Started my new Campaign tonight

[Artifacts of Amber]

We were a few players down.

Marcuis Player still in hospital; from car accident but on the mend
Kal's player out of town
Trace Player on business trip.

So left Caroline and Rhiannon to run the show.

Best thing about Amber is I can run only two players and still have a good game.

So all the characters get a summons before the Crown at 1 pm the next day.

Caroline gets a visit in the morning from Caine, whom it has been hinted is her father. She was having trouble getting her hair ready to see the King when Caine walks in brushes it out and braids it putting it in a bun. I reminder her many other elders have said having Caine at your back is seldom recommended. It weirds her out that her, maybe, dad is doing up her hair while they talk.

Martin pops in to see Rhiannon letting her see he is okay as the castle readies for the Grand ball to welcome the Chaos delegation. She lets him know they demons that attacked him are "Dealt" with since they killed their summoner. She shows him some crystals they found on him to learn they are hung spells that are deteriorating and maybe unsafe.  Rhiannon takes them out in shadow and ditches them somewhere safe.

They attend the royal meeting and Rhiannon hands out her report and addendum. Fiona, Julian, Caine , Victoria (Castle guard and Benedict's daughter), Random and Vialle are there. Only Gerard is missing of who they thought would be there. She adds the latest ambush report as well.  Random thanks them and goes over everything and ask if they had anything to add. Then reminds them with the Chaos Delegation almost here that the potential Chaos (No pun intended) and Mayhem factor have decided increased and even though they may have some responsibilities concerning the Delegations arrival they should not lose sight of their duties concerning this. Rhiannon adds the Pentacle stones taken off the Summoner may  be dangerous and Trace admits he still has some in his room. Though Christina (Fiona's Daughter) had checked them out.

Fiona mentions that perhaps keeping this primarily amongst the people present would be best to avoid undue panic or stress. Random agrees. While the investigation is no secret maybe how things are developing are best left secret or at least not advertised.

They are dismissed.

Trace goes to secure the Pentacle stones and Caroline and Rhi decide to have a drink and bullshit session. Which they do in Rhi's room talking tactics and possible suspects, as well as, current events such as the Delegation. Rhi also details how Black threads are different than Shadow walking since Caroline thinks they bad guys are hellriding to Amber.

When suddenly . . Dun . DUN . . Dun a chunk of wall explodes and they dive out of the way of flying masonry. Serena, Rhi's Kitten warns them just before it burst through. Seems Trace did not get to his room in time and several demons have escaped. The two look out in the hall to see Gerard facing off with a gruff (as the players have named them), Trace and his Dog Mouse (Player loves Dresden and has spent points on this Dog as well as still spending points) fighting some minor Demons as an unsuspecting Vialle is walking on the floor below is being targeted by a Dark Grey Swarm.

As Gerard takes A shot from the Gruff (They stand 12-15 feet tall and use Trees as weapons this one had A wooden beam he pulled from the castle ceiling) then leverages him down to grab him by the neck. Gerard shouts "The Queen" and Rhi jumps from the Balcony down to Vialle as the Swarm impacts her. Caroline hesitates thinking to grab a weapon but decide to follow Rhi, Remembering both are still dressed in court Clothes. Rhi is trying to get out dads trump (Random)

hey reach Vialle as blood pours from her eyes, ears, nose, mouth etc and she stops breathing. Rhi does CPR as Caroline grabs the trump and calls Random. She finds him walking in the Amber Hedge Maze with Martin and Caroline reaches for him to drag him through panting "The Queen". He grabs Martin and comes through. Wanting to help defend Vialle Caroline grabs her Trump from Rhi's Deck that is now spilled across the ground. She trumps Vialle to contact a Statue of her that seems to be some form of mental Trump defense called up by Vialle.

Random ask Rhi what is going on and she says she doesn't Know so He tells her to look and makes a gesture to indicate for her to use her Fixed Logrus to see. He sends Martin to get something as Trace runs off to get help. As Rhi finishes pulling up the Logrus Lens, Caroline sees the swarm attacking the statue and she helps reinforce the Statue with the Trump contact pushing energy through trying to keep the contact at its fullest hoping it would act as a Trump defense for Vialle.

Rhi sees Martin returning with something on a silver chain, she thinks it's the Jewel of Judgment as she can now see into Vialle with the lens and sees the demonic Nanite invasion. She is from a high tech world and understands nanites and so extrudes Tendrils to scrub them away as they are consuming Vialle physical to create more while they attack her Psychically.


Caroline and Rhi both feel the time differential to Amber shift as they slow down in comparison.


I let everyone with Pattern have a sort of Amber Mean Time awareness that they know how much time passes in Amber when they are in Shadow. It simplifies my campaign a lot and makes a sort of sense.


Rhi and Caroline fight off the infection/Demonic Nanite invasion with Caroline helping Vialle summon up a Trump trap to pull the demons in (Vialle unknown to them is an advanced Trump artist though they suspect she is at least a basic trump artist already) They feel as if 20 minutes has gone by in Amber when only a few minutes has gone by inside Vialle. Caroline wants to Talk to Rhi but the Time distortion makes this physically impractical but since she and Vialle are sharing minds Vialle brings up a Trump image of Rhi (Slightly distorted) and trumps her. they talk a moment and Vialle tells Rhi to go help her father (Random) before he kills himself and she couldn't live with that if it was on her account. So Rhi tries to back out of the contact but has trouble before Martin Helps sending his Logrus (Fixed) to help her.

She Finds Random on his knees covered in a red haze with Caroline and Vialle also covered. She can tell they are moving at a fraction of the speed Amber is, Thanks to the Jewel.  Gerard, Florimel (She just showed up), Victoria, Martin are all unsure how to break the Jewel's affect and Martins attempts have failed. They all look to Rhi to do something, She decides for physical contact but tells Gerard to knock them out if he has to in a minute if she fails. She starts to dilate with Random when she realizes in a few seconds to her a minute or two has passed and Gerard tackles them both away breaking the Jewels affects. Random looks somewhat aged.

Meanwhile Caroline stilled trapped in Vialle's mind killing the Demon Bugs sees a vision of Rhi on the Throne with her as the Lord general. (Vialle has a primal source that foresees the future, Sometimes) They manage to wipe out almost all the Nanite demons.

Everyone is helped to the infirmary as Trace shows up with Fiona and her daughter Christina. Fiona goes in with Random and Vialle while they others collapse exhausted outside the trauma room. Random comes out later and Thanks them giving Rhiannon a big hug and tells her to go rest.

They go back with Rhiannon getting a spare room until her door is repaired. And this ended our session.

