As Lora and I rode she asked about her father. I wish I knew him well enough to give her the answers to what she asked, but I hadn’t known him that long myself. I did know he didn’t and couldn’t do anything like attack his son. Lora began to ask me what I did. She asked me about fighting; I think she was scared that I was a girl and couldn’t hold my own against men. I assured her she would be safe. She asked how I was compared to the rest of the family, and I had to admit all of my aunts and uncles, with the exception of Flora, would probably beat me in a sword fight.
Lora told me about herself. It seems she's a sorceror, a skill she obviously didn’t get from her father. She's studied mainly the fire element and looked to be pretty afraid of her teacher. I saw a picture of him, and realized he'd tangled with Ander. Lora said her teacher did things like that for power and money.
We rode onward at a decent pace and eventually reached the place where Lora had entrusted her brother to some friends. The keepers were surprised to see Lora as 'she had just picked up her brother a bit ago'. Damn. Double damn. It had to be Anax. (It had to be Anax because if it was Osric, we were screwed.) He knew Ander’s life better then Ander did it, it only made sense. Lora started to panic and headed back to the horses while I told her not to worry and that I wouldn’t let 'them' get away with this. I sounded convincing, I hope.
I trumped Theseus and got a trump of Anax, tried it, but it was blocked. I warned her that we were going to go really fast and she might get sick, and then started the hellride. I focused on the image of Anax because I didn't know Daven and didn't have an image of him to go on.
Then Anax trumped me.
Anax has a very strong mind. Bastard.
He asked why I was so interested in a shadow child -- a lie not even worth answering. He was kidnapping innocent children and I was going to take his head for it. I told him as much and... I have to say he believed me.
He broke contact and I asked Aunt Fiona to contact Anax -- she reported he was already in contact with Brand or Osric, so she couldn't really hold him still til I found him.
We kept riding... and found the kid under a tree -- surprise surprise. Lora was elated but I warned her it might not be him. I think she was starting to catch on to the paranoia concept. I told her to ask him a question only he would know the answer to. Davin handed me a note which read, "Thought it better to concede the chase then worry about you showing up in my bedroom sometime. – Anax". Lora verified that Davin was in fact her little brother and I invited him to go on a horse ride with us. After a couple minutes I asked him to close his eyes and trumped us through to the Great Hall.
Mom's getting tired of my bringing horses into the Great Hall. She yelled, and made a great first impression on the kid. Davin was impressed by his new settings, and started playing 20 questions. He asked if that was his grandma -- I told him yes and he asked if she was mean and got the same response. I had a servant take the horses to the stable and took Davin up to Lora’s room where he wanted to go. I tried to tell him about shaft-shifters he didn’t really get it.
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Once I was back in the castle it was time for the little one to rest. He wanted to sleep in his big sister's room -- no problem. After he was asleep I went to my room and contacted Ander to let him know what happened. He wanted to meet with me later that night. I agreed to met him at the always luxurious Bloody Jasmine's. We decided that the code for being who we truly are was to describe Vaughn's tattoo.
Davin woke up full of spirit and ready to destroy something -- yeah, he's definately family. I convinced him to pick a room for himself, and I would help him decorate in any fashion that he saw fit. Davin was hyped to get started but this required a trip to town for supplies. Davin encouraged me to hurry by asking 20 questions on the way. When we got back, he got started with throwing paint everywhere. It was his room I told him it could be done however he wanted, and I couldn't wait for Mom to see this. I also couldn't wait to call her grandma, but one thing at a time. We had only been back a little while when I realized I needed to wash up and meet Ander. I asked Vaughn to take over the redecoration. I think he said yes because he is a little scared of me. Well if so at least it came in handy.
I was on time for once -- my brother was early. He was there with some woman, whom I learned was the mother of his children. I think he can do much better. I can't believe he made me talk about family affairs in front of a stranger. I don't like her, I have made up my mind. I told Ander of my intent to pursue and kill Anax, but I'd had just about enough of sharing information in front of this Katherine made mental contact, so much more private. I can't believe she let her children just run all over in danger, so I asked Ander why he was bring so nice to her, she had after all kept his youngest from him, maybe Lora too, who knows. He told me through the connection that he still had a lot to get from her. I asked him why she didn't have a sword to her throat then, and even offered mine for the purpose. She then spoke and insisted on seeing her children. I informed her that she could see them if and only if they wanted to see her. I thought I had earned the right to be protective. She threw this big fit and Ander convinced her to shut up, well in that polite Ander way. I would meet them in the garden and let them know if the children were up to seeing them.
I went first to see Lora, she was old enough to answer for herself without questions from me. She seemed delighted at the idea but after inspecting her room she didn't think her mother should come there. I told her that her parents were in the garden and that I was going to go talk to Davin and see if he was up to seeing them.
