From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Sun Sep 26 22:40:11 1993 Date: Sat, 25 Sep 93 19:44:04 EDT From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Kris' Campaign Log Chapter Fourteen Alex and Heather find themselves trapped, with the wolverine in front of them and a locked door behind them. Alex says a power word to make a hole in the door. The wolverine splits into many smaller wolverines and they attack the pair. Alex ducks through the hole he made. Heather focuses on a Trump of herself. The wolverines pile on her, but they are unable to injure her. Back above ground, the others stand around deciding if they should try to help. Eventually Ahab's stupidity overcomes his common sense, and he decides to go down after the wolverine. Felix hangs by his hands from the edge of the hole, and Ahab climbs down his body, dropping the remaining distance. This does wonders for his existing wounds. He sees the wolverines attacking Heather and kills one of them. The others decide to attack him instead (since Heather was proving inedible). Heather takes this opportunity to retreat through Alex's hole. Ahab manages to kill several of them, forcing them to recombine, but he receives many more wounds in the process. As it reforms (somewhat smaller than its original size), he lops one of its arms off. It leaps at him, but he is able to kill it as it falls on him. Unfortunately, in his current condition, he is unable to get the body off of him. Shard descends into the hole, using the same method as Ahab. Since Ariana and Martin don't wish to use that route, Felix lets go of the edge and drops to the bottom. Ariana Trumps Felix and has him pull her and Martin through. For a moment they think Ahab is dead, until he asks them to get the wolverine's body off of him. Felix easily tosses it to one side. They start looking for Alex and Heather. On the other side of the door, Alex is busy fighting the wolverines that pursued him instead of Heather. He tosses one out the hole he made through the door, nearly hitting Heather. Shard quickly kills it with its whip. One runs away into the darkness. Ahab uses Morglyph to hack a larger hole in the door and goes through, with the others following behind him. Felix finds a torch and asks someone to light it. Alex points at it and it ignites. As Felix lights some more torches, they see that they are standing in a dining hall, much like the one in Amber. They hear the sound of falling rock, and turn to find that the door they came through (or what was left of it) has been blocked off. Ahab investigates the walls of the room and discovers that every other panel seems to be hollow. He knocks a hole in one of them and is knocked backwards as a 45 mph wind emits from it. There is a door at the far end of the room, but it is locked. Heather announces that Coral is no longer nearby. Ariana asks for Coral's Trump, to see if she has been moved. She finds that Coral is imprisoned in a clear cube, surrounded by blackness and colored mists. Ariana tries talking to her, but Coral doesn't seem to hear. Ariana asks Heather to aid her, but, even with their combined strength, they still can't communicate with Coral. Felix walks into the hole that the wind is blowing out of and starts walking down the slope. After he walks 100 feet or so down the slope, a metal door drops, blocking him off from the others. Shard tries to Trump Felix but can't get through. Felix gets a Trump call and answers it. He is very alarmed to find that it's from the Serpent. He frantically activates his psychic barrier device and the contact fades. Ariana tries to Trump Felix, with no more success than Shard. Ahab starts chopping through the metal door with Morglyph. After five minutes of this, his injuries force him to rest. He talks to Felix and learns about the Serpent's Trump call. No one is real happy about this turn of events. Everything begins dissolving around Felix. Realizing that there's no way Ahab can get through the door in time, Felix decides to risk the Serpent Trumping him again and turns off his device. Sure enough, he gets a Trump call, but it is Ahab. Ahab grabs Felix's hand just as the floor disappears underneath him. Ahab turns rather pale as he unexpectedly takes Felix's full weight, and he reopens any wounds that might have stopped bleeding. Shard gives Ahab a hand, and together they manage to pull Felix through. They knock away another panel, and see a peaceful, green meadow on the other side. Heather borrows Shard's whip and uses it to make an opening in the locked door. There is a hallway on the other side, with old Hellenic statues in it. Ahab is not looking very well, so Ariana tends to his wounds and then her own. She notices that the area around some of the wounds is starting to swell, and she suspects poison. Martin conjures some hydrogen peroxide for