A Bride for Merlin
Campaign Log
Session XXXIX, 12 October 2001
OOC: A long time ago, in a Shadow far, far away...
At the Keep of the Four Worlds, countless hordes of Seonaid's fans have laid siege. Audrey-Manette returns to find the countryside resplendent in a Woodstock-ian morass of bodies.
Julia attends to Seonaid, finding that her daughter's brain is massively fried. The regeneration process is slow, and she tries to nurse it along. She draws upon the power of the Fount to assist.
Audrey-Manette reinforces the wards about the Citadel, in response to the encroaching fan-beings.
In Chaos, Lorgath and company are preparing for an attack on Fortress Gantu. Since the Jesby troops are unable to explode upon demand, the original plan is reconsidered. Lorgath seems under-whelmed by the technical competence displayed by Flark and company.
Lorgath asks, "Do you want Jurt bad enough to do what needs to be done here?"
Flark waffles, "I was going to see what my uncle thinks about this..." He decides to pay Baron Laan a visit.
Laan and his niece receive Flark. He brings them up to date on 'everything' relating to the Jurt-Hunt, as well as to what he did to his beloved foster niece. He asks for advice.
Mum's the word on the Keliith bit.
No shit, Flark thinks.
"As far as going after Jurt, Jurt is an outlaw; any efforts taken to apprehend him are legal, and any efforts to assist him are illegal. Thus, if anyone is housing him, they are breaking the law. So... Assuming that Regent Shandor allows you to stage this invasion from Sawall, and assuming that you find Jurt -- dead or alive -- there would be no harm done. On the other hand, if Jurt is not there, you may have some problems with Dara. Regrettably, we'll need some impartial witnesses to make this comply with the Chaosian traditions. Lorgath, your acquaintance, should be sufficiently neutral, and if not, he can be neutralized."
Flark accepts this as a shining endorsement of his tactical genius.
Laan suggests that Flark's step-brother lead this, rather than Flark taking this upon himself, giving him plausible deniability in the case of an operations failure.
Shandor sends the Logrus through shadow for a being upon which to experiment... Attempting to implant a Logrus bomb in it.
It seems to work. The salamander coos cutely.
Now with his test subject, he tries to use the soul-gem to claim the bomb from the salamander.
At the Keep, Fendrith takes another pass, buzzing over the fan-beings.
Julia seems to be making progress, and knows that Seonaid is feeling the pain of the attack, and that Seonaid will learn to use mental shields next time.
Audrey-Manette plans a labyrinth with an entrance and no exits... She thinks about setting it about the fan-beings.
Fendrith wonders what Keliith is up to.
Audrey-Manette wonders what Shandor is up to and Trumps him. Spotting the cutest salamander, she reaches through to grab Shandor and shake him, "What are you doing to him!?"
Shandor tries to yank Audrey-Manette through. Fendrith tags along, pushing them all through.
Shandor tries to explain the There's-a-Pattern-Bomb-Inside-Me situation of his to Fendrith and Audrey-Manette. Everyone kibitzes about both the bomb and the one who gave it to him.
Shandor suggests, "Let's go run me through the Fount; that might help me."
"What's in it for me?" Audrey-Manette asks.
"You'd have the future Duke of a major House of Chaos smiling upon you."
"I could go to Despil and get the same thing..." Audrey-Manette considers things. "What would you teach me, if I let you use the Fount. Even if it's not effective, I'll have some control over you when you need recharges. I think I'd like you to instruct me in how to manipulate my powers... And don't withhold anything from me." Her eyes flash.
Fendrith notices the Salamander looks yummy.
Everyone returns to the Fount for the Shandor-bathing. Everyone but Fendrith, who meets Shandorways, and then returns to the Keep.
Flark decides to contact Shandor to help them get into Sawall. He decides to use Logrus. It takes a few minutes, but he gets it.
"What the?! Who is it?" Shandor lets the passage open.
"Shandor, can you come to me, or can we met?"
"Yeah, you can come on over." Not like Shandor asked Audrey-Manette the last time...
