One of These Trees is Not Like the Others

In the Great Hall, Magni fretted over Aedan's disappearance. He decided to test his "Psychoreactive Fey" theory by walking out onto the balcony and declaring himself invincible. Nothing attacked him. Draw your own conclusions.

Julian's armor, which appeared to have been carefully removed, was wrapped in a big purple curtain. I don't think it was intended to be symbolic, but later reports of Big J's demise added a certain poignancy to the image.

Gregory spoke with a beast of some sort, and pursued "That Damn Cat" which had shot him earlier. He didn't capture it and torture it.

Gabriel stuck his finger in a magical light socket and turned into a tree. He might have healed a soldier or two as well. He also blocked the doorway and became the source for nigh-endless jokes.

Raj organized the castle guards and cleaned up the castle somewhat—a euphemism for "they fortified, killed some fey, and got organized."

Gregory, Gabriel, Magni, and Raj went the armory and stocked up on guns and rifles. They shot a few things that Raj's group had missed earlier. They had a soldier ring the bell outside the Great Hall for quite a while. It may still be ringing.

GM's Commentary

in which you will find some references to the actual events that occurred in the game -- usually less amusing (or flattering to Todd's character) than the Chronicler's version...

A Walk in the Park

Aedan wandered along the balcony grove and found himself in Finvarra's Realm. He met Giselle. She told him that things were not normal in the Fae Realms:

            1.    When she used her powers, the architecture got more "rigid," that is, it progressed from trees and delicate structures to falling stones and anti-nature stuff.

            2.    There was a mass migration of fae critters toward Amber.

            3.    During Court, a woman had appeared out of thin air. She turned toward Finvarra. He turned toward her. They clasped hands and turned to stone. These statues continued to be warm to the touch. Aedan recognized the woman in the statue as Deirdre.

Giselle led Aedan back to Amber by way of Ailill's realms, which were dark, murky, morose, and pretty damn groovy if you like that sort of thing. They saw the castle now populated by many trees. The West Tower on the outer wall had collapsed.

[Upon seeing the tower as rubble, two Sidhe in Julian's service declared to Gregory and Giselle that the Key to the Faerie Veils had been destroyed. Bummer. Recapping the earlier events, it appeared that Fiona and Random went to the West Tower to do their "work." The Tower exploded. Fiona's body and parts of Random's clothes were found, along with the setting for the Jewel of Judgment sans ruby.]

Who's in Charge Here?

Corwin's son Carl arrived and promptly set about trying to get things done. He proposed establishing a command structure, and nominated Martin as his choice for Head Guy. Raj, Magni, Gregory, Gabriel, Giselle, and Aedan had the required Amber-campaign discussion about the Succession of Amber. A quick summary:

1. Martin has never been publicly recognized as Random's heir.
2. Consensus indicated that the available Amberites chose the regent/king when necessary: Eric, Corwin, Gerard, Droppa, Random. Some agreement on this point.
3. Since all of the known elders were hiding, Raj was proposed as temporary Regent. He squirmed a bit at this, and nobody really pushed the matter.

Giselle explained that the veils between the Fey Realms and Amber were down, or missing, or non-existent. Yeah, we had figured that one out. Then she gave some advice: "The less you let them frighten you, the less they will be able to affect you." This seemed to gibe with Magni's experience. We all wondered who this elven Flora-doppleganger was and why we had never known of her existence. Then we got too busy to interrogate her much, even when she said that Gérard had banished Corwin.

Hey, Let's Split Up and Fail to Accomplish Much

Gabriel and Carl rowed out to a ship to attempt to Trump Martin. Gabriel got through to Martin, but only for a moment. Then the trump stopped working. Subsequent experiments led Gabriel to believe that all Trumps had stopped working. Using powers caused trees to grow, either around you or in you. After all the mocking Gabriel received, people were somewhat reluctant to try out their powers. Instead, everyone rode, sailed, or walked places and found that it took less time than it used to prior to Magni's arrival in Amber. 

Gregory put on Julian's armor, including using the big purple curtain as a cape. He looked majestic. Then he and Giselle decided to figure out the Fae/Amber connection once and for all. To accomplish this, they went toward the Inn at the Crossroads. On the way, they met a couple of Sidhe Rangers that Julian had brought in from Arden to help with the yardwork. When informed of the happenings in the Castle, these two elves summoned their buddies, and they all rode off toward the Inn. Of course, they never got there. There was some confusion, and the Way to the Inn wasn't there anymore. So Gregory and Giselle took the roundabout Way, and they haven't been heard from since. Nobody mentioned that Ways were a Chaos thing from the Merlin chronicles and, therefore, anathema, so I won't bring it up here.

Aedan and Magni reconnoitered the castle. They sent a few guards toward the Great Hall, tried to determine if the rude, ass-wiggling, little imp sitting on the throne was bulletproof, and knocked on all the elders' doors. No one answered. You figure it out. The King's half of the Royal Bedchambers had already been thoroughly searched. The Royal Regalia was missing from its storage case in the Throne Room. In fact, they didn't find anything cool or useful, unless you count the cigars and women's underwear Magni swiped. Oh, and they found a Trump deck, apparently Random's, that contained some unusual trumps which they showed to whomever was in the Great Hall when they returned. The images:

            A white-haired guy;

            A brown-haired woman;

            A brown-haired young man;      

            Martin.

Gabriel returned to the Castle with a contingent of 25 city guards he had commandeered. He positioned them all over the interior of the castle holding flags, but they failed to guard the fabled Sword Tomb where a great battle raged between flying guys with a bunch of Chinese Pattern Blades. Only Seedy Sword survived1. Carl sailed off to Texorami, found Martin doing the jazz thing, and is in the process of bringing him back to Amber by ship.

Raj didn't go anywhere, and stuff happened to him anyway. Apparently Corwin, Gérard, and Flora confronted the Beast on the Pattern2. They were all severely wounded, when Julian showed up. He sacrificed himself to rescue Gérard. Corwin thought that the Unicorn arrived and dispelled the Beast, but Corwin was drunk, bloated, wounded, and unsure.

Corwin, Gérard, and Flora are currently recovering and unconscious in a room near the Great Hall. Raj read them a bedtime story and tucked them in nighty-night sleep tight don't let the bedbugs bite. The Unicorn is alive and well and living in Muncie, Indiana.

It was past midnight at this point, and as far as I know, everyone slept. No, really. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

1. ahem.

2. along with Brand and Benedict.