--- /dev/null
+**The Golden Circle ACUK 2015 Quotes**
+
+*“The problem is Fiona…..” - No good sentences start this way!*
+
+*“I would shapeshift into a fairly fast fish”* – Shade explaining his plan
+
+*A sea otter with two daggers* - Another of Shade’s methods of attack
+
+*“I’ve got an idea, possibly a sensible one.”* - Rosie
+
+*Benjamin: “So apart from the sea otter and the albatross, what’s the rest of the plan?”*
+*Shade: “That’s it.”*
+*Benjamin: “Ok, I thought my plans were kinda loose.”*
+
+GM: *“You can see: a leopard, a guy with his head smashed in, a guy with his hand hanging off, a guy with lacerations, a big fluffy cat, him, her, and a big demon.”* - not what you expect when you appear on a ship.
+
+Benjamin: *“Oh, I can interrogate him mentally.”*
+Bastian: *“I didn’t mean interrogate him while being mental.”*
+
+*“So she’s unconscious? Ok, start checking her out.”* - Benjamin, sounding a bit creepy!
+
+*“We realised halfway through that Charles was mad and his children were psychos.”* – Paul’s assessment of what the characters found out.
--- /dev/null
+*Juanita talking to Captain O’Malley, over a large flask of rum*
+
+I just can’t stop thinking – what did we miss? It’s driving me crazy. Maybe if I tell you the tale, you’ll spot something we didn’t. Here, have another drink – it’s going to be a long story.
+
+So, it goes like this. Just as I was preparing to leave for the midsummer ball, I got a trump call from Luke. Yeah, that’s right, the King of Kashfa. Now, he’s not someone I know well - rumour has it he was the one who shot Grandpapa, so I never exactly sought out his company. But he’s alright really, seems like an easy going kind of guy. So when he told me that a Kashfan diplomat had turned up dead in Castle Amber and he needed my help to find out how, I thought, why not? Sounds more interesting than a ball. Those affairs are usually so tedious.
+
+You’ve probably heard that the last two Kashfan diplomats who were leading the talks with the Begmans were both murdered. One stabbed, one poisoned – whether that indicates two different murderers or not, I couldn’t say. General consensus is that the Eregnor Liberation Front are responsible (ELF – haha! Didn’t think that through, did they?). But Luke suspects the Begmans. I didn’t ask on what grounds as I didn’t think he’d tell me. Anyway, because of that, this time they decided to hold the talks on neutral ground, in Kailua of all places. It did no good though, their chief negotiator, this fellow named Shaku, still came to a sticky end. No big surprise – but how he ended up in Castle Amber – that was the big mystery.
+
+I headed off to the ball anyway, since it got me closer to the corpse. There was lots of whispering and secret conversations already going on; it was quite clear who had heard about what was going on and who hadn’t. More importantly, there was no rum. Since there was nothing worth drinking, I talked to some of my cousins (second cousins? Once removed?) to see if anyone was interested in helping out. Luke was offering a reward, after all. Max agreed to see what he could find out, and Bastian and Shade had nothing better to do either.
+
+I told Random that we were investigating on behalf of the King of Kashfa and he agreed to let us look at the body. Turns out it was in the Hall of Mirrors. You’ve heard of it? Sort of explains how the body got to Amber, though I’d never heard of the mirrors going as far as Kailua. Shaku had been stabbed, looked like from the front, so we surmised it was someone he knew. There was a dagger beside him that we recognised as one of Martin’s (not sure if Max was worried or pleased by that). Shaku also had a few trumps in his possession, and it was somewhat of a surprise to discover one of them was one of mine. One that I’d drawn, I mean, not a trump of me. It was El Rocio, Papa’s place. I guess Papa had lent Shaku the trump, maybe he’d done some diplomatic assignments in Deiga in the past. I hoped that was the reason, anyway. The other trumps were Kashfa City, Kailua and a lady named Penelope (I reckoned Luke had drawn those three), plus another one of someone called Lazarus by an unknown artist.
