Greetings
Gamers!
6
Months or so have passed since the game started and they have been busy times
in Amber! Time to take a look back at some of the things that have gone on. The
Game began on January 5 of the Amber year of 5250 when Random welcomed a collection
of cousins to Amber. Random's reign was 50 years old.
The
original roster was nine players. Doria, Truman, Zachary, Rilla, Gaheris,
Geryon, Marke, Strykr, and Vance. To this gallery of rouges have come Shaenne,
Nocturne, and Red Cloud. One character remains aloof from the family. One other
waits in the wings, ready to make his first journey to Amber. That is quite a
good gathering. The most active by far have been Doria, Strykr, Truman, Geryon,
and Nocturne. And Vance of course, who was recently called the biggest gossip
in Amber! For the players who have not been active, do not fear. I assume you
have been off in shadow or taking care of your own business whatever it may be.
Zachary has been present in Amber, a known attendee at family dinners and the
ringmaster of the Amber Circus situated North Riding of the City of Amber.
Activities.
Early
in the game Lord Lugborz Helibore, known by many other names in the shadow of
Bryton, caused considerable trouble. His war with Geryon involved many
participants. Fleece and his wolf-pack of chaos lords snuck into to Bryton and
attacked Lugborz, injuring him deeply.(story: Padding of little puppy dog feet)
Soon after Fleece and his pack were discovered to be agents of King Adrian of
Mandalay. An assault for of Amberites attacked Lugborz and drove him from
Bryton, winning acclaim for themselves. Benedict then basically invaded the
vast tunnel region connection Diaga to the Abyss and other points. Bryton and
its King Geryon were granted Golden Circle Signatory Status. (Story: Lugborz
& Bryton)
Numerous
people visited a tavern called Thin Whip's. This ramshackle warehouse of
decadence housed the new wave of rockabilly swing that was coming to amber in
the strings of two faithful proponents of the music; Truman and Jurt.
Doria
was the recipient of considerable animosity, not least from her relatives. Her
Hendrake relatives too. Desri, her sister, set a dangerous trap for Doria. A
pillar with a golden tray and 5 Mandalay stones. Whoever would place her head
in the tray would claim the prize. She placed this in a city on Doria's world
of Swirlin. Many ingenious attempts to retrieve the stones failed. Finally
Vance tried brute force by flying a starship from Vulsar Base and blasting the
pillar from space. The pillar was undamaged but the area around it was burst
asunder and Vance transported it to his ship. He gave the prize to Doria; at
which point it became her problem. Doria took it to Fantalin to let Aries
Colbresi, the Fantalin Dean of Treasures, try to figure it out. Eventually it
was decided that tossing the thing
on the pattern would break the spell. As it did. It also broke Fantalin and the
Hall of Treasures. Two great chamber, each 1000' tall, and under an additional
1000' of stone, were collapsed as what was discovered to be a Logrus Construct
was tossed on the pattern. What caused considerable extra damage was that two
great artifacts in the upper Hall of treasures, a Flawed Logrus and a Sigil At
Riess, came into direct physical contact and what fireworks they caused! Doria
and Aries Colbriesi were trapped together in a tiny space and played chess till
they were rescued and whisked off to Vulsar for trauma care. Adjur, Doria's
second in command, and Fiona, were trapped, crushed and KO'ed till rescued and
both required heroic care to save.
Clean up at Fantalin proceeds nicely, thank you.
The Sons of Rilga had a bit of a spat with the king in this year. Caine,
Julian, and Gerard came close to treason and were all removed from office for
their own safety. This was because of the discovery that the presumed dead
sister of Random, Mirelle, was not so dead. But she was mad as a hatter and
very dangerous. Mirelle, found by Lugborz and kept prisoner in Chaos, was the
object of a raid to rescue her. Once rescued the sons of Rilga insisted she be
executed for her slaying of Queen Rilga centuries before. While the details are
not publicly known tempers were high for a time and sides were being drawn.
Random replaced Caine with Delwin as Spymaster, Dalt took over Arden from Julian,
and Jopin was forced out of retirement to take the navy from Gerard. After
Delwin turned the Amber CIA into a repressive secret police force and began
horribly abusing citizens rights Random was forced to restore Caine and Delwin
retired to shadow.
