Undertow — Rio's game log
Rio - Undertow Summary
© 2004 Leslie Lightfoot
The Adventures of Rio - Caught in the Undertow
At the 20th Anniversary Party -
Rio arrived in the company of Blade.After Blade disappeared off somewhere (Rio assumed he was doing someone), Rio wandered around a bit - speaking primarily with Andrew and a little with Dartmouth.
[Note: During the conversation with Andrew, he quoted some Shakespeare thing to Rio indicating that she was cruel for not wanting to have children and pass her beauty on in the world. This later led to her comment about there being no babies in the Unicorn's new world order. Just in case, you were wondering where that came from.]
Some small words were traded with both Phillip and Brent, and Rio and Duncan traded their customary party nods. Rio did not speak with Byron or Meridian - frankly she was astonished that children like them were left seemingly unguarded amidst the predatory gods of her family, and didn't want to risk whatever hidden defenses the two had.
Rio and Blade, now re-united, were accosted by the very loud and abrasive Corwin, but Rio managed to scrape Corwin off onto Andrew (I believe) and escaped with only a few sentences being exchanged.
Shortly thereafter, Rio was full up cornered by Gerard who made several rude comments concerning her attire and suggested that she come water-skiing behind one of his naval vessels. Rio only escaped by being incredibly boring and air-headed long enough for Gerard's attention to wander.
Fleeing from that encounter, Rio found Blade talking to Brent. I believe the topic of the Pattern came up - that Blade, he has no discretion you know. And Caine, overhearing the conversation, invited himself into it. Upon discovering that neither Rio nor Brent had even seen the Pattern, Caine invited the four down to a Pattern viewing. And two by two they 'slipped' from the room.
The four met up again in the Pattern room where Brent revealed that his father was purposely keeping him from the Pattern. Caine indicated that Corwin had no right to do so, that the Pattern was all three's heritage and that it was Brent and Rio's - and only their -- decision whether to walk the Pattern or not. Meanwhile Blade was pressed up against a wall of the Pattern chamber, obviously reliving a horrible moment.
When asked by Caine, Blade revealed that Bleys had 'tossed' him on the Pattern at age 10, in order to save him from the 'Unmaking.' Something that brought forth another diatribe from Caine concerning lousy fathers and the Pattern.
At this point, Brent decided to walk the Pattern but Rio demurred, saying that she would be destroyed if she did so. (What she meant was that Bleys would kill her.) But what Blade told Caine she meant was that Rio might be Chaosian in nature. Blade saying this to Caine this shocked the hell out of Rio.
Brent set out on the Pattern. Rio watched eagerly. Blade watched with sick nervous fear all over his face.
*** A minor game timing error occurred next.***
[The players of Rio and Blade and the GM of Caine were asked to leave the room for the actual GMing of Brent's Patternwalk. Though we were given the knowledge that we had watched it and that Brent had succeeded.) Armed with this knowledge, Blade and Rio - with Caine following -- returned to the party upstairs.Only to be find themselves enveloped in the loving arms of their father who had noticed them leave. Rio immediately indicated that she hadn't walked the Pattern, that she only looked and that she wasn't going to walk the Pattern until Bleys said she could. Meanwhile Corwin ambled over to the group, asking after his son.
Bleys indicated that Rio wasn't ready and he did not want her walking the Pattern until she had served some time in his army. Meanwhile Blade (or maybe Caine, I can't remember) told Corwin that Brent had walked the Pattern. Caine kibitzed that the Pattern was both Brent and Rio's heritage and that their respective fathers' shouldn't try to stop them.
As things were warming up between Bleys, Corwin and Caine - with Rio and Blade haplessly trapped in the middle - Brent suddenly appeared beside Corwin and dropped to the ground senseless. Corwin launched into a tirade of disgust. Caine loudly proclaimed his congratulations to Brent. And Bleys watched Rio very, very suspiciously, so she said she'd think about the army. (Though she managed to put him off for 10 years after that.)
*** End of timing error. ***Shortly thereafter Bleys left and the attention of Caine and Corwin went elsewhere as well. Though Duncan happened to walk into earshot but did not partake of the conversation as Rio whapped Blade on the back and hissed at him that he shouldn't tell Uncle Caine that she was Chaosian! Blade riposted that he had to tell him something! It's not like Rio was that -- normal. Which got Rio all hot under the collar and she hissed back at him that that wasn't true and that she made a very good human. So there.