Highlights - The discussion between Caroline and Rhi on how to get Julian to relax and pitying Kal the other players character who is Julian's Son.

Their guessing that Fiona may have something to do with what is going on as her mysterious absence until the last moment.

Rhi realizing she may have fucked up giving Florimel a full report like the one she gave the crown just cause Flora asked for one. That maybe Dad doesn't want Flora to know everything and everything about the Characters.  She starts to realize she had been duped Me thinks

Had convinced the players it was just gonna be a role play night and the action scene caught them by surprise. but was something I had planned for a while.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Well nota terrifically exciting night at least not for casual reading since it was mostly role playing and a number of questions about how Amber does this or that.

We picked up not long after last post with Marcuis returning from chaos and Kal awaking from healing. Everyone was filled in on the previous few hours events and then went to bed.  Caroline went out to her home shadow a Golden circle nation on a ship.

So next day everyone gets invitations to the Grand Ball in one week and they dither about what to wear and what to do now. They make a few attempts at organizing going on the offensive but as told be Random other duties keep popping up. Since we jumped back and forth I will hit the highlights for each character and what happened.

Kal
Returned to Arden to find out some Rangers went missing and some Storm wolves killed each other (Unprecedented)

Julian (his estranged father) did stop by to see how he was in the infirmary While he was asleep.

He had to escort a Arden golden circle countries delegates to Amber, They asked why was Arden closed. He handled it delicately.

He had to "Watch those Bastards"  or so his father called them when the Chaos delegation reached Arden. He escorted them to the Embassy.

Asked Florimel to dress him for the part but she chose colors other than his (Which match his fathers)

Trace
Reloaded his conjuration / spells.

asked Florimel to dress him for the party. which she did.

Had Chirstina apologize and feel guilty for delaying him since that is why the King and Queen almost died.

Had Mouse, His guard dog, Strut around in his clothes made for him when his suit was made.

Spoke with Fiona about more lessens as she disparaged his guard dog as a toy.

Rhiannon
Was asked by Dillon (Flora's Son) To give him a report she agrees heavily editing it not realizing he has already gotten information from other characters so he will tell she is veiling the truth.

Is fearing Flora coming and Dressing her.

Spent time with Caroline discussing her issues. More to come later

Had a dozen trumps happen in a day from her brother asking her to go for drinks to Merlin asking how his trumps were working he did for her including the special computer/cyber space one (Hints of Ghostwheel to come), Other characters trumping her etc.

Gotta  Trump from her shadow saying they were also attacked by demons (She assumes from the Shards she dropped off in shadow)


Caroline

Went home to visit mom and  make her first Trump. She succeeds only to discover her mother is some form of construct and not physically her mother though she believes she  is. Currently Caroline thinks Caine is her father and assumed her mothers was her mother now the whole thing is in question.

while at home gets a visit from the queen of the shadow asking how Random is as king. (She has not recognized Random as king holding he is only the regent and Oberon is the true king)

Got a lovely dress in Amber and thought it was from Flora until she read the note that said "To my Darling" and looked like Caines handwriting. She sent Flora a thank you note but she said it wasn't her dress.


Marcuis

Dealt with the Chaos Delegation a lot.

Requested the MInister of Sorcery teach him sorcery but was passed off to the assistant to learn.

Was quizzed by Florimel on many Chaos protocols for the Ball.

Played with his powers always fascinated by what they do in Amber compared to Chaos.

Checked on Vialle and when she touched his face to "See" him asked if he would sit for a Sculpture of himself for her but to wear his true form. HE thought it was weird she knew his Amber form was not his Real one.


So nothing major happened but did a lot of Set up for the Ball.

[RPGPundit]

Well considering he has had it "Easy" since there has been little asked or expected of him until now. With the Chaos Delegation here he has to actually Work and With the bad guys plans he is going to seriously be caught in the middle of the crap storm to come. So I might be kind while he is away he definitely has it in for him when he gets back

That's good to know!

[Artifacts of Amber]

Well he has felt the brunt of being the "Chaosian". Only a few Amberites, Besides the players, Openly engage him and almost always seem to be asking questions about Chaos (Pumping him for info). The Citizens see him much like a German may have been viewed in the 1940's. It would be open hostility if not for other Lord and Ladies around him. As far as they see things "Chaos" attacked them unprovoked. The Citizens and Golden Circle nations lost a lot of sons and daughters to that war and is still fresh in their mind due to their slow aging.

He also gets snubbed occasionally by the Elders and Random has ordered his Daughter Rhi to watch him.

But since it has been subdued hostility or distance he has had it Easy.

With The delegation here we will see which way this will go. The bad guys are trying to push for open warfare between Amber and Chaos.

Playing As terrorist has been fun in a way since I can be cowardly knowing as the bad guy I don't have the power to directly face even some of the youngers so I get to be underhanded and Mean. Forces the characters to an active stance. They want to keep being proactive but the delegation and ball are screwing with their plans. So the moment the started making progress Life got in the way. Maybe the bad guys planned it that way

Thanks for comment, Nice to know someone is reading my meandering Prose

[Artifacts of Amber]

Sort of a slow night building up to the Grand Ball  so will cover things in a similar fashion as last week.

Kal's player was absent since he was out of town.

THE GROUP

Everyone go with Martin and Merlin out on the town to the docks and eat dinner and drink at Bloody Smittys. Only thing of interest is Old John comes in and talks with Merlin for a moment.  Trace's squirrel watch he conjured up has 2 squirrels go missing. When he investigates he finds two dead bodies and no squirrels when he ask about it the squirrels have no idea what happened to them he ponders why and I only whisper to him that maybe they were witnesses?

Merlin suggest they head someplace more fun too hear some Jazz and tells them it is a secret place then trumps to a Mardi Gra new orleans like street and find the Silver Rose a jazz club, He makes some money passing his hand over it and they have fun with several people dancing and Martin wooing Caroline for a night of fun.

Rhi ask Merlin to teach her trump but he cries that he is too busy with ongoing projects (Ghost Wheel). Tells her Fiona, Bleys or even her Mother (Vialle is her step mom) could teach her. Trace Ask Merlin about the Pentacle (known to be in Chaos) And he says he has heard of it but never been their though he thinks his mom and older brother have. No one is willing to ask them for help.

So they head back in about 4 am to the courtyard though Caroline spots two interesting things, One The money has Corwin's face on it, Two the back of the Trump card for the court yard is not a serpent nor a unicorn but not sure what it was.


So On to the individual Rounds of stuff.

