"...those mysteries, which Heaven will not have the Earth
know."
-- Coriolanus, Act 4, Scene 2 (Wm. Shakespeare)
Fiona was very pleased with the Blue Ruin liqueur. A small thing, perhaps, but it isn't easy to provide a pleasant surprise for an Amberite over a thousand years old. She liked the on-call masseurs, too. I like to be a good host.
What the hell were Victor and Ander thinking? I worry about Miriel walking the Pattern: Victor hasn't even lived in Amber for more than a month. Hope he made it.
How did Fi do the trick with walking through the wall? Later.
Tir-na Nog'th. Wonderful. My own people think I'm the Devil. Mom and Theseus enemies of a common enemy with Osric. Kethos nearly berserk. Dear Cousin Breann displaying her usual charm... not really fair, that. Clarity is important, and Breann is nothing if not clear about how she feels. Mom probably wants them back, but personally I think the traitors should get a bellyfull of Brigid and the Mori first.
Interesting that the Master of Ceremonies can do that much damage within the Tir. Amber is more solid. I think. And moving the Pattern - no. I bet the Magister MOVED THE TIR AROUND THE PATTERN. Nice trick. I wonder: attunement to one Jewel help control another?
Mom says the Tir is reverting to as it was in the Old Days. Also that Greyswandir is the linchpin of Theseus' defenses, without which they would have been overwhelmed by the Magistracy.
Now what? Get the Jewel. I have a bad feeling I won't be able to nuke this one from orbit.
"It is very simple. Where we are is the center of all dreams."
OK. I certainly wasn't expecting the metaphysics, but it was hard to argue with Mom when
we were obviously playing characters in someone else's dream. "We" included
Osric. I suppose Mom thought Osric would think it was some sort of insidious attack.
The doubled perceptions were strange. While I talked to Mother and Osric I could hear
'our' film noiresque dialogue. I could easily fall into the character of lieutenant Quinn,
think his thoughts, even remember some memories. Unless I concentrated, I saw in black and
white-except for the drinks, which were in color by some quirk of, I suppose, the primary
dreamer's imagination.
The primary was probably Ander/Carl Anders, piano player extrordinaire. When he approached
us the dream became much stronger.
And Mom is a Muse, or close enough to make no difference. Somehow that does not surprise
me. What does surprise me is that if I stay in the Tir long enough I will become a Muse,
and so will Osric. I pity the dreamers that get him. I foresee a renaissance of horror
fiction across Shadow.
I had no idea Ander was that good a musician. I'd heard he was good but, damn, he was
amazing. In the middle of all this, sitting across from Osric, the upcoming kamikaze
attack lurking in the back of my mind, and I still got lost in the music. Not my favorite
type of music either. The singer was amazing, too. I tried to get a lock on her for later.
If I'm still alive in a month or so I'm going to talk them into making some recordings. We
could make a fortune selling them almost anywhere but I just want them for me. I need to
work out some kind of recording medium that will work in Amber-or I can ask Fiona.
Later, in the waking world, I heard that Kethos and Vaughn had 'been deported' in some
esoteric but harmless way. I don't suppose there is any way we (the Amberite 'we') could
arrange a similar effect to keep the Mori and Beathan riffraff out.
Mother will send Adril and Elrohir with us. She just wants her people back. For myself, I
believe a few years subjected to the tender care of Brigid would do the traitors a world
of good. Show them that some devils are worse than Me. The survivors should appreciate
what they threw away.
This whole Dreamlands phenomenon is increasingly strange. I
certainly never expected to be involved in a real conflict in the "Supers"
genre, though I suppose I could have found such a shadow had I wanted to.
Once again I was fortunate in my choice of spells. The were very useful in an unexpected
situation. I suppose I should consider acquiring and arming another rack. My luck has to
run out sometime.
I attempted to get a fix on the very attractive 'Emerald Enchantress'. Aside from pure
lechery, I want to know just what she is in the waking world, if anything.
Breann's Triumph: I'm amazed. I should have guessed that there was something… angry
about her sudden interest in Sorcery. It looks like we managed to keep it secret thanks to
Osric's cooperation. To bad we couldn't keep it secret from him as well. Breann's
challenge to match her coup hit home with him. The enemy will suffer.
Mother was a bit put off by the head taking, but pleased and impressed by Ireneon's
elimination. This validates her judgment in taking some pains to cultivate Breann.
Breann is starting to appreciate high tech medicine. She only needed six hours in a
full-body vat and did that asleep. Two days in a gel glove served to do everything for her
hand that Aretian nanotech can do for an Amberite. She says she's eighty percent of normal
combat effectiveness.
Adril had some deeper body wounds. His head was fine, so he spent a day and a half in gel
from the neck down listening to music, sampling different foods and flirting with the
techs.