Blade looked at his sister sadly and said, no. No she didn't. Which really surprised Rio, because she thought that Blade didn't know that she wasn't human. Then she got to sadly thinking that maybe she wasn't as good a human as she thought she was. Her eyes trickled over to Duncan and it was obvious that while Duncan was aware of the conversation, he didn't want to be a part of it and didn't have any opinion as to the veracity of Rio's performance as a human or not.
(I honestly don't remember much occurring after that, Simone. I do remember Bleys leaving Blade and Rio. And I... think that maybe Blade went to help Brent. But the whole scene ended shortly thereafter and I don't remember anything else significant happening.)
Later that Decade -
Andrew and Rio had met up in a Shadow of Rio's familiarity to go Bandersnatch hunting. Andrew engaged in extensive preparation for the hunt while Rio engaged in extensive standing around impatiently. One of Andrew's preparations included speaking with an experienced Bandersnatch hunter.The Hunter indicated that normally he wouldn't be talking to someone as obviously inexperienced as Andrew but that he (the Hunter) really needed the money. When Rio ambled over from the bar and joined the conversation, the Hunter became much reassured that Rio understood the psycho-interactive nature of the hunt and specifically told Andrew to stay near Rio during the hunt. And he warned them both that once the Hunt was started, if it did not complete for any reason, the two should put an ocean between themselves and the Bandersnatch immediately.
Rio and Andrew set off into the 'Preserve' together. And just when Rio felt the attention of the Bandersnatch upon them, Andrew collapsed. Upon waking him, Rio determined that Andrew's collapse and subsequent bleeding from the eyes was Familial in nature and not due to the Bandersnatch's involvement.
Rio quickly dragged the bewildered Andrew out of the preserve and onto a plane bound across the channel to Paris. While on the plane, Andrew kept babbling something about the Pattern, a darkness that had tried to consume him and his fear for his mother. Rio made comforting noises, kept his face clean and drank a lot. Men!
Once the two were in Paris that Andrew attempted to use his Trump to contact Fiona. And discovered the card - and indeed all of his Trumps -- to be inactive. Rio then learned that Andrew didn't shadow-walk under his own power any more than she did. Rio kept her panic at the thought that she might be stuck in this Shadow with just Andrew... forever! under control and off her face. But she set about immediately to trying to figure out a way out of the Shadow.
It was Andrew's suggestion that they seek a 'natural' shadow-path out of the Shadow. Rio mentioned that the last time she had left this Shadow, it had been in the boat of an accomplished Shadow-walker (she did not mention Caine's name or nature) bound out of Sidney. So the two hopped another plane to Australia.
During the flight, Andrew was getting all paranoid and freaked out, so Rio slipped something into his drink to help him relax and get some sleep. Unfortunately, this left him thrashing and bleeding while in a deep trance. Rio had to slap him soundly to snap him out of it and then make pleasant excuses to the flight crew and the rest of the passengers in first class. Andrew seemed properly grateful - but mostly because he saw it as Rio rescuing him from the psychic claws of the big bad black ickiness that had grabbed at him while he was naturally asleep. Whereas Rio felt that she had just stopped him from making a fool of himself in front of an audience. Men!
The two landed in Sidney and chartered a small sailing yacht and headed off into the sunrise. Rio noticed that Andrew was not sleeping and spending a lot of time wandering around the decks muttering fearfully to himself. The whole black ickiness and Trump-not-working stuff had him thoroughly rattled. But Rio wasn't about to drug him to sleep again. ;)
Andrew also began demonstrating almost a paternal protectiveness toward Rio. Which she didn't really appreciate considering who was taking action and who was spending their time being dramatically stunned and horrified. Thus Rio took to spending a lot of time on different decks than Andrew; a lover she was rapidly coming to view as a hapless coward.
The two were having no luck finding the Shadow Path that Rio had sailed out on before and Rio was becoming really concerned that she was stuck on very small boat with Edgar Allan Poe when...
Andrew announced that he was in Trump contact with (I can't quite remember but I believe it was either Caine or Julian) and that that person would bring the both of them through the Trump to Amber. Rio was... well to say relieved is an understatement! She couldn't wait to get off that boat and out of close proximity to the whining Andrew.
Andrew and Rio were trumped into the general family meeting at Amber Castle. Whereupon Andrew immediately turned to their rescuer and started pouring out his tale of woe -- black stuff reaching for me, where's my mother, there's something deeply terribly wrong with the Pattern and it wants to eat me, blah blah blah -- barely noticing the Castle's new look.
Rio was standing up on her tiptoes looking around the room desperate to find Blade and make sure that he wasn't trapped somewhere off in Shadow as well. (Rio did not have her Trumps with her at the time, having left them in Blade's shadow of Torveth, as usual.)