+
+At this point I was more than halfway through the flask of rather excellent rum that Luke had given me, so I decided it would be a great idea to go for a wander further into the HoM. Don’t look at me like that! At least I was sober enough to give my trump to Shade and Bastian first. I tell you, I’ve been to some weird places on my travels. Remember that shadow with all the [Juanita makes some indecipherable hand gestures]... yeah, that place. Well, the HoM, as I like to call it for short, is even stranger. But to cut a long description short, I ended up meeting the ghost of Shaku, who was distinctly unhelpful. Regardless of what I said to him, he just kept repeating the same rubbish over and over. I’d have run him through if he hadn’t been a ghost. I wrote it all down though, like a good little detective. This is what he said:<br>
+*Seek the cuckoo*<br>
+*The first cut is the deepest*<br>
+*All I want more than you is to do right by you*<br>
+*The darkest hour is just after the dawn*
+
+See? Nonsense. Then after that, things got even weirder and a whole lot more vomit-inducing – like the mirrors were closing in and I was being sucked into a whirlpool, with all sorts of disturbing images spinning all around me. Ugh. I saw Papa being burned at the stake. I saw an army pouring from a fleet of ships and sacking the town of Beylul. I saw the younger sister that I never had. Things that could have been, and things that might be. It freaked me out. I trumped Shade and got him to pull me out of there post-haste.
+
+Before I could really recover, someone was trumping me. It was Aidan, Luke’s son. Luke had told me not to recruit Aidan because apparently it’s well known that he didn’t get on with Shaku, and he didn’t want that to compromise the investigation. So naturally I quizzed Aidan on his relationship with the diplomat. He basically said Shaku was a prick. His words, not mine! He also said he planned to get involved with Random’s official investigation but suggested that the two of us exchange information. That seemed fair, so I told him about Shaku’s trumps. Aidan was particularly cagey about Lazarus, saying only that he was ‘one of theirs’. So a Kashfan spy, then.
+
+Next we trumped over to Kailua to take a look at the embassy where Shaku had been staying. It was empty – all the delegates had been sent back to Kashfa already – so we let ourselves in. There was nothing of interest in Shaku’s office, though, and no signs of a fight anywhere. It was around then that I got another trump call from Aidan, who told me he’d found the scene of the crime. I stepped through, and found myself in Papa’s back garden in El Rocio...
+
+Sure enough, there was a blood stain on the grass. Aidan said that Dracon (a new guy in town, presumably a relative but dunno exactly how) had managed to trace Shaku’s last location from the HoM using sorcerous means. I quickly got the servants together and questioned them – obviously I didn’t think Mama and Papa had anything to do with these events, but then after that debacle with the ring last year, you just never know. The servants took some persuasion, but finally told us what they had seen. They’d heard some kind of commotion in the garden sometime just after dawn (yes, the darkest hour – maybe Shaku wasn’t talking total nonsense after all). They’d gone to investigate and seen Shaku duelling with another figure, who looked very much like Coral, Queen of Kashfa and beloved wife of Luke. Shaku took a mortal wound, and the Queen paid off the maids to keep their mouths shut and to clear up her mess. She’d then dragged the body away.
+
+Something about the description that the servants gave us didn’t ring true. Besides that it made no sense for Coral to behave that way, that is. Perhaps the fact that each gave exactly the same description, almost word for word, gave it away. We surmised that their minds had been tampered with, and that someone was trying to frame the Queen. At this point, the rest of the Amber investigators turned up, and a few other things were disclosed: A trump had been found in the bushes nearby, of Patricius, Bastian’s father (another one of mine I’d drawn for Papa); more blood had been found inside the house, a trail that stopped next to a wall, and a scent of perfume still remaining; someone had removed the dagger by Shaku’s body and replaced it with a longsword (but Nathan had consulted an expert who confirmed that neither weapon could have caused the wound); And Max had heard from an undisclosed source that Merlin had been spotted poking around the body.
+
+At this point Bastian went off to trump his father. He was quite insistent that he wanted to do it in private, but Aidan did go with him in the end. Apparently Patricius had no idea about anything that was going on, and said he hadn’t spoken to Papa for a while, so he was no help. Still, seems odd that the trump would be there. Papa is usually more careful. What’s that? No, I don’t know Bastian that well, or his dad. Entirely possible that one or other of them knows more than they’re letting on.
+
+Next, I called Mama to warn her that there were a bunch of Amberites poking around in her house, and 15 minutes later she turned up to play hostess. At that point, Bastian, Shade and I left for Kashfa to speak to the delegates, leaving the others to continue investigating and to eat all the sandwiches Mama was preparing. The delegates insisted that the last time they’d seen Shaku, he’d been heading off to dinner with his fiancée Penelope. They were positive that he’d never returned to the embassy.
+
+So now we knew who Penelope was. I decided to give her a call. A pretty uncomfortable call, as it turned out. No-one had bothered to tell her what had happened to Shaku, so lucky me got to break the news. She was pretty gutted, as you might expect. After the tears subsided a bit, I managed to get her to tell me when she last saw Shaku. He’d walked her back to her apartment in Kailua after their dinner at the Lighthouse, and she hadn’t seen him since. She also told me that Shaku had a bit of an altercation with another man in the restaurant, a stranger who’d dared to flirt with his fiancée. I reassured her that we’d do everything to find out who’d killed her beloved, and left her to it.
