The following is the campaign log for the fourteenth session of my
current
Amber Diceless RPG campaign, entitled A Horse Of Another Timbre. One of
my players keeps a log of the scenes, and another maintains a quote
list. As usual, I have combined them with a few extra notes of
my own after the fact. I post them here several months after, which
allows me to add in a few little clarifications without worrying too
much about spoiling future plotlines for my players.
------
The PCs are:
- Dalziel,
son of Prince Bleys of Amber. A scientist.
- Maarit, daughter of Princess Sand. An orphan with a magic pendulum.
- Medore,
nonbinary orphan of Princess Dierdre .
- Spinturnix,
(aka Nix), son of Prince Julian. Grew up in Forest Arden.
- David Weyreth
is a retired officer from the militaries of Amber.
- Abn Haram,
the human-shaped son of Lady Nykae of Chaos, and the long-dead Prince Osric of Amber.
Most
of
the NPCs are from the novels, and at each other throats. Tonight's session also has some deep dives into Amber lore, because in Medore's visions several previous Queens of Amber show up, such as Caine and Julian's mother Rilga, Corwin and Deirdre's mother Faiella, and Osric and Benedicts's mother Cymnea.
There's
a few new NPCs as well, such as the Ledornes, which were inspired by some other campaign's summary of Great Houses of Amber. Thanks, whoever you are! I haven't seen their campaign, I just have the summary document that one of the players asked if we could use so we'd know the names of major non-royals in Amber. I said sure, because having lists like that made it easier to put in motion my planned subplots about local schemers. Everything came together nicely.
There's also this mysterious
black unicorn that keeps getting attacked by the standard white unicorn
that Amber reveres. Oh, and I should mention Umbra, a magical raven that works with Medore.
Setting the Scene: When last we
saw our heroes: Maarit has led Medore's army to the shore to possibly help Rebma, which has been invaded by Tritons and/or Martin and/or Caine. It's complicated. Medore is about to ascend the stairs to Tir-na Nog'th, in search of a vision that might confirm or deny their crazy "this Black Unicorn is actually Deirdre" theory.
Campaign log: 1 March 2021, turn by turn
Scene 1a: Maarit and Llewella - the shore between Amber and Rebma -
Marrit and Llewella are surriptiously invading Amber (or maybe Rebma says the GM) with an army. Llewella nees a rest, so they let off so she can brief the army about Rebma. Captain Markell (the highest ranking officer on the Marrit side) talks to Marrit about strategy and tactics in order to have a handle on what action in Rebma will be like.
Marrit and Llewella establish that time in Armyland is significantly slower than time in Amber. Approximately 5/9ths the speed. Maarit will call her back in half an hour or so, which will give Llewella an hour to prep for invasion.
Scene 2a: Dalziel and Bleys - Oosland -
Dalziel, hanging out with Moose the Goose, gets a tarot call from his father Bleys. He is in distress underwater. When Dalziel pulls him through he comes with a large amount of boiling water, and scalds Dal. Bleys is quite scalded as well.
Dalziel goes into the river to cool himself down; Bleys doesn't. Much talk about how cool Bleys is, but frankely, I don't see it. (GM: Like a movie-star, he's dry almost immediately. That sort of thing.)
Bleys tells Dalziel that Martin is working with Caine. He says that the slaughter in the bay was a trap layed by them. Apparently they have a submarine that works in Amber and, presumably, Rebma. Martin has the sibling of the [Jewel of Judgement], and may be using it to make magic work better in Amber. Bleys says he is going to bring an army into Amber. He believes that Caine is going to take Amber.
Dalziel calls Bleys out on his BS, saying that he doesn't think that Bleys understands the situation in Amber. For the good of Random, Bleys plans on deposing the king. Or maybe he doesn't? It's not clear. ("His enemy is his son, so Random might not make the right decision." This is about as close as Bleys has gotten to acknowledging paternal instincts thus far.)
Dalziel warns Bleys that someone might nuke him or murder him from a distance with a space lazer.
Bleys betrays his weakness by worrying about politics more than power. Like all Amberites, he is unable to think outside his very very small box. He seems strangely confused that people move around on their own.
When Bleys wants to borrow Dalziel's horse (there's secretly a unicorn in the horse trailer), Dal points out a pickup truck for him to use instead and says that he doesn't have a horse. Bleys takes the pickup and drives off.
Scene 3a: Abn Haram, Sevran, and the new Steward - Gehenna -
Abn Haram goes shopping. He gets a trump of Gehenna painted by his uncle Sevran. He conjures a new Steward out of one of his descendants. He has his sword Alsalakh silvered, then conjures some powers into it. He sets up a new military force, the [Stairmasters of Gehenna], who are training to fight on stairs. They are also breeding or finding mutant beasts who are just small enough to fit through a door.