Accommodations were made with the sons of Rilga but not before tense standoffs
nearly led to open rebellion.
Mirelle was just the first of a type of person that will rear their ugly heads
in many forms; The Incarnations of Archetype. These are paramount beings
possessed of a vast power connected to their incarnations; be they Madness,
like Mirelle; Pettiness, like Swav Vie; Ambition like Robert Putney Drake; or
Song, like Evelyn. Dworkin claims there are innumerable examples across shadow
and they will be found in early any emotion or aspect. Look out for them; Some
are not nice.
The two people's factions; The Democracy or Dust crowd called the Dusters, and
the Senate and the People of Amber crowd, called Republicans, are fighting an
underground war of words and poisoned knives as they try to bring
representative government to Amber and overthrow the monarchy. Rumors are
rampant. One thing is clear and is believe to be connected to this underground
war; mercenaries and soldiers from across shadow have been filtering into
Amber, filling the dockside taverns and the flop house while they look for
employers. They hang out in places like Thin Whip's, the Black Cow, Willie's
Tavern, Bloody Phil's, and a dozen other low and no class joints in the low
parts of town. Not just in Amber either; in Garn, Ober, and the seaside
resorts.
By far the Hendrake Crisis has been amongst the
most irritating for King Random.
Two factions have developed that are splitting the House Hendrake. The
Anti-Amber/Old Guard Faction led by Duke Larsus and Duchess Belisima and the
Clan Lintros Faction led by Maylon Hendrake and Desri Hendrake. The Lintros
Clan cannot be called Pro-Amber exactly but they are of Amber blood, descended
from Benedict.
The Rebman Sky Ball and the Red Turning Ball were
major social events.
The Rebman Sky Ball, held every three years, was a
huge success but it had some considerable fall out. Queen Morie of Rebma reigned over the event held in the halls of
Amber, as per her Golden Circle Signatory Treaty(GCST) allows. While most of the guests enjoyed a pleasant
evening some events and surprises were noteworthy.
Queen Morie
replaced her Ambassador with Lord Rene of Rebma. She further surprised the populace by announcing that Rene was
the son of Corwin and had assayed the pattern.
Fleece entered to be recognized as Ambassador to
Amber from Mandalay. He arrived in
human form and with him was his wife Bruiser.
To the shock of everyone involved Bruiser was revealed to be dierdra,
lost in the Abyss. Apparently Fleece
had fought the Serpent of haos, who had spent considerable time mounting
Dierdre. He and his back chased the
serpent away and they took a
brain-damaged Dierdre, in wolf form and pregnant, away.
Jurt and Rene entertained the crowd with a game of
Irish Stand Down. Called a tie, points
went to Jurt.
In the middle of the ball it was discovered that
the High Lord of Chaos, the new Swayvil, was on his way to Amber,
unannounced. He arrived and presented
his new Ambassador as well, Maylon Hendrake, Benedict’s daughter by Lintra in
an ancient age. She presented Random
with the Heirs and Spares Poster created by the Sage of Angst. It displayed every verifiable and
discoverable descendent of Dworkin.
This revelation shocked the court especially because it was discovered
that copies of it had been posted all over the city of Amber by Chaos
partisans.
Swayvil invited Random to
Swayvil hosted the Red Turning Ball in the Ways of
Hendrake. This gala affair attracted
special notice because Swayvil legalized the Amber Cults. So the Ball was the first official and
sanction meeting of many of the amber cults. Besides dancing, dining, and other
activities the Lintros Clan had planned a little business for Doria.
Previous Doria had encountered Lord Chinnaway Hendrake
and he had set the terms for her to be considered reconciled to House
Hendrake. She needed to sacrifice a
unicorn, taken from a golden circle kingdom, to the serpent, and with her
bloody hand raised shout “Doria Hendrake!”
then Chinnaway would shake her hand.
So she took a unicorn on Diaga, then brought it to
the alter and cut its throat. After
yelling and shaking Chinnaway’s hand the serpent of chaos appeared, swooped up
the carcass and left. In a near hall it encountered the Unicorn who pierced its
side, stole the carcass of the unicorn, and tore a rib bone from the serpent
before fleeing. Many spectators hurried to soak the blood of the serpent from
the floor. One was Nocturne who got a
vial full.