+
+While we were in Kashfa, we got ourselves an appointment with the Queen – mainly so Shade could give her a sniff. No, really. He’s a shapeshifter, you see. Don’t tell anyone else that, okay? I don’t think he’d like me spreading it around. He was able to confirm that it wasn’t her perfume in Papa’s house, which was good. Luke wouldn’t have liked it. In fact, that was just the very moment I got a call from Luke, who was raging like an angry bull because he’d heard from Aidan about the attempt to frame Coral. I promised we’d try to find out who did it, mostly to get rid of him. And soon after that, Aidan called to say they’d discovered it was Jasra, the Queen mother, who’d implanted the memories in the minds of Papa’s servants, or so Princess Fiona had told them after examining the poor maids. Seemed unlikely that Jasra had committed the murder though – must have been more like an opportunistic thing. Everyone knows she hates Coral. Apparently Fiona also detected memories of another woman, but even she couldn’t tease that information out, so it seemed like it had been wiped for good.
+
+Next we went back to Kailua and questioned some people around Penelope’s apartment. We found witnesses who had seen him walk her home. After that, he’d stepped into a nearby alleyway and disappeared. And yes, when we entered said alleyway, I did detect some residual trump energy there. We were able to rule out his Kashfa City and Kailua trumps, and clearly he didn’t use the El Rocio one until he turned up in our garden about six or so hours later. He could have called the spy Lazarus, or Patricius, if that trump was his. Or someone else could have called him (though the timing would have been rather coincidental). Hmm? Yes, I guess he could have trumped Penelope and stepped through into her room. A good way to secure a lady’s reputation. I’m guessing you’ve used that trick before yourself? You old scoundrel.
+
+Now I’m thinking about it, I wish I’d spent more time talking to Penelope. At the time I didn’t suspect her of any complicity, but now I’m wondering about *All I want more than you is to do right by you*. Those sound like the words of a lover, no? Maybe if I’d pretended to be Shaku when she answered the call, I’d have got more information – but no, that would have been too cruel.
+When we went to the Lighthouse, the bouncer there confirmed the incident between Penelope and the stranger. Apparently the man had short brown hair, the stance of a fighter, and an Amberite accent, but he didn’t recognise it as anyone from my trump decks, or from a sketch I drew of Martin. After the bouncer had diffused the situation, the Amberite left the restaurant, to go who knows where. Interestingly, Shaku had fancied himself as a decent swordsman, though the bouncer didn’t rate him at all. I remembered Aidan had said something similar. No wonder he thought he was a prick.
+
+Well, that’s an interesting theory you have there, O’Malley. If there is more to Penelope than it seemed, I guess the Amberite could have been her contact, approaching for a quick exchange of information before Shaku returned. Could she be working for the Begmans? A cuckoo in the nest... It’s hard to believe that she would have harmed Shaku though. Her tears seemed genuine enough.
+
+Anyhow... before we could do anything else, Luke called again. It turned out Random had called everyone back to the castle, as some poor fool had accused Martin of Shaku’s murder (accusing the King’s son of murder – there’s a route to an early grave). We all gathered in Random’s office and told him what we’d discovered (he was less forthcoming – he wouldn’t say who had made the accusation). I was pleased to hear that the ‘official’ investigation team didn’t have much to say that we didn’t already know about, so we hadn’t been totally incompetent. The only new thing really was that it had been Merlin who had replaced the dagger with the sword. Idiot.
+
+There was no evidence to incriminate Martin, so Random declared his son innocent, and said he would take over the rest of the investigation himself. So that was that. But one thing did stick in my mind from that conversation – a passing comment of Morgan’s. She said that the Hall of Mirrors tells you “the who, the how, the why and the when”. In which case... hand me that quill, would you?
+
+*A piece of parchment with scribbles in both Juanita’s and O’Malley’s handwriting*
+
+Who: Seek the cuckoo – Lazarus? Penelope? The Amberite in the Lighthouse? If not Begman or ELF, could some other party want the talks to fail? To destabilise the Golden Circle? What about the perfumed woman that the maids can’t remember. Did she summon the HoM? Who can do that?
+Why: All I want more than you is to do right by you – Penelope again? Was she a spy, but fell in love with Shaku for real, and then confessed, knowing he’d leave her? Was it a crime of passion? Or did he say those words to her? Did he have another lover?
+
+Timeline:
+
+ * Shaku and Penelope go to dinner.