And while she definitely did notice the Castle's new look -- the Reality Merge thing with trees and grass replacing some of the Castle's architecture -- Rio was of the opinion that it was a nicely artistic conjunction and certainly didn't seem to be doing the Castle any harm. Though she would have to admit that merged Realities was probably a bit dangerous and she resolved to watch her footing while in Amber this time.
Thus Rio was in Andrew's company just long enough to hear their rescuer gently tell him that he was sorry but Fiona was dead. Andrew did this slow poetic "I'm heart-shattered" face fall / stutter thing and Rio was so out of there! God, what a drama queen! Luckily, she spied Blade at just that moment and so had the excuse of flying into his arms to abandon the all-weepy Andrew.
Conveniently, she was also absolutely ecstatic to see her brother. And the joy to see her that was apparent in his face thrilled her. Soooo much better than Andrew! Darn Blade and his anti-incest rules. Pooh!
Anyway, it turned out that Andrew and Rio were the last two to be gathered and the bandaged but still ever-so-dramatic and I-must-be-the-center-of-attention Corwin called the meeting to order. While Corwin was on and on -- blah blah blah our sins, our excesses, Pattern, Fiona, boom, whatever -- Rio noticed that Bleys was sitting across the room looking all quiet and well, not so much repentant, as embarrassed. And was being obviously guarded by a surprisingly sober Gerard armed with a big-ass sword.
Rio tried to catch his eye, but Bleys wouldn't meet her gaze. But the way he wouldn't do it was fascinating. It was not like he was ashamed or anything, more like he was trying to avoid anyone's notice, even Rio's. Curiouser and curiouser. When Rio tried to point this out to Blade who was standing next to her, Blade was all Shhhh. Corwin's talking. It's important. Yeah, right. Men!
So Rio was still watching her father being very sneaky when Corwin opened the floor up for questions and, of course, everyone started talking at once. Something set Gerard off and he stepped forward swinging the big-assed sword dramatically... and Bleys made his move.
Like mercury off glass, Bleys slid out the door with no one noticing. Not even Gerard. Except... for Rio who had been specifically watching him. It was amazing to see. Rio's estimation of her father leapt a thousand-fold from just that one maneuver.
The only downside was that she was now trapped on the other side of the room with a bunch of squawking relatives and a blustering Gerard between her and the door. And she just had to know what her father was up to!! Again, she tried to get Blade's attention, but her brother was all caught up in the multiple conversations that were going on and was not paying attention to the important stuff -- namely her and Bleys.
So Rio timed it herself. She was not nearly as deft as Bleys. But she excused herself from Blade and waaaaitttted for it. And sure enough Gerard went into another big sword-swinging demo -- this one even more aggressive -- and Rio ducked around the edge of the sudden opening in the crowd around him and slipped out the door. And sure enough, no one seemed to be following her.
Scurrying down the halls, Rio quickly caught up with her father. When she called out to him, Bleys wheeled, obviously surprised that anyone had noticed him leave. And was obviously equally appalled that it was his daughter (someone that he might, just maybe, care about) who had done so. Rio, by now, was becoming fairly worried about her beloved Papa. Under guard, sneaking out, appalled... something's up. So she asked Bleys what was going on. And he started in with a speech that had echoes of Corwin's but was as equally unimportant to the narrow-focus Rio. So Rio stopped him and asked him what was going on with him. She didn't care about the blah, blah, blah of sins and excesses.
Bleys got all still and pale. And said that he couldn't really go into it but would Rio hold his Trump deck for him. Just in case. At this point, Rio understood that her beloved Papa was convinced that he was going to die. And she begged him to let her help him. Even though she had no clue at all what Bleys was up to.
Bleys got very, very serious. He said that what he had to do was yes, very dangerous and probably fatal. In addition there were ramifications beyond just that that Rio really needed to think about. And that if she wanted to help, it would be a decision that would change everything, that she would not be able to undo. And that she needed to think about it extremely carefully.
Rio had never seen her father like that before and it scared her quite a bit. There was something in his eyes that also told her that if she did come with her father, her presence would divide his attention, distract him and possibly endanger him. But that he was willing to take her anyway, if she so chose.
Bleys insisted that she not answer right away and think about it while he went to gather something he needed. And then he left her there in the halls, holding his Trump deck and doing her best to think. Not her strong suit, she knew. But since Papa had been so very thoroughly insistent that she think, Rio did her best.