CAROLINE

Sends Caine a note so she can ask him about Queen Stephanie from her home shadow. He arrives soon there after saying he always has time for her. When she ask about Stephanie ignoring Random as king instead treating him as a regent he explains the situation and alludes to the large amount of time he had spent their in the past and how lovely a woman her mother is which is getting to Caroline since he has never "recognized" her as his. (She's Not) But advises her as to the present situation and Random's tolerance may only extend until he can replace her with a more suitable candidate, A native. (Hinting Caroline would be a likely choice)

Martin spends the night with her BTW. A casual fling for fun.


RHIANNON

Goes to her appointment with Florimel fearing ending up in pink or something but Flora designs her an outfit she finds awesome (Cause she's Florimel). I know the player and Knew exactly what she would love.

Flora ask about the night before and since it is a secret where they went she evades the questions and answers in a leading way leaving Flora to only comment how odd it is that they chose to Trump back from the docks instead of walking her calling a carriage. Showing she was diving for information as always.

MARCUIS

Didn't do much else except start training with the Sorcerer assistant Fade Vanderghast. They talked some about powers and sorcery in general and such.

TRACE

Took time to talk with Fade as well on the traditions behind Chaos sorcery compared to Amber sorcery etc. He allowed him to examine Mouse. Its like him showing off his new toy, for what he is investing he might want to stop people from closely examining his underpinnings. I'll have to teach him a lesson someday.

He also examined the MArdi Gra (Yeah I know Probably Misspelled) beads Mouse came back with as they still seem bright / shiny and plastic which should have started breaking down (In Amber). He learns little about them though.


So we Fast forward a few days and started the Grand ball and I gave descriptions of everyone of note and have a list of conversations to initiate and power groups etc. for them to deal and interact with, mostly so I don't forget to mention some things.

The Purely social thing should be fun to run and they have not been caught up to much in the political ramifications of the terrorist attacks and such.

[Artifacts of Amber]

The Grand Ball occurs in which I figure out my players have zero interest in politics and it was sort of a waste of time except for some roleplaying. Plt advancement was close to nil which left my players cooling their heels just wanting to get back to dealing with the threat to Amber.

Much like previous post I will break things down by Character since that is primarily how things fell out.

Only two truly public events of Note.


One Fiona publicly embarrasses Christina before Queen Vialle Grabbing her and ordering her to Apologize again for something she stammers she has a million times and Fiona storms Away.

Victoria and Trace have a short Duel (1/2 Hour) out in the Garden. Cover this more in Traces section.



Rhiannon

She got off relatively easy despite vying the Kings daughter as far as actually role play went. Many people courted her interest but she maintained a polite deflection to it All.

Mainly Begma and KAshfa politically fighting over Ereganor fields again. She studiously avoids both sides of the conflict.

King Arkans makes commentary of Queen Jasra recently being deposed after some long absences and getting them into a War with Begma again.

Her brother, Martin tells her he did much the same thing when Random was first King and now they seldom Bother him seeing it as pointless.



CAroline

Caine makes comments about how much like her mother she looks. This sets her on edge wondering how he knows her.  HE admits to having met her several times and finding her company charming just like her daughter. (Remember she just found out this was not her mother and she thinks Caine is her Father)

She seeks out Queen Stephanie of Medina and says upon research that Random seems a good king, Stephanie says she is more interested in her opinion not research. Caroline says he seems Ok so Far. Stephanie makes some non-committal comments. She mentions that because some dancing horse gave him some trinket doesn't make him king. Caroline Reiterates the Jewel is no Trinket but wields serious power.

General Talon of the Chaos delegation ask her to dance but due to his immense size he picks her up setting her on top of his feet as they dance.

Caine's Daughter Cynthia attempts to chum it up with her but they don't Click Very much.



Kal

Talks with King Harleson of Alluvium , the only Golden circle nation along the Arden Border. He complains of Arden being closed though now understands as Julian has given him further details into the Why. He offers what aid he can.

Kal dances with several of the Chaosian Delegation ladies.

He spends some time sizing Up Elders as he is looking for allies


MArcuis

Marcuis Notices he was announced separately from the Chaosian Delegation and not falling under their Political Umbrella and lacking diplomatic immunity etc.

After witnessing one of the Ladies of the Golden Circle nation being watched hostilely is approached by her and she ask him to dance. While dancing a Duke of her nation tries to cut in but Marcuis, More or less, Tells him know and the Duke threatens him which he blows off doubting the Duke would throw down him at the ball. He had called Marcuis just some Chasion of little consequence. The Dukes "Henchmen" Bristle up when General Talon cast a shadow over them all and the Duke basically breaks and shuffles quickly away. She tells him she is in a Civil war with the Duke with both making claims to the throne unfortunately Random has not t hrown in with either side.
After this Mouse starts hanging out with him having been sent by Trace to keep an eye out in cae anyone else hassles him.

Marcuis Speaks with several members of the Delegation and answers the High Priest of The Serpent's question on why the High Priest of the Unicorn seems so uncomfortable it seems he is only a Shadow person which the Serpent high priest scoffs at.


Trace

Sends his squirrels out to watch over the Castle. They tell him security is too tight and Guards Almost kill them. When he says hide in the shadows the Squirrels comment then the guards don't even give them a chance to surrender.

He witnesses the altercation with Marcius, though he won't call Marcuis by name only referring to him as the Chaosian he won't let others mess with his Chaosian "Pet", So sends Mouse to watch over him.

He rescues Christina after the embarrassment with Fiona and walks her to the guardian, Thi sis when the above incident occurs so he abandons her to Queen Stephanie (The only person besides Coral he recognizes) and goes in to watch. When he comes out Stephanie and Christina have gone into the Hedge MAze. He tries to follow.
He runs across Merlin, Dara and Corwin in the Maze but hears nothing of interest and they speak for a moment before moving on.
He finally hears Christina and Stephanie and ask they meet him at the begging of the Maze.

SIDE NOTE - The Amber Hedge Maze is Patterned after the Pattern and though people can walk in it they become lost and cannot get out however those with Pattern never seem to have that issue.

Trace ends up talking with Victoria who seems to have finally forgiven him for getting her Father hurt now only using it to get a dig in on him once in a while. Traces lapses in Wisdom are now being called his Passions since he seems to never do the smart or wise thing when excited but is only Wise when calm. Since calling him stupid would be improper. He mentions he is up to snuff to duel and she say they could right now if he likes. So they head out with Marcius being lead by MOuse to see what is up. The go to Benedicst  Japenese  Garden are where Benedict is waiting with two swords. Victoria chooses Benedict as her Second and Trace ask Marcius who amused accepts to be  his Second. They star the duel, people hear it and rush to watch. they go for about 1/2 an hour with Random and Bleys showing up at some point to watch as well as Rhi. Victoria clearly wins the fight.