Davin's room was very... bright... and he and Vaughn were covered in paint. I talked to Davin about his mother and father and after a bit of coaxing he decided that he wanted to see his father. His mother, I could care less if he didn't like, but he and Ander needed to meet and talk. I didn't make Davin clean up before going to the garden, he looked so cute with the paint on him. He decided not to use that tattoo question but instead a blob of paint to test his father. He tested his mother with it too, which I found amusing. This kid had potential.
Color me surprised to see Caine at supper. I asked him this and that and got standard vague Caine answers. He hadn't seen or talked to Bleys since before the attack on Amber. Not long after I remembered I hadn't blessed Uncle Benedict with my company and decided to do so.
I'm not sure if he looked forward to my visits or just simply tolerated me because I got him back to Amber -- either way he never said much -- then again, he's never had to work on being overly chatty. I pretended to look after him -- he still looked frail, and sometimes asked me to walk him around the castle. I told him Finndo was coming, and surprise surprise I may have actually gotten the news to him before everyone else.
Mom came knocking on my door later -- not exactly who I'd choose to be woken by. She told me Finndo was in Arden and that I should get ready for supper. I got dressed and headed down to yet another family affair -- please hold back my excitement. I hadn't seen Llewella in forever and asked about still-under-house-arrest Random. Finndo walked in pulling respect around him like a coat. He looked like he could arm wrestle uncle Gerard and hold his own for a respectable amount of time -- two, maybe three seconds, but still, it's Gerard. He made a point of talking to me: color me shocked. He had heard good things about me? I can't imagine from where.
After the meal, there was all sorts of commotion from the great hall; someone was doing something worse then riding horses through it. (It was Sander in a fist fight with someone who had picked a fight with his in-laws.) Even Benedict came down to… well, check out what was going on. He was tapping a cane using the sounds to guide him, I admired his ingenuity. He remarked on my following him and I assured him I was just going to my room, which I was, of course.
Player absent.
Player absent.
Someone walking in front of you while you walk the Pattern.. sucks less. It doesn't not suck, just less. I was in the middle of the parade and following Ander -- something Quinn had suggested to me, and lets hear it for idea-boy: walking behind Ander was like going through snowdrifts right after the snow plow. Normally Quinn suggesting something means it's something he wants me to do so he doesn’t' have too. I told the Pattern to take me to Uncle Bleys and I patted my zippo just to make sure it was still there. (No more of this 'too dark to shadow shift' for me again.)
Take ten of the most disgusting things ever. Mix them together in a well-used, but broken toilet. A broken toilet in the back of locker room that never gets cleaned. A locker room next to a bar. Got the image? That's where I was. Across the table was a rotting corpse in a green dress with red hair -- I needed to find the decorator… and hurt him. Kethos was with me and just as clueless. We heard a noise in the next room over and went to go investigate… well, I went to investigate -- Kethos was checking out the liquor cabinet. In the room: filthy man greatly in need of a bath and a spa. I tried to talk to him, but he was making all sorts of… comments and, well, rude people make me into rude people. I made a few comments that might pull his mind out of the gutter and headed into the other room.
Suddenly, he's a gentleman -- or as gentlemanly as a drunk fop can be. The corpse in the chair was supposedly Fiona, who, like him had been captured by Brand and put in here -- an anti-Amberite prison. I had exactly zero desire to run into Uncle Brand, so it was time to Mission Impossible the hell out of here. I began the escapte process: trumps -- yeah, right, that'll actually work right after Brand's lobotomy. There were bars on the windows -- break one and we ride into the sunset. I asked Kethos and his sword get through them. He couldn’t -- two more points for Brand. Now, this thing was made to to hold someone, using the Pattern before the universe spilt like a melon -- and I in tune with the new power of Amber. I didn’t think even Brand could have envisioned the change and accounted for it years ago -- I don't even think he could have.
I told Kethos to keep working on the bars and began walking in circles in the room as Bleys insisted he had tried this sort of thing before. Yeah, Unc, keep talking. After a short while I was able to weaken the bars, and Kethos broke one out with Smokey the Wonder Sword. Uncle was pretty quiet. Yay for me.
We found our horses not to far away -- did I mention I was getting better at this Pattern thing? -- and the snow had to go. We ran far and fast -- Kethos took over the shifting as I took a trump call from Quinn. Quinn and I talked about what had gone on and about the dead Fiona. I brought Bleys in on the contact so he could talk to Quinn about Fiona and to see if he was willing to go back to Amber. Quinn convinced Bleys that the body was a fake Fiona and Bleys agreed to go to Amber. Quinn brought us through the trump.
I decided I should probably tell Gerard that... that Quinn had brought Bleys back to Amber through a trump contact.
[Innocent look.]
