Session 35: "How many times do people fail to kill Archi?"

	Sylvie Trumps Ulysses to ask what the deal is with the coronation,
and if she's going to be Laughter's deputy in Arden.  Ulysses suggests she
ask Laughter about that last one.  Sylvie mentions that she's got presents
for Archi and Laughter: a couple of her cat/Morgenstern crossbreeds.  Oh
joy.  Ulysses goes through to her to get introduced to the horses, er
cats, er whatever.  (Corses?  Hats?)

	Figuring he's not going to get any sleep tonight, Archi gets up to
make sure everything's set for the ceremony.  Laughter insists on tagging
along, as does her demon escort.  Archi decides to train Mok's troops as
the castle guard, along with some troops from Foil and Corwin, mostly
because they're all he's got.  Corwin asks when Random's funeral is going
to be, since he's been arguing with Flora about this.  You see, until the
old king is interred, there can't be a new one.  Pity no one mentioned
this minor detail to Archi before now.  They opt for a small service
before the coronation, with a memorial service to be held later.  Flora is
less than thrilled, and decides to foist the duty off on Ulysses.  Archi
Trumps the poor boy and relays the good news.

	Melanie encounters Archi and his entourage in the Great Hall.  She
asks if he can assign her some quarters, so that she has some place to
plot, er sleep.  Archi arranges this, and mentions that he's training a
new guard, seeing as how the old one is mostly dead.  They discuss the
rapid pace at which things have been proceeding lately.

	Morning comes.  Sandr and Melanie go shopping for clothing
appropriate for the coronation.  Sandr allows Melanie to pick out his
outfit, and winds up attired in the style of a 19th century English
gentlemen.  He thinks the top hat is cool.  Since no one bothered to
invite them to the funeral service (an oversight, I'm sure), they opt to
pass the time until the coronation by having Sandr show Melanie around the
castle.

	Laughter tells Archi that Sky and Sylvie would like to be her
deputies in Arden.  Archi's more than willing to let her handle it.  They
head down to the stables to take a look at Sylvie's gifts.  The creatures
look mostly like horses, except for their legs, which are those of a cat,
and they are colored like a tabby.  They growl when Archi enters, until
Sylvie says he's a friend.  There are four total, for Archi, Laughter, Sky
and (naturally) Sylvie.  Archi opts to hold off riding his for now,
thanks.  Laughter names hers Azrael.  Archi notifies Flora that Ulysses is
taking care of the funeral, and learns that he has to perform the funerary
rites.  Joy.  He takes off with Laughter to Foil, to retrieve the Jewel
from the tree Laughter embedded it in.

	Flora, Caine, Bleys, Gerard, Llewella, Vialle, Archi, Laughter,
Sky, Vain and Flynn attend Random's funeral service.  Fiona was also
invited, but could not be reached.  Just before Archi starts speaking, a
red-haired woman who looks a lot like Melanie appears and fires a crossbow
bolt at Archi, but one of Laughter's demon guards steps in front of Archi
and takes the bolt instead.  Ulysses Trumps behind the woman and hits her,
but she disappears through a Trump hole.  Mok and his guard are called in,
but just as they arrive, a man who looks like Maron drops from the trees
by his ankles and shoots at Archi.  Archi dodges this one, and "Maron"
Logruses away.  Ulysses Trumps ahead of "Maron" in an effort to intercept
him, and gets tied up in the Logrus for his trouble.  Archi Trumps
Ulysses, but spares him the embarrassment being pulled through while
hog-tied.  Archi also Trumps Fiona, but he still can't reach her. 
Laughter has her demons take winged form to guard against an aerial
attack, and Archi begins the ceremony again.  This time there are no
interruptions, and Random is laid to rest.

	Archi turns himself over to Flora's tender mercies for his
coronation outfit.  Laughter wants no part of this death culture and hides
in the library, where Melanie and Sandr are reading.  Archi uses the Jewel
to push a Trump contact with Laughter, just to prove he can.  Laughter is
not pleased, and refuses to join him.  She proceeds to tell Melanie and
Sandr about the attacks that took place during the funeral, in her usual
not-so- subtle fashion.  Melanie points out that she was in sight of Sandr
and many pages all morning, so it wasn't her.  Laughter, Melanie and Sandr
go to Laughter's quarters and help her pick out a dress.

	Archi tries to persuade Flora to go easy on the lace on his
outfit, and they argue over colors for a while.  Flora insists on a red
motif, while Archi wants to wear his colors:  brown and green.  He exits
relatively unscathed and checks in on Laughter.  She models the two final
contenders for him and picks the Elizabethan dress over the Empire one,
for those who care.