At first she thought of her choices, she could go with Bleys or return to the room with Blade in it. Then she thought that that was no good, because she was just choosing between the men in her life, not the direction of her own life. So then she thought about her life. But her thoughts kept wandering back to the warring loyalties between her father and her brother. She didn't have any others loyalties to consider and she didn't have any strong desires of her own. But she had given Blade his chance. He had chosen to stay and bicker. And she... didn't want to do that.
Eventually that was it came down to that. She did not want to be a part of the mob "oh our sins, oh our excesses, bad shameful wicked us" scene back in the meeting room. Rio was what Rio was and they were what they were. Rio did not understand why the rest of her family seemed to so insistent on having a remorse-fest. Pfui! She'd rather be doing something than wailing about how evil she was.
Thus when Bleys returned with... well, with a spear with a mechanical arm on the end of it, Rio was ready to go with him. Not only because she loved him and was worried about him. But because she would rather do anything he was doing than deal with the maudlin sissies back in the meeting room and their self-flagellation. At least Bleys was being immediately pro-active. :)
Upon hearing her decision and seeing the commitment in her eyes, Bleys nodded and it seemed to Rio that there was something in his eyes that said he was maybe a little glad that he wasn't alone at this point.
So they set off together. Down, down, down. Who knew the Castle had soooo many stairs?! At first, it seemed to Rio that they were going to the Pattern, but Bleys led her down another stairway that went past it. (I honestly don't recall if Rio caught a glimpse of the yuck that was on the Pattern at this time or not.)
As they continued down past the Pattern and things seemed to be getting more and more serious, Rio took off her sandals and cover-up, tossing them aside casually on the Stairway of Doom. Leaving her only in the teeny tiny bikini she had been wearing on the boat. Her theory was that if something serious happened, she might want to shape-shift and the sandals and cover-up would interfere with that much more than the thong she was now wearing.
The stairway wound down into the bowels of the earth but despite that it still seemed to have light and air in it and Rio knew that they were definitely on a stairway of huge mythological importance. Even if she didn't know the story that went with it.
Eventually the stairway opened out into a room of a cold and austere beauty. Arched columns topped with the heads of Serpents and Unicorns echoed away into a quiet enveloping darkness, an enormous altar dominated the far end of the room and the night-sky floor was lit with stars.
When Rio and Bleys stepped out over the infinite, Rio felt the warmth of her soul being drawn out through the soles of her bare feet. And Bleys, noticing his daughter's mincing steps, began to worry about her and moved closer to the girl. Rio, concerned that her father was being distracted from whatever task it was that he felt was so important that he, Bleys of Amber, must give his life for, told him that she was fine. A lie that both chose to accept as necessary that it be true.
As Rio was being slowly frozen to death, a star started moving in the night-sky floor. From a distance, it approached more and more rapidly to break free of the floor in a ripple of reality and stand before father and daughter as the Unicorn.
Holy Shit!! Rio was completely awed, even if she didn't know what the Unicorn was or why it was important. Stars don't come to visit every day and it's best to be reeeeallll polite when they do. The girl knew she was definitely out of her league at that point. And decided that hiding behind Papa's shoulder seemed like a real good idea.
But then the Star noticed her. And seemed... intrigued by her. At the same time as being more than a little suspicious of Bleys.
As the Star became more and more interested in Rio, Rio caught her father's eye. Bleys was noticeably re-vamping whatever his original plan had been to take advantage of this new development. So, Rio decided that if she wanted to help, maybe being a distraction would be a good thing. Besides, it was also kind of flattering that the Star was paying more attention to her than to Bleys. I mean, how often does that happen?
Bleys lowered the Spear and backed away as Rio approached the Star, hand held out, trying to be as pure and innocent and childlike as she could. Okay, realizing that she couldn't pull that off she went for wild, primal and childlike. After all, weren't Unicorns supposed to go for that kind of thing?
Then the Star began this... well, in any other situation it would have been funny, but here? Yikes!! ... pantomime. It obviously wanted Rio to hold out her hand. With great misgiving, Rio did as directed, hoping the entire time that her father had his angle worked out. Because this was scary!!!
The Star lowered it's horn and cut Rio's palm. At the girl's pained intake of breath, Bleys started forward toward them. But the Unicorn lowered its horn in his direction and practically growled, so Rio hurried to assure her father that she was okay. For now.
Reluctantly Bleys backed off again and Rio and the Star returned their attention to one another. The Star indicated that Rio should lick her bleeding palm. So she did. What the heck, she's eaten worse than her own blood. By far.