Alright so technically I rescued Bleys, but Quinn is the one who actually brought him to Amber. So I told Gerard and stayed on the alert for flying objects. He took it pretty well, but after all... it's Gerard.
Ander let me know he was leaving the insanity that is Castle Amber to go to shadow Earth. He gave me a message for his side-kick Victor. I told him to watch Kathrine. I don’t like her, probably mutual.
I ran into mommy dearest in the hallway while heading to my room and she decides that I get to go on a diplomatic mission with her. Joy. I tried to talk her out of it, siting the obvious reasons: I'm annoying, I'm unfit, and so forth; but she rejected reality in favor of her wants -- typical.
A servant checked me later to see if I was coming to dinner. I told him yess and was informed that it was ready not too long after. Bleys was a real bastard at the meal. Let him conjure up alcohol with a jaw wired shut. I finally left -- Quinn said no one stayed around much longer after that.
I went to the ass's room to speak to him later. He was drunk (normal) and in decadent fop mode. He made some noise about being Amber's new jester and wanting to do his job well, so after he passed out, I found a jester outfit and sewed him into it -- it suited him, and pardon me for finally making a joke. I also took a bottle of Bayle’s Best and swapped a good part of it out with rubbing alcohol then ordered an infamous 'good-morning burger': to be delivered with the wine when he woke up.
Bleys is right: you should always try to be the best at what you do, and I was really good at pissing people off.
Mom came calling and I was off on her mission of peace. Quinn did something or other to get us to where we needed to be. Finndo was going to be late. I remembered that I need to get Ander’s letter to Victor and trumped back to the castle to deliver it. I was called back to Mom shortly thereafter.
Breann's Diary -- Session 18
Yet again I'm called back to join Mom on her mission o' peace. When I got back it was pretty evident that the lioness was well rested, she was roaring for me to come fence with her and Kethos -- like I need that kind of stress. I'd already had enough fun for the day and tried to decline, but the queen of the jungle was not hearing it. She tried coaxing me into it by throwing me off my cot, but I was really not in the mood. I had fenced with Mom before, and it always ended badly, 'cause she cheats, which she shouldn't do or even have to do, since she can beat me anyway -- after the ordeal with Bleys I hardly was in the mood. She made motions to smack me in the head with her axe -- I figured she was bluffing, and she figured I'd duck. She wasn't and I didn't, so I ended up with her crest mark on my forehead. She decided she didn't want me around after that, so she sent me back to Amber... which is where I wanted to go in the first place, hello.
I trumped (while mounted) back to the Great Hall: basically 'cause Mom hates it when I trump my horse into the castle -- she probably never know I did it, but it made me feel better. I took the horse back to the stables and started to look for someone around the castle to chat with. All my aunts and uncles had left the castle early and no one was going near Bleys’ room. I considered heading up for another match with Bleys, but it sounded like he was in a bad mood, and so was I, which meant one of us would get hurt, and smart money bet on Bleys.
Julian was out in the forest and seemed like the least hate-me relative available at the moment. It also got me out of the castle -- definate plus. Julian left the schedule of his inspection route with Scudamore at the castle and I decided to intercept. I caught up with him a little later than I thought I would, and when I did, he's talking with a amazon stick-figure woman. She was sort of a hottie, for someone old, and she was... ugh, playing with his hair -- and he was letting her. There goes my theory that Julian's gay -- and my breakfast: yuck. I really don't need visuals of Intimate Julian.
Eventually he finished flirting, or talking, or... whatever, and she left. Then he decided to acknowledge my presence, like he knew I was there all along. Sure, I think blondie was fiddling with your sonar a little too much for that, Yoda. I rode with him to the next checkpoint and asked him about power words; I had seen them used before but never learned how they worked, and after tangling with Anax and expecting to again, I figured it was high time. Magick stuff is normally way over my head, but these things seemed pretty quick and easy. I asked him if he'd teach me and he said he would. He muttered something about them not working on relatives (meaning Bleys), as if he even needed to go there. He also told me to avoid the castle and more specifically Bleys -- way ahead of yah, Julian, thanks for the info.
We were getting into a part of Arden that I liked to avoid unless I was in a bad mood -- it's a good place to vent on unfriendly things, and a bad place for... anything else. We got to the next post on edge because something didn’t feel right. Julian used magic to summon a ball of light, but I figure that wasn't a power word -- nothing really useful is easy. We went in and found bodies everywhere. Can I just stop and say 'ugh'. Definitely not good. Around the head table were dead bodies with arrows jutting out of everything and no sign of how the attackers got in. I climbed up to the balcony that ran around the main room, and I heard something not good -- out came the sword.