	Archi holds a council to discuss things before the coronation. 
Flora, Caine, Corwin and Gerard are the only ones who show up.  Archi
Trumps Ulysses and asks him to find Fiona.  Ulysses Trumps her, and
realizes that the contact is blocked.  When he traces it, he finds Fiona
and Mandor chained to a wall in one of the houses that is fighting for the
throne in Chaos.  The whole area is blocked to Trump, even his living
Trump.  He tells this to Archi, thus making it his problem.  Archi asks if
Caine recognizes the house symbol.  He IDs it as Amberlash, and offers to
raid it.  Archi asks Corwin what else the Jewel can do, but Corwin didn't
even know it could do all of the things that Archi mentions.  He suggests
that Dara and Merlin might be able to help with the rescue attempt, and
Trumps Dara.  Melanie spies on the conversation, which starts with Dara
laughing heartily at Corwin's current state.  She agrees to send Merlin
and Jurt to try and free Fiona and Mandor.

	Archi walks the Pattern in his head, and tries to figure out what
else the Jewel can do.  He vanishes and appears in Tir-na Nog'th, along
with the Unicorn.  They play twenty questions about what the Jewel can do,
while Laughter keeps trying to Trump Archi, and he keeps ignoring her. 
Eventually she asks Ulysses to Trump his ass home.  Ulysses does this
thing, and they return at the same time that Merlin, Jurt and the former
prisoners Logrus in.  Melanie and Sandr decide to join the crowd,
ostensibly because Sandr wants to investigate the use of Logrus that he
sensed.  Mandor and Jurt request asylum in Amber, because Chaos is not a
cool place to be right now.  Archi, swell guy that he is, grants it.

	Archi asks everyone if there are any particular roles they wish to
play.  Caine and Gerard want the sea, Flora just wants the ear of the
King, Llewella is happy as she is, Corwin just wants to hang out in Avalon
while he regrows a few essential body parts, and Fiona guesses Bleys will
be happy replanting Arden.  Archi wants the red-heads to keep an eye on
the Pattern as well.  Fiona suggests he post a substantial guard.  That
takes care of the Elders.  As for the younger generation, Ulysses says he
will do whatever needs to be done, which Archi figures includes helping
him make the appropriate decisions.  Sandr offers to take anything Archi
wants to give him, so he gets the task of maintaining the castle's
defensive spells and keeping an eye on the Pattern.  Shandril donates her
minotaur guard to watch the sea caves, but she doesn't want to supervise
them and suggests Mok take that role.  Sky will assist Laughter, Vain has
no clue, and Flynn joins the Arden posse.  Melanie desires no role in
particular, but will help with what does not conflict with her obligations
in Chaos.  Merlin is assigned tasks similar to Sandr's.  Cameron is
assigned some duty pertaining to electricity in Amber, I think.  Once all
of the job postings are filled, Shandril and Mok are officially elevated
to Princess and Prince, respectively, due to Eric's death.

	Mandor and Laughter go off to discuss father/daughter things,
while Archi chats with Jurt about the hell that is currently Chaos.  Jurt
reveals that Despil was killed in the ongoing war.  Other stuff happens
that hopefully the other log caught, as Melanie was talking with Sandr at
the time.  Laughter finds a cherry tree in the gardens to tree the Jewel
in, which she and Archi figure should keep it safe.  Laughter bets that
Archi can't find all of the weapons she's carrying, so he pulls her into a
side room and proceeds do a thorough search.  He's impressed by the number
of weapons that he finds.  Personally, I think Laughter is suffering from
paranoia from her duplicate in Wendi's universe.

	Sandr looks depressed, so Melanie tries to figure out what's wrong
with him this time.  He feels like he's being used again.  Melanie tells
him to quit if it bugs him.  Nope, he's afraid they'll kill her then. 
Melanie fails to see the logic in this.  She argues unsuccessfully that
she's in no danger, and tries to persuade him to talk to Archi.  No such
luck.  After much discussion, she winds up offering to do so on his
behalf.

	Everyone gathers for the coronation, which is interrupted by Mok's
troops announcing that fire demons are on their way.  They are very young
and few in number, however, and are easily driven off by the Jewel, the
Logrus, and Mok's troops.  Melanie uses sorcery to show Sandr what's going
on.  Those who are Pattern sensitive notice that one of the six new
Patterns has been destroyed.  Melanie gets this as well, since she's in
contact with Sandr.  She determines that it wasn't the Atherton or
Halybard Pattern, but doesn't bother to share this information.  The
coronation proceeds, various oaths of fealty are sworn, and the reception
begins.

