----
-**Sebastian's report to Benedict**
+**Sebastian's report**
-*Please note that your characters will not be aware of this report, but it's an excellent summary for you as players of what went on last time!*
+*Please note that your characters will not be aware of this report - this is for you as players only!
+Breakfast in Amber, always an underwhelming experience. This time it included others of my generation who have been gathered to form part of the diplomatic mission to attend the ceremonies surrounding the death of King Merlin and the subsequent coronation of the new King, whomever that should turn out to be.
+
+Some of the usual suspects were at this delightful meal. They included Declan. Morgan, Juanita, and of course myself. Morgan was the de facto leader of the group, Juanita was providing transportation for the group down to Thelbane. I, as you know, was the group’s bodyguard and Declan the cultural adviser.
+When asked about whether he had any prior knowledge of the Courts, what followed was a very lengthy denial by Declan, too long a denial in my opinion.
+
+I informed those present of my theory that Osric was behind the death of Merlin to a reaction that could be described as indifference at best. However, it did prompt Morgan to explain that the Chaosians that had been causing the difficulties last time we had encountered Osric were apparently recruited by the ‘false flag’ method and as none had survived the blast caused by the disruption of their ritual, we could not get interrogate those involved.
+
+It was about then I got the joys of a Trump call. It was Dracon who had heard about the trip and wanted to join group. I informed him that it wasn’t my decision and he would have to ask Morgan as the one who was charge of the trip. I offered to pull him through so he could talk to her. Whatever her reasoning, Morgan allowed Dracon to accompany the merry band.
+Down to the docks, where Juanita’s ship and crew were waiting, and after a modicum of preparation, we set sail for the courts of Chaos
+
+En route, I offered to help with the ‘navigation’, if for no other reason I still needed practice at using the Pattern.
+A little way outside the Golden circle, Morgen wanted me to accompany her to collect another passenger who it seems had been requested by Dara, of all people, to be in attendance for events of selecting a new king. A pawn in her whatever scheme she had brewing I surmised.
+
+The name of the gentleman to be our new travelling companion was Vail. Morgan admitted that she didn’t know him either and only had sketchy details at best.
+
+Morgan decided to take Dracon along for the ride.
+
+Using the Trump card that she was given for this purpose, Morgan opened a gateway to some Shadow or other. Once I had undid the catch on my sheath and turned it so my blade edge facing upwards, I went through first to be confronted by a fairly modern Shadow Earth variant, guessing by the state of the buildings and vehicles, and as importantly no sign of immediate threat. Dracon and then Morgan came through the link.
+
+I don’t think it is necessary to relate the journey from our arrival to the waiting room of the main offices of his company – Vailcorp or something like that. However, it was obviously he had been playing at being the large fish in a small pond for some time, but conversely it would be wise not to be too provocative as this was his home turf.
+Given the distance we had come, and the far greater one we still had to travel and the fact he was making us wait, I was getting bored. Having spotted the many concealed cameras in the waiting room, and guessing that Vail himself was observing us as we waited, I waved in a very deliberate manner at the cameras. Whether this gesture sparked activity or not, but a man fitting Vail’s description soon joined us.
+
+The meeting took place in Vail’s office overlooking the city and presumably his domain. I let Morgan do more of the discussion. Vail admitted as much that he knows little of Amber, even less of Thelbane and yet somehow, he had been on your crash training course. It might have been nice to know about something about him beforehand. After making a few arrangements with his underlings, Vial consented to accompany us to the Courts.
+
+Business done, the return to Juanita’s ship was easy enough, again via Trump. Upon returning to the ship, two newcomers had joined the merry band. A couple of gentlemen from Rebma, these two formed the Rebman delegation to pay their respects at proceedings in the Courts. Llyr and Heron, were their names and apart from the fact that Heron was some sort of musician, it was about as much of an introduction as I had.
+
+The rest of the journey to Thelbane was uneventful.