+ * Penelope speaks to the mystery Amberite; Shaku spots them and takes offence; the bouncer puts a stop to the argument; the Amberite leaves
+ * Shaku walks Penelope home
+ * Shaku goes into the alleyway and trumps someone/somewhere
+ * ~6 hours pass
+ * Shaku gets into a fight, and trumps to El Rocio to get away
+ * Shaku is killed in Papa’s garden
+ * A woman wipes the maids memories, and drags the body inside the house and into the HoM
+ * Jasra turns up and implants new memories (how did she know it had happened??)
+ * Shaku is abandoned in the HoM, which goes to Amber Castle
+ * Someone puts Martin’s dagger beside the body
+ * Juanita’s team examine the body, take the trumps and talk to the ghost
+ * Merlin removes the dagger and replaces it with a longsword
+ * The other team examine the body; by this time the ghost is fading
+ * Juanita needs more rum
+
----
-* Felicia wrote [[this report|Investigation_Report_for_Thelbane_CSI.pdf]] on the investigation of the apparent death of King Merlin.
-* Sebastian wrote this report about the events that took place in The Tools of Diplomacy
-* Sebastian wronte this report about the events that took place in The Path of Power
-* Juanita had this discussion with Captain O’Malley, over a large flask of rum, about the events in The Hall of Mirrors
-* There are some quotes from The Golden Circle here
-
-----
-
-**Sebastian's report**
-
-*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.
+* Felicia wrote [[this report|Investigation_Report_for_Thelbane_CSI.pdf]] on the investigation of the apparent death of King Merlin (2018)
+* Sebastian wrote [[this report|ToD_Sebastian]] about the events that took place in The Tools of Diplomacy (2018)
+* Sebastian wrote [[this report|PoP_Sebastian]] about the events that took place in The Path of Power (2017)
+* Juanita had [[HoM_Juanita|this discussion] with Captain O’Malley, over a large flask of rum, about the events in The Hall of Mirrors (2017)
+* There are some quotes from The Golden Circle (2015) [[here|GC_Quotes]]
--- /dev/null
+**Sebastian's report to Benedict**
+
+*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!*
+
+Sir, I know that I have already given you what I had experienced during the recent mission to locate and bring back those who failed to return their first Pattern walk, however as instructed I have written a report including my assessment of various aspects and why I reacted the way I did.
+
+As you can recall, my arrival next to a previous unknown Pattern in what would pass as an otherwise peaceful valley was unexpected to both of us. One end of the valley lay some peaks the other a lake of some significance. There was no immediate sign of a threat nor what happened to the missing members of the family.
+
+After you had passed through those who had been assigned to help, namely Bastian, Declan, Dracon, Shade, and Juanita, we started the initial search of the area after the link between us was cut. Of the group, only Declan I knew to any great extent and have work with him without issue. However, with exception of Dracon, the others were on the wrong side of the events concerning the missing Regalia of Rebma. This might have proved a problem with such issues as resentment and distrust towards Declan and I. For my own part I tried not to be too agonistic. I did however hand out a copy of my trump to those who lack my own. Risky yes, but we had to try and stay in touch with each other.
+
+There was a bit of a discussion of how this Pattern resembled the one in Castle of Amber and it differed. It was mainly Bastian and Shade asking those who had. Of course, I struggled here having only just walked it once, although Juanita was able to provide more background and mentioned something about a ‘Primal’ one during the discussion. There was also some unresolved speculation as to when it could have been drawn.
+
+Using my familiarity of the scents of both Morgan and Nathan, I discovered that both had been in this glade although only around a specific spot, where some other distinct scents of varying detectability could be made out. My assumption was they had rested after completing walking the Pattern for the first time, as that was what I needed to do. It was odd that no trails though which led me to suspect they were trumped or carried from the valley and suspicious they rested in same spot more or less. I can’t have been the only one to notice the lack of any signs of conflict either. Anyway, it was an opportunity to rest which I took. Dracon did some sort of sorcerous check and announced the time flow was about the same as it was Amber.
+
+A more expansive search was then carried out with Bastian searching towards the lake and nearby treeline, Shade checking the other direction in the valley towards the peaks. It wasn’t so much an organised search, more that they wandered off in opposite directions without telling anyone else what they were going.
+
+Dracon conjures up from nowhere a flock of bird like creatures and they fly off in numerous directions and he concentrates on them to some degree. Sometime later I found out he could see what they saw and could communicate through them, at least that what I suspect that Bastian meant by ‘talking birds’.