Concerns / Comments

Over all I know I could hammer the Political Climate in more but since I run  a short game 2-3 hours I have learned you really have to focus on what the players like. I have spent 3 weeks on the ball, more or less and the players are growing bored so I will probably go much lighter on the Political arena. I may make it more prevalent in games I run for 5-6 hours, I can afford players to be bored uncomfortable for a little while but not in the Short game.

No real highlights though some interesting Roleplaying was done nothing stands out, Like I said slightly lack luster so back to the main plot next week. More bad guys  to hunt and kill/remove as a threat.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Now with all the politics of Amber carefully avoided by the characters they agree to meet the next morning for brunch.

About 3 am a castle guard knocks on each of their rooms (Except Rhi) and is informed there is trouble on the royal docks. They grab some weapons and, in some cases, some clothes then head down the stairs to the docks. Rhi get's trumped by her dad, Random and told someone is sinking his ship.

Victoria is securing the docks seems someone tried to sink the flagship of the realm.

Trace dives in the water as crews are bailing and such above deck. He sees a sorcery construct / manifestation that is a blue green disk with 10 foot long tendrils that are slowly and quietly boring holes in the ship all along the hull.

He gets attacked as he approaches having conjured a light to see himself. Meanwhile everyone else is watching except Caroline who runs to get a sketch pad to do some trump sketches.  Since he is barely holding the construct off, he mentally ask Mouse for help who nudges Kal and woofs toward the water. Kal dives in and forms gills as Trace slowly sinks spending his time defending himself and not sinking. The construct detaches from the ship and attacks Trace wounding him slightly but forcing him on a total defense to avoid serious injury. Marcuis steps off the wharf and shifts gills as well as better eyesight underwater. He then summons the Logrus. Kal is meanwhile shifting into a large squid to fight the construct.

Rhi dives in and summons up her Logrus as well but forming a lens instead. As Marcuis extends a tendril to slap the Construct it implodes with pattern energies backlashing and knocking him out. Kal has finished his squid shape and grabs both Trace and Marcuis and tossing them to the pier. He then attempts to support the ship as he gains mass. (One of his favorite tricks). Rhi is slightly dazed at the explosion but examines the remaining energies that indicate it was a Logrus/Pattern explosion. She then swims for the side of the ship to help keep it from sinking.

Caroline is still getting her sketch pad. Trace heads up to the ship deck and then below to Conjure wood (yes lots of jokes were made) to seal the holes as Rhi uses Logrus tendrils to plug the holes till he can.  Marcuis just sits having a Pattern induced migraine. Kal continues to lift the ship. As the ship slowly stops sinking Caroline makes it back. Marcuis decides he''s tired of this crap shifting into a large whale to help Kal lift the ship enough so the bilge pumps can catch up.

Caroline draws a trump sketch of the ship and sees either Frost or Fiona's face etched on the Royal standard with a skull and crossbones. She informs the others and they all end up heading back to bed. Complaining how tired they are however I point out losing a nights sleep isn't crap to an amberite, also considering they all have decent bids in endurance. Trace heads to the infirmary to be patched up. Christina looks at the Sketch and says its not her mother (Fiona)

Rhi gets a trump from her father asking what the know and she tells him. He ask what they plan to do and she says they plan to ride out in the morning. He simple ask "the morning?" in a waiting tone. It takes her a few exchanges with him to get the point he doesn't except them to wait. So a round of trumps start going off between her and others (Elders etc) that puts everyone on edge as to wether they want to answer anymore trumps that night. Caroline gets a visit from Queen Stephanie who ask what happened down at the docks. She evades the question by saying she didn't see much.

They ask Christina to go along and she seems timid but excited as she has never been along on an adventure. Trace begs out knowing since he has not paid points for hanging constructs and spells a Hellride is really disruptive to them so wants to be trumped should they need him, an early enough to attune his sorcery to the shadow.  Not that he bothers to explain it.

Kal gets a Trump from Julian telling him an Army is marching on Arden but to deal with what he is doing as this is merely a symptom.

They start to hellride and run into a deep chasm as they had before looking for Frost. They find no way around it as of yet but have a couple serviceable ideas, and that's where we stopped, a Literal cliff hanger.


Highlights
Christina getting gear for the trip as she is left with Marcuis to help her, She creates a shadow pocket and starts stuffing it with food and adventuring gear even asking if she need 50 feet of rope and a 10 foot pole. Then says she may need to make a few servants in the pocket to hand her stuff. Everyone thinks this is really cool. As all she does is make hand gestures as she manipulates the pattern.

I like that everyone is careful about trump calls without being afraid of them. I have struck a happy balance in that regard especially considering they have never been attacked through them but just want to avoid talking to some people.

Julian and Kal's exchange during the Trump contact with commentary by Dworkin in the background about how Arden isn't Julian's he is just the Guardian.

When Christina opens a Pattern gate to Ygg. Mumbling about how it is the balance point of the two worlds and etc . ..Sounding like a tour guide but suggesting it would be faster than riding through Arden. Everyone who has pattern is now looking at picking up advanced like she seems to have.

Caroline's Player saying she wishes she could have a store house and me telling her why not you just make a trump of one and viola. She doesn't even think of trump that way yet. Hopefully she will start realizing some of its potential.

[Artifacts of Amber]

So we started with our cliffhanger and the knowledge of the ever closing Gruffs. Kal shifts to explore the "Divide" of the canyon to find that it continues upwards for a while , if not ever, and is fairly solid though no one has tried to truly break through it, thinking it is impassable. He spots an army marching from a breach in the barrier of 10 - 20 thousand humanoids. He also sees the Gruffs stalking the party and a few more laying in ambush along the trail they are on. Though they are a few miles away.

They decide to attack the rear Gruffs and then the "Ambush Gruffs" . They ready various weapons and someone wonders if guns work here so Christina pulls out a 9mm (From her shadow pocket) and shoots down some pine cones saying yes they do. She gives the gun to Caroline and others ask for some, she hands out a few saying she packed for variety not depth and has an assortment but not tons of ammo for each.

Kal does Trump Victoria to let her know an army is on the march for Amber and she basically says she has her own issues in Amber as more death's have occured and various delegations have lost members throwing Amber into a tizzy. Also it is just an Army he's an Amberite with several more companions they should be able to deal with that. Kal wonders if this army is a serious threat to Amber, I tell him they aren't to Amber but if they march on a Golden circle nation or something like that then Amber has a mutual defense treaty which would call troops away from Amber, so potentially could be bad.