+
+Juanita’s ship eventually made its arrival at Thelbane. One of the officials here, could have been the dockmaster or one of the pilots came aboard and help Juanita to the designated berth in the private House Sawall Docks. Apparently, we were the last boat in Sawall Docks before they were placed under curfew for the duration. We learnt that the funeral precession of King Merlin was due to take place the next day.
+
+Disembarking from the ship to the dockside, I took the best position I could, keeping alert for signs of trouble, although glad to be able to stroll about a bit on dry land. Eventually an apologetic junior official from our Embassy turned up to escort us back to the Embassy itself by foot. He mentioned that no-one knew exactly when we were going to turn up.
+
+Travel to Embassy was uneventful, although I happened to notice various interested lurkers taking notice of our travel.
+Once the introductions with the Ambassador were complete and people had settled in to whatever quarters they had been assigned. It seems our arrival had attracted attention in high places, as Dara then turned up to informally welcome our little group to Thelbane. Morgan, as de facto leader of the visiting group, took over the discussions but was clumsy in her manner questioning Dara about Merlin and his apparent death. Okay, I know this is me saying she was undiplomatic but I don’t think she was aware of her faux pas. It wasn’t as much what Morgan was asking but more the way of the language used and the apparent lack of empathy. Dara chose to appear to be more than patient with Morgan, about the ‘details’ of her dead son Merlin, but something in Dara’s answers and her manner doesn’t quite ring true. Morgan’s questioning gave Dara an avenue to take the moral high ground here.
+
+A visit to Thelbane Palace was arranged later in the day for the group or those who wanted to go.
+Dara was on her way exiting the Embassy and saying her farewells, when I felt obliged to point out Vail to her, since it was largely at Dara’s request, Vail was here. Dara suggested to him that they can talk privately later. Then Dara left to quote “make further preparations”.
+
+Almost as soon Dara had gone, Llyr berated Morgan for her lack of sensitivity, before then mentioning an oddness on Merlin’s Trump. Not quite dead perhaps? I couldn’t comment, not my field of expertise.
+The group for the tour of the Thelbane palace is organised – this is not for me! Apparently, Juanita was not into architecture either. Those going left via Trump.
+
+I was eager to check in Bastion who was in Thelbane as an independent investigator into Merlin’s death and see what new light he could bring to bear on proceedings, Juanita thought this a reasonable idea and I let her do the honours. Juanita agreed and attempted to Trump Bastion but he was incommunicado.
+
+Immediately after the tourists had gone, I perform a surveillance check on and around the Embassy. I counted on at least twenty watches, dotted around at various vantage points around the building, noting that some of the watchers were actually watching some of the other observers rather than goings on at the Embassy.
+Juanita and I chose to speak with the ambassador. He couldn’t provide to much additional information given the uncertainty of the succession.
+
+I did briefly wonder if I was a potentially in the line of succession, largely because that both you and my Mother both have kept the small matter of the identity of my Father from me and a comment from Aiden on the last mission when I assumed Demon form. I supposed I could have been dragged into that mess in the same way Vail had been.
+
+One useful piece of knowledge gleaned from the ambassador was that Magic was easy here and one got a far bigger effect than otherwise expected.
+
+Juanita and I, through lack of anything else we could achieve here, wanted to explore the City and when we mention to the Ambassador, he arranged a Diplomatic Pass for each of us.
+
+Before leaving I thought to Trump Dracon to relay the information about the ease of magic and apparently, he knew already, so I told him to pass the information onwards.
+
+Juanita wanted to the tour of the docks, in part to check on her ship and crew.
+
+En route we seemed to have pick up a tail, two of them and in a moment of mischief I waved at them. At least they had the decency to look suitably embarrassed.
+
+The harbour and the Sawall docks contained mostly privately-owned boats, and Juanita didn’t recognise any of them. Seeing that there was little else to be gained examining the boats in the harbour, we decide to retire to a bar that was close by to review our options. In truth it was a bit of a dive, but isn’t that true of most of the dockside inns in existence.