And that's when the real mystical shit started happening. Better than mesc by far. Rio felt her mind expand and her heart ripple. She began to glow with silvery aura. And her feet stopped hurting. It was this last that told her how deeply connected to the universe she was at this point. She was no longer loosing soul-warmth to the cold uncaring infinite.
The Star watched Rio's transformation/joining with impenetrable eyes and tapped the floor with the tip of her silvery, blood-stained and wickedly sharp horn. In the rippling floor, Rio began to see images. The progression of the universe proceeding in stately elegant grace; stars processing through their movement, flowers blooming, flags blowing in the wind. All the miracles of a living, breathing creation.
But as she watched, this creation moved and grew and... slowed. And when it had reached the pinnacle of perfection, it stopped. And Rio knew that had anything moved or grew even one more iota, the perfection would be lessened.
And Rio, a creature of life, passion, change and expression, was horrified! She tried, she really tried to see how this image, this vision was good. But she couldn't. All she could see was eternal stillness. Everything frozen behind walls of ice, unchanging forever.
The Star looked at Rio with the eyes of a God and indicated that Rio should place her bloody palm upon the icon of the universe upon the floor of the Temple beneath the heart of Reality, consecrating it and sealing it forever.
Rio cried out in terror to her father. Bleys started forward once more and the Unicorn menaced him with her lowered killing horn yet again. Holding his ground, Bleys asked his daughter what she saw. Rio could barely express in words her revulsion, her soul's denial, of what she was seeing. But Bleys could hear in her voice that she had reached the end of what she could do here.
With a loud crack, Bleys broke the spear he still bore over his knee, attracting the Unicorn's attention to himself. Eyes narrowed, the Unicorn stepped away from Rio and paced menacingly toward the Prince of Amber. Bleys locked gazes with the Unicorn as he began to step backward and backward, drawing the Star away from his daughter.
As Rio watched in horror and complete mystification, Bleys threw the pieces of the weapon away from himself, rendering himself completely unarmed before the approaching menace of a cold and angry Unicorn. It took her a moment to notice that a subtle foot-flip, Bleys had managed to make sure that the tipped half of the spear, the sharp and evil-looking mechanical arm, had ended up on the floor near Rio.
With a glance to her father's eye, Rio divined his plan and, after seeing what she had seen, was all for it!
Bleys stopped retreating and held his palm out, exactly as Rio had done earlier. The Unicorn eyed him suspiciously but then arced her head to cut his palm. But the moment, her head was arced -- and her neck exposed -- Rio snatched up the spear and thrust it deep into her throat.
Unfortunately, Rio was not her father, so the blow only injured and angered the Star. Instead of killing it. With a whinny of anger, the Unicorn tossed her head, knocking the spear out of Rio's grasp. And turned her killing horn towards the girl's heart.
Rio knew she was looking at her death as the Unicorn wheeled toward her. If her strongest blow with a legended weapon from ambush didn't kill, there was nothing she could do against the anger of a Star.
At that moment, Bleys leapt forward and grabbed the Unicorn's horn with his bare hands, slicing them horribly, but diverting the killing blow from his daughter's heart. Before Rio could leap back into the fray, the Unicorn tossed her head mightily. Bleys was unable to retain his grip and was thrown back against the altar with a sickening thump. The Prince of Amber collapsed into an unconscious bleeding heap. Leaving Rio alone with an angry God.
As Rio backed away from the Star in terror, hands held out at her sides, the form of the God began to shift and change. In a cold painful fountain of burning silver light, the shape of Unicorn was replaced by that of agonizingly beautiful woman, (I think -) still bleeding from the neck.
The Star looked at the terrified Rio with eyes as cold as the reaches of space. "You intrigue me." Her silver voice echoed throughout the Temple. "Therefore I will give just one more chance. Think carefully when we meet again."
Even though terrified beyond speech, Rio was again flattered by the Star's attention. As well as extremely relieved that it didn't look like she was going to be blasted out of existence right this moment.
With another flash of burning silver light, the Star vanished. Leaving Rio in the blood-drenched cold echoing Temple, the gravely injured and unconscious figure of her father at the foot of the altar and a growing sense of complete failure filling the girl. She had succeeded at nothing.
On the one hand, the Unicorn still lived. Had she not been there, striking a blow that was too weak and requiring rescue, her father might have been able to actually kill that creature of cold sere power.
On the other hand, she had proven herself unworthy of the Star's vision and power.
Boy, not her best day.
Slowly gathering her wits, Rio ran to her father's side and tried to wake him. This proved impossible so she bandaged his still-bleeding hands with what little clothing she was wearing and, gathering up her beloved Papa, fled the Temple. (Note: This is where she did not pick up the pieces of the Spear.