They have a fight with the Gruffs but since they easily out number them and play very defensively the battle is soon over. The Gruffs have proven to be less of a challenge as the players get better. They are not (nor should they be), as scary as, when they first met.  The battle runs a little while as they are all being way to cautious but it does end though Marcuis shift into a fire elemental sets the woods on fire.

They head off for the army watching for the Gruffs who never appear. Caroline and Marcuis go to scout out the army. Marcuis takes the form of a Chinese wind dragon and Caroline grabs her sword. They fly off to discover the Army is a demonic one with larger ones with spines that fire at them as they fly closer. Marcuis realizes he is not fast enough to dodge them but following Caroline's lead she can guide him so that most hits are glancing ones but the missiles ooze acid as well scoring his sides. After making sure his fiery electric breath works on the demon troops by killing a few hundred. They retreat.

A contingent of the army 500 or so and some heavy horned demons break free to follow on the ground. I described the whole scene as the orcs leaving Mordor from Lord of the rings.  The rest of the party prepares for the coming troops and discusses options for slowing or stopping the army. Trace thinks it is yet another distraction from what they are doing, He could be right.

Marcuis Decides he needs more firepower and wants to take the form of a specific Primal Red Dragon. He spends some time bargaining since he is getting tired and fears he may not be able to subsume the dragon in a contest of wills. The finally agree to use of the dragon form for 5 minutes to destroy the army if Marcuis gives over his body for 5 minutes as well. And the dragon can't kill his Allies naming all but the pets Serena and Mouse. So the dragon then tries to eat Serena knowing this will give him leverage to renegotiate the contract on better terms. Which he does ending up with a pint of Caroline's blood as payment. Then he tells Caroline to say hello to her parents. He flies off to decimate some of the army or at least what he can do in 5 minutes. They follow behind to see he has and then head to rest as the battles and hell rides and power use has worn them all down. I will have to have some more major consequences happen from these breaks they take, Way to fuckin cautious for Amberites, IMHO.


Highlights

Christina's Vault - Christina pulling stuff from her shadow pocket seemed to impress everyone and they said she was actually Useful. I might have over played her as the weak and shy Amberite so much they forgot she is a fuckin Amberite trained by Benedict as well as her mother. Admittedly she is no real fighter but still knows more than the average joe about such matters.

Christina's Magic - Christina killed off a Gruff with a pattern backed lightening bolt and then stood studying her hands seemingly shocked by her deeds. I am still playing up her isolated sort of socially dysfunctional personality which tickles the players and shows a different side of a typical younger.

Dragon bargain - The Dragon bargaining with the was fun as well. Someone who doesn't mind insulting them, is not afraid of them and demands something for his services. He out thought them and increased his position seconds after talking with them. I want them to deal with such creatures but not lightly.


Low - Lights

I know at least one player is reading these post. Luckily I haven't been throwing out too much Plot or other character secrets but now instead of feeling as free to post I will have to be somewhat more cautious in what I say. Luckily the bad guys keep their plans close to their chest.  Does sort of suck some though. I was hoping to be able to discuss plot with interested posters but may not be able to. In the end This is for me so I will probably take my chances anyway.

[Artifacts of Amber]

This session was a little slow.

Kal's player had to drop out due to school but is going to keep on Via E-mail. I will have to set that up tonight. I have run PBeM before so shouldn't be hard. Just gotta decide what to do with him that will keep him somewhat isolated from the others. He can Always Trump (Text) them if needed.

Also Rhi's player was sick. I will do a mini session to keep her up with the rest.


So on to the actual session.

So the remove themselves a few shadows over to one that would be hospitable to them. It is a 1920's Parisian 5 star hotel. The rest, bathe etc. When they wake in the morning, cops are showing up and such. They discover everyone in the hotel has been murdered by physical means. They Discuss it a little then just trump out back to Amber.

Victoria fills them in on the recent murders.

A Cabra Delegate GC Nation
A Medina Delegate GC Nation
A Chaos Delegate was attacked.

Plus 2 random murders in Amber and two in Rebma.

The random murders seem to be just that. Citizens ripped limb from limb. Just more terror for the populace.

The Chaos delegate attack was by an average amber citizen in the market. They go question him with Trace using his Ocelot of Truth spell. Between Logrus lens, Pattern Lens and Sorcery they discover the Attacker was infused with some sort of Rainbow energy mixed with Fixed Logrus spell that was slowly fading.

The Medina scene was old and had been cleaned up with only the report for useful info. The person had been tied up by their own entrails while living.

The Cabra murder scene is fresh having occurred the night before. Here the see a mixing of The Anvil, Fixed Logrus, Broken pattern and some power that dilated time. After The application of Sorcery, Pattern lens, Logrus lens and Trump Sketches they think the Jewel represented in the sketch is a Shadow reflection of the jewel of Judgement, since Caroline had been exposed to that.
They start hunting for Obier thinking since he has the Anvil he is the culprit. They discuss going after him like they had before but ran into the gruffs, at that time, that kicked their butts.

They are still at an impasse about who to go after as their few suspects have managed to keep them at arms length.


Highlights

Spent about 30 minutes discussing things you could potentially do with trump and other powers and the players are just now realizing how little they have scratched the surface in terms of the powers.

Trace trying to get Christina to tell him how to craft a spell when she keeps telling him he will never learn if he doesn't do it for himself then he tells her she is a lot like her mother. She blanches and says to never say that again. (Fiona is rather abusive to her).

That about covers it. Things get worse while they spin wheels being indecisive and lacking direction. Soon I think they will realize that all this is distraction more than anything.

[Artifacts of Amber]

So forgot to add last week that Caroline went to see the Broken Pattern sorceress to discover more about it.


Marcuis player was absent so Only Rhi, Caroline and Trace were there.

A few days passed as Rhi took instruction from Vialle on Trump and Visited the Anvil of Hell to learn more.

Trace went to talk Fiona who gave him the impression she had other things to do and saw educating him as an obligation to which he took offense. He thought he could befriend Fiona. Not quite so easy. She explained that while he was an obligation did not mean she had no affection for him.

Caroline learned more about broken pattern and how it could be harnessed and little about the sorceresses back story.

Rhi was told by her father to get moving on the investigation as the elders were now becoming involved in having to smooth things over with the various factions.


The Characters had a meet and decided to seek out armies in shadow to help deal with the ones coming from the place where they think the broken pattern is.  Caroline and Rhi went for one army and Trace wanted his own.