"Is it secure?" Flark asks when he sees it's the Keep. "Perhaps it's not politic for me to come through. Contact me later."
"All right, I'll call you back later," Shandor says. Audrey-Manette plays with the flaming salamander in the background. She does not burn herself. But her skirt catches on fire, and she tries to put it out in the Fount.
Meanwhile...
Flark decides not to talk to Feng with Lorgath present. He asks Lorgath to leave, which he does.
Flark tells Feng he has an assignment for him. He says he has reason to believe Jurt is in Fortress Gantu. Feng wants to know how he knows this... Flark says that a small group of soldiers will try to apprehend him, and he wants Feng to take control. If he handles it, and Jurt is there, there's no reason for secrecy. However, if he isn't, and Chanicut is harmed, he is to erase evidence of their involvement. There are risks, but Feng kind of knew that. Of course, the rewards are nice, too.
Feng asks that if he leads this, will he be in complete control? He finds that Lorgath would probably have some men, but Feng's would be larger. So he accepts upon learning he'll be in charge... for the most part. Feng asks when this shall take effect. Flark says they'll discuss it with Chanicut's envoy.
So they call Lorgath in. The operation will proceed under Feng's command. Lorgath reprimands Flark for not going along. He looks at him in Sanskrit, but Flark's is also in a hard to read language... true Pig Latin. Lorgath becomes acquainted with Feng. Lorgath is concerned about starting soon; otherwise Jurt may fly the coop. Lorgath briefs Feng on the situation on everything that they collectively know.
Audrey-Manette stops playing with the salamander long enough to prep Shandor for the Fount.
Shandor mutters about a Cave... Audrey-Manette inquires about it, and Shandor explains. Audrey-Manette takes out her Trump of the Cave, and teases Shandor with it. However, he decides to try the Fount first.
Shandor feels a shadow of this Power from his former ghosts. He knows if he had unlimited power to this, he could repair his soul...
Shandor asks to talk privately. Audrey-Manette takes him to the top of the highest tower of the Keep. He explains he can get the bomb out of him, if he has unlimited use of the Fount.
Audrey-Manette ponders. "I have no idea how much I can trust you," she says.
Shandor strikes a heroic pose. "I am the soul of all that is good and honorable."
OOC:
(So why do you have a bomb in you?)"You can trust me."
OOC:
(About as far as I can throw you... which is kind of far, if I use the Fount, now that I think about it...)"So it returns to the another question... What are you going to do for me?"
"What do you want?"
"Oh, I don't know. You just owe me something really big!" They also decide to check on Julia first, though. And Shandor isn't wearing his mirror... So they go see Julia. And poor Audrey-Manette has no idea he's missing the mirror.
"Hi! How're things?" Audrey-Manette says as they pop in. Shandor looks Seonaid over. Julia says her mind is healing. Shandor asks how she is. Julia still has no idea how long it'll be, under a year. Shandor tries to estimate how long it'll take for him.
OOC:
1-die-Shandor! How many sides does it have?Audrey-Manette suggests getting her dad, who has gotten along with Shandor on occasion. So they go and visit him, to bring him in on it. Audrey-Manette lets Shandor do the talking.
"Sucks to be you," Vincenzo says. Shandor asks him the help, describing the process. Vincenzo says he'd need his wife, but she cannot assist. Lady Anakara could, and they (Kalto and Anakara) are here, also.
Anakara, Vincenzo, and Shandor discuss their plans. They estimate, with their help, it'll take a few days.
Seonaid starts to wake up. Julia sees that she'll be in pain, and possibly a bit amnesiac.
"Who're you?" Seonaid asks. Julia introduces herself. Seonaid says she's heard of her. Seonaid asks where she is, and why she's here. Julia says she's at the Keep of the Four Worlds. Seonaid asks for her parents.
Upon asking Seonaid who her parents are, Seonaid answers with Kalto and Anakara. Julia nods, and asks a servant to bring in Lord Kalto and Lady Anakara.
Kalto and Anakara arrive. Hugging commences. Seonaid knows she's a singer. Not too much more.
