doesn't seem to help.
Behind them, away from the river (the River Acheron, Etienne points out), are some low brown hill that look to be made of the same mud they are standing on now. They can see the souls of people chasing what appear to be banners about the hills (Etienne says that those who hadn't made any choices in life end up here). There is no sign of the gate which we just came through. The sky overhead is a roiling grey, like turbulent clouds.
A wooden jetty is visible jutting out into the river a little way off. A large punt is moored there, with the ferryman standing in the stern, leaning on his pole.
On the far side of the river a white stone wall seems to mark the far shore; there is no beach visible there. Beyond the walls green fields and white stone houses are visible. More light seems to be shining there than here, as if it is in sunshine. The only visible break in the wall on the other side is at another jetty like the one on this side, which seems to have a road leading off behind it.
Back in Ante-Hell, Skyrie opens a Trump link with Arun. He wants Arun to come through to him, just to make sure that we can get out of Hell in case it all goes horribly wrong. However, Arun cannot go through the Trump link - it seems impossible to make physical contact (in the same way as when we were rescuing people from the other Hell, earlier).
Skyrie concentrates and turns the Trump link into a proper Trump gate. Arun finds he can step through it and appears with Skyrie, Caitlin and Lillian in Ante-Hell. Unlike before, he comes through physically rather than turning into a bodiless spirit, and is showing no signs of fizzing away.
Skyrie quickly does two Trump sketches of Ante-Hell, keeps one and passes the other to Caitlin.
Etienne goes down to the jetty and examines the boat there. The ferryman - whom Etienne knows is named Charon - glares at her; he is a tall, wiry old man with a long white beard and eyes like glowing coals.
Arun goes through the gate into Hell again. Caitlin, Skyrie and Lillian do not follow.
Shortly after he arrives on the mud-flats, Arun gets another Trump call. He accepts it. It is Skyrie, who opens a new Trump gate through which Caitlin, Lillian and himself go, avoiding the 'official' gate into Hell entirely.
Once through, Skyrie starts to sketch again, two sketches of this place this time. Again he gives the second to Caitlin - Skyrie believes that Caitlin is more likely to survive than anyone else, so the Trumps are likely to be most useful with her.
Etienne kneels to pray, and feels the presence of God come upon her. She asks Him to show us that there is still a way back for us. A gate appears close to Etienne, which looks like the back of the gate in the woodlands, and indeed the woods are visible through its arch. Etienne thanks God for his help, and stands. The gate disappears again.
Eventually everyone goes down to the jetty and gets into the punt. The biting of the invisible insects stops once get into the boat. Those who have been here before - Lillian, Godofos, Connor and Nemain - all sit as far from the ferryman as they can.
Etienne puts the handcart down into the boat too, but the ferryman - using only one hand - throws the cart and all its contents far out into the river. He appears to be stupendously strong - far outshining Godofos. We wait for a little while.
A couple of other people turn up, a samurai and a medieval-looking peasant type, and once they are aboard Charon pushes the punt off from the jetty and begins to pole us across the river Acheron. "Do not touch the water," Etienne warns everyone. "As you will be trapped under it forever if you do."
We race across the water at high speed, and quickly reach the other side. We get out onto the jetty there.
Skyrie tries to use the Pattern find the handcart and its contents washed up on this side of the river but nothing appears. Arun offers to use his shapeshifting to synthesise more gunpowder. However, he really needs a sample. Etienne gives him a pinch of gunpowder from the powder-horn of her arquebus.
The high walls which line the river's edge on this side turn inwards by the jetty and go along both sides of a road which leads away from the river. It appears to twist and turn so we cannot see far along it. The samurai marches onwards. The peasant stays with us.
When we turn back we can see that the punt is now back on the other side of the river again.
We follow the road between the high white stone walls. It twists and turns so we can never see very far in either direction. Occasionally there is a black metal door let into the wall on one side or the other.
Etienne tells us that this is the First Circle of Hell, Limbo, the place for those who are virtuous, but who have never known the word of God. The sounds of children's laughter can be heard over the wall.