her. She applies the peroxide to her wounds first, and the resulting pain makes her very dizzy. When she is finished, she hands the peroxide to Felix and tells him to put in on Ahab's wounds. Despite having witnessed how painful it was for Ariana, Ahab takes some peroxide and pours it on his deepest wound. He immediately passes out, much to the amusement of those present, especially Martin. Felix finishes applying the peroxide while Ahab is still unconscious. Ariana wakes Ahab up and tells him that was stupid. Martin and Ariana help Ahab to his feet (after he passes out again trying to get up himself). They all start down the hallway, with Ahab leaning on Martin for support. After a short distance, the statues disappear and it gradually begins to grow darker. Eventually it gets so dark that the torches are next to useless. Ariana tries Trumping Coral again. She finds her in the same place as before and still can't talk to her. She tries to touch Coral through the Trump and disappears. Felix Trumps Ariana and can see her but can't talk to her. Ariana looks around and realizes that she is all alone. She tries Coral's Trump again, with no more success than before. She Trumps Felix, but encounters resistance. Felix feels a Trump contact and asks the others what to do. Ariana pushes harder and gets through while he is still deciding whether or not to activate his barrier. She asks if they want to come through to where she is, or bring her back to them. They decide to have her rejoin them, but when Felix tries to pull her through, he disappears, reappearing beside her. Ahab decides Battlestar would be useful in tracking Coral, so he uses his Trump of Zero to return to the top of the hole where they left the animals. He finds Battlestar digging a hole in an attempt to reach the others. He convinces Battlestar to stop and come with him. It then occurs to him that the only Trump he has with him is of Felix, who has just disappeared, so he can't get back to the main group. Ariana Trumps Ahab. He answers and she is surprised to find that he is not with the others. She tells him that she has a Trump of Martin, who should still be with the others. He pulls her and Felix through and she Trumps Martin. Martin tries his Trump of Amber and finds that it works. He suggests returning to Amber and planning some more. The others agree and they all go through to the Great Hall. Martin feels a Trump contact and asks Heather to help him resist it. Ahab and Felix join Ariana and they push. Heather mentions to Martin that they may be annoying someone like Benedict by resisting. She offers to stand by and help him if need be. Martin accepts the contact and Ariana, Ahab and Felix are surprised to see that Martin is in Amber. They decide to return as well, and after some discussion about bringing the horses along, Martin pulls them through. Ahab, Ariana and Felix bring their horses down to the stables. Heather and Shard go to their rooms. Heather notices that her room is covered with dust, and finds no sign of Medb. She asks a guard how long she's been gone, and learns that 50 years have passed since she left. Alex goes to the dining hall, where he is quite surprised to find Brand sitting at the head of the table, wearing the crown. Bleys, Fiona, Flora, Llewella, Gerard and Isabeux are the only other ones present. After seeing to her horse, Ariana Trumps again Coral, and with a little more difficulty, gets through. Ahab suggests shooting a crossbow bolt through the Trump at the cube imprisoning Coral. Ariana does so and shatters the cube, but the contact is severed before they can do anything else. Ariana and Ahab head up to their rooms. Felix goes down to the dining hall. Heather does as well. They both are shocked about Brand's new position, although it bothers Felix much more than it does Heather. Ahab and Ariana find 50 years of dust in their rooms. They also don't appear to have been touched since the moment they left them. Ariana and Ahab both find this unlikely. Ariana knocks on Felix's door, to see if his room is in the same condition, but there is no answer. She Trumps him. Felix asks Brand what has happened to the missing elders. He is told that they are all dead. Brand says that Felix and the others were also thought to be dead. Felix receives Ariana's Trump call at this point but doesn't answer it. Ariana decides to wait five minutes and try again. Felix asks Brand what happened to Driscoll and his daughter. He is told that they died in an unfortunate accident. He asks about Brand's unborn child, and is told that it died as well. Ariana Trumps Felix again and gets through this time. She asks him what's going on. Felix tells her to come down to the dining hall and see for herself. She wants to know why, but he won't say. Ever curious, Ahab goes down to the dining hall to find out what's bothering