+
+This leaves Declan, Juanita and myself by the Pattern itself. We discuss the merits of someone bringing up Pattern to see if he or she can get any sort of direction on where our missing relatives went. Declan offers and fairly measurement steps slowly walks away in the direction that Bastian went, pausing for a while before moving on again.
+
+Dracon perhaps no longer to needing to devote his attention to his birds asked for trump of Corwin and with some reluctance I handed my copy to him. I went as far to ask him for a receipt somewhat I admit in a flippant mood, he somewhat cockily conjured one out of thin air. However, his attempt to use did not meet with success.
+
+We went through the same routine when he asked to borrow Corwin’s Trump as he returned Merlin’s one to me. However much to my surprise, Merlin answered. Much of the conversation was beyond my understanding although the most important thing that had relevance latter on was the fact that Merlin did not recognise this Pattern and he had seen several.
+
+After the conversation had come to a bit of an impasse, Merlin announced he wanted to stay and study this Pattern for a while. I was tempted to veto the idea but already knew that the moment we left the place, Merlin was the sort of person who reappear immediately to carry on his study and was capable of doing so. His reputation of seeking and looking for trouble already is a thing of legend.
+
+Since I had lent the Trumps to Dracon, I suddenly had an idea where he could return the favour. I had him use his well-let’s-be honest-here chicken-like servants to acquire a literal bird eye’s view of path of this Pattern and while I have no idea if it is of any use, a copy of this view is attached to this report in case it is useful.
+
+Around this time, it should be noted that Declan had walked far enough away from the Pattern to detect something of note, a Shadow gateway, and Bastian had seemingly noticed it as well. After saying farewell to Merlin, the three of us still in the immediate vicinity of the Pattern walked with purpose to join Declan and Bastian. On the way, we were also joined by Shade who seemingly just appeared from behind a tree. We were greeted by Bastian asking Dracon if the bird standing there was his.
+
+According to Bastian, the reason why it was detectable was that it had been used repeatedly in the last few days and was likely the reason it was still present. I was able to find a scent using my heightened animistic senses, it was not too obvious but it was there. A single person had come and gone numerous times, the last time being no more than a few days. Perhaps the repeated trips were the reason why any trace remained. It was an unfamiliar scent. It suggested of course that those who were missing were carried off as they appeared one by one.
+
+Given there was seemingly no other way to go, we all crossed through the veil. What meet our eyes was something of a contrast to the place we just left, a sprawling busy city. While the city was different to Amber, a Palace or great hall rather than a Castle, the architecture more 18th or 19th century rather than medieval, there was an echo or some sort of resemblance. I am sorry I don’t have the words to encompass what I am trying to convey here.
+
+One thing was evident was the fact that there were no outlandish signs of who run the place, no statue of a king, queen or emperor and when the locals were asked who was in charge they simply referred to him as ‘the Lord’.
+
+I ran a brief check on Trumps. Many of those of the missing people showed flickering signs of contact, apparently too far to be used and yours however, did not work at all.
+
+Declan arranges for a convenient medical emergency on some affluent-looking passer-by via the use of magic, and while helping the victim, I noticed that he also helps himself to the victim’s wallet which contains local currency and some calling cards. The first thing he does with his newly acquired funds is purchase a local newspaper, the Times. I have managed to acquire it and again it comes as part of this report. I am informed that this is a generic name for a newspaper throughout, and it neither goes into great detail about his ‘Lordship’ nor mentions my erstwhile cousins. The victim is carted off to hospital.
+
+The city is something of a trading port, so while we are clearly not locals, we do not stand out too much either. Unfortunately, it is also a large city and in order we could cover more ground quickly, we split up to see if we could find any trace of those who were missing. Yes, I agree it was a risky move but as time was seemingly of the essence. Besides, we had trumps of each other if we need back-up or a get out. We divided up the search as follows; Shade and Juanita the docks and harbourmaster, Declan the higher-class eateries and bars, Bastian various merchants, I took the lower-class inns and hostelries. Dracon would search arcanely.
+
+I got nothing for the dives except challenged on occasion, although nothing more than that. I decided to check the religious district and there were many faiths represented here, including that of the Unicorn which was something I was surprised by. Declan trumped me saying he had secured rooms at an establishment called the Blue Boar and gave rough directions. Also, I thought it would be prudent to ‘mark’ the location of the Shadow veil in case we even here again.
+
+The results of our labours were mixed.
+
+I had drawn a blank, Bastian commented his ‘Lordship’ had been seen yesterday buying a smooth wooden club, this turns out as I later discovered a baseball bat for Rosie and I honestly don’t know what to say about that. Declan had required the rooms, Shade had visited the Harbourmaster and found that all the possible trading posts that dealt with the City had unfamiliar names. Juanita announced her ship would be in harbour the next morning and would be ready to sail on the following tide. The fact she could get her boat here is of great interest.