Martina also trumped Rhi to tell her he was involved in a war helping out Merlin. It seems it is the same army they had seen earlier leaving the broken pattern domain.

Rhi seeks out an army that is loyal, has endurance, fights demons, and can use technology compatible with that at the broken pattern barrier. They find in a desert an army of werewolves with shotguns and lever action rifles who bow before the princesses on a holy quest.

Trace once again focusing too much on the technical things wants an army of viscous rabbits with fangs that will reproduce a 10 litter group who matures and breeds more. He is very focused on how many he can produce versus what they are thinking a million rabbits in 9 minutes is some how powerful.


He finds them and talks them into coming with him and they have issues with the shadow environment as he didn't define that well when he meets up with Rhi and Caroline.

And that's were we stopped. A lot of role playing and talking with people not much action.

I am not sure if I should step in with Trace and tell him how his warfare would be saying this is a bad plan considering the several times he has been told this and still ignored the "Warfare" advice. I am torn between this just being his character flaw (Ignoring his better judgment/training) or telling him again how his warfare sees flaws in his plans. He isn't being silly to be an ass he just loves his animal motif, it allows him to stretch his imagination and I don't want to step on that. Something to ponder

Thanks for reading

[Artifacts of Amber]

So standing before the enemy gates with an army and potential army.

They Trump Marcuis who is finally free to join them.

They march their werewolves and have their bunnies start making more bunnies. As more Gruffs start to arrive the Werewolves maintain a perimeter. They finally march on the place with more and more Gruffs appearing to guard the shadow.

Trace of course makes several tactical errors and I give him hints but he ignores them. Sending the bunnies off on a wild goose chase after the demon army which left this shadow. The bunnies have no cross shadow ability so ignore the Gruffs looking for demons. Meanwhile they are deforesting the area as they multiply.  since they number in the hundreds of thousands they also restrict the others ability to move about under the carpet of bunnies.

While Trace goes off hunting the demon army in shadow leading his bunnies. Caroline, Rhi and Marcuis attempt to circumvent the barrier using a land bridge when the Werewolf scouts go over it they fall into a Crevasse (The Barrier) Rhi summons a Logrus Lens and sees the land bridge is an illusion but powerful enough to fool the werewolves. The barrier though weaker here still exist. So Marcuis experiments with Logrus and shapeshifting while Rhi and Caroline summon Pattern defenses and try to breach the barrier. Both have some success then they decide to combine their minds to breach the barrier. I take both aside and share some secrets each has. Though I don't want to stop then from unifying it should not be done lightly. With this they almost penetrate the barrier. Caroline calls Trace on trump for help. He has meanwhile pulled Christina through to help them. She says the demon army is long and away and that Benedict says it is not their concern. So they stop looking for it. Trace starts to head back but notices the shadow where the barrier is has a sort of red haze and some time dilation.

The others notice (While waiting for Trace who hopes in and out of shadows trying to see what is happening) The Gruffs are up to 50-60 and slowly overtaking the werewolves. Trace does send bunnies in to help and they do for a while, Slowing he growing tide of Gruffs. The also notice the Gruffs are moving exceedingly fast compared to everyone else.

Realizing the battle may be lost for now, Caroline grows even more impatient with Trace ignoring her request for help and seeming to putz around. She thinks with his help they may have penetrated the barrier. (they would have) She is getting overly emotional and decides to retreat leaving the bunnies to die and save as many Werewolves as possible.

Marcuis meanwhile is determined to penetrate the barrier Trying some Primal creatures forms that he feels he can handle even though he is growing tired.  He almost Decides to assume his Avatar Form. (Avatar form is the height of ones power but that heady rush of power may overwhelm the character and they become lost within it. A dangerous thing to do)

As everyone else leaves. Marcius ends up a mile or so away from were they were working on the barrier. Having flown up and made sure it didn't end a mile up and having tunneled around it or tried. He decides to go Avatar form which shatters the barrier where he is. Of course he quickly shifts out and the barrier shoves him backwards again. But he succeeds and is happy. Of course 4 Gruffs are waiting for him when he is kicked out. They say they have lost enough brethren and he has one chance to get out and he does.

He is kinda pissed the Ladies left him behind and he trumps back to Amber.

Rhi Prepares reports. for the crown.

Caroline goes to make a trump of an armory for access to weapons.

Trace Trumps Bleys (out of the Blue) and he actually answers. Trace is pulled through starts spilling the beans to Bleys who calls him a dumb ass for spilling what amounts to state secrets. He takes him to a private office and talks with him. My first time running Bleys. It was funning playing the bitter loser of the crown calling Random the Boy king and Rhi his Piss-ant Daughter. He gave  Trace a few ideas in a dismissive manner. Then asked him to leave.

That is where we stopped.

Highlights

Playing Bleys since he shows off and is bitter a great combo. He made his exit from his "Secure" office by jumping out the window and told Trace "Hope your a fast trumper"

Describing the power of the Gruffs as they continued to multiply and compared them to Arden Storm Wolves.

Christina being upset by the caranage of several hundred thousand bunnies smeared across the country side.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Rhi's player could not make it she was ill.


The group having been slightly beaten by the last encounter with the Shadow Terrorist. Take a break to lick wounds and regroup. Marcuis and Caroline have been talking about exploring the Pentacle as most other avenues they have poked at have yielded a piece or two of new puzzle.

Caroline finishes making a Trump of a Shadow warehouse filled with weapons and devices of war. Caroline gets a trump call from Caine who ask how everything is going and sensing her anger ask what is up, She relates the tale of how Trace failed to help when he said he would. Caine says he will deal with this.

Marcuis continues his education with Fade and starts crafting his own spells. He test one in the open field outside Amber when he runs into an older fellow he tells him to quit blowing up his Amber. While in Amber he sees Cynthia (Caine's daughter) and talks with her. He tells her about what is going on at the moment and she says she will help if needed just hunt her up.

Trace gets a visit from Caine who ask about the incident and how he didn't help but Trace says oh well he is fine with that. Caine merely nods and ask If he is sure to which he says yes and Caine leaves.

Marcuis trumps Trace to invite him along since Caroline clearly is still not happy with him for failing to help last week.

They meet at Christina's room to ask her to "Port" them to Y'gg so they can get to Marcuis shadow then to Chaos. Fiona answers the door and ask them what they need as Christina stands demurely by looking to Fiona whenever they ask her a question. Fiona offers to move Marcuis to his shadow if he has a trump creating a Trump gate for them.