Felix. He walks in, sees Brand, and walks straight out again. Ariana decides to sneak a peek into the dining room and meets Ahab on the way. He tells her he's leaving immediately. She asks why, but he insists he can't say until they are out of Amber. They gather up some supplies and ride off. After they have passed through Arden, and Hellridden for ten minutes beyond, he tells her about Brand. He swears he will find any elders who might have escaped and join them in overthrowing Brand. He tries to Trump all the elders who weren't present in the dining hall, but their Trumps don't even grow cold. Ahab does a Trump scrying, combining his deck with the few cards Ariana possesses. Since the Trump of Coral is simply a sketch, and not the same size as the other cards, it cannot be used. The card which covers Ahab's (representing his current situation) is Corwin's. The second card (the likely outcome) is Death reversed. The third card (that which pursues you) is the Magician, reversed. The card representing that which inspires you/gives you comfort is Amber. The one representing that which seeks to manipulate/hides its face is Brand's. The key card is Ariadne's. Ahab tells Ariana that he plans to go to Tir-na Nog'th to learn more about their situation, and asks her to stand watch for him. While they wait for nightfall to come in Amber, Ariana decides to hunt for a sacrifice to her gods. Not wanting to believe that his father is dead, Shard leaves the dining hall and rides to Julian's home in Arden. He finds it burned to the ground. Battlestar howls for the other Stormhounds, but gets no answer. Shard searches but finds no sign of anyone having been around for a very long time. Felix makes up an excuse to get Gerard and Isabeux alone. He asks them how Brand came to be King, and what happened to Random. Gerard tells him that there was no proof, but it is assumed that Brand murdered Random. He also says that, after defeating the uprising led by Julian and Caine, Brand has ruled well. When he asks what happened to Julian and Caine, Felix learns that Brand had them executed. Felix asks if Coral was rescued, but Gerard doesn't remember her being kidnapped. He asks what happened to Ariadne and is told that she disappeared the night of Random's first ball. Felix becomes concerned, since this doesn't jibe with his memory of events. He asks when he and the others disappeared and is told that they vanished after the trouble at Bloody Jake's, which is also untrue. Alex leaves the dining hall and goes into the city. He tries using the Logrus and finds it's easier that it ever was before in Amber. He also feels that he is very close to the Logrus. These two facts lead him to conclude that he isn't really in Amber. Several people notice him using the Logrus and advance on him with weapons. Alex runs away using Logrus, and is pursued in the same manner. He grabs Heather with a Logrus tendril and pulls himself to her. He tells her what he discovered and that he is being pursued. She Trumps with him to Mandorways, but instead finds herself in shadow near Chaos. Their pursuers appear shortly afterwards and start advancing on them. Alex grabs Ahab with the Logrus and starts pulling himself and Heather towards Ahab. Ahab feels pressure on his arm but isn't sure what's causing it. Ariana senses the Logrus and warns Ahab. He brings Pattern to mind, causing Alex to let go in a hurry and grab Zero instead. Ahab notices this and warns Ariana to be ready for trouble. Alex and Heather show up and relate what Alex has learned. Ariana suggests using Pattern to lose Alex's pursuers, so they Hellride for a while. Ahab tries Hellriding to the Primal Pattern, figuring they it shouldn't be able to ride to the real Pattern, but they quickly find themselves there. Once again abandoning all common sense, Ahab tries to walk it, but Ariana stops him. Alex uses Logrus to pull Shard to him, along with a snarling and confused Battlestar. Ariana Trumps Martin, and finds that he noticed no dust or anything else unusual about his room in Amber. She pulls him through and Alex checks him out to make sure he's not a shapeshifted Chaosite. Ariana explains what's going on to Martin while Alex tries grabbing Felix with Logrus. Felix feels the tug and digs his heels in, pulling Alex off his feet. Heather Trumps Felix and pulls him through. He tells the others about the inconsistencies he noticed while talking with Gerard. They tell him about Alex's suspicions. He has trouble believing that his parents are really Chaosites, so he Trumps Gerard and makes up some lame excuse for the call. Nothing in the conversation makes Gerard seem to be anything other than the genuine article. Ariana suggests they leave the area and shift shadow to Ygg. As they do this they notice that the shifting goes very slowly, and they can't find any horses to ride.