Seonaid inquires about her schedule and about her manager. She's told she has no concerts planned. Anakara thinks it's best if Seonaid fully recovers first.
Seonaid realizes that she does not know the other woman in the corner (Bekka). She's told that Bekka's her bodyguard. She doesn't make many comments on this; she doesn't feel too weak, physically.
Audrey-Manette blips back to her tower, and tries to Trump Keliith. Audrey-Manette fills him in on what happened to Seonaid. She pulls him through, and he assumes his "young boy" form. She stays behind in the Keep while he goes on.
Seonaid is reunited with little Keliith. He inquires as to how much she knows, but she... well... clearly doesn't remember much. He asks her what's the last thing she did. She thinks it was a concert. She asks what he's been doing.
"Oh, rebuilding the universe in my own, small way," he replies. Seonaid laughs; Kalto and Anakara do not.
"So, you don't recall Uncle Flark becoming a Duke?"
"Wasn't he a Lord?"
"No... He's a Duke."
"For how long?"
"A few months."
"I've been out a few months?!" Seonaid exclaims.
Seonaid remembers up to the 47th year of the reign of Merlin. They tell her it's the 49th year.
They move her to her room, which she finds really is her style. She goes through it for things that jog her memory. They tell her she's been living her for a while. She finds a Trump deck. She recognizes a few Trumps, like her family, and a Trump that has three types of Keliiths. There's also a girl with lavender hair, a beefed up dragon-man who'd been a bouncer, King Merlin, and even Julia. However, she also finds Trumps of people and places she doesn't know: a smiling, red-haired man [Luke]; an imperious-looking red-haired matron [Jasra]; and a few others that she doesn't (yet) recall. She shuffles the ones she doesn't know to the top, and puts them away.
She puts the Trumps away, and keeps looking for memories. She finds a spell rack with some components. She knows that they're not stage spells, and that she's the one who wrote them.
Afterwards, she decides that she needs to walk around, but the bodyguard prevents her from going outside. Seonaid notices her being called "Highness." Questioning this, Bekka explains that Seonaid was officially acknowledged as a daughter of King Merlin. Seonaid goes to ask Anakara about this.
For some reason, Seonaid seems to know where to go. There are her parents. She asks Anakara about Merlin being her father. Anakara says they never made it a secret that she's a foster child, and explains it. Seonaid wonders why Julia didn't say anything, and Anakara said she probably didn't want to burden her.
"So, in this period of time, I've been made a Princess of Chaos, a target for assassins, and not giving any concerts?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Seonaid mopes.
In the Ways of Jesby...
Feng decides he'll work with the plan, but wants to be the field commander. Lorgath is a little apprehensive to this, and says he'll accept commands as it helps Chanicut's role. Feng snaps back this is Jesby's blood feud. They turn to Flark. Feng asks Flark to reiterate that Feng will be in command.
"I assume, since we are commanding the bulk of troops, you will accepts his commands as deputy," Flark says.
Lorgath says he'll support Jesby's initiatives. They find they're both planning personal changes when Lorgath finds out he's no longer the observer. They will leave shortly. They have no confirmation that Jurt's still there. Lorgath points out it's Flark's info. They also have the Shadow-Master, Talrod.
A servant relays that the soldiers are here. Lorgath doesn't know, but Flark did, that his step-mom (Feng's late mother, Charyss) was Dara's cousin. Lorgath tells Talrod to trust no one. Helgram is the observer. They are ready to go to Sawall.
Shandor, however, is not there. He does contact them, though. Flark asks to meet somewhere they won't be observed. Shandor figures out how to blip, and goes to Shandorways. He reels Flark in from there.
Now that they're in a clean area, they can talk freely. The expedition can now be underway. Flark updates him a bit. Shandor thanks him for letting him know.
Shandor makes arrangements with the guards to let the party through. Then, Shandor blips back to the Keep.
Lorgath will meet them at Sawall.
Keliith finds Audrey-Manette still at the top of the tower. She asks what he's going to do. He asks if he's still welcome here, and she says he still has his rooms. She then kisses him -- really kisses him -- and blips out.