Steward drives Abn Haram into other worlds seaking an abandoned pack of Tarots. They are soon set upon by men in cars with spikes on them (like in Fury Road). Abn Haram disables two of the cars with his LazerMax Impirator™ laser pistol and ends up killing one of the drivers before convincing them to come with him.
The drivers are very impressed with his ability to create food and water from nothing, and agree to work for him as muscle. Jobber (pronounced Jabba!) in particular is quite impressed.
Scene 4a: David, Jarles, Colonel LeDorne, Countess LeDorne - Castle then City of Amber -
David is checking on his prisoner, and checking on the squad he sent to guard the queen. Sir Jarles, an officer of the guard, tells him that things are bad in Amber, with more infighting than ever before.
As near as we can tell, the trouble started with men who had gone overboard during the fighting and washed up ashore. Men loyal to Caine started fighting near-men loyal to Bleys. The City Watch tried to intervene, and then several units of Personal Guard from various noble families were drawn in, and even the Docker's Union. I've seen troops in the personal colors of Denesh fighting Chantris, Feldanes fighting Karms. And the King is still West of town, last report we'd had. We haven't seen this sort of infighting in Amber in a thousand years, sir, not even during the interregnum.
David doubles the guard at the gates.
David and a runner, Hix, are heading to Ladorn. They are approached by an injured man who tells him that the colonel was there, and ordered them to help him escape. Half the squad did what he said, and the other half wouldn't, so there was a sword fight.
Hix is sent back to the castle to get more troops while David goes to investigate. He comes across two people dueling. David makes like a kangaroo and leaps a wall to get near the duel where he sees a man fighting off the colonel. The bodies of the men he had sent earlier are strewn around the grounds near a carriage house. David eggs on the poor bastard fighting the colonel, and throws a corpse at him at the same time.
David engages the colonel, and handily defeats him. The colonel, arm broken, is pinned to the ground by David.
David checks on the queen, who attacks him with a saddle, but does not connect. David calms her down.
David chats with the queen of Ladorn about her home, then escorts her and the colonel to the castle. She says the Colonel's name is Lui LeDorne, and that he is her husband's first cousin and childhood friend. She does not seem to have much love for Claudio LeDorne (her husband and Prince-Consort who mostly rules LeDorne in her stead for at least the last 3 years).
The fighting in the city has advanced toward the castle.
Scene 5a: Medore, [Umbra], various Ghosts, and Dalziel watching by card - Tir-na Nog'th -
Medore is above the castle, by the three silver steps watching the castle with Umbra the blackbird. He contacts Dalziel with a trump and waits. The staircase appears from the three silver steps, which he climbs. She makes it to the top of the stairs where he finds themself in a weird indistinct copy of Amber.
Medore heads toward the copy of the castle. Umbra folows along with her, and appears to be visible to the residents of this place. When Umbra lands on Medore they become visible to the people here. He approaches an old woman who has a corn cob, and they palaver together.
The woman refers to Medore's mother. Aparently she came here a lot. The cobblestones here are popping like soap bubbles. "Would you look at that. Someone's boiling away the walk between the cities." - The Old Woman.
Medore pays her for the tea, and to answer her question. She asks what will restore his mother to her true form. The Old Woman reads their tea leaves, and gives a prophecy that seems to say that Amber is going to be destroyed. She tells him that for further information she'll need to seek out three more wise women to ask questions of.
He heads toward the castle while the Old Woman prognosticates doom and urges haste. She ends up in a huge hall with three women in it. Two of them wear lovely gowns, and all three have lovely tiaras. The third is wearing a nice trim pant suit, and looks like she is dressed for a fight.
As one of the women approach Medore she recognises her as Faiella. He recognises the other women as being in the deck of Trumps, Rilga and Cymnea. Faella is suddenly pregnant. As Faella begins to give birth Cymnea taunts her with her death, and Rilga shoots a crossbow bolt at another woman tied to a spinning wheel. "Who is it," says Medore. "I don't know, but I'm going to shoot at her."
Medore gets around to asking their question. Instead of answering it the women fight over petty crap.
Faella's water breaks and it comes out boiling. The stone floor starts to boil and pop. She tells Medore to take 'her' (Deirdre, probably) to the pattern. Find the trap that XX layed for her. Blue blood must flood the dungeon. (Didn't catch most of this).
Clarification: Take Cym to her cage. Find the trap that Oberon made for Cymnia's blood. Blue blood must flow under the door.