+
+Dracon however had the more critical success, he had found traces of our people in the local Hospital as of previous day. He wanted to investigate further, I went with him to keep an eye over him. This is when I realised that Dracon is a bit of a liability, for he obviously believes that magic is the only way to do things having a spell for everything or so it seems and the only way get information from an organisation is to get those in charge and rip the information out of their mind using magic. Yes, he undoubtedly knows his stuff but he isn’t subtle and something of a one trick pony.
+
+The information he got was good but most of it was available but other means. Our missing lambs were checked into a private ward on consecutive days and they are regained consciousness (or the nearest equivalent to it), all at about the same time with his ‘Lordship’ sitting in the room. He then took them all to a nearby restaurant for a meal. I checked the records and all had ‘standard’ medical checks and you know that can cover a multitude of sins, although the records stated that Aiden was treated for burn damage.
+
+How the one things Dracon did drag out the poor administrator was an image of this ‘Lordship’ and on first examination it could have been Corwin, you know the black and silver, even a rose clasp. Dracon stated as such but I was not convinced for two big reasons, the earlier conservation with Merlin and this whole place didn’t feel like it was Corwin’s. I understand that Corwin had created his own Pattern during ‘the troubles’ but nothing here suggested that this place was his.
+
+Dracon repeat the whole magic mind-dump thing on the Maître d’ of the Eatery without learning anything of great use. All we really found out, the meal happened and the State paid for it.
+
+It was one thing to do what he did in the hospital but another in the restaurant as well, I think here is Dracon’s more telling weakness, he needs to know every detail, but is unconcerned to constraints of time and of situation. Sometimes you just need to act without having perfect information.
+
+Anyway, eventually we returned to the Blue Boar where we informed other of the findings.
+
+There was a debate as to our next move, whether we had time to visit the Palace or not? For my own part, I was tired and needed rest before we sailed tomorrow. I wasn’t sure what could be gleaned from the Palace. Some of the others had different ideas.
+
+Declan was of a similar mind to me and Juanita wanted to sort out matters on board her ship. Shade, Bastian and Dracon would try their luck at the Palace. It was decided we would leave in the ship and the others could catch up.
+
+So early next morning those of us who didn’t wish to go the Palace went aboard Juanita’s ship, and she ordered her crew to make sail. The others returned in short order with mixed levels of success. Shade found out that the Lord was not in residence but he was yesterday, Bastian said there was a Pattern located underneath it, Dracon drew a blank, for he had encountered a power far greater than magic and that was bureaucracy.
+
+Juanita, it has to be said runs a tight ship, so it felt prudent to leave her to run it the way she normally does. Once sufficiently away from port, she began manipulating our journey with use of the Pattern. I recalled you mention the term ‘hell-riding’, well this was I suppose was ‘hell-sailing’. Juanita was concentrating her efforts on finding Rosie, undoubtedly the most distinctive of the those we had come to retrieve.
+
+When Juanita started to show signs of flagging I offered to try my hand with this hell-riding, after all you said I had to practice these disciplines. Not knowing Rosie as well as Juanita, I sorted out her Trump from the deck I received from Random and use that to focus my thoughts. It helped and while I felt we maybe had slowed slightly, we were still moving forward with a clear objective.
+
+Rosie, I confess would not have been my first choice of contact, but it seemed counterproductive to change from Juanita’s choice at that stage.
+
+It was during my ‘hell-riding’ stint that Bastian had manage to make some sort of Trump contact with the lost souls, my attention was only half aware of what was going on board ship so I couldn’t make out the details of Bastian’s sketchy contact. In fact, I can’t be sure whether Bastian had made the call or was the receiver although I thought I saw Juanita in close proximity to him, so she was possibly assisting Bastian.
+
+Shortly aware becoming aware of this, there was what I can only describe as a sense of arrival, the ship was now travelling downstream in a wide river, located in some forest or possibly jungle area and on the bank the group we had been sent to find. That said I had to have enough wits about me to stop what I was doing in a hurry otherwise the ship would have ploughed onwards into part of the river which inexplicitly rose and boiled like some barrier impeding further safe travel. Juanita and her men, brought the ship to a halt and dropped anchor.
+
+The wayward group made it on board and thus we were in one place. As instructed I proceeded to hand out the other Trump decks to their intended targets, the reactions I received in doing this ranged from Nathan who recoiled as if I just handed him a live grenade to that of Rosie who accepted her deck with a glee of a small child having just received a gift from Santa.
