A Bride for Merlin
Campaign Log
Session XL, 26 October 2001
Lorgath finds some cards in his personal stuff in the Ways of Chanicut. He dusts them off and looks at them. He sees that they are people who are no longer in active service (i.e., retired or dead). They're also in his style. It's something he's forgotten in his sabbatical.
They're cold to the touch and they're his. He tries to make a sketch of Shandor. He can feel the talent and is intrigued. Also, out of habit, he puts on gloves and notices that the edges of card are sharp... and glistening. And yes, he still has good aim. As he puts them away, he realizes he's got some blank Trumps.
He's been asking around about Feng, and finds out that Feng's basically an underhanded son of a bitch. Feng's mother was a Helgram; she died before Merlin put everyone under the Black Watch. It's rumored that Feng killed his mother.
Fendrith goes to visit Seonaid, who is still recovering in her room. Seonaid has been thinking about her next concert when she hears a knock. She remembers Fendrith as being one of her roadies.
He checks up on her, and she's polite. Fendrith breaks it to her that she doesn't have a schedule, but she wants to get back to it. Fendrith mentions the masses of fans, which they can hear from some places. He explains they just sort of migrated here.
She stammers a bit, because she doesn't know what he is, humanoid or what not. He whispers to her that he's a real, live dragon. His normal form is a dragon-man. She says she should probably go greet the fans. Her bodyguard says that an assassin could be in the crowd, but Seonaid insists. Bekka says, build a good barrier and she can go out.
Fendrith also mentions that they might storm the Citadel. She says that the Keep should be able to hold against a few fans. A few? Try a few million.
Seonaid decides to tinker with her spells to create a double. Things start to make sense to her, but she's a bit confused on how she knew all that. She finds that she's made spell-racks, something unlike her. She doesn't remember being THAT good...
She makes a doppelganger to look through its eyes. Bekka likes that idea. Fendrith says let's move any concert to a special Shadow. They could design it for the concert, and also try to get rid of the fans. She finds that ... she has Logrus! Fendrith replies that she didn't lose her mind from walking Logrus. Bekka mentions that she also walked her Granddad's Pattern. Seonaid vaguely knows that Corwin is her grandfather.
She tries both Logrus and Pattern. Neither would really be good for remote projection. Pattern doesn't work, and Logrus is traceable. She makes some theories about retracing her Logrus to one place. Seonaid catches up on who's her bodyguard and who are future relatives.
Fendrith helps Seonaid remember she's been dabbling in espionage and politics. He says we had some pretty good times.
She frets over not knowing what to do, and Fendrith says to do what she likes. So she says she's doing a concert! Seonaid pulls out her Trumps, and contacts him.
Kagariith Po is delighted to hear from her again. She mentions that she wants another concert to get back with her life. He inquires as to how much she remembers. He joins them upstairs.
He says that's it's about 700 to 800 million. They keep loosing fans by the hour... though they keep adding, too. Seonaid asks who's doing that, and Kagariith says the purple-haired chick.
OOC: This land is your land, This land is my land, From the fiery fountains, To the icy islands...
Seonaid starts to put a lot of things together, and they estimate that it will take about a week.
Audrey-Manette returns to her room after leaving Keliith. Then she hears some scratching at her door. She throws the door open. Allie comes in, with a little harness and a wagon attached to it, on which, the newt is in a fishbowl. She lets them in. She asks Allie if anything's new.
Allie says that Seonaid still has amnesia. Audrey-Manette names the newt Naru-chan. They go to visit Seonaid. Audrey-Manette constructs a cloud to float the newt on.
It's just Seonaid and Bekka when they get there. Audrey-Manette pokes her head in the door cautiously. Seonaid is changing for the gym. Bekka lets her in.
Seonaid knows her, but doesn't remember her. She thinks she likes her. Audrey-Manette asks her how she likes it. She says she should like it, she made the rooms. There's a good trading of glances as Seonaid tries to figure out who this is.
"May I help you?" Seonaid asks politely.
