Session Twelve
	    "Maybe we should role-play out the hiring process."

	Wayland cleans up and does inventory.  Tybalt goes looking for
assistants in Shadow.  Big, strong ones.  He eventually finds three and
brings them back.  Wayland gives Tybalt a shopping list of things he needs
from Amber: iron ore and quicksilver, for now.  Tybalt Trumps Gerard and
tells him what they need.  Gerard wants a sword from Wayland in exchange
for finding that much ore (about a ton) in Amber.  Tybalt and Wayland
discuss Tir-na Nog'th, and how to get there.  Tybalt approaches the
opening to the Abyss, but is told to stop before he gets closer than six
feet.  In their discussion, Wayland mentions the omnipresence of dreams,
and Tybalt has some thoughts about how this relates to his ability.

	Sebastian hires himself a lackey to see to his cash flow.  He also
asks the man to make reservations for two at a nice restaurant.

	Amanda continues doing research, occasionally stopping back in
Amber to see if Dworkin's responded to her message.

	Peter and his men continue holding off the Reavers.  He Trumps
Amanda and asks what she's learned from the spell.  Nothing much.  She
understands how it works, but couldn't cast it herself.  She's also not
certain how the Reavers are being controlled, but she thinks it has to do
with communications they receive from the twisted Pattern.  They are
powered by its energy, you see.  Peter wants to know where it is.  He
comes through to her and she takes him there.  He is suitably impressed by
the fire Pattern, especially since it doesn't appear on his map.  He asks
her to bring him back to Ryan's Shadow.  She has to teleport back in
stages, first to an obsidian cone, then to a blackened tree, then to Ygg. 
At Ygg, they're finally back on Peter's map.  Peter Trumps Ryan, who's
leading the evacuation, but he doesn't have any Reavers to give Peter.  He
points out that there are probably plenty back in town.  Peter and Amanda
go to Amanda's horse Shadow, since she only has one teleport spell left,
and she knows where that is.

	Mead looks for his father.  He gets a Trump call from Amanda and
Peter.  Peter asks about Zantium, specifically the fact that the people
there choose the time of their own death.  Peter wonders what would happen
if Zantium's soldiers fought the Reavers, and suspects they might be
resistant.  Mead says they're not for hire, but he'll talk to his
government and see if they're willing to get involved.

	Tybalt tries something, but Wayland says it won't work.  Tybalt
focuses on the moon in a bucket and pictures seeing it reflected in water. 
He disappears, and finds himself in a field in front of a pond.  He
pictures Tir-na Nog'th in the air, and it appears.  He somehow goes
through to it, but it doesn't feel right.  He tries to Trump Amanda, but
nothing happens.  He wills himself out of this place to somewhere Trump
will work, and finds himself in the middle of a busy city street.  He
Trumps Amanda and asks her to put him through to Wayland.  Amanda pulls
him through and sets up a Pattern gate.  Peter notices that Tybalt is
wearing the Twilight Blade, and says it belonged to his father.  Tybalt
says they'll discuss this later and goes through.  Peter grabs for the
sword and follows.  Amanda realizes Wayland's Shadow is fast-time, so she
goes through as well.

	Peter asks for the Twilight Blade.  Tybalt points out that he had
trouble giving it to Wayland, in that it wound up back in his possession. 
Peter takes the sword, but it feels like the balance is all wrong.  Tybalt
says the balance is fine, and Wayland says it was the finest weapon he
ever created.  Peter hands the blade back and asks Tybalt to perform a
move with it.  Tybalt does so flawlessly, meaning the sword is balanced
for him.  Peter takes it back.  Wayland thinks the sword is still attuned
to Finndo, but it likes Tybalt.  He could attune Peter, but there would be
a price.  Peter asks if this means that Finndo is still alive.  Wayland
can't be sure.  He touches the sword while Peter is holding it, and is cut
by it.  Tybalt offers it to Peter, but he says it doesn't want him. 
Amanda mentions the curse it carries, due to its use in the apprentice's
death.  Peter asks if this is true.  Wayland thinks it's cursed to his
destruction.  Attuning Peter could potentially cost him more than Wayland. 
Peter decides Tybalt can have the blade, for now.  He asks Wayland to tell
him of his father.  It turns out that he doesn't remember Peter, even
though Peter remembers him.  Peter examines the Twilight Blade (whose name
is revealed to be Tintingel), while Tybalt discusses the results of his
experiment with Wayland and Amanda.

