________________________________________________________________ Message: 32645502, 137 lines Imported: 8:11pm EST, Mon Mar 14/94 Subject: log 36 To: Kris Fazzari, fazzari@umich.edu, jlarke@umich.edu, liamr@umich.edu, reeshau@hebron.connected.com, sodapop@chico.css.itd.umich.edu From: seddy@mpcc.org SESSION 36 Alex scrounges up food, when suddenly something happens to him for a change instead of bothering innocent, decent folk. He witnesses Brand sneaking into Random's room and scamming the Jewel of Judgement. He decides that more sleep would be appropriate. Felix goes on a Foster hunt, which ends with him complaining to his da. Gerard asks if he's checked the fourth floor. Felix points out that no one uses that floor. Gerard enjoys a rare opportunity to be on top of a conversation. Felix tracks down the little spud, who's playing handball on, gasp, the fourth floor. Felix invites him to go sailing, thence to the summer house, all unaccompanied by females, whaddaysay? Foster agrees, but requires him to have a long talk with Murine. Ahab experiences baby kaka. He releases his tension by tickling Kimdyl, who goes Chaos on him. Okay now, NO ONE had better tickle Chaosites, capice? Anyway, at the end of this friendly altercation, when Ahab's in his most compromising position, Fiona Trumps him and asks where he put the Trump Trap. He blames it all on Random. Ahab refuses to accept Kimdyl as his lord and master, so she steals Nicholas and vanishes. At this point, Ariana shows up to see the baby. Kimdyl Trumps Ahab to see if he'll submit yet. Foster hits the shower, while Felix informs Gerard of their plans for the day. They decide that Murine could benefit from a chat with Isabeaux, though there is no thought given to Isabeaux's gain in all of this. Ahab and Ariana worry about why Fiona might be looking for the Trump Trap. Gerard suggests that Cain accompany himself and Foster on the boat. Felix will ride with Murine until he's completely shattered her self-esteem, at which point he will join them on the boat so he won't miss all the fun. Alex hastens to Random's quarters, where he is told to bother Vialle instead. This he does, but she's polite so she drags Random's ass back to Amber so he can hear about Alex's delusion first hand. He decides to stall on giving the boy Trump. Random gives up on ever playing cards again, as Ahab promptly Trumps him to ask after the Trump Trap. Ahab mentions in passing that Fiona wanted it and that he had to go chase Kimdyl down. Random asks him to tell him if it becomes important, then looks for something for his ulcers. Felix, meanwhile hears an odd noise coming from the third floor shower. He determines on investigation that it was a young boy taking a shower, odd stuff indeed. He passes the paranoia on to Foster though, and the lad stays close to him on the way to their room. Ariana brings food up to where she left Mark, but he's not there anymore, much to the consternation and/or relief of the guards who are present in droves. They leave quickly, and Mark arrives innocently from the bathroom. On the third floor. (Insert innocent, tuneless whistle here.) She abandons him again. Alex says hi to Mebd, but he realizes that he doesn't know where she is. He gets a horse a heads in the direction she headed last time. En route, he gets another vision, lucky him. This time he sees Brand successfully complete drawing his own Pattern. This weakens Alex considerably. He notes that this is why he wanted a Trump deck. Ahab Trumps Kimdyl, but he is denied. Not to be denied, Ahab walks the Pattern, his pal that lives in his head, and teleports to the kitchen, where he proceeds to suck toe jam for the edification of the kitchen staff. Pacified, Kimdyl slaps him. They return blissfully to Ahab's room. Everyone notices an increase in the Castle's obvious guard population. Except for Alex, who notices that Kolvir is mighty steep indeed. Heather cleans up after her rather enthuastic greeting of Mandor and prepares to search for her wayward daughter. Foster makes Felix go into the outer room and turn around so he pull some pants on his scrawny, pube-less bod in privacy. One realizes that the lad has never experienced P.E. He asks if they can't just, you know, dispose of Murine. Ariana looks for Felix, but his good stuff isn't enough to keep the workmen in his old rooms safe from her percolating hormone effect. They trade information and decide that Foster is just no help at all, although he does know he heard the name Vetch once. Maybe. Ariana asks after Driscoll, and once again proves a force unstoppable. She corners the boy with Eris in the gardens. He tells her that when you know what you want to find, you tend to find what you're looking for. He's in line for the throne. He points out to her that Benedict is in fact a sorcerer. Alex rides on, and he's knocked off his horse's ass and onto his when the third vision hits. He sees three Patterns ganging up on the Logrus. He Trumps his mom and makes innocuous small talk. ("So, does the Logrus still work?") His mother suspects that he's hiding something. After, he floats down to the beach, looking for Mebd's broken body. Disappointed, he turns and finds a cave which seems to lead back to the Castle. Convinced of its importance, he immediately flees to the Castle. Ahab decides that Kimdyl will check out Mark. She decides that she will nap first. Ahab looks for Deirdre. Deirdre agrees to watch Kimdyl and Nicholas for Ahab. Ahab goes to Flora's room and tells her absolutely everything, just in case, you know, someone ices him for knowing too much. Heather checks Mebd's room. She's not there. Rather than waste more of her time, she Trumps Mebd and finds her drawing sigils on the ground in Arden. She tells her to stop that at once and come home. Heather Trumps Alex and grudgingly exchanges information, in return for which she expects him to drop everything and watch Mebd. She doesn't say this of course; she just expects him to know this. He proves inexperienced in non-verbal communication. Felix borrows Gerard's Trump of Murine (?!), and thus begins a sequence so riddled with psychological abuse that I cannot bear to relate it. After he's done with her, he abandons her at the summer house and goes to party at sea. Oops. Well, something else kinda happened in there. But we'll get to that. Alex gets Trumped by Random, who is upset that Alex had not kept him informed. Alex declines to mention that he had tried his best and relates all three visions. This does not make the King any happier. Brand dumps Rinaldo on Heather and dissappears. Deciding to spread the joy, she has Eris pull them through to the garden, from whence she fills in Mandor via Trump. Alex detects Mebd in Heather's room, but she really wasn't there. Whilst Ahab talks to Flora, he hears the sound of several cartloads of pig doodoo landing on Kimdyl. Actually he hears her scream, but it amounts to the same thing. She jumps out the window, and pretty soon Ahab, Felix, Ariana, and Alex get to figure out which one's Kimdyl and which one's Murine. This provides much fuel for both Felix and Ahab to use against their women. Heather takes Driscoll and the kids up to her room. Ariana takes Ahab and the kids up to the infirmary. Alex investigates the sigils and determines that Mebd was summoning several jillions of her friends. He puts a barricade around the circle. While Driscoll fills Random in, Heather Trumps Mebd, who's in the kitchen finding out lots about Ahab's fetishes. Heather finds it all very fitting. Ahab and Ariana look for something to feed to Nicholas. Not able to determine any source of milk in the Castle, Ahab Trumps Deirdre, who takes him to Shadow to buy formula. Ahab avoids saying something profoundly stupid. Alex returns and finds Mebd in Heather's room. Rinaldo allows himself to be bought with sweets, and reveals that Jasra had stolen the Jewel of Judgement, which made Brand very sad with her. Heather realizes that she's stuck with the boy. She discusses things with Alex. We join Ariana in progress, with Vialle informing her that Mark has turned into a Chaosite and fled. She returns to her room and has a good cry. That's really about it.