	Melanie leaves during the reception to make sure that the Eye of
Peace is still at Ygg, where she left it.  It's fine, so the deceased
Pattern must have been destroyed another way.  Dworkin is still spreading
manure in the area, so she quizzes him about the deceased Pattern.  He
thinks it was the Hendrake Pattern and suggests that she find that
green-haired lad, quickly.  She asks him to be more specific, since there
are so many of Archi's offspring floating around.  It becomes clear that
he means the one she's been spying on, one Balin by name.  She Trumps
Balin, whose Shadow is literally dissolving beneath his feet, and offers
to remove him from his rather precarious position.  Like he has much of a
choice.  She pulls him through and gives him the quickie overview of
Amber, Chaos and the Pattern.  He seems to be paying more attention to her
than what she's saying.  She asks about his past and learns that he was
born to a barmaid in a high tech Shadow, but was blown out of it by a
great wind when he was eight.  He's been in the Shadow she pulled him out
of ever since.  She offers to take him to meet his father.

	Melanie Trumps Balin to Amber and leaves him in a sitting room,
while she finds Laughter.  Laughter is quite flustered by the news that
another one of Archi's progeny has turned up, but manages to relay the
information to Archi.  Melanie takes the newly minted king to meet Balin,
and Ulysses tags along because that's what he does best.  Melanie leaves
them alone in the room, then spies on them with sorcery.  Archi listens to
Balin's story and figures he came from Kalevala.  He says that things are
kind of busy right now, and explains about Random and Finndo and the
recent attacks, which don't make Balin feel any better.

	Archi convinces Balin to change into something that won't make him
stand out quite so much, brings him to the reception, and dumps him on his
brothers.  Then he discusses his latest son with Laughter, who just isn't
pleased with this development at all.  Ulysses interrupts this
heartwarming conversation to tell Archi that Benedict was in that
destroyed universe, and now his Trump is warm, so he might be dead, or in
the Abyss, or the Logrus, or whatever.  Archi asks Fiona to look for him. 
She thinks he's riding the surge from the Pattern's destruction to another
universe, and suggests Archi ask Melanie how long it took for her to
travel from Brand's universe, seeing as how she's the only one present
who's been through this sort of thing.

	Archi cuts in on Melanie, who's dancing with Balin.  Balin heads
for Laughter, who decides she's not ready to deal with this and quickly
yanks Ulysses onto the dance floor.  Archi asks Melanie about her
post-destruction of Brand's Pattern transit time.  She figures that it was
a few days and is filled in about Benedict.  Archi asks how she knew about
Balin.  Oh, that.  She claims she just happened to come across him while
she was in Shadow, and had been keeping an eye on him.  Archi asks her to
let him know of any other children of his that she comes across in the
future.  Of course she will.  She asks him to cut Sandr loose from his
duties, and explains why.  It makes no more sense to Archi than it did to
Melanie, but he agrees to let the boy off the hook.

	Archi spots Laughter dancing with Ulysses and cuts in on her. 
Laughter pretends not to know Archi, until he reminds her of one of the
reasons she married him.  Ulysses is disgusted with the whole deal, but
hey, what's an advisor to do?

	Melanie informs Sandr of Archi's decision.  Sandr decides that now
he's not sure this was such a good idea.  Melanie tells him that he's free
to do whatever he wants and suggests he find a shrink, pronto.  He
complains that he's lonely, so Melanie introduces him around the
reception.  Several people do the "We knew your father, let's talk later." 
schtick.  Once the reception is over, Melanie dumps Sandr in a rather
tolerant Golden Circle Shadow, so Sandr can complain to someone else for a 
change.


Quotables:

"Don't we have to swear eternal loyalty to Archimedes?" -- Sylvie
"Yeah, but it'll be done as a group, just say what everyone else is
saying." -- Ulysses

"(The horses) know the command 'friend,' but they don't know the command
'Ulysses is my dad.'" -- Sylvie to Ulysses

"Do I have to be the Queen?" -- Laughter to Archi

"Laughter, you should cast that spell that turns your clothes into armor."
-- Archi
"I'm already wearing armor, it's a state occasion." -- Laughter
"That armor is as good as your spell?" -- Archi
"Oh.  No." -- Laughter.

"Oh, all right, we'll do the Benedict lace." -- Flora to Archi

"OK, so, bottom line, how many times do people fail to kill Archi?" --
Ulysses to GM

"It seems that you attract Shadow storms." -- Archi
"I would prefer not to do so again." -- Balin

"Is (Amber) safe?" -- Balin
"Well, no one's tried to shoot me since this morning, so I would assume
so." -- Archi

"(Fiona's) my mom.  I figure if she wants to kill me, I can't really stop
her." -- Laughter to Archi