Skyrie tries to open one of the black metal doors, but it appears to be locked. He decides to leave well enough alone for now. We continue on.
A huge square-built palace of white marble in a Minoan style begins to be visible over the walls as we go along, and rises before us as we come closer.
We turn a corner and the doorway of the palace is visible before us up a wide flight of marble steps. The walls along either side of the road merge with the walls of the palace. We go up the steps and in through the huge bronze doors.
Inside, there is no furniture, just huge halls and chambers leading off. The walls are covered in Minoan-style frescos of bulls, dolphins, and attractive, scantily-clad young people. Large bronze torches burn in sconces on the walls. We continue on into the palace.
There are huge pillars inscribed in scripts none of us recognise, and large staircases. There is no sign of the samurai.
Then we notice that Godofos and the peasant have disappeared, though they were with us just now.
Jihx tries to Trump Godofos, but gets no answer.
Etienne kneels to pray, to contact God to ask what has happened.
Lillian has now disappeared too.
Etienne gets a response from God. "ALL HAVE THEIR OWN PATH TO WALK. YOU WILL ALL MEET AGAIN WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT," He tells her. He further tells Etienne that we cannot avoid this. Minos will deposit us all again together.
Etienne stands and passes along this information. We decide that there is really no other choice but to keep going. So we do.
Before long, Jihx, Connor and Nemain lose contact with the others. Connor and Nemain look scared. They comment that this is what happened before.
Jihx tries all of his Trumps. Nothing works, not even the Trumps of Connor and Nemain, and they are next to him.
Somewhere else, Skyrie and Arun try the Trumps of Jihx, Connor and Nemain, but nothing works.
Arun tries shifting through shadow, but again nothing happens.
Jihx and his children carry on, but he soon loses Connor and Nemain and is alone in the vast halls of the Palace of Minos.
Caitlin and Etienne soon lose Skyrie and Arun. They decide to try holding hands and skipping along together in the hope that this will stop them being separated.
Skyrie soon loses Arun, too.
Everyone continues on, there seeming to be little choice but to do so.
After a while, everyone individually (other than Caitlin and Etienne, who are still together) arrives in a huge rectangular chamber. The far wall of this chamber consists of huge pillars with open space between them, and beyond them seems to be nothing but the open sky of Hell. In front of the central pillar on that side of the chamber is a large white marble throne. Sat in the throne is the huge brown figure of a minotaur...
"Please tell me your sins, so that you may be properly judged," the minotaur asks pleasantly. He introduces himself as Minos, the Judge of the Damned.
Jihx agrees to be judged, and tells the minotaur that his sin is wrath. Minos nods, and a long cow-like tail appears from behind the throne and snaps towards him. Jihx dodges, and asks what is going on.
Minos tells him this is to take him to the part of Hell he is to go. Jihx agrees not to dodge again and this time when the tail snaps out it wraps around him seven times, binding him tightly before lifting him off the floor and carrying him out between the pillars.
Beyond the pillars a hideous, ever-changing scent composed of everything foul hits him; it changes over time so there seems no way to get used to it. The tail carries him out for miles over the pit of Hell which is now visible beneath him, in shape not unlike a vast open-cast mine, big enough to drop a planet into. It seems to be divided into a series of steps, going down and down. Fire and smoke are visible in places, far below.
Skyrie finds himself in the same position. He points a crossbow at the Minotaur, and claims he is an all-round sinner if judged by God's standards, with Pride being his primary one, or so others have said in the past.
However, Skyrie says he isn't really a sinner, but has come to Hell for another reason. He defiantly declares that he opposes God and all of God's designs. He and Minos discuss that back and forth for a little while, and eventually decide on blasphemy, or perhaps even the big brother of blasphemy, apostasy, as Skyrie's main sin. Skyrie is asked if he is ready to go to his appointed place?
He says that he would prefer to wait for the others, and is told he is free to stay and chat if he wants. Minos says some do stay and chat, some accept their fate, and some try to wriggle out of it, though that never works.
