A Bride for Merlin
Campaign Log
Session XXIII, 24 November 2000
Seonaid appears in her chambers at the Keep of the Four Worlds, returning from the Courts of Chaos. She goes to Audrey-Manette, to bring her up to date on things, and finds her planning her suite. Keliith arrives, and Audrey-Manette takes some time to sketch him, practicing her trump work.
Keliith mentions that since Merlin cannot politically include Luke, we should try contacting him. The group (Audrey-Manette, Keliith, and Seonaid) travels to Corwin’s Pattern to discuss this with Julia and Fendrith. Audrey-Manette and Seonaid blip out to there, and Keliith beats them.
The (now young) Keliith swipes a silver rose and presents it to Audrey-Manette on the way in.
They arrive in time for lunch. Julia and Fendrith are here eating as the three join in. Seonaid brings them up to date. Julia approves of contacting Luke, saying he believes his father innocent by means of insanity, and would help if it improves perception of his father and family.
Seonaid contacts Kagariith Po, and discusses contacts in Kashfa. He reminds her that Luke gave her his business card at the celebration at Thelbane, and that Minobee currently holds the Chaosian Ambassadorship in Amber.
Fendrith decides to test his limits. Audrey-Manette decides to go with him, and after some sudden discussion with Seonaid, Keliith ends up going along too. Seonaid stays with Julia, to discuss magic. Keliith provides Audrey-Manette with goggles and a bomber jacket as Fendrith shifts into dragon form.
The first experiment is to travel a little ways and have Keliith meet him there. After the shift, the feeling of Brand’s damage dramatically reduced, in fact a mere minor irritation now. He takes a mere jaunt, locating Keliith. He feels fine, given a minor irritation, when he arrives. Shifting back to human form proves much more painful, a greater problem then when in Corwin’s villa. Keliith climbs on, and they return to Audrey-Manette.
The second experiment, with Audrey-Manette along for the ride and Keliith now in young adult form, has Fendrith flying all the way to the Keep of the Four Worlds. He feels okay here, in Dragon form, and considers that he may not need to use the Fount, if this is manageable. He thinks more research on the Fountain is needed before trying it.
Keliith suggests another possibility, that of walking a broken pattern.
They land in a large courtyard, Audrey-Manette goes in to retrieve some trumps, and they depart for Corwin’s villa.
Seonaid discusses modular spell construction with Julia, and learns a fair bit about Hydra. She loans Seonaid a few manifestations of Hydra to be reverse engineered, and Seonaid makes plans for refining them into a new release of the design.
They share yet another awkward moment when Seonaid refers to Anakara as mother again.
Seonaid contacts Kagariith Po, and discusses setting up a concert in Kashfa, using the ambassador to help obtain necessary business contacts. This is to provide a plausible reason (expansion into new markets) for her to visit Kashfa, and arrange a meeting with the Chaosian Ambassador, who will request King Renaldo’s presence when she arrives. She gives him a trump of her.
Fendrith and Julia discuss bathing him in the Fount of Power followed by a cleansing walk of a broken pattern (to remove any Fount-induced insanity).
Fendrith discusses his chances with Seonaid first. She is dubious of the safety of the second-level initiation, or the power of the Broken Pattern to reverse it, but will abide by Fendrith’s decision.
Julia’s estimates of Fendrith’s success are much higher.
The team lines up, Keliith securing the Pattern, Audrey-Manette preparing the protections for the initiation, and Seonaid preparing to send Fendrith to Keliith.
The bath seems to stop the now-demanding draw upon his essence, seeming to burn the infection out of Fendrith. He bathes in dragon-man form. Working his way through, Seonaid opens the gate to Keliith. They go through, and Fendrith takes the broken pattern. Keliith is holding off some attackers, defending the room. Fendrith, having completed the walk, tries teleporting, fails, tries a teleport spell, and ends up in the midst of a swordfight, in Keliith’s way. Seonaid dashes out to the hall to assist.
The three fight their way clear, Seonaid taking a trump call from Audrey-Manette to keep the lines of retreat open. Not necessary as Fendrith and Keliith dispatch the enemy.
The party returns to the safety of the Keep of the Four Worlds.
Fendrith feels much better, feeling completely recovered.
The group agrees to present their success to Julia.