Later while the delighted Hendrakes of the Lintros
clan huddled around Doria they took her to the first legal, public, meeting of
the Cult of Benedict. There after
considerable numbers of stories were related by chaosians Julian took the
podium and spoke of battles he had been in with Benedict. Suddenly Benedict himself entered and took
the center alter flanked by Bleys, Caine, and Gerard. Vance and Nocturne were on either side of the basilica. Ben spoke to the crowd telling them that if
they wished to hear of his virtues they should come to Amber and hear him tell
them. He also told them that Random
had authorized the Amber Cults in Amber itself.
Suddenly Random entered and strode to stand with
his brothers. In the center of the isle
arose Despil and Jurt. Both knelt and
disavowed their allegiance to Chaos and swore fealty to Amber, to the fury of
the masses. Random and his new liegemen
walked to the front.
As Random reached the front Vance stepped behind
Roxane, Doria’s daughter, and Gaheris stoop before Desri, Ben’s chaosian
daughter, and Gerard advanced on Maylon.
All three displayer green trumps and they and their target
disappeared. The women were delivered
to the prisons of Amber. Random said to
the masses. “I will brook no interference in matters pertaining to the House
Bariman of which I lead.” He then
transported to Amber with all the assembled family members.
In the dungeons this were tense. Random had a private conversation with
Maylon whom he released. Desri and
Roxane remained imprisoned.
Marke had rescued his dear friend Meheadros from
constant destruction by lava and magical rejuvenation that had reached a
balance with each other, burning as much as was healed. Causing horrible pain. For the rescue he gained title to a simiril
and was adopted into the line of Feanor. He was horribly burned and took
considerable healing at Vulsar base.
Nocturne had arrived in Amber burdened by a
powerful spell that had failed. Brand,
Bleys, and Fiona had cast it. The story
is that Nocturne, the child of Brand and the Phoenix, would be bonded to Bleys
to breed powerful children. Instead
Brand planned to bind Fi and Bleys to him and execute Nocturne on the
pattern. When Bleys discovered this,
mid-ritual, he broke the spell. This
made her love him and him feel protective 0over her. He had watched over her in advernus for centuries and through the
Patternfall War.
Noct and Bleys had a troublesome series of
encounters as they assembled the needed supplies to break the spell on Nocturne
once and for all. Most of this was on
the QT but when Fi heard that they were seeking a phoenix tail feather she
bolted Amber. With no fan fare she took
her 50 sorcerers and 100 bene gesserit and assembled and army as she hellrode
to Chaos. At the end she went into the
abyss. Rumors were flying that she had
gone to join and rescue Brand.
As they discussed the defenses in the throne room
of Amber, days later, and with a full pack of family in attendance, Fiona made
an emergency shout for help to Bleys.
Bleys apparently realized what was happening, using secret knowledge and
told everyone that Fi was not freeing Brand but rescuing the Phoenix, that Fi
and Brand had hidden, dead, in the abyss.
Fi had gone to make sure if Brand was alive and free in the abyss that
he would not have the phoenix. But she
was under siege and losing.
So Bleys, Ben, Julian, Caine, Gerard, Dalt all went
to the abyss. Random went to Mandalay
to assist. Fleece and the wolf pack
went too. They all fled over the edge of the abyss. Before they left Caine had
a serious conversation with Desri, whom he swore to advocate for in exchange
for information on Chaos. She was
released on parole.
In a little aside Nocturne almost got herself
sacrificed to the Serpent but escaped.
The terribly injured the brothers exited chaos and
the details of the battle are unknown except that Brand and his ally, the
wounded serpent joined an abyssal king when they attacked Fi. Eventually all three were chased off but at
great cost in injuries. They came out
with the phoenix.
After healing and some other business red Cloud
discovered what the proper fire was to heal the phoenix. It was the BBQ pit at Oberon’s Fire in
calrabon. It turns out that that fire
has been drawing directly off the jewel of judgment for 6000 years on calrabon.
After considerable preparation the phoenix was
ready. Anointed with the blood of the
serpent, tufted with hair of the Dog and touched by the horn of the unicorn,
they took Random, Bleys, Fi, Doria and nocturne to Oberon’s Fire. The details are private but the upshot is that
the phoenix was healed, the love spell on Nocturne was lifted and all was well.