From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Mon Aug 9 15:45:00 1993 Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 11:53:58 EDT From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Kris' Campaign Log Dara shows Ahab a shortcut to the library. He finds a stack of interesting looking books to read, including the Book of the Serpent. He sits down and digs in. Alex goes to setup an appointment with the King. Random sees him and invites him in. Alex chats for a while, then gets to the point of his visit, which is to ask for a Trump deck. Random says he'll look into it, but he doesn't sound very eager to do so. Ahab's research is interrupted by the arrival of Ariana and Martin. Ariana is relieved to see that Ahab is still alive. Ahab is shocked to learn that Random is now King. For him, it's only been 10 minutes or so since he left the group. Ariana would like to read some of the books in the library as well, so Martin plans to leave them there. Before he goes, Ahab checks his trump of Amber to see if it's still working. No luck. He asks Martin to try his. Still no luck. Ariana tries and almost gets through. The three of them together are able to animate it, and they go through to Amber. They find that a week has passed in their absence. During that week, Eric and Corwin leave Amber. Benedict is in charge of dispersing the armies. Julian goes back to Arden. Caine is going back and forth between Castle and Arden. Llewella heads back to Rebma. Bleys, Fiona and Brand are occasionally seen going into Dworkin's lab (the only elders who seem willing to do so). Random has the Castle remodeled, with running water toilets and steam pumps installed. Shard spends some of his time in Arden and some of it in Amber learning about the steam pumps work. Heather trumps back to Amber for her meeting with Random. She brings Mandor and Medb with her. Heather is dressed as a gypsy (God only knows why). Mandor suggests bringing Alex along, so they swing by his quarters and pick him up. Alex and Medb flirt shamelessly, which annoys Heather to no end. Alex asks if they have time for breakfast, which they do, so they all proceed to the dining hall. Mandor and Flora chat for a while, with Mandor successfully avoiding Flora's questions about Chaos. They all go to Heather's audience with Random. Heather gives him a card, offers her assistance if he ever needs it, and leaves. Mandor introduces himself and, buried in formality, says that although Chaos has no current demands, they will have some in the future. Random misses this entirely. Heather goes looking for someone to teach her how to ride normally, since she only knows how to ride sidesaddle. She is told that Julian would be the one to ask about this. She rides to Arden, where Shard finds her. She explains her problem to him and he takes her to Julian. Julian tells Shard to teach her. Felix gets concerned about Ahab and asks Caine to trump him. Caine agrees to do so and reaches Ahab just as he returns to Amber. Felix is relieved to learn that Ahab is OK. Ahab pays his respects to Random, who tells him about the Ball he's planning. Attendance is mandatory, and formal dress is required. Random tells Ahab to make sure that Ariana is dressed appropriately. There is also a smaller, semi-formal dinner the night before the Ball, for the Amberites and members of the Golden Circle Kingdoms. Ahab tells Ariana about the ball. As they are discussing it, they see Brand coming down the stairs. Ariana greets him. Ahab asks Brand who he sold his trump to. Brand won't say at first, claiming that Ahab might feel obligated to try and retrieve it. Ahab persists, and eventually Brand hands him the missing trump (or at least what appears to be the missing trump). Ahab returns it to Ariana, who thanks Brand for returning it. Brand leaves. Ahab decides to bring Ariana over to see Flora, to make sure that her dress is formal enough. Julian asks Heather to give Shard etiquette lessons, so that he is ready for the ball. He considers this repayment for her riding lessons. Shard is not real happy about this. Heather, on the other hand, is delighted at the opportunity. She'd like to have someone think well of her in Amber. Ahab and Ariana find Flora in the banquet hall. Ahab asks if the clothing that Ariana is planning to wear is acceptable. Flora thinks it is, with the appropriate jewelry. She and Ariana persuade Ahab to dress Hellenic style as well, although he draws the line at wearing earrings. Isabeux asks Felix who he's planning to bring with him to the ball. Felix says he doesn't know anyone to bring, so Isabeux suggests that he ask Ariadne. Felix doesn't think that she'd be appropriate. He decides to check with Fiona, to see if she can tell him why Ariadne's trump turns black whenever he tries to trump her. Alex invites Medb to be his date for the Ball. She accepts his invitation. Julian asks Heather to take Shard into Amber and make sure that he sees Flora. Shard is annoyed at being treated like a small child who can't even be trusted to dress himself properly. Flora has a busy day, arranging outfits for most of the younger Amberites. Ahab goes looking for Driscoll. Ariana goes looking for Martin (she owes him a favor after all). She finds Felix and Shard in the hallway of the third floor. Shard is carrying a huge pile of clothing. Ariana and Felix make remarks about it. Ariana asks Felix what happens at Amber balls. He tells her that there's lots of food and dancing. Martin shows up and she asks him about it as well. He says that they're stuffy and boring. He asks if she wants to liven it up by wearing something from his wardrobe. She tells him that she already has a dress for the Ball, but she hasn't picked an outfit out for the dinner. Martin is only too happy to find something for her. She winds up wearing a leather mini-skirt, leather brassiere, skull earrings, and spiked heel boots. Martin wears his usual leather and spikes. The time for the dinner arrives. Martin and Ariana show up fashionably late. Random is most displeased their choice of clothing. Ahab checks to see if