	Wayland examines the well cap and finds that it is cracked.  There
is a sizzling sound from the Abyss.  Tybalt pictures a chalice forming out
of the Abyss.  A geyser of Chaos erupts out of the well, and begins eating
away at the ceiling.  Wayland tries affirming the reality of this place. 
Purple shit comes flying at Tybalt when he points Tintingel at it.  He
pictures pushing it down, and Peter picks up the well cap and moves
towards the opening.  They feel a drop in pressure, and a low moaning
sound begins.  Peter gets a really bad feeling, drops the cap, and runs. 
Amanda teleports back to her house on Shadow Earth.  Tybalt jumps back and
begins running.  They hear a horrible *thoom.* Tybalt is lifted, flipped
back, and slammed bodily into the wall, with his left foot striking the
anvil as he flies by.  Wayland is thrown back and hit by several hammers
and other tools as they go flying.  Tybalt regains his senses and realizes
that he's concussed, his shin has a greenstick fracture, and his ankle is
badly broken.  He sets his ankle and immobilizes it with his shirt. 
Tintingel is embedded in the wall up to its hilt.  Wayland is remarkably
unharmed, given that he's covered with sledgehammers and other tools. 
He's badly bruised but nothing's broken.  He appears to have been
remarkably lucky in terms of where everything hit him.  There's no sign of
Peter, who was closest to the well.  One sledgehammer went through the
chest of the Dor (one of the big, strong guys), who was stoking the forge
at the time.  Amazingly, he's still alive, although his ribs have been
pulped against the wall and half of his chest is caved in.

	Ryan gets to a place of safety and Trumps Peter.  No answer.  He
returns to the village and asks one of Peter's men if they've seen him. 
They don't know where he is, but he did leave via Trump.  Ryan Trumps
Amanda.

	Amanda notices lights moving around outside of her house.  The
people out there are trying to be very quiet.  A check of her phone
reveals that the line is cut.  The doorbell rings, and she gets a Trump
call.  She answers the latter.  Ryan asks what happened to Peter.  She's
not sure, but asks him to stay in contact while she checks out what's
happening outside of her house.  Her security monitor shows that there's a
couple of NY State police officers at the door.  She goes through to Ryan,
and tells him where she last saw Peter.  One of Peter's men says it won't
be much longer.

	Sebastian Trumps Amanda, but she's on another call.  He monitors
her talk with Ryan, waits a few minutes after she goes through, and Trumps
her again.  She takes the call, and Ryan joins in the link.  Ryan and
Sebastian are introduced.  They decide to Trump Tybalt, to see if he knows
what happened to Peter.

	Tybalt hobbles over to Tintingel, pulls it out of the wall, and
takes the call.  He doesn't know where Peter is either.  Amanda backs out
of the link.  Sebastian does as well, and invites her to dinner.  She
accepts, and returns to Dyson to sleep.

	Mead talks to someone in the government about authorizing the
operation of the army outside of Zantium.  The man is definitely
interested.

	After what seems like a very long time, Peter hears voices talking
in the Chaos dialect of Thari.  He is prodded with a sharp object, and
takes it away from its wielder.  The voices note that he moves, and
discuss pushing him back in.  Peter throws the knife he obtained at one of
them, but misses.  His nerves are all shot.  He clears his throat and
realizes that his throat is full of dried blood.  Another voice enters the
conversation.  The second voice he heard thinks Peter's going to kill
Yokon, and then he'll be Head of House.