+
+Out of the five wayward souls, the only one who I was never seen before was Felicia, apparently the granddaughter of Fiona, and I was forced to make my own introductions. She showed all the signs of this being her first significant outing, a mixture of relief and excitement. To complete the fivesome, there was Aiden, Crown Prince of Kashfa, someone who I had come across during the affair where Martin had been embroiled in a murder of an important Golden circle dignitary and whose allegiances I still didn’t trust, and Morgan someone who I had worked with previously on a couple of occasions with some measure of success.
+
+We began getting testimony from the others. All had seemingly finished walking the Pattern in Amber under the supervision of Gerard, was transported from Its centre and fell unconscious somehow, and all had awoken at approximately the same time in the same ward in hospital to find ‘Corwin’ sitting there awaiting their return to consciousness. So far confirming what we already knew. He treated them to a meal and enlisted their help to deal with a group who had designs to destroy his Pattern and the shadows associated with it. He asserted that if this group were successful in their aims, the destruction of his Pattern would have dire repercussions for Amber. It might have been better if an orderly recounting of their tale took place but this never happened.
+
+The details of their journey after they left the city and some of their exploits emerged, although what they deemed important varied on whom you asked. Although some important details were common to most as far as I could make out. There was both surprise and relief at our arrival because of the fact that beyond the boiling water barrier lay nothing, the shadow that once laid beyond it destroyed. The groups carrying out the destruction were Chaosians and they were doing this in stages, how I can’t be sure, although through the confusion of voices and tales, I heard someone say the words ‘Primal Chaos’. One story that was related on a number of times, included the detail that these Chaosians took on the forms of a mother Tiger and her cubs, and how this group had killed with some ferocity a male tiger.
+
+There was also a trump card of this ‘Corwin’ doing the rounds, when I studied it brief, there was something immediately amiss with it. Perhaps it chimed with all we had encountered which suggested that we weren’t dealing with Corwin, or the personality that exuded from the card felt wrong, was it his stance one I had seen many times before but not from Corwin, initially I struggled to understand why I had these doubts, then I realised what was missing. There was no Grayswandir.
+
+Corwin is as you know many things to many people, but that blade is as much as a part of him as it is a weapon, and no formal Trump would even be drawn of him without his precious blade.
+
+I voiced my opinion that Trump was not Corwin to the others and pointed out the lack of that blade. This prompt a wave of activity and the Trump was taken from me as others now fuelled with doubt as to its authenticity wanted to examine it again.
+
+Felicia starts talking about the “Treehouse of Impending Doom”, and while many including myself are confused by the reference, it prompts Dracon to cast something, I caught he doing this out of the corner of my eye, he even starts to projecting an image what he is seeing from afar. Not all present take the time to witness what Dracon was projecting.
+
+“It’s Osric”, I heard someone yell out, might have been Morgan but my focus was elsewhere.
+
+Dracon summons up images of five people, four in a circle around the fifth. The presumed Chaosians were involved in a ritual as far as I come tell but I could not hear what they were charting. The one of the middle seemed to be leading proceedings. I positioned myself behind Dracon and realised he was completely oblivious to me being there. Details were hard to make out as the power build up interfered with Dracon’s spell.
+
+The arcane energy builds for a time then perhaps just before the point of conclusion Dracon cuts the vision. Perhaps it was prudent that he did so given what happen next.
+
+The next few seconds are a bit of a blur and confusion reigns. People start yelling “Incoming” and “Run”, and a few even disappear. There it hit, a shockwave of immerse force, laced with energy I had never witnessed before. The Pattern within me flared when I was caught in the blast. And there it was over as quickly as it had begun, and while I was still conscious, parts of me wished that I wasn’t.
+
+I surveyed the scene, many of the group unconscious or groaning, Juanita’s crew all unconscious, the ship while still afloat in a river, the surrounding area while similar had changed. The ship had broken free and was slowly drifting. I forced myself over to the helm and made sure we didn’t run aground. The ship was still our best way of getting around quickly and in more or less one group.
+
+The shock of the Energy wave was replaced by a panic brought on a frenzy of Trump usage, including people coming and going, Juanita announcing she was getting a Trump call from some unknown source and fending it off. The fact that people were still groggy may have worsened the situation. For my own part, I stayed at the Helm, needing a true course. Knowing that if I was attacked via Trump I would be easy prey, I tried that trick you suggested about concentrating on the Pattern. I suppose it worked as I wasn’t aware of any Trump contact but that could have simply been the fact that no-one tried, I would have not known either way. Eventually some of Juanita’s men regained consciousness and took over controlling the ship.