"Guess not," Audrey-Manette says. They converse about her concert, but hear a scratching at the door. Keliith comes in (in wolf form). He says hello to Audrey-Manette and then to Seonaid. Upon seeing Seonaid's puzzled look, Audrey-Manette explains that she used to baby-sit Keliith, but Seonaid teases him about her being his girlfriend. Audrey-Manette protests. Keliith asks Seonaid if she really wants to have her memory back.
Seonaid rambles that maybe she was really a bad person before, and now she can get back to her music. She keeps rambling about it, and how she has a second chance. He says she won't remember all the good things. Audrey-Manette tells Keliith that they shouldn't bother Seonaid. Keliith says, according to her grandfather, she'll remember everything. Audrey-Manette realizes what he's talking about, as does Bekka.
Audrey-Manette says to Seonaid that she shouldn't sweat things right now. Who knows? By the time her concert comes up, she could remember it. Seonaid turns to Bekka and asks what they should do. Bekka agrees to walking Corwin's Pattern. So Seonaid agrees to walk the Pattern.
Keliith turns into little-boy form and has his jacket. He gives Audrey-Manette her cloak. Keliith leaves a note when Audrey-Manette mentions they should tell someone.
They depart, with Audrey-Manette as the transport. They blip in right in front of Corwin's door. Keliith knocks and calls for Corwin. Servants greet everyone by name, except for Bekka. Keliith tells Bekka to take point, since Jurt showed up last time. Audrey-Manette ducks into the library.
Audrey-Manette finds a certain set of novels. After asking if she can borrow them, she decides to sit and read until someone of authority tells her she can't.
Seonaid recognizes the Pattern as something powerful and lethal. Keliith explains what she's to do, and how to work the center. He makes sure she has her Trumps and a spell-rack.
And thus she walks. She gets to the middle, exhausted. She remembers EVERY painful detail, including the mind rapes and the such... especially the Emerald Lady doing a rip-and-burn to her mind, while she was trying to find Sylvia. Seonaid remembers the last thing she was doing was to try and intercept the trace. She does remember two other things. Clarissa used to be a Queen of Amber, and is still Dowager nobility in the House of Helgram.
She remembers the good stuff, too. Audrey-Manette, Keliith's real form, his Pattern, who Julia is, Julia almost dying... She teleports back to Keliith. She plops down next to him, saying it works. She copies all info she has on Clarissa and Saelevatha. Specifically, that they have a copy of her head. She tells him to Keliith to report to Merlin, and she'll bring Flark up to date.
Seonaid tells Bekka they're visiting Jesby, but connects to Audrey-Manette first. Seonaid thanks Audrey-Manette, but she says not to thank her. Seonaid puts her up to date. They teleport to the Ways of Jesby.
Audrey-Manette runs off to find Keliith, only to see he's coming to find her.
They blip off to Thelbane.
Shandor, however, has been talking with the others on what they're going to do. They're absolutely sure that what they'll do will work. They can do what they need to do.
However, Esmeralda comes in, saying that Audrey-Manette has left on an errand. Many parents are discouraged. Shandor is dismayed, but they've given him all info he'll need. However, he'll need someone to look on.
Shandor tries to use Fount of Power to contact Audrey-Manette. Audrey-Manette does not let it in. He recognizes power from the Fount. He notices another, gentle pushing away. Shandor does not want to hurt her mind, but he knocks again.
The pressure gets stronger. She shuts off all power from the Keep, except her own. No one but Audrey-Manette has it. Shandor uses Logrus to get her. (Shandor's really mad Audrey-Manette took away his new toy.)
Audrey-Manette and Keliith speak to Maximilian, the royal chamberlain. He immediately ushers them to King Merlin. Keliith, in his true form, briefs Merlin. Audrey-Manette just stands there and looks pretty. After they finish, Audrey-Manette gets another contact. In the presence of the King, the contact is intercepted. A powerful entity does a trace. Shandor remembers the last time he tried to do something like that, and drops the link. Shandor grumbles and gives up.
Seonaid blips to as much of Flark's land as she can, one of the inner entry ways. Flark mets her in the Green Room. She has her bodyguard, as he has his, too. She tells him that she has information he may need. She extends her hand politely. She then moves to wrap her hands around his neck. Tela's blade is at Seonaid's neck, and Bekka's blade is at Tela's. Seonaid tells him to never try that again, and then lets go of his neck.