	Wayland, Ryan and Tybalt Trump Peter.  The Chaosites realize he's
getting a call, and grab him to keep him from getting away.  Peter grabs
them and tells the others to pull him through.  They do, and then kill the
two small demons who came with him.  Tybalt takes the pendent one of them
was wearing, and recognizes the heraldry as being for a Head of House. 
Wayland recognizes that the pendent is magical, in that it confirms that
the wearer is who he claims to be, and has some sort of protective
ability.  Peter asks for some wine, and is handed some by Wayland.  Peter
takes a long drink, then spits out the cockroach that was in the wine. 
Wayland tries to explain to the other two big guys what happened to Dor. 
They think Tybalt broke Dor's leg and go to teach him a lesson.  Then they
realize that Dor's missing half of his chest, while Tybalt's the one with
a broken leg.  Tybalt attempts to explain what's going on.  Wayland asks
if Dor will live.  His buddies say he might "split" and look embarrassed. 
One of them is left at the forge, with Dor, while the other is brought
with them.  They bring the Abyss cap as well, but forget Peter.

	Mead Trumps Peter and says he's ready to discuss the army.  Then
he asks what's wrong with Peter, and offers the assistance of his medics. 
Peter takes him up on this.  Mead thinks he looks like he's been
decompressed out of a spacecraft.  He brings him to a military hospital
and they start working on him.

	Ryan notices that Peter's men have a set up a brewery's worth of
kegs with fuses.  They pull out, leaving helmets stuck up on sticks so it
looks like they're still there.  William remains behind.  They wait.  The
archers that remained behind to cover them come running up.  They wait for
William, while one of Peter's men sings a song.  The singer holds up four
fingers.  Ryan is instructed to get behind a ridge.  The others join him. 
An archer comes running frantically up and is hauled bodily in by his
belt.  Six fingers.  There is a yell as William comes running towards
them.  He throws himself at the ridge, but doesn't quite make it before
the detonation.  A deluge of water is released, and the explosive force
blows William right over them.  He recovers, and mutters something about
the damn fuses never taking the same amount of time when they change
Shadows.  Ryan offers to get all of them a drink and Trumps them to the
main hall in Amber.

	Tybalt and Wayland arrive in the main hall at the same time as
Ryan and his people.  The well cap is hauled outside.  Kara comes across
the crowd and asks about Tybalt's new sword.  Lightbringer doesn't like
it.  The castle smith is summoned and they discuss the use of the cap. 
Sebastian arrives in time to learn that it caps the Abyss.  He and Kara
find this fascinating.  Kara asks why a smith would need to cap the Abyss,
but Tybalt doesn't know.  The well cap is hauled to the smith's shop,
where Wayland finds an old anvil of his.  The young guy working on it asks
how they know he is Wayland.  Wayland figures they can watch him work, and
treat him accordingly.

	Ryan Trumps Peter, but can't get through.  Sebastian asks to see
the Trump, and realizes that it's blocked.  He pushes it.

	Amanda uses a Pattern lens to check out her place on Shadow Earth. 
Apparently some guy was found dead in her driveway, and the police believe
she's on vacation.  It seems that the body was torn up pretty badly.  She
teleports to Boston, flies back to New York, and takes a taxi back to her
house.

	Mead realizes that someone is hitting the Trump shields around
Zantium pretty hard.  He leaves Zantium, and enters the link with
Sebastian.  They both realize that the other is a damn good Trump artist. 
Sebastian tells Ryan that the Trump he is using appears to be broken,
since he's reached someone other than Peter.  Ryan joins in the link and
makes introductions.  Mead explains that Peter is being healed by his
medics.  Ryan leaves the contact and takes Peter's men out to dinner at
Bloody Andrew's.