Only to be confronted by stairs and stairs and stairs. The exhausted and soul-weary Rio set her father down against a wall. Gently, she removed Bleys' jacket to drape it around her own naked frame, and opening his Trump deck, found Blade's card and attempted to call him. No answer. Isn't that so like a brother? Always there with advice when you don't need him. But when you do need him desperately.... Pfui!
Since there was absolutely no one else in Bleys' Trump deck that Rio would even consider asking for help at this moment, the girl resigned herself to a very long trudge up the stairs and she set about it. With many rests and stops, Rio eventually made it up as far as the Pattern room.
Once there though, she found Dartmouth, Brand and Andrew investigating the Pattern and the ick upon it.
Exhausted, Rio asked her cousins to help her get her father to his room. But they were so set on their explorations that instead they asked Rio what she thought about what was in the room and promised that if she helped them they would help her. So once again, Rio set the unconscious Bleys down against a wall and entered the Pattern Room.
[Note: Sometime you'll have to get Ian and Paul to do their "Weekend at Bleys'" imitation. It's hysterical!]
Rio deflected their inquiries about her attire and Bleys' condition by mentioning that she really didn't have time to go into it now, she had to get her father to his room. Rio also wearily explained that she didn't care about the mess on the Pattern and, since Andrew and Dartmouth didn't have nearly the investigative powers that their Aunts and Uncles did, why did they think they would find anything more than Corwin and the blah-blah crew did? Men!
But they were all insistent that they remain and poke at the carnage instead of helping her like they said they would. Okay, fine. Rio returned to the stairway and made another attempt to trump Blade. With the same results. By now, she was getting really frustrated with Blade's continued stubbornly-being-out-of-contact-ness. Brothers!
Step by step, Rio wearily dragged her father back up the hidden staircase that Caine had shown her and Blade a decade earlier. To emerge practically weeping with exhaustion and worry into the room where the 20th Anniversary party had taken place. Checking first to make sure there was no one there. She dragged Bleys' body into the room.
Taking a quick hit from the bar in the room, Rio cleaned herself up somewhat and rested a bit. Then she stripped Bleys' jacket off herself and replaced it with his shirt, a somewhat more decorous look for the hallways of Amber.
[Note: I never declared at this point, where Bleys' Trump deck went. It could either have been discarded on the floor in the pocket of Bleys' jacket or transferred to a pocket of the shirt Rio is now wearing. I can see plot fun for both points, so it'd be up to the GM if we ever play again.]
Yanking a curtain down off a window, Rio wrapped the unconscious Bleys up in it. Then she liberally sprinkled the both of them with a good scotch. Hoisting the bundled body onto her shoulder, Rio stepped out into the halls ready to take full advantage of her reputation as a party girl. After all, this would not be the first time a half-dressed and smelling of liquor Rio 'snuck' through the halls of Amber with the decorously draped body of a man over her shoulder.
It worked like a charm. The guards smirked and winked to one another but let the girl pass without challenge.
Finally, finally Rio reached Bleys' room and got him into his bed. He was still pale and unable to be woken. So the extremely worried Rio set about cleaning him up and making him comfortable.
When she finally got a Trump call. Yay!
Fully expecting it to be Blade, Rio accepted the call with enthusiasm . But no... she was surprised beyond words to find that it was Brent who called her, not Blade. Brent? Wha!?!
Backpedaling quickly, Rio forestalled anything Brent had to say by telling him that this was really a bad time to call and asking him to call her back in oh, say a half hour. Brent seemed a little put out, but then he noticed that Rio was wearing Bleys' shirt.
"Rio. Why are you wearing Bleys' shirt?"
Thinking quickly, Rio started a song and dance to cover up what she and father had been up to. She wasn't really sure whether implying incest was better than revealing that they had tried to murder Amber's avatar. But what the hey? It didn't bother her if that's what people thought and maybe it would at least get Brent off her case and out of her head.
"You really want to know?"
Brent's face indicated that he was definitely getting lead in the right direction. As did his next question.
"Rio. Why are you in Bley's room wearing Bleys' shirt?"
"You really want to know?"
"Eewwww, I'll call back in half an hour." Click.
Whew!
Rio was trying to figure out what to do next when she got another Trump call. Blade! No, dammit, Andrew. Shit.
"What do you want?!?" Rio was on the edge of hysteria by this point.
Andrew, being one of her more sensitive cousins -- yeah right -- completely ignored Rio's distress and launched into stating his needs. Men!