From Marcuis shadow they move to Chaos. The arrive at the Central Plaza which I describe as a Chaosian version of Times Square only more freakish. I describe the palace of Hellbane seated on an island above the Abyss. The Abyss spews forth reality and consumes pieces of reality before them in the distance.

The Amberites start having breathing issues as the Chaos environment is unfriendly to those who cannot shift automatically to adapt. Marcuis keeps wondering why they are having difficulties as it happens without conscious thought for him. People notice the Amberites and even more so when they call up Pattern Defenses to stop the environmental effects.

Marcuis takes them ti his house (Minobee) and seeks entrance. The Mistress allows them in and sets the House ways environment to be Amber friendly.  They rest their formulating spells to protect them without using as much energy or disrupting the Chaos shadow nature. Caroline makes a trump sketch that helps focus a Trump defense for her. So once ready to journey out again they head for the grand Library of Chaos.

Where Marcuis inquires about someone who could maybe lead them to the Pentacle. The Door Demon doesn't know anyone it's a god damn secret p;ace and he is an idiot for asking, so they return to the House Minobee to ask for help. The House Mistress tells Marcuis that while they have house members who can tell them or lead them to the Pentacle no one that Marcuis would be willing to cut a deal with. (Marcuis studiously avoids "deals").

Knowing that Merlin had mentioned some members of House Sawall knew about it they decide to go their for help. They are greeted at the door by Mandor who offers his services. They have a nice meal and Mandor says he can take them there but could do little more to help them. So at the end of the meal he leads them out to a garden where they see a large silver sphere he opens it with his hand and they step inside. He reaches across lays his hand on the far side and it opens unto the edge of the Abyss.  Mandor points to a cave/tunnel mouth and says it is within, he will wait here for them.

The traverse the tunnel catching occasional; glimpses at the Abyss as they descend along the cliff face marking the border of non-existence. Then around a curve they meet two turtle like demons with tentacles slithering at the edge of  their shell.  They ask who wishes to become Initiated. Surprisingly they all agree to. They are allowed within having been silently measured by the guards. The tunnel opens out into a cave that opens into the Abyss.  A creature stands in dark red pulsing robes and a face mask something obviously writhing underneath the cloth. He ask who is first.

Marcuis steps forth and is led up the steps to the platform that hangs over the Abyss. The platform is formed of a silvery cold stone that despite his bodies attempts to adjust cannot keep up with the intensity of the cold. A red pentacle is engraved upon the surface and as he steps over the lines they shock him and drag him to a kneeling position in the center as his body slumps his mind is pulled into a shadowy world.

Within that shadowy world small demons lunge out and start tearing away parts of his mind consuming bits and pieces of his soul. He remains trapped for what seems like an eternity within each little piece of them slowly learning their weaknesses and what he can offer them to gain their obeisance. Eventually he begins to dominate each one.  Eventually he drops back into his body whole and refreshed.

Caroline and Trace both go through the same experience with slightly altered descriptions to personalize it somewhat.

They questioned the gentleman that initiated them and he refused to answer questions about other initiates (which is why they came and joined). He did answer questions about general contracts and how that works. So they gathered some information that may be useful and had even more questions about how primal sources interact with sorcery and things.

Mechanics
 I usually bank a few points but the players had just spent some. I didn't want to kill them or do anything too bad since I want them to not be too fearful of new things so I had to adjust things to work out. Caroline had enough points to pay for the Initiation. Marcuis had about half the points needed so I told him one demon consumed his connect between sorcery and the Logrus, so I shaved points from his recent powering his sorcery with Logrus. Trace had no points so I stripped Mouse of some of his points which really seemed to hurt him the most since Mouse had warned him not to do it. Mouse is hurt and angry at him which bothers him more than the other characters being angry. I also dropped a few points from his Warfare since he never listens to it. I guess you can get dumber.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Rhi character still unable to attend.

Caroline, Trace and Marcuis absorb the process they have just endured playing with their new ability to summon Imps.

Caroline tries to summon an Imp that knows about Coletrans contracts. She gets a trussed up imp about 2 feet tall that is completely chained up with a seal over his mouth. She tries to converse and question it ut it seems unable.

Marcuis summons and imp to question it on general magic and such. It is not very helpful.

Trace summons one and ask it how he can apply the imps to his magical studies, How things are different now.

They discover that while they can do unique things and are helpful they do not magically know everything nor can they do an incredible amount of things. They are loyal unique servants.

They decide to head back to Mandor and thank him for his hospitality. He sees them off as they head out Trumping to Marcuis shadow and starting a new line of research by a casual comment into atomic warhead deliver systems hidden in cows. (Marius shadow is a wartorn shadow that does R&D into items of warfare and battle. He leaves it mostly to run on automatic while he occasionally catches up on new research. Sort of a War petri dish)

The travel from there to Caroline's warehouse shadow and from there back to Amber in time to see some one leaving. When a guard acts startled he explains to Trace that he just saw them leave. This weirds out the players and helps drive home the bizarre nature of Chaos. Trace is much more freaked out then the rest. Caroline finds it interesting and Marcuis just considers it home.

Each goes their own way deciding to digest their new initiations.

Trace summons an Imp in his room to study Mouse and see what all has happened to him and what was lost when he was initiated. The Imp shows up and explains some obvious facts to him treating him like an idiot. Shortly a knock comes to his door and he yells for them to come on in. Whoever it is pauses then opens the door. Fiona is standing there looking at Trace and Ask why is he summoning Imps into the castle, and even more importantly why has he tainted himself with these unnatural creatures. She then ask him not to so boldly summon them within the confines of the castle as it upsets her wards. The entire time she is rather icy and cold, then ask if he wants her to get the door again to which he nods, She comments, "Lovely a job for servants left for me"

Marcuis heads out and plays with the Imps trying to get a handle on what they can do. He realizes his connections to the Logrus and his Sorcery have suffered greatly. And he starts working on that again not quite getting what happened.

Caroline decides that she is tired of hunting around and following up behind these guys and wants to ambush them, thinking through several plans but deciding in the end what worked before should again since it has been a while since they ambushed them.

The Three meet. And decide that Caroline will go and recruit/retrieve her werewolf warriors or at least a commando unit of them, While Trace and Marcuis head out into shadow. Marcuis for the first time uses Logrus Black threads to try exiting Amber. He finds it difficult and taxing then realizes traveling along the established paths near Arden would work best. With Trace escorting him through the heavily patrolled woods. They exit near a path and start using Black threads to head out. Trace finds the threads, upsetting in how they differ from walking in shadow as they glide along being pulled by the threads through shadow and its barriers. Marcuis spends some time tossing threads to get as close to the defined shadow they need.