+Upon entering I was a somewhat surprised that we weren't harassed, Juanita and I found a quiet nook and ordered a drink of whatever the local brew was. The patrons of this fine establishment were discussing the recent encounters in whatever passes for sport in the area, the Coronation and the beer here, pretty much in that order of popularity.
+
+We began trying to cobble some plan some plan of escape, just in case all hell brakes loose. One idea was to use Juanita’s ship to get the team away. However, as Juanita stated, her vessel is a merchant craft and her crew are very good sailors, not very good marines. Also, any evacuation probably would involve me as being one of the last through the Trump connection.
+In a bid to gain a little more information, Juanita attempts to Trump Merlin and as Llyr announced earlier, there is nothing except an odd connection effect.
+
+While Juanita is doing this, I receive a Trump call from Morgan. The summary of the call was that she mentioned the possibility that there is a traitor among the group and that Merlin may be dead, despite the unusual previous attempts to speak to Merlin. I found this call to be somewhat naïve, there is always the possibility that there is a traitor or leak in one’s organization. I was felt that many of the group could be reminded of the fact that Trumps could be spied upon.
+
+Juanita and I decided to move onto examining the market district of the city as this was going to form part of the precession route of Merlin’s coffin apparently. It was an opportunity to survey the area for potential ambush and sniper positions that could be used to disrupt the procession and if I could be prepare to counter any threat this way.
+
+While walking, I was trumped by Declan. He mentions that thugs hired under a ‘false flag’ to upset tomorrow’s funeral march, confirming my suspicion almost on cue. He didn’t however find out who was doing the hiring and what was the false flag they were being recruited under when I pressed him for more details, he said he would get back to me. Of course, he never did. However, there was that phrase again, ‘False Flag’. While alarm bells were not quite ringing in my mind, you could imagine the bellringers were at the ready as my thoughts attempted to make some sort of clarity.
+
+I passed on this new information to Juanita as we arrived at the outskirts of the market. Even as we began looking at various stalls and other points of interest, areas of the market were being closed down and cleared by the ‘local’ authorities for procession, although other traders were still plying their trade. I started noting suitable points for use by troublemakers.
+
+Passing through stalls, I thought I sensed something in the air. Almost in disbelief, I stopped to take a better take. It was a familiar scent alright, one that should have not been here, my Mother’s favourite perfume which by all reports was only available on the Shadow she chooses to live these days. This was the second unexpected location I had come across the scent in recent times.
+
+The previous instance of this was in the garden of the home that belonged to the parents of Juanita, where a certain gentleman of Kashfa was murdered before his body had been transferred to the Hall of Mirrors. There was much about the case that had been unsolved. I wasn’t expecting a link to that incident at that point. I decided to buy a sample of the perfume for further analysis, charging it to the Embassy of course. I pointed up my discovery to Juanita and wanted to speak to the stall vendor in more depth, but further investigation was interrupted by Draco’s trump. He wanted to come through, so I was forced move to quieter spot before I agreed to pull him through the link.
+
+He wanted to tell me that many areas of city warded or shielded by Logrus. That was hardly a surprise but he was taking my point of people spying on Trump calls to heart.
+
+I wanted to go back to the perfume seller, but the ‘local’ police by now were closing his stall down as part of the preparations. What was of more concern was the group of security personnel who had shown up and wanted to take Dracon to some secure location to answer some questions. It was the speed of their arrival after Dracon’s own appearance via Trump that was most troublesome.
+
+Given the diplomatic pass in my pocket, I decided to play at being diplomat, by querying the circumstances as to why Dracon was being questioned. Upon examining of said diplomatic pass, the leader of the squad informed me that Dracon is merely helping them with their inquiries rather than being arrested. I was able to convince this officer as Dracon was part of a mission from Amber to observe events here in Thelbane, I could attend the questioning as an observer. Juanita took this opportunity to return to returned to her ship.