Now, she fills him in on Clarissa, who's keeping Sylvia. He thanks her, and she says, no problem. Flark says that he will not hesitate to do that again, if he needs to. She says don't let her remember it, he could be facing the same threat as Jurt. She reminds him that she is the Princess. He thinks they can come to an agreement. She asks if he has any insight on Clarissa, but he doesn't. She excuses herself. He asks her to say hello to her parents.
On the way out, Seonaid suddenly finds herself without access to the Fount.
She doesn't have Trumps of the Keep, because no one's needed them. She does have Trumps of people, though. She decides, however, to walk out and then Trump people. Once out, she Trumps Audrey-Manette.
Then, someone tries to contact her. She thinks it's Logrus, and she shuts it down big time. She then thinks of bringing up the Pattern, and the tendril explodes. For once, Seonaid does not blow up. However, she was seen. Many people are running away, and Bekka is partially dissolving. Seonaid shuts it down, saving the poor bodyguard.
OOC: Well, I just told off Flark and I get a tendril? I think I'm justified!
So... she continues Trumping Audrey-Manette. Yet someone tries to contact Seonaid again. She tries to use the Pattern as a firewall. Shandor is once again denied.
Shandor wanders how difficult it would be to put Logrus over the Inner Citadel... (if the other Logrus masters agree).
Meanwhile, Lorgath has finished his preparations. He meets up with the Jesby forces. They want the initial entrance, via Sawall, to be quiet. Helgram and Hendrake are also entrances.
Feng meets up with him, with some witnesses. Lorgath greets them, and they don't seem to happy to be there. They're rather miffed at the situation. They are ready.
The shadow-master does his stuff, making a new entry. They move into the first room. They start storming the castle. They get a generic parlor room, which has some servants but they dispose of them. The shadow-master leads them farther in. They get to a library, with four exits, with two possible solutions. They get lead to Dara's room, where they neutralize the servants. They find many other pathways, but that's as close to "center" as they could find. Dara's room does not look like they've been used.
Back to the library, take the other pathway. Leads to a lab, where they're all ordered to not touch anything. They go back to Dara's room, and Feng orders the Shadow-master to search each. One of the pathways that is good leads to the guest rooms. However, they apprehend a maid and check her mind.
OOC: With a word as versatile as Flark, how could you resist using this word in your everyday life? For example: Go Flark yourself. Why don't you recursively Flark yourself into sobriety?
The maid remembers bringing Jurt's things to another room. Lorgath puts a Logrus tendril in her head and has a meat-puppet. He forces her to shape-shift, and they go to the guest room. There is no response. He uses her entry procedure to enter. It's been abandoned, long since gone. You don't know how long ago... but he burned his personal stuff. Feng is confused, though. This shows, though, that their actions were justified; he was here.
There's no real advantage to torching her place. So, they discuss what to do now. Feng says mission accomplished, they proved he was here and is not any more. All the maid knows about emergencies, is that the guards would take care of any such emergency... except, there have been no guards. Lorgath mentions that, and Feng mentions they should leave. Now. To Sawall.
Lorgath agrees. However, he goes back to Jurt's chambers to look for an exit. The shadow-master could help decide which exit was last used, but not much else. The ashes don't show anything. They decide to leave.
Feng leaves a note saying, "Terribly sorry for the inconvenience, tracking down your outlaw son. Saw he was here a bit, but left. Next time, we'll catch him so you don't have to replace more burnt rooms. House of Jesby."
They retreat back to Sawall. However, before that, they forcibly shape-shift the maid to look like Jurt. They want to be seen with "Jurt," and Feng suggests they give her to Flark.
The team reports limited success to Flark, finding out that Jurt had been hiding there. They brought back the maid, forcibly shape-shifted to look like Jurt, so the rumor can spread that they caught him. Now, Flark can say that he doesn't have Jurt, but the public will think that he does. He can deny finding, capturing, or killing Jurt.
OOC: Foolproof way to lie... tell the truth.