Caroline finds her werewolves running from a demon unit running low on supplies. She re- supplies them from her warehouse.  Caroline trumps Marius letting him know she has some troops but will be a day or two so Trace can for the Shadow of Desire to intercept the Shadows the are fighting. She spends some time after their surprise counter attack to create a trump of the shadow.

Trace creates a shadow of desire that will cross the Shadow folks path, supply a good area for ambush, and be technological compatible with Caroline's troops and their weapons.  The final element is that they will not arrive sooner than a few days so they can prepare.

Once all this is done Caroline trumps in with her "Bitches" the all female werewolf commando unit. They start to set up ambush positions with Trace trying to tell them what to do but they ignore and insult the "male".  Finally Caroline gets it all set and that is where they stopped.


No particular highlights beyond the after game discussion on firearms with Caroline's player not being very knowledgeable.

[Artifacts of Amber]

So as the characters wait in ambush Marcuis receives a Trump call fro the Chaos Embassy needing his presence (Yeah the player was unable to attend). But Rhi is finally free from her political duties to Random and is able to arrive for the Ambush.

Trace prepares his spells seeking out the shadow magic levels and attuning them to his spells.  The Bitches (Commando werewolves) are ready as well. Caroline fetches a Tommy gun for Rhi since the weapons warehouse is running a bit thin on guns since she armed all her Marrow Hunters (The werewolves) previously.

A few days pass when off in the distance a Werewolf whistles using a nature call to indicate they see something which is shortly followed by the scout screaming in pain and shuddering as they die from it. The bad guys have arrived.

A fight ensues with Obeir's obvious warfare advantage not only spotting the ambush early enough to avoid it but also maneuvering amongst the trees so that the snipers can never get a clear shot or most the characters at that rate. His Dexterity (Which governs fighting skill) is also superior to everyone but Trace who always rather would cast spells which are slower than just fight the guy heads up. But with his warfare I'm not hinting that may be ore effective.

Well the fight goes on with Frost (Fiona's Shadow) disrupting Trace's spells with her own and some small scraggly dude they have never seen before turning invisible and fading away.

Trace manages to get a spell off at the begging of the fight that throws out a wall of smoke hundred feet out that sweeps inward grabbing bad guys as it goes and enveloping them obscuring vision and constricting them. However as the spell attacks Obier he uses his powers (of which he has several) to subvert the spell rewriting it to see friends as enemies.

The spell attacks the werewolves and others with Caroline starting to be engulfed. She also feels a tendril along her leg whispering in her mind this is all Trace's fault he is against her. Since she is slightly predisposed against him she follows along yelling at him. She summons some Imps to hunt down whoever is trying to subvert her mind. Then finally tires of shooting at Obier and failing so shoots Frost who fails her casting and goes down with a shoulder wound.

Rhi finally acts having climbed up a tree with her Logrus and shoots at Frost and Obier, While Obier is still concealed the bullets start flashing off a shield Frost has erected. The bullets however are wearing the shield out. Obier summons up a Logrus barrier to protect them both as he grabs Frost up.

Meanwhile the Imps hunting the source of Caroline's paranoia have driven it away as her mind clears slightly then to add to the utter confusion as spells flip back and forth Trace cast a Stampede spell that summons a ton of varied animals from chipmunks to elephants. They trample the rest of the werewolves on the ground which (With the help of the Paranoia Logrus) sends the Bitches over the edge and they start turning on Trace blaming him for all the trouble (With a huge kernel of truth). At this point Frost has ripped off another spell opening a rift (much like the one she had done before) And Caroline and Rhi have almost hammered her Shield away. A shot gets through spinning her around as she goes through the rift followed by Obier (And a chipmunk).  Trace defends himself tossing a dagger into the werewolves throat as she uses her 50. Cal sniper rifle to try to shoot him. Just as the Rift closes a gnarled hand puts a pistol through and shoots Rhi in such a way she falls out of her perch unto the returning Stampede. Trace moves across slings her on his shoulder and climbs a tree to avoid it.

The three remaining werewolves are now converging on Trace with grenades, pistol and Sniper rifle. Even though he holds Rhi one of their Princesses Caroline has to argue with them to keep them from trying to kill the turn coat bastard male. He takes a few moments to dissipate the Stampede. Caroline sends the still searching Imps after the three Werwewolves to find what is driving them crazy. They manage to latch on some invisible tendrils and hold on then they go away and the Imps flop tothe ground surprised and the Werewolves come back to their senses.

Trace creates a bird dome (force field) but traps the Sniper in with him and after a staring contest he lets her go. They then clean up trying to find any werewolves that may yet live, two other survive and Trace summons his Er and they all start to recover.

Caroline takes them back to their (new) home shadow. Rhi and Trace head back to Amber. Caroline goes back as well later meeting with Rhi, When they turn and see Dworkin sitting in Rhi's room listening to huge head phones (from like the 70's) (Rhi uses her Logrus of Technology to allow Some Tech to work in Amber when she is focused on it like her MP3 player She has a stack of burned out tech stuff in a pile in one corner.)

They talk with Dworkin who demands Brandy . They don't really discover much despite his apparent willingness to help, some at least. They enjoyed the encounter but underutilized the help.

Trace came back and took Mouse out for some fun but Mouse treats him indifferently with the recent Soul sucking at the Pentacle he suffered and Trace completely forgetting him during the fight using him as A spell storage battery but never mentioning him once. When you make your toys so independent it means they can be mad and pissed at you. And despite his intelligence he treats him like a Dog, instead of a Smart dog.


Highlights - Though Caroline was not overwhelmed by the Paranoia Logrus attack she played along with it as she was pissed at him already so it was fun RP.

Lows - Though the understand who may be better in certain areas and even get which bad guys are fast, strong minded etc. They seldom are putting the two things together and using better tactics.

[Artifacts of Amber]

So had a nice long post written up and lost it so now am disgusted so will hit the very short highlights probably in a sardonic tone

Everyone did sort of their own thing.

Trace recruited Christina and went to try to break the barrier and gather intel. Failed as the Gruffs overwhelmed them and retreated to have his retreat point murderized as has happened before. He then heads back to Amber to recover.

Caroline handled correspondence talking with Cynthia, Dillon, Sebastian, Her mother and Queen Stephanie then hung out with Rhi.

Rhi talks with Victoria and then hangs out with Caroline. Random trumps her and tells her to tell the rest of her Crew to quiet spilling their guts to everyone.

Most of the session was them seeking out better tactical advice from more tactical minded people, mostly Dillon and Victoria.

I'll try to write up a real write up later.