In Amber
Over breakfast, Arndis and Lucian discuss their shadows of origin with Joshua.
They also discuss skiing and the revelation that Lucien and Joshua are half-brothers.
Joshua questions Lucian's reality which leads to a discussion of relative reality and Tir.
Joshua talks about how hard it is to try and grow up in Amber.  Arndis and Lucian suggest that he go to college.

In his chambers, Quentin finishes untangling Amber's rules regarding the reproductive habits of the ruling family.  He discovers that the only family member who can reproduce in Amber is the one acknowledged by the majority of family members actually in Amber as King (or possibly Queen).
He calls Wakenda and tells him what he's found.

Wakenda goes to tell Random about this and to bring him up to date on his attempt to restore the trump defenses on the castle.
Wakenda is suffering from personality blending with Martin after reinforcing the trump defenses on the castle.
Wakenda goes back to Quentin's chambers where the two discuss trump theory.

In Eire
Quentin and Wakenda go to Eire (Quentin's shadow) where Quentin asks Wakenda to draw some trumps for him.
Wakenda wants privacy, so Quentin sends him to Lugh, one of Eire's moons.
Quentin goes to check on how things are going with his troops.  Things are going all right, but Hildegard and Donal want to introduce an opposing force.
Quentin, Hildegard and Donal go searching for some shadows where an OpFor could be based.

When Quentin introduces Wakenda to his command staff, Jerome (one of the Chaosians working for Quentin) recognizes him.  He knows that someone wants Wakenda dead but doesn't know who or why.  There were a lot of strings attached to the contract:  oversight, limited collateral damage.

Back in Amber
Lucian wants to know what sort of notes Fiona has on Tir.  So does Arndis.
Dryden is still in the tower, although Arndis has decided that she is sending him to magic school.
Arndis and Lucian look at Fiona's "normal" notes and discover that Tir has previously vanished while people were interacting with it.

Arndis takes Lucian to Center and explains how it works.

Meanwhile, out in shadow
Quentin, Hildegard and Donal have found some workable shadows which Quentin then begins pulling toward Eire.
Eventually, Quentin goes off to Lugh to find Wakenda.  They have a private conversation there.
Wakenda has finished the trump, and they are distributed amongst Quentin and his associates.

In Amber (or a pocket universe or wherever Center is)
Arndis and Lucian wrap up their research for the moment.
They haven't done much.
They head back to Fiona's tower where they find that Dryden has set up a telescope to spy on the city.

Lucian goes looking for Corwin, so he can try and get a copy of Corwin's books on Patternfall.  He doesn't find him.

Arndis, Lucian and Dryden go out for a ride in shadow.

In dangerous corners of shadow
Wakenda wanders off to work on making himself into a plague-bearer.

Quentin and Hildegard go looking for things to populate the OpFor shadow.  Some things that are evil, some things that are just randomly chaotic, some things that are just obnoxious to deal with.  These include:

    A shadow of Misao.
    Vampires of various sorts with a focus on the World of Darkness type.
    The Shadows (from Babylon 5).
    The Borg (from various Star Trek series).
    The Montenegros (from this GM's GURPS campaign).
    The Cube (from the movie of the same name).
    The setting and villains from Blue Submarine #6 (anime).
    The Catholic Church as presented in Simmons' Hyperion series.
    Radioactive dragons (from Tancred's home shadow).
    Severely patriarchal societies.
    Severely matriarchal societies.
    Wolfram & Hart (from Angel).
    Big Brother from 1984.
    Deadites (from Evil Dead I and II, and Army of Darkness).
    K'z'k (Kizke/Kenny).
    Templars as presented in the World of Darkness materials.
    The setting from the Mad Max movies.
    The Blues Brothers (from the movie of the same name).
    Assorted monsters from just about any setting, including Godzilla.
    The Post Brothers (from the comic of the same name).
    Saruman and Sauron (from The Lord of the Rings).
    Psi Corps (from Babylon 5).
    Setting and characters from The Sopranos.
    The Wars of the Roses (from Earth history).
    The Doctor (from Dr. Who).
    An assortment of generic, stupid, selfish people.
    The setting and villains from Big Trouble in Little China.
    Various Lovecraftian Mythos things.
    Darth Vader and Darth Maul (from Star Wars).
    Daleks (from Dr. Who).
    Cybermen (from Dr. Who).
    Mongol Horde (from Earth history).
    The Heart of Gold and her crew (from Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
    Professor Moriarty (from Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories).
    Berserkers (from Saberhagen's stories).
    The Technocore and the Shrike (from Simmons' Hyperion series).
    Assorted terrorist groups.
    Nazi Germany (from Earth history).
    Viral AIs.
    Magneto and the Sentinels (from various X-Men comics).
    The League of Darkness (from The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne).
    Monty Python.
    Characters and situations borrowed from shows like News Radio and Night Court.
    Secret alien invasion as presented in First Wave.

Elsewhere, in less dangerous parts of shadow
Lucian and Arndis are still wandering.
They come across a pleasant looking mill and a chocolate shop and a good tavern.

Lucian trumps Sybella and asks her how Henry is doing.  She mentions that he's started spending time in the city with Soletta and Patricia.
She also mentions that two of her friends, Esther, a minstrel, and Rory, a blacksmith's apprentice, are missing.  Lucian suggests that his friend, Emma, might be able to help.

A while later, Sybella calls Lucian back.
Emma is also gone--  Nobody knows where she is.  She went out to run some errands this morning and never came back.

Lucian returns to Amber.
Arndis and Dryden stay out in shadow.