Ariana is wearing underwear (she isn't). Ariana returns the compliment. A fight breaks out between a delegate from Eregnor and a delegate from Begma. Julian and Gerard break it up, but Julian gives the Eregnan delegate a bloody nose in the process. Some of the Eregnan's see this as a sign that Amber favors the Begman delegation. Ahab tries to ease the tension by proposing a toast to Random and his reign. As the dinner ends and the delegates leave, Random pulls Martin aside and starts to lecture him. Ariana takes advantage of the opportunity to slip out before she gets a lecture as well. Felix asks to speak with Driscoll a moment, about Ariadne. Ahab and Heather ask to participate in this as well. It seems that Felix has talked with Fiona, and she thinks the reaction Felix is seeing when he tries to trump Ariadne means that Ariadne is either unconscious or dead They talk awhile, and eventually decide to find one of the Chaos delegates to ask them some questions. Neither of them are in their rooms, but one of the guards says that he saw Alex heading towards the gardens. They go there and find Alex and Medb talking. Heather isn't pleased to find the two of them together. They ask Alex what a Hellmaid is, but Alex doesn't know. Felix asks if trumps of a shapeshifter would work if they shifted form. Alex says that as long as it was a trump of a true form it should work. They ask where Mandor is but Alex doesn't know that either. He asks what's going on, so they ask if he knows Ariadne. He says he's heard of her, but doesn't know her, which causes Felix to glare at Driscoll. Driscoll had said earlier that he, Alex and Ariadne used to go adventuring together. Apparently, this was a lie he made up to get Felix off of his back. Felix doesn't liked being lied to by someone he thinks of as a friend. All Alex knows of Ariadne is that she died 1000 years ago. Heather discreetly trumps Mandor and quietly asks him to call her back immediately. The others hear her and ask her who she was talking to. Medb tries to cover by claiming that she was having gas, but no one believes her. In an effort to shift everyone's attention, Heather presents Ahab with a trump of Zero, which embarrasses him a bit. Felix asks Heather who she was talking to again, but she is saved from having to answer him by a trump call from a confused Mandor. She asks him to come through. Felix concludes from all this that she has a trump of Mandor, which she denies. They ask Mandor what he knows about Hellmaids. He tells them that they are part of Chaos' elite fighting forces. They tell him that they know a Hellmaid named Ariadne, who they can't contact now. Mandor claims that he has never heard of her. Ahab wants to walk the Pattern and have it transport him to Ariadne. Driscoll thinks that this is a stupid idea. As they go back into the Castle, they find Shard and Ariana, and fill them in on what's happening. After some more talk, the final plan is for Ahab to walk the Pattern, pull Felix, Shard and Heather through to him, then transport them to Ariadne. Mandor and Ariana will stay behind to try and contact the others after two hours have passed in Amber. Ahab, Felix, Shard and Heather appear in a long hallway. They see a figure at the other end. As they get closer, they see that it is Corwin. They ask where they are, and he says that it is a shadow near Chaos. He says that he has been there for some time. They ask if their presence will interfere with him, and he says it will if they plan to go through the door behind him. Heather brilliantly tells him that they are planning to do that very thing, so Corwin pulls out Greyswandir and begins attacking Ahab. Ahab gets cut up pretty badly since he doesn't have his sword drawn at the time. Felix grabs Corwin's sword arm, holding him long enough for Ahab to get his sword out. He slices Corwin's elbow and does some major damage, almost severing the arm. Shard casts a neural disrupt power word on Corwin, which further staggers him. Heather ducks behind the fight and tries the door, but it won't open. Corwin punches Ahab, breaking his nose. Felix grabs Corwin in a bear hug, but one of his arms is still free. Blood gushing from his nose, Ahab starts punching Corwin's nose to return the favor. Shard casts the power word again, which staggers Corwin again, but not as much as before. Heather trumps Mandor and fills him in. Mandor tells her that they are probably fighting a guardian, and they must kill it to get through. She thanks him and tells the others. Ahab and Shard proceed to kill it (it's much easier when you don't have to stop your opponent while still keeping him alive). Heather sets Ahab's nose and they all go through the door. They enter a dark room and with the light of the lantern they brought, they see Ariadne lying on a stone coach. They pick her up and Heather trumps Mandor who pulls them all through. Ariana is much amused by Ahab's current state. She learns that Heather has already set his nose and suggests he get Gerard to tape it She examines Ariadne and concludes that she is not in a coma, but merely unconscious. She says that there could be a spell or drug that is keeping Ariadne in that state, although she did not find any evidence that Ariadne was drugged during her examination. Heather trumps Fiona and tells her that they have returned with Ariadne. Fiona says that she'll be down shortly to take a look. Ahab goes to Gerard and has him tape his nose and ribs. When this is finished, he trumps Driscoll and asks him if he knows of a fast-time shadow where he can heal. Driscoll offers to take him to one. Mandor leaves when he hears Fiona will be arriving. Fiona shows up and examines Ariadne. She says that she's reluctant to wake her up, since she might be under a geis to attack them. Ariana asks if there's a way to tell without waking her. Fiona says there is, but she won't have time until after the ball. They ask if she knows why this was done to Ariadne, and she tells them to ask Mandor, since he knows a great deal about this sort of thing. Felix is very unhappy to find that he's been lied to again.