Skyrie chats with Minos for a while, then asks how to leave.
The Minotaur says that he transports you down to the appointed place. The only other way down is the steps - but he will end up in the same place in the end, or perhaps even somewhere worse. Skyrie says he has been warned and so at his request Minos shows him the steps, which lead down the outside wall behind Minos' throne.
Before he goes Skyrie quickly sketches the Minotaur. He was intending it to be a Trump sketch, but no Trump power goes into it. Oops.
Skyrie goes down the steps.
Arun arrives in front of the Minotaur, and he too is asked for his sins.
Arun refuses to admit to any.
"Why?" asks the Minotaur.
Arun proceeds to denounce God.
"Ah, blasphemy!" says the Minotaur.
Arun states that he really cannot choose his sin. Arun wants to put in an objection to his treatment since arriving in Hell - he wants to complete a customer feedback form! Strangely, none seem to be available.
Minos says that god blesses him - and that a damned soul like Arun cannot expect the same treatment. Arun agrees to accept Minos' judgement, and again Minos' tail snaps out from behind the throne, wrapping around him eight times and carrying him out between the pillars and off over the pit of Hell.
Caitlin and Etienne also reach Minos' throne room. The minotaur greets Etienne by name, and bows to her. Then he asks Caitlin about her sins.
She denies committing any sins at all, saying that these things are all relative, and as she does not believe anything she has done was wrong, how can she be judged for her actions?
Minos tells her that there is a Higher Law, to which all must answer, that whether she believes what she has done is wrong or not is irrelevant.
Caitlin does not accept this. She asks where Skyrie has gone. Minos indicates the steps with the same dire warnings he gave to Skyrie, that she will end up there in the end, or perhaps in somewhere worse. Caitlin decides to take her chances and goes on down the steps.
Etienne remains behind and agrees to abide by Minos' judgement. The tail of the minotaur snaps out again and wraps around her nine times before lifting her and carrying her off, out over Hell.
Far out over the pit of Hell, being carried by the tens-of-miles-long tail of Minos, Jihx begins to descend towards one of the circles of Hell.
As he is carried down towards the ground, all of his clothes and possessions tear away from around him until he is naked. Then the tail lets him down onto a desert of hot sand, where burning flakes fall constantly from the sky onto his exposed flesh. This hurts a great deal. The tail ravels up into the sky and is lost to sight.
Jihx has a strange urge to lie down supine on the sand and curse God a lot, but he resists this.
The tail carrying Arun also begins to carry him down towards ground level. He drops down past the burning desert and out over a region that seems to be divided into a series of ten wide, deep ditches carved into the rock, with occasional bridges arching over them.
The tail begins to carry him down towards the third of these rings. The floor of the ditch seems to have occasional holes in it, and there seem to be little fires here and there. Arun seems to be being carried towards one of these hole.
The tail deposits him head-first into a hole, which seems to be filled with oil. The tail unravels from around him, then departs back up into the sky. Arun is now immersed head-first in oil. He feels his feet, which are sticking up out of the hole, burst into flames. This really, really, hurts.
He feels a strong urge to stay in the hole, but decides this is, overall, a bad idea.
Skyrie discovers that the steps down from Minos' palace lead diagonally across a tall vertical white stone wall and end some way below, where that wall intersects with a rocky slope which runs off down from there at a forty-five degree angle.
He sees Caitlin also coming down the stairs from above, and tries out his Trumps. They do not work. The two of them meet up and discuss things.
They can see the great wind tumbling people around below them which appears to be the place from which they rescued Godofos - the Second Circle of Hell, to which the Lustful are condemned. They assume the others have all been judged by the minotaur and are in Hell somewhere.
No Trump power at all appears to be working. Bugger.
Caitlin and Skyrie realise that since they left the Palace of Minos up above they can sense the presence of Bad God all around them, rather than Etienne's Sane God. Damn.
They decide that they have been tooled over by Bad God and that the only thing to do now is to go back up to the Palace and kill the minotaur...
Session 3.7 Index Session 3.9
Skyrie's Diary for This Session