Medore runs. Medore unmasks a woman revealing it to be a half white, half black unicorn. He takes the unicorn with her. They find a cage and take its lock. As Medore inspects it a mushroom cloud grows in the cage.
When they reach the bottom of the stairs the unicorn splits into two women, Deirdre, and an unknown woman. Deirdre tells Medore that she is going to be king, and the other woman scurries off on all fours.
Medore and his mother head to the pattern room, where they see someone is half way through walking the pattern. This person changes shape as they walk, untill they reach the center of the pattern and change into a vaguely familiar woman. "Tell Corwin that you see his memory of this." says D. "Amber; Amber will be destroyed," says the woman in the pattern.
Each unicorn is a person locked into the wrong form, which only the other pattern can restore. When someone makes a pattern they have to sacrifice their dick (Note: Not Dik the librarian). Take Deirdra to walk one of the patterns.
Dalziel passes the black unicorn to Medore, cuts contact, and begins trying to spy on them.
The unicorn rushes to the pattern and starts walking it. Medore immediately follows it. The unicorn has a hard time walking the pattern, especially the sharp turn just before the Grand Veil.
Tir-Na Nog'th, like a dream, can be railroady and logic-defying. It's an irresistable force of metaphor. That made this the most scripted sequence in the campaign thus far. You can read the GM's script (and a discussion of what played out differently) at: Medore in Tir-Na Nog'th.
Scene 4b: David, Colonel LeDorne, Countess LeDorne, Corwin, Lord Denesh - Castle -
David arrives at the castle. Sends Colonel LeDorne to the dungeons, and puts the queen (Countess LeDorne) under arest in a nicer room.
Somewhat bloody, Corwin meets up with David to get an update. David reports that the castle is secure and that the queen was attacked. Corwin heads off to the royal chambers. David sends four men to spy on Corwin. Later they report he went to the royal bed chamber, came out angry, then went out back to the silver stair to Tir-na Nog'th.
Some time later Random returns to the castle. David is ready with a meal for him, but His Majesty doesn't check in with David, and just heads straight to the Royal Bedroom. He sends Lord Denesh to debrief David. David tells Denesh everything that went down. Denesh won't comment on the political situation with LeDorne -- he's interested as head of security, but it's not his place to speak poorly of foreign royalty or engage in political rumor-mongering. He will tell the King, and assumes the King will have follow up questions for David. David asks what all the King's been doing, and learns they rode out to the Faiella-Bionin, were unable to get into Rebma, then went to Cabra and there engaged the Tritons successfully, largely due to having two Princes of Amber on their side. They returned to the City of Amber, only to find it in chaos. They quelled the trouble, and left half their company in place to keep the peace. The rest accompanied the King up to the castle. David says it's weird that The Weir did not attack the castle during all of this -- perhaps their goal isn't to attack the castle? He also thinks its strange that the King didn't ride into the woods to hunt down The Weir. Why go to Rebma? Denesh says that he knows His Majesty spoke with Martin, and can only conclude there were some promises of support made father to son. David seems generally supicious of this chain of events. Denesh also says that Queen Vialle was never in any danger, because she was not in the castle, but had been secreted out before Random went down the mountain. Denesh did not understand why Colonel LeDorne (and possibly Captain Redwyn, though David suggests that obstructionism was just loyalty for his commander) would strike against Vialle.
David is told to remain in Amber, and keep the gate guards aprised of any travel outside the castle. He is given quarters in the castle, and is relieved of any immediate responsibilities. So he goes to get some sleep.
Scene 1b: Maarit, Llewella, Captain Markell - the shore -
Maarit sends through the rest of the Army. Llewella's expertise seems to be in logistics and support, not invasion. She and Maarit discuss how to get past an ice-plug. Maarit's pendant suggests a small side gate, that Llewella is barely aware of, but it's on the map. They have some zero-G trained soldiers in space-suits that might be able to operate underwater. The ladies are focused on how to deal with the pressure and the stairs, but Captain Markell votes for the direct route of just dropping down in the pressure suits from above. Llewella says they shouldn't be certain their air-supply will work as expected, so that's a possibility but she needs more recon first. Llewella has a way to do that recon, just on her own.
As Llewella's about to go out for a swim, Maarit says "for safety, maybe I should have you on Trump contact, ready to pull you out. You'd get the bends, but that's better than capture or murder."