	Wayland borrows some tools and sets to work.  Many of the smiths
are having trouble believing he's really *the* Wayland, especially given
his weakened state.  Wayland empowers the hammer he's using to be light
and to break the well cap.  Then he asks for two volunteers.  One is the
old master smith.  The other is their strongest man, who doesn't believe
this is Wayland.  Wayland has the strong one start pounding on the cap,
but he makes little progress.  Then Wayland applies his hammer, and
shatters the cap.  He gets some more respect after that, although he still
has trouble, due to the fact that the smithy is working at full capacity,
making brackets for a ship of the line, and therefore don't have much in
the way of equipment or assistance to spare.

	Amanda arrives at her house and is questioned by the police.  It
turns out that the corpse belonged to Lucas Reynard.  She answers the
inspector's questions, and subtly influences him so that he decides to let
her go.  She overhears a comment that the crime scene looked like an
eight-foot tall lawnmower had hit the guy.  She gets a hotel room in NYC,
where Sebastian Trumps her for their dinner date.  She goes through and
changes, then they go to the restaurant.  The primary topic of
conversation seems to be her life history, and Luke's murder.  Sebastian
gives her a Trump of himself.

	Tybalt Trumps Corwin and fails to get through.  He spends some
time assisting Wayland, and finds smithing very relaxing.  He tries to
figure out what went wrong with his visualization of Tir-na Nog'th.

	Kara follows Peter's men to Bloody Andrew's.  She is accosted on
the way by two guys with swords and one with a crossbow.  She kills the
two with swords, and the crossbow guy runs away.  Peter's men have already
trashed the place when she arrives.

	Peter decides he's ready for his meeting, although he's told to
avoid strenuous exercise.  He is given a uniform, which turns out to be
that of Benedict's elite guards.  Then he is brought in to meet General
Rostenkowski, who has trouble believing the information about the Reavers. 
Peter gives Rostenkowski his data on them.  Rostenkowski would love to
command this, but he wants to make sure it's official first.  With recon
approval, he can take a troop of men and check it out.  Peter learns that
Zantium is at war with the Tiberians, and offers his aid in exchange for
their help.  Rostenkowski has trouble believing that Peter has 500 years
of campaign experience, but Mead admits it could be true.  Mead contacts a
senator and gets approval for Rostenkowski and 200 men to look into the
Reavers.

	Wayland and company manage to pour the metal into the mold for the
well cap, and it begins to cool.

	Rik and Random finish jamming and Rik sleeps it off somewhere.


Quotables:

"Smithing is women's work." -- big, dumb, strong guy to Wayland
"Maybe we should role-play out the hiring process." -- Eric to GM

"You have three big, dumb guys that will feed the fire." -- GM to Tybalt
"And three really smart ones that won't." -- John Lewis

"(The Reavers) have outriders, so you should be careful." -- Peter
"We are being careful, that's why we haven't seen any." -- Ryan

"(Tintingel's) not a sentient thing, is it?" -- Peter
"Not that I remember." -- Wayland

"I'm going to find those who are causing the Reaver problem and kill
them." -- Peter
"Do you have any idea who this might be?" -- Tybalt
"Not at the moment." -- Peter

"This guy should be dead!" -- GM
"We'll do first aid." -- Wayland

"What sort of protection does (the amulet) have?" -- Wayland
"Apparently, not good enough." -- GM

"Oh great, my men are all Reavers." -- Peter
"But they're really good Reavers." -- GM

"How are you at Pit diving?" -- Tybalt
"Not very good." -- Peter
"We could tie a rope on." -- Tybalt

"Tybalt broke his leg, I got hit with sledgehammers." -- Wayland
"Tybalt broke my friend's leg?" -- Big, dumb guy

"It's 2:35, somewhere." -- Ryan to one of Peter's men

"(Tybalt) can show deference to me in the smith, and I'll show deference
to him on the battlefield." -- Wayland
"That might be wise." -- GM

"I keep emphasizing that I am irrelevant to this (investigation), except
that I knew (Luke)."  -- Amanda to GM

"Having the advantage that, having been killed, (our men) would stay
dead." -- General Rostenkowski to Peter