Andrew indicated that he, Dartmouth and Brand were still in the Pattern room. And that the Unicorn had shown up. Joy. Andrew also begged Rio join them. He stated that they needed someone who had never walked the Pattern. That it was of world-saving importance that Rio aid them.
Rio tried to explain that she and the Unicorn had... issues between them and that her presence there might queer whatever deal Andrew and Dartmouth were trying to work. But Andrew would have none of it and, since Rio wasn't doing any good here with Bleys and maybe he just needed to rest and world-saving importance was on the line and... oh, all right. Rio sulkily allowed Andrew to Trump her through to the Pattern room.
Which right away looked like a bad idea as the Unicorn spied her presence and immediately began getting all huffy. And Rio was not all that sure about the Unicorn either, second chance or no. Dartmouth tried to explain to Rio why it was important that she was here and what their metaphysical explorations had revealed. Indicating that both he and Andrew had had their palms sliced but they were unable to determine what to do next or what the Unicorn wanted or what was going on.
Rio was dumbfounded. Don't these people listen to or notice anything going on around them?! Even as Rio had been blowing off Corwin and crew's blah-blah speech, she had understood what they were saying and what it meant. But these guys? What had they been doing with their brains? And the Unicorn, duh! She couldn't be more easy to understand.
More than ever, Rio was glad that she had gone with her father, instead of waiting as long as Andrew and Dartmouth had to buy a clue!
In the meantime, Andrew seemed to be trying to Trump contact every one of his cousins. What a maroon! Firstly, duh!, very few of them were accepting Trump calls. And those that did most had their own fish to fry and weren't interested in Andrew's rather vague and whiny protestations that he was involved in the single most important issue to Amber. (Rio was pretty much feeling like a chump for listening to him herself.) Eventually, the only other cousin that Andrew managed to bring to the Pattern room was Duncan.
At this point, Rio got impatient with the whole situation and her cousins' desperate flailing. So she held out her hand again to the Unicorn. At this same time, she was very aware that this was her second -- and only -- chance and was trying very hard to put away her fears and do what was best for Amber. Though her impatience with her cousins, her uncertainty and her own fears about what the Unicorn was up to led her to address the Star thusly --
"Okay, bitch. Let's do this thing."
From the glare in the Unicorn's eye, it was obvious that the Star was as unsure and unhappy with Rio as Rio was with her, but would take what she could get. So the Unicorn cut Rio's palm again, in a slash perpendicular to the scar previously made, so that the girl bore an X upon her palm. But Rio could tell that the Star was seriously considering slashing something other than the girl's hand. Luckily everyone stayed focused on the task at hand.
Andrew and Dartmouth had had their hands previously slashed and, after Rio had joined the blooded by the Unicorn club -- yet again -- they convinced Duncan to allow his hand to be marked as well. Then Rio demonstrated that they were supposed to lick their bleeding palms. Duh! Men!
Andrew and Dartmouth did so and got the whole wide-eyed-joined-with-the-universe experience and began glowing. Andrew immediately began narrating his experience to the world in general. Why does that man think everyone is sooooo interested in what's going on in his head?!? The result was a disgusted snort from Rio, and Duncan deciding that the whole thing was just too silly and he was going back to his most-important-thing-to-Amber crisis. And so Duncan walked out, muttering something about going back to the armies, palm unlicked.
Rio felt a brief flicker of envy as she watched him go, but she was committed to staying and trying to do what was right. Even though she still wasn't convinced that this was what was right. But what she had done before hadn't seemed to help, so maybe.... damn.
The newly enlightened Andrew and Dartmouth began peppering the Unicorn with questions -- duh, guys! She doesn't talk! Loosing patience with Rio's impatience the Unicorn snottily indicated that the Latina was to serve her by cleaning up the entrails and stuff littering the edge of the Pattern. What!?! Oh, alright, dammit. Sheesh.
So while Andrew and Dartmouth starting receiving the beginning of the big frozen universe image, Rio grumpily began her chores, cursing under her breath. Which seemed to amuse the Unicorn greatly. Oh, yeah. This was a good sign for Rio's place in the upcoming regime.
But Rio had barely started picking up the guts and bones and bits of other stuff that might be the remains of some incarnation of her Aunts and Uncles or other, when she felt another Trump call incoming. Blade! Goddammit no! It was Brent calling her back in half-an-hour. Where the fuck is her brother when she needed him!?!?
Brent seemed a little surprised by the ferocity of Rio's answer. And a lot surprised by her location and activities.
"Rio. What are you doing?" Madre de Dios! Always with the questions from this guy.