I could see that this is was how the party crashers came in. Here we go again: bad guys that slip into the shadow and then reappear somewhere else: I wish these guys would learn a new trick 'cause this one is getting old. We fought with them for a little bit, and had to bolt because there were way too many for a good game of volleyball. I hate having retreat: it feels more like getting beat than getting beat does, but staying and taking arrows was certainly not going to take me anywhere fun. I already had on graze my leg and another on my arm. I took out the guy who was ready to stab Julian, then Erol Flynned off the balcony, to the hanging light, to the tabletop, then a backflip and a run up the stairs after Julian. He had taken an arrow in the leg -- through the leg was more accurate -- ow.
Julian asked which power word I wanted to learn first while we rode away. In no way is Julian ever not cool as a cucumber.
Breann’s Diary -- 19
Julian and I stopped our ride to tend to our wounds. I know I heard noises around us, but Julian claimed he didn’t. I am not sure if he meant it or if it was just wishful thinking on his part. Julian wanted to ride on to the next checkpoint, so we headed off that way. We rode on for awhile and it occurred to me that I had saved Julian’s life and I couldn’t help smiling to myself. I asked Julian a few things and his answers were fuzzy at best. I thought it best if we returned to Amber and Julian reluctantly agreed.
We turned around and headed back for Amber, as we did the noises around us ceased. I knew Julian was in pretty bad shape so I took over the shifting. I tried to shift and ended up doing extremes. I did away with the gloom and got bright sand. I wasn’t sure what was going on, perhaps it was the pain from my wounds, although I found that hard to believe. I thought I would center on something familiar and go from there. I was a bit hungry so I thought about the chef of Amber. We ended up at a little village a sign hung above the inn, "Big Stupid Dumb People Bar." I almost fell off my horse. I was in the leprechaun village. A little boy saw me and ran into the bar, I knew this was bad. Like a swarm of bees they seemed to flood out into the streets pointing at me and aiming weapons. I started to think it would be funny if there was mud that would eat them and all of a sudden it started to happen. This was way too easy: something was wrong with me, acid, I thought, knowing what I had heard of it before. Julian’s damn horse gave me a look and I informed him he could help anytime he felt like it. He made a whinny and was gone before I knew it. I hate that horse, no, no, Morgenstern, just leave my ass back here with the leprechauns.
I had never gone through this acid thing before and it was truly a pain. I tried to think of thoughts that wouldn’t hurt me. A Christmas tree and a strange city: I was in no mood to fight so when the natives gave me strange looks I tried to think of something harmless for them to become… oh yes; teddy bears, gingerbread men, bunnies, and squirrels. They were all twisted forms of what I wanted and that simply wouldn’t do. I began to think mom’s mission for me didn’t sound too bad right about now. Alright, think Brea, something hungry for those 4 things, yes a hungry giant. I am not sure where it came from but it swallowed me too. I fell and fell and Cuchulain was freaking out on me. A trampoline and catch a hang-glider and we were out of the pit, as we reached a grassy plain there were remains of my prior creations. No noise and now no smell. I tried to adjust the sound but the corpses started calling out my name so sound was bad and I got rid of it again.
I thought of lilacs and soon they covered the bloody scene. I started to think of floating and clouds and very soon I was on a green cloud. Cuchulain had wings and I could tell he was more then a little freaked by this whole experience. After a while he got used to it, but I am sure there were be payback in the future. We came to a city in the clouds, and I focused on one castle and approached it. People were all looking away and avoiding me. I went up to the castle and thought this should be fun; I demanded to talk to the leader. After they let me, I started to get the wiggins in a big way, and I turned around to leave. When I turned around, Uncle Osric was standing behind me. Oh bad, oh bad, Oh BAD. I spurred Cuchulain and tried for the gate. Osric put the horse to sleep and I wanted to be anywhere but where I was.
Breann’s Diary -- 20
Osric was just looking at me and I felt panic rise over me. I tried to think, and that wasn’t working. I thought for a minute and ran screaming for the gate to make him think I was panicked. I grabbed onto the bars and was still screaming. I threw my arms down like I was giving up and slipped my hand into my coat pocket pulled out the first trump on the deck: Theseus. I concentrated like I never have before. I don’t remember all this clearly, as most of this is pretty fuzzy due to panic. The contact came quick and I got through to Theseus but my horse was still with Osric. My poor baby. I tackle-hugged Theseus and he feel into a duck pond.
I tried to answer all of Theseus’s questions and did the best I could. He looked confused every time I talked, but I tried. He took me to see a Pattern in the sky via a flying machine. There were guards around the pattern: many sets, dressed differently. It was not like Amber, with the Pattern locked away: the damn thing was out in the middle of a park surrounded by well-dressed patrolls to keep people away from it. The pattern was beautiful and I was feeling full of myself. I had just escaped a near death experience relatively unscathed. Theseus told me to stay clear of the Pattern, he told me why -- I don’t really know that I remember. I do know he was good to me I just can’t remember much else.