+
+Eventually the unwanted Trump calls and the panic subsided, as we all reqrouped as one big happy family. Time to reflect. Osric had yet again misled others to do his bidding, this time by getting the group believe he was ‘Corwin’. The mechanisms of how he managed to get all five to his realm was far from clear, especially given the day gap between each individual Pattern walk. I am willing to concede that neither Aiden nor Felicia who were in Amber during the coronation in Rebma. However, I would of like to hope that Morgan and Nathan would have most sense assuming they had any choice in the matter. As for Rosie, she seemed to be convinced be the fact she was present with a baseball bat.
+
+I can understand why Osric chose not to advert his involvement this time around after the last time, and there may well be truth to the claim the Chaoians were attempting to destroy his Pattern. While the claims that it would have dire effects for Amber were not proven, but these methods used by the Chaosians here at the very least could repeated against Amber itself. Their mission needed to fail. I therefore quietly cursed the fact that I was obliged to help Osric on this occasion.
+
+Something of an altercation between Dracon and Declan flared up, as to the reason why I couldn’t say. The sudden movement caught my eye. It involved Declan attempting to hit Dracon over the back of the head, and Dracon would have had no idea about it, except a flash of power and Declan’s blow hit some sort of barrier.
+
+Declan informs that an agent of Osric awaits two shadows from the those behind the destruction. Someone inquires why the agent is two shadows away, Declan replies because he is smart sarcastically. Declan forcefully asks everyone if they are coming through to do so now. Declan was clearly in a determined mood. We stepped through the Trump link.
+
+Bastian does something and we shift again, we now standing looking at the five Chaosians a little way away and they are going through the ritual again.
+
+Upon arrival, I wasted no time and took on my demonic form to the shock of some of my cousins. “How is it going in the courts?”, Aiden asks almost sneeringly. “What Courts?” I growled back. “Good answer”, he replies.
+
+My sword is drawn. While I made no words to explain my intent but my sword was drawn and you know I do not ever unsheathe it lightly.
+
+Not waiting for acknowledgement from nor approval of the others I leapt towards the nearest Chaosian, engaging in swordplay, and knew if we had left to our own devices it would have been close between me and my opponent, however we weren’t alone. Thanks to my companions, it was over quickly, I left the opponent unconscious for questioning later.
+
+Then there was the explosion, I has hit by such a force I backed out instantly, I was too close to the ground zero of the blast, the backlash of energy their leader lost control of manipulating.
+
+I became aware to myself again to a short while later looking the scene of devastation, every cell within my body ached and throbbed, a headache from hell, lying flat on the ground. The signs were there I was fighting for control of my form and identity. It was difficult but I was holding it. I couldn’t be sure that I slipped into the Primal form for a while in response to the explosion.
+
+Dimly I was aware of the others and they were in various states of shock, pain and injury.
+
+Shade came over and made an offer of help as he had admitted he had some shapeshifting healing. I declined though thank him for the concern. What I needed was to rest and not be shapeshifting for a while, and I could not be sure that my body would perceive any shapeshifting induced by Shade as hostile or not. It was a chance I didn’t want to risk.
+
+What remains to tell is the clean-up, three Chaosians dead and one in the centre vaporised, the fifth the one I left unconscious, his mind would be most unlikely to ever recover.
+
+We regrouped on Juanita’s boat, and as I was shattered I let the others do the work this time. The boat was soon returned back to the valley that contained the first of the previously unknown Patterns and once there my first thought was to I call you because of Osric’s involvement.
+
+I have a number of concerns;
+
+1. How and why the five previous ‘missing’ family members were all sent to Osric’s Pattern on their first Pattern walk? And how did Osric know that they would be there to recover them?
+2. Whether these five have any lasting compulsions planted there by Osric while they were in his hospital?
+3. Whether Osric is in possession of any ‘samples’ such as blood of the five again that could be used in rituals against them or Amber?
+4. Who were the Chaosians because as far as I was aware I do not know who they were?
+5. Where is Osric’s Pattern in relate to Amber and the one apparently drawn by Corwin? The Chaosians got there somehow.
+6. What happened to Merlin, he was brought by Dracon to Osric’s Pattern via Trump but was not there when we returned? I did actually try to Trump him at one point while on Juanita’s boat but got no reply.
+
+No doubt there will be some sort of debrief and questions you or the King for that matter may have, and of course I will make myself available when necessary.
+
--- /dev/null
+**Sebastian's report**
+
+*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 / commitdiff