Rio calmly explained that she was in the service of the oh-so-cold bitch, excuse me, wonderful Avatar of Amber and that she had been assigned to cleaning up entrails. See? Yeah, life was good.
Brent mentioned something about wanting to gather the strength of as many cousins as he could for the army. (I believe. Frankly, I don't remember all that clearly what it was that Brent wanted.)
At the mention of armies, Rio got briefly excited. Maybe that was where Blade was. So she asked Brent, but Brent indicated that while he and Blade had been together briefly, he hadn't seen him in a while. Rio pouted and when Brent repeated his offer to have her come join him, Rio reluctantly declined saying that she probably had to stay here for the good of Amber or some such nonsense. Besides, entrails - army, no really good choice there for Rio. Brent's look clearly stated that he thought Rio was more than a little around the bend, but he admitted that it was certainly her decision and politely ended the call.
Yay! Now Brent thought she was psycho as well as being incestuous. Darn Andrew! Why'd he have to get her involved in all this?!? Madre!
About this time, Andrew and Dartmouth called Rio back over to themselves. The image show was over. And -- as seems usual with these guys -- they didn't understand it. So, rather grumpily and not a little snottily, Rio explained. Consecrated to the Unicorn, blood of power, choose the fate of the Universe. Duh!!!!!
Perhaps not quite wanting to rely on Rio's rather biased account of what was going on, the Unicorn bathed herself in silver light again to form once more into the aching beautiful form of a woman. And as Andrew got aaaaallll starry eyed, she essentially confirmed Rio's interpretation though in a much more beneficent tone.
Rio looked at the perfect world again, trying very very hard to believe that it was good and beautiful and right. Trying to clear her mind of all her impatience, her fear, her failures. But as she gazed upon at the image of that pristine world; holy, balanced, beautiful... she found it austere, cold and still.
Once again, all that she is rose up against the Unicorn's reality. Almost physically nauseous, Rio turned away from the vision, sick that she just... couldn't do it and well aware that she had just lost her second and last chance. From the look on Dartmouth's face, it was obvious that, while his reaction wasn't as extreme as Rio's, he... wasn't all up for the happy still world either.
But Andrew... stupid dramatic Andrew... Struck with beauty and always having had a love for the austere -- night skies, Everest, etc. -- he went for it like a moth to flame. Andrew totally embraced the Unicorn's vision and placed his hand upon it before either Rio or Dartmouth could even think of stopping him.
As Brand, Rio and Dartmouth watched in horror, the light of the Unicorn flowed from the Lady to Andrew, encasing him in a shining crystal carapace of armor and building him up into a powerful Avatar standing in the Pattern room.
Oh... there was absolutely no way this could be good thing!
And sure enough, the newly empowered Avatar of the Unicorn started swinging enormous armored hands at Rio on the one side and Dartmouth and Brand on the other, obviously determined to purge the universe of the apostates.
Rio freaked! She absolutely and unconditionally panicked. Andrew! The cousin who knew her best, the cousin who knew her stomping grounds, the cousin she'd slept with, the cousin who thought he loved her and had the right to tell her whether to breed or not. Now empowered to God-like abilities and controlled by her enemy the Unicorn! This was so far beyond not good that Rio couldn't even think straight!
She ran! No ifs ands or buts. She ran! Even though she noticed out of the corner of her eye that neither Dartmouth or Brand were not going to be able to dodge Andrew's blow the way she had. Even though she really kind of liked Dartmouth and it looked like he was in for a head-squashing. Even though Brand was probably the one person she could ask to help her father. Didn't matter. Rio panicked and fled from the Pattern room as fast as she could.
The only thought in her head was that she had to get Bleys and get out of the Castle and as far away from Amber as she could. Now! Before that even!
As she ran up the stairs and out into the corridors of Amber, Rio did notice that the Castle seemed to be occupied by some kind of Bedouin force. But since none of the deserty-type guys seemed inclined to stop her, she didn't mess with them. Just ran straight for Bleys' room, knowing that she could accept no more Trump calls. Because Blade never called her anyway and the next call she was likely to receive would be the Andrew-Unicorn thing reaching for her mind. Yikes! Eeek! Run like hell! And stay low!
[And that was where the game ended for Leslie. :) If you've endured reading this to this point, I think you'll understand why I had *such* a very terrific time in Undertow and would *love* to continue playing at another ACUS. Thank you very much for GMing, Simone. :) ]
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other writings: Background, Quiz, "Rio and Andrew", "Rio and Blade", "Rio and Dartmouth", "Rio and Duncan", Undertow log, "Blade and not Rio", Ebb Tide log