They picked out our weapons for the mission, hand grenades and late 20th century machine
pistols called Calicos with large tubular magazines. Everybody practiced with them. I got
Breann and Adril to improve a computer generated optimal firing pattern for me to use
against Mori. I practiced that until it was hardwired into my arms.
Breann and I went to Whiteworld via a Pattern gate to harvest coral. That is, I harvested
and Breann watched my back and caught some rays. We returned and the machines turned the
coral into ammo and explosives.
I fabricated thermal/electrical insulation padding for all of us. No spell we could lay on
in Amber would do us any good in the Tir. We'd have to raise our magickal shields after we
arrived. The thought made my skin crawl.
They decided on two Calicos each, with an extra drum for each gun. Two grenades for me,
four for the others. Grenades were obvious targets for lightning or fire and nobody was
confident I could get four off in time.
I was beginning to have a bad feeling about dragging Breann along.
The Tower –Disaster or Upheaval—certainly fit the outcome. At least I probably hurt both the MC and Carolan.
At least I will get to attempt replacing lost Familial parts with Lucky Theseus as my test case.
Also, once again my choice of hung spells was excellent.
No more fooling around. I’ll make a Shadow with a couple of million adoring troops and mob the Mori. Need to make a Tir gunpowder Shadow as well. Unless there’s a reason there are so few Shadows in the Tir-cosmos.
So, what have I learned today?
Even Osric can forget himself if he is tired enough. Osric
and the Baron were …colleagues.
The Baron’s home is nearly impregnable.
Breann takes her protective aunt role very seriously, despite the fact that they are nearly of an age and that Lora is at least as mature as Breann.
The Tir is even more weird than I had thought. Outsiders are booted out in dreams… Ah!
If Breann can go to the Baron’s place in a dream, maybe we can pull her back out bodily into the Dreamlands in another dream. Or at least learn where she is and what is happening. Slick.
A thought: I could offer to take Lushaira to Aretia for medical care. Blindfolded. Osric will probably not go along with it. Worth a shot, though, if I can manage the right air of Reluctant Ally.
I am NOT looking forward to being the bearer of bad news to Deirdre again.
Well, well, at long last I get to try out the regrowth and regeneration process on a serious scale. I’m glad to help Gerard and Theseus, sorry it’s them and glad it’s not me. I do have every reason to believe the process will work. And by now Gerard has been legless long enough to risk it. Seeing that Julian recovered nicely is probably a factor, though he knows that microsurgery is quite different from nanomech construction and cell herding.
They will need to train the new fingers and legs which will naturally be built to DNA specs, not the developed nerves and muscles. It would probably be a good idea to have myself scanned thoroughly, just in case. Don’t know when I’ll find the time, though; the scan alone would take nearly two days.
The possibility of helping Lora now distracted Breann from trying to get me back for making her sleep. I’m half resigned to the eventuality of getting knocked out in return, but I’m going to make Dear Cousin Breann work for it. Unless she’s outgrown such foolishness as Breann Ireneonbane, forethoughtful hero. Nah.
Wish I could speed up Aretia’s timeflow, but that would blow the gunpowder production schedule all to hell, now that it has just started working. I don’t dare leave Gerard—Theseus will be out of the vat in a day—entirely to the machines and my doctors. They’re good, but they're not Me. And there could be an attack, though it is highly unlikely anything short of a focused Shadow Storm could get past my defenses.
No Mori in Amber’s realm. Odd. I don’t like surprises that involve Brigid. And what are the turncoat Eldar doing for her?
The feint in Aramyst, if that's what it was, worked like a charm. Did the Malevolence of Ys feel my probe and start the little invasion from that point? The Mori could have easily killed Sander and Daelyn but didn't. Note: train the wizards of Aramyst in Twilight blocks.
Our counterattack went well enough. If the Baron has a limited supply of his strange troops he should be upset by the loss of most of an army.
Too bad it was a diversion. Of course, I'm not so sure I could have done a lot of good against the attack on Theseus' palace. Most of my successes come of doing the unexpected and of mobility. A room to room bloodfest is not my strong suit. On the other hand it should be far more difficult to dodge the Lens indoors.
Mother is in shock that any of her folk, traitors or not, would commit such an atrocity. Me too.
Shit. Now I know what kept Anax, a decent sort, at Osric's side. Lushaira. And now she's dead.
I'm so iced over emotionally I couldn't even manage to feel good for Gerard, or proud, or anything.
When I thaw out, I wonder what I'll think of the Dreamer Jihad. Normally I loathe atrocity.
Okay, so when you're deep in a vengeful snit, you forget about details, like the fact that my Dreamer Jihad was many times the projected size, due to Earth casting Shadows. I'm amazed that Anax thought of it. Maybe it's easier to logic other people's plans.
Almost unimportant since Osric the Black slime ate everything.