+
+Dracon and I were taken to a local police station or whatever passes for one in Thelbane, and were shown to the interrogation room. Usual set-up, with a table, some chairs, bleak décor and the obligatory one-way mirror. When the questioning began, it was clear that the officer asking the questions was not the person or persons conducting the interview. He kept leaving to discuss matters with whoever was observing events behind the one-way mirror. The topic of the questioning was concentrating around what Dracon knew about Merlin’s recent activities. In my opinion, Draco didn’t outright lie but was evasive with the truth, something I might need to question him on later.
+
+After a while, with questions exhausted, the interview was over and Dracon was permitted to leave. I admit I was tempted to attempt to find out who was directing the questioning but given the circumstances I decided against that course of action. I had to be satisfied with merely saluting to whomever was behind the mirror as I departed.
+
+Return to Embassy seemed prudent, as daylight was being to fade. Soon after my return and had some light refreshments Morgan asked me if I would like to spar with Vail. I agreed as I had nothing planned for the evening except for being measured up for some ceremonial garb for the coffin procession tomorrow.
+
+Once I had found a practice blade and quickly took a few swipes to get use to its weight, the fight was on in earnest. As you know that I never used my Katana for a mere practice bout. I had to show Vail a certain degree of respect and was not able to take that many liberties with him. He clearly showed the tell-tale signs of someone who had undergone your crash course, but had taken steps to adapt, improve and augment the style. Also, he had sufficient strength to knock my blade out of position on occasions, but I believed that I was reacting faster than he was in the fight.
+
+This continued until he was started showing the first signs of tiring. I called an end to the fight and gave Vail my honest opinion of the fight. He was a little disappointed with the outcome. I even tried my best not to sound too superior while telling him my assessment.
+
+The best thing though was that Vail had clearly had been holding some tricks back. There is no point showing a potential future opponent all your best moves. I hope he realise I was holding back many of mine at the same time.
+
+The fitting for the formal clothing was carried out and I opted for the Thelbane version, for the simple reason I might stand out less than if I was wearing the Amber formal attire.
+
+I was informed that Vail disappeared via Trump and returned sometime later again by Trump. Apparently he had his ‘later’ discussion with Dara.
+
+As it was getting late and tomorrow would be in all likelihood busy, so sleep would be my next step.
+
+Next day, somewhat refreshed, I began by putting on the clothes for the procession, the formal Chaosian garb which by the magic of time differentials in Shadow, just happened to be ready for me that morning. A light breakfast was then consumed and then I joined some of the others to take part in the procession of Merlin’s coffin or so I thought at the time. I chose one of the potential points of trouble where maximum disruption could have been caused.
+
+I expected to see some suspect characters in the crowd and I was not disappointed, for I spied Bastion and other members of my generation of the family, many of whom I had no idea were even in Thelbane. I could only wonder what mischief they had been up to.
+
+And so, at the appointed time Dara and her entourage arrived and yet there was no coffin. Dara addressed the throng and made her big announcement. Simply put King Merlin was not dead but merely kidnapped and the story about his demise was a cover story. Unfortunately, it seems that Merlin had then kidnapped again from the first group of kidnappers by another agency. This left the assembled crowd suitably stunned.
+
+Bastion was the first to speak or rather started trying to interrogate Dara about what she knew about the whole affair, right in front of the entire gathering. Right idea Bastion, wrong time and place. His questions were angering the crowd and he did this while wearing Amber formal attire.
+
+Llyr, decides to speak up, and formally pledges Rebman help in locating Merlin. Llyr’s intervention was both a help and a hinderance. It drew focus away from Bastion but only made his outburst look even more of a mistake. A few seconds passed and much to my surprise I ended up playing diplomat again. I heard my voice declaring to the crowd the fact that Merlin is also a kinsman of the Court of Amber, I ended up pledging Amber’s assistance to recovering Merlin. Apparently, no-one else among the Amber group had the wits to speak up for Amber. This seemed to counter much of the hostility caused by Bastion and the fact I was in Thelbane attire might have helped too.
+
+It was time to depart and depart quickly, I returned to the Embassy.
