A Love Letter From Gabriel

Gabriel wrote a letter to his new favorite uncle and left it on Bleys’ bed. Text follows1: 

Dear Honey,

            I would first like to thank you for the interesting times (nudge nudge). If you find yourself willing, I would love to continue our previous interaction, perhaps under more private circumstances.

            I urge you to reconsider my offer. You can become more flexible with time and don’t need to be so focused on one position only.

            When the Pattern was wounded, I did a special Trump scrye. Your Trump came up. Unless you change your orientation, you will be unsatisfied in your personal endeavors. My aunts and uncles are the embodiments of ideals, as are you. Don’t deny your true feelings. Come out of the closet  Shadows and be who you really are. Think about your drive for that seat. Is this something you really want? Or did Oberon condition you?

            The implications of your implications are almost frightening, but I find them strangely alluring and impossible to resist.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience,

            Lord Gabriel.

Old Haunts Revisited

Giselle Trumped Mandorgda and tricked him into revealing all of the GM’s nasty secrets. Unfortunately, none of them were in any way relevant to the game. She wandered over to check on Ailill’s realm. It was under the stewardship of some annoying Sidhe lord who will probably end up on Raj’s “Needs to Die” list, so she rode on to Arden and visited Gregory. They checked out Julian’s hunting lodge. There were still a few unwashed Unseelie types lounging about. Giselle electrified one of them and Gregory dismissed the others from his father’s service since they had “completed” their task. Giselle and Gregory tromped down into the basement to see what the little guys had created. It wasn’t pretty.

Magni traveled to his new home away from home, the Keep of the Four Worlds. He fed, washed, scrubbed down, trimmed the hooves, cleaned the mane and tail, and gave a full-body massage to Aedan’s horse. He checked out the Fount, or at least, the new door to the Fount. It was…new.

Raj dined with Benedict in a tent. They ate beans and wieners, roasted marshmallows, and told horror stories. One of the stories was about a spooky man in green who showed up with a legendary sword. Uncle Benny sliced him up and saved the day. Yay!

Gabriel hugged the Pattern, exercised his crayons, and ignored Aedan at the top of the stairs. Gabriel trumped Magni and visited the Keep of the Four worlds. Much had changed, and much had remained the same. Gabriel and Magni hung around and got in the servants’ way.

Infecting, Arguing, and Dissipating

Gregory and Giselle found a clay mannequin in the basement of Julian’s Hunting Lodge. It was dressed in Arden ranger garb, complete with general’s stripes and a nameplate that read “Fulke.” By some freak coincidence, Fulke was the name of Benedict’s general in charge of Arden. Gregory spoke with Fulke via Trump, and Giselle went through and chatted with him in person. He seemed very angry, but not with me. When the mannequin was explained to him, he insisted on calling Benedict to ask his advice. Oops. There was a flash of oogie light, and bad stuff happened. Gregory started his own theory train about this one. Ask him before Gabriel gets hold of it and it gets out of control. Please hurry.

Aedan checked in with Martin. At last glance, he was still the de facto Regent and first in line for the throne. Gabriel trumped Aedan and came back to Amber. They visited Caine in his quarters. Uncle Greenhat was busy recuperating in bed with a big bottle of whiskey. Aedan updated Caine on recent events while Gabriel attempted to rudely interrogate him. Caine decided to leave Amber right now, goodbye. Aedan and Gabriel went to the gym to yell at each other. Gregory overheard them and made them go to neutral corners. There was much subjective explanation.

The three lads went to investigate the Mannequin. It had crumbled to earth and bugs, but Aedan and Gregory picked it apart while Gabriel sorcerously studied it. Inside the thing, they found and old-style trump of Benedict. Gabriel detected the same sorcerous taint on the card as was on Gregory—allegedly, it is the same taint that is on Giselle, Fulke, and now Benedict as well; Gregory likened it to an infectious virus that traveled by trump. With repeated trump calls and a dose of weird power, Gabriel was able to disperse the infection from Gregory. They resolved to attempt something similar on Benedict, Fulke, and maybe, if she asked nicely, on Giselle too.

Raj and Magni returned to the Land of Osric. Yes, the beaded curtain was still there. They drank Osric’s wine and commented on his increasing military presence out in Shadow via the Unseelie army. Osric left and Magni didn’t rifle through his drawers. Meanwhile, Magni’s horse chewed oats, stepped on a stable boy’s foot, and looked disdainfully at a visiting starling.