Llewella weighs the option, and whether or not to trust Maarit. She eventually says "If you were going to betray me, you would have allready done it while I was on the beach surrounded by a thousand of your soldiers. Or you'd let me go down there, and notify my enemies of my approach. Instead, you're trying to help. I will take you into my trust. Yes, I'll consent to you being on the card while I'm down there, but on one condition: you something weird is going to happen early on in this scouting, and you have to promise not to speak of it. There will be a part, early on, when you'll think I'm drowning. I'm not, just don't freak out and let me work through it." Maarit agrees.
Llewella gets in the water, and swims out and down. Farther than Maarit thinks she could have held her breath. Llewella loosens the lacings of her leather armor, so it barely fits and stays on her, and continues deeper still. She starts to choke, and through the Trump Maarit can feel the water and pressure on her lungs. Just as it's almost unbearable, it suddenly lightens up and Llewella transforms. She's like a selkie or something. Some sort of cetacean creature, no longer human. Maarit takes this in stride, no weirder than the stuff Dalziel was telling her about Dworkin the other night.
Llewella gets to the city, swims over the walls. She finds the water is still a little bloody, and there's few civilians about, but lots of patrols. The closest patrol is one of Caine's sailors, 2 Rebman city guard, and a couple human soldiers of unknown origin. Llewella-selkie swims away, and only the native Rebmans are able to keep up.
When it's just them, she talks. Llewella claims to be a visitor who has friends in Rebma. She says she arrived for a visit just as things were going down on the stairs. Her lie is practiced, and believable. She's from a world of the [Coral Branch], and her Rebman friends run a restaurant near the palace, so she's knowledgeable about local politics. She gets the guards to explain that the Tritons attacked, and were repelled. The city is secure, but there's supposedly still some fighting in the castle. Prince Martin has saved the city, by using the [Jewel of Intuition]. He froze the gate. Queen Psamathe and the next 4 in line for the throne of Rebma died in the insurrection, and Martin "had no choice" but to take the Throne and Crown to save the city. He is King Martin the First of Rebma.
The city watch tell her to go to [Moinsbay] for the short term, or to return home to her shadow-world by hitching a ride on the fleet. They say that everyone in Rebma is on edge, and that non-humans are probably in danger here. The Tritons were until tonight part the [Coral Branch], so people would fear the Selkiefolk also being potential enemies. Llewella-selkie asks the guard to tell her friends at the restaurant that she (her false selkie-name) tried to visit and wishes them well. Maarit can tell this is some sort of coded message to friends of conspirators of Llewella who may still be alive in the city.
Llewella leaves them and swims around the outside of the city. The gate that Maarit's pendant indicated is so old and disused it's covered in barnacles and looks hard to open. There's little point to it tactically. Any troops that could survive the pressure here would likely just swim over the wall anyway. It makes no sense for the pendant to point here. Llewella checks the other main routes in and out of the city. All are guarded, but it's most telling that the route to [Wellaswell], where Llewella had fled to during the Triton attack, is the most heavily guarded. Even more so than the gate closest to Cabra which seems to be the direction you'd expect an attack by Tritons to come from.
Llewella is angry, sad and enraged. Before today, she genuinely liked Martin. That's over. She needs a little time to swim alone with her thoughts, so Maarit ends the contact.
Scene 2b: Dalziel and Science! - deep in shadow -
Dalziel spies on Medore and the Black Unicorn via the Pattern Lens. Tir-Na Nog'th is just lines of magic in the air, and Dalz can only see the Pattern if he's looking from below it so the entirety of the Pattern is backlit by the moon. It glows as the unicorn struggles on it, and it's blinding to see. Dalziel lets the Lens go.
Dalziel decides that he needs not an army, but a think-tank, to help him experiment and ponder reality. So he heads out first for better and better time differential, and the shadows go wild along the way. Flying cities, fearsome Kaiju, spaceships, noneuclidean space. The GM goes a little wild on the descriptions of the hellride. The first university is too weird, and it's annoying to look to the right and see the back of your own head when the local microcosm is toroidal. So he reigns it in a bit and gets back to something less migraine-inducing. A facility where a half-dozen alien species study science. It's Euclidean, Technological, Academic, and has a nice big Oak tree that's kind of a nice grounding touch of home for when you need to feel at ease.
The Quotes Of Chaos
Dalziel: “And I can tell you, If I were your enemy in this, I’d have a space laser!”
Abn Haram: “I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but if you are willing to spend a week in a dark place, that would be ideal.”
Medore: “I’m not used to crossbows being used to deliver babies.”
Corwin: “Don't start without me, Medore”. Medore: LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!
"Everyone else is raising armies, Dal is raising a Think Tank."
Dalziel: "See, it's hard not to start a cult in this situation."
Dalziel (to Bleys): "In a way, I'm MORE paranoid than you! I'm just scared of different things."
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