+
+I was in the process of collecting the rest of my gear when I received a Trump call, upon answering I was surprised it was Felicia doing the calling, someone whom I have had minimal dealings with.
+
+It was she who informed me that Coral, the Queen of Kashfa had also been kidnapped. I wanted to be known more about this but not over an open trump link. Felicia, however was hesitant about get the information to coming through the link as she wanted to consult with the others she was with. End of call.
+
+Immediately I tried to trump you from the Embassy in Thelbane to inform you of these updates, however it was beyond my scope, after all it is a very long way. When that failed, I decided to trump Mum instead, I knew her home was closer and might be a useful midway point to eventually reach you. She answered.
+
+I will not relay the details of the full conversation we had, however she was interested to learn that someone had manage to get a consignment of her favourite perfume to a trader’s stall in Thelbane, given the nature of her home Shadow and upon learning that both Merlin and Coral had disappeared she agreed that you had to be informed immediately.
+
+That would explain where I was when I attempted to call you a second time and was able to make contact on that occasion. The fact you swore after I reported quite succinctly, “Merlin. Coral. Both kidnapped.”, only served to underline the seriousness of the situation. I admit I had not made the connection that the person or persons who had the missing Royals, now had in their possession the Jewel of Judgement and someone who knows how it works.
+
+The fact you concurred with me that Osric was a probable culprit, was confirmed when you handed me that trump sketch of the glade by Osric’s Pattern drawn by Merlin.
+
+The usual suspects were gathered up, namely Bastion’s team and those of the diplomatic mission on Juanita’s ship which was now shifting through Shadow and I relayed your orders for us to go back and investigate Osric’s realm a second time.
+Bastion had acquired a trump sketch of his own of that glade. So we decided to use both Trumps at the same time to effect an entry.
+
+The team split into the two groups using both Trumps, and we arrived once again at the Pattern that Osric controlled, I say this as it had not been definitely been established that he actually created it. The Pattern glowed, as we arrived into the valley with the mountains, the trees, the ambush of Chaosian forces being led by Osric. Presumably more dupes ‘recruited’ under the guise of more false flags.
+
+Osric’s forces comprised of foot soldiers, archers, and beasts both ground and airborne. Our force consisted of a dozen or so members of the Family. It dawned on me that this was the first time I had seen Osric in the flesh despite all the trouble he had caused us recently
+
+Some could think that we were betrayed by a member within the group because of the ambush but as this was the only gateway realm into Osric’s domain we know about, it is probable that any force entering this Shadow would have met this ambush.
+One thing I was certain of that the force facing us would not be as effective if Osric was occupied, and it fell to me to be that distraction. Likewise, I would have no chance to order and organised the others of my group. It would have been utterly pointless trying, they are family after all.
+
+I leapt into the fray. One of Osric’s men attempted to intervene, he just met the arc of the IaIjutsu strike of my Katana, and it left him on the ground. I pressed onward towards Osric, his blade stopped my next strike in its tracks.
+We started in earnest, blades clashed furiously. I admit that he was the better swordsman but I wasn’t totally outclassed. I had to my Katana’s sheath as a secondary parry weapon if his sword got past my Katana and when that failed, my body would start working on those wounds that he had caused. I had to focus defending myself, buying time for the others to do what they were going to do. As long as my stamina lasted, the best he was doing was nickel-and-diming me to defeat, but if that should fail, I was in serious trouble.
+
+Dimly, I caught sight of the tell-tale signs of a Trump rainbow on a couple of occasions but had did not had the luxury of turning any part of my concentration away from the fight. I had no idea if someone left or entered the larger combat or for that matter how the combat was going in general.
+
+I do admit a certain degree of relief when from apparently out of nowhere when your blade appeared to parry another one of Osric’s blows that would have gotten through my defences. I guess that yours and Fiona’s arrival quickly finished the skirmish especially as Osric chose to abandon the field.
+
+In one respect we had won but still neither Coral nor Merlin were found and neither could be contacted, I guess the investigation is still ongoing.
~jdamery / PlayersGuide.git / blobdiff