Log 21, A Horse Of Another Timbre

    The following is the campaign log for the 21st session of my current Amber Diceless RPG campaign, entitled A Horse Of Another Timbre. 

You might want to Start from Session #1 or check out the index of my Amber articles. 

Campaign log: 7 June 2021, turn by turn

I don't get around to posting these very often, so I'm nearly a year behind. Details below the fold:

 

Scene 1: Medore makes the call

Medore is near Dalziel while Dalziel makes a call to someone. ... Medore gets in touch with Corwin, planning to keep him in the loop about what he's learning. Medore gets the hot gossip from the servants about the events recently. One of the servants mentions that Prince Benedict was here and grumpy, hears about the shouting match in the library.  He also hears about that Julian might be missing too. No one has seen the queen for some time.

Medore talks with Llewella and tells her that he will let Corwin know what's going on. She doesn't mind. She asks Medore for the names of the people who are missing, and reveals that she's never met Lord Hendon the Steward. She is concerned about the other missing people, asks Medore to keep an eye on things, thinks someone is probably trying to clear a path for themselves. 

Medore calls Corwin, reveals that the officers are missing, but so is the castle steward. Corwin mentions that Random isn't answering Corwin's calls, asks Medore to call Random. Considers calling a family council to solve the issue. Medore follows up with a call to the king that goes nowhere.

Medore decides to really hammer on it and tries to call the king every 5 minutes, and tries for four hours.  After receiving no response, he waits 30 minutes, then starts again and calls every five minutes for the next 2 hours.

Scene 2: Nix finds Belle

Nix goes looking for Bellantine. First he checks at the acquisitions room and finds many guards around. One of Bellantine's guards says she went downstairs. When Nix arrives downstairs, he finds two of Fiona's guards, the Eidocrase and two of his guards. The human guards acknowledge that the crystalline guards didn't stop Bellantine from opening the door.

Upon opening the door, Nix finds Bellantine tied up, having been captured by the Eidocrase. Nix probes her mind and asks why she went there, she indicates that she's got a deep terror that Fiona will cause trouble, she insists that Fiona is "wrong" and that Oberon wouldn't want her here. He'd think it's an "invasion" or a "crime." When she saw Fiona, she "knew" she was a threat.

Nix discovers that two of Fiona's guards are stationed by the door, two are guarding Belle, one is patrolling the library, and one is cataloguing the library. He goes back and asks if there's anything in the library about shapeshifters. She says there's a book about Fiona in the back. Nix swipes a bunch of books about Fiona's family through his tarot into his study.

Nix gets in a battle with the crystal guards after one of them says "we should have tied him up too." Nix uses spells to fend off the guards and dive toward Belle, then opens a portal and escapes with Belle to the Aviary. On the way he is grievously injured, being stabbed in the shoulder.  He sends guards to the acquisitions room and sends his apologies to Abn Haram, then goes to the infirmary to pass out. Nix sends a page to see if Fiona is in the library.

Abn Haram asks to finish the pig box after he hears the news. He sends Steward to try and find out what happened. He's told it was an assassination attempt.

Scene 3: David and Maarit

Maarit grabs a nap. David takes apart the robot and discovers a hair and some blood inside. He 'geeks out' at the robot, trying to find the witness marks for the robot's creator. Maarit wakes from her nap. David acquires some weapons from the local villagers.

As Maarit and David try to leave, the drones get grabby. The first one that really grabs David, he grabs it, swings it around and smashes it on the ground. The others back away. Maarit goes back to divining where they should go. 

The drones focus back on Maarit after one starts drumming at Maarit, focusing on her pendant. David occupies himself as well while Maarit walks. They find themselves in a narrow space which David recognizes could be dangerous. David notices that the drones are coordinating among themselves. As Maarit scoots down the stairs, David tries to stop them. One of the Drones tries to grab Maarit's stone. She grabs the stone and then punches the drone. The leader drone coordinates another attack. Maarit calls her shot, threatens the drone. 

She gets the pendant back out and asks the pendant her question. The drones all get excited when she does so, but they stay back as they're cautious now. The pendant directs her to one of the two doors on the platform, but Maarit feins interest in the other door. Maarit cracks open the other door. Inside are Bottomless Hallways with a bottomless shaft. One of the drones comes close enough that David can grab it, so he does, and smashes it on the floor to disable it.

David yeets it off the edge and it falls hundreds of feet. The others all leave and only one remains, watching from a distance. Maarit goes over to the door to which they were guided. Inside is a small room (janitor closet?) with a mop and bucket. They open the door and find themselves in a library with massive stacks. They see a squad of armed guards marching along quickly. 

They creep out into the library, trying not to look suspicious. They run into a man in a hurry, who gives them directions to a privy. Maarit tries to play off their presence on the floor as accidental, while the man becomes more suspicious. He's nervous but Maarit keeps reassuring him. He keeps backing away and speaking louder because he's at a distance. 

Another armed guard comes across them, tells them to "stop!" The guard asks David to drop his spear. David does. The guard tells them to "state their names and purpose here." The guard thinks he has the drop on David. Fool. Maarit asks for David to get his dagger back, but the guard refuses. He leads them to the rest room.

The guard asks how David got onto this floor, and asks the guard if he's been there long. The guard says he was appointed by "the king." David asks if it was King Random. The guard says it was King Oberon. Meanwhile, Maarit uses her pendant in the bathroom. She asks:

- Do we need to go to the front desk? No.

- Do we need to speak to the head of security? No.

- Is that the head of the library? No.

Scene 2b & 3b: Nix, Abn Haram, Maarit, David, Pig-Boxes and Courier Mail

Abn Haram learns from Steward that there was an assassination attempt of some sort.  Steward heads into the library to find out information for Abn Haram. Abn Haram works on the pig box.

Nix makes it to the infirmary, gets himself stitched back up. He sends pages to find out information, then sends trusted researchers to go to my quarters to read/research the books that are in his quarters. Nix sends the page to find out their names.

David finds himself being questioned again along the same lines as the previous guard's questions. He continues being vague and nebulous. He mentions that Maarit is Amber nobility. The guard becomes obsequeous but sends someone to check anyway.

Maarit asks her pendant "Is it a member of the family?" and feels a contact coming on. It's Fiona, offering cards of Maarit to herself. Maarit shares that the worlds they found were, somewhat, dangerous. They discuss her newly-shaved head, and the storm. Fiona asked her deck how to be "most diplomatic" about something, and the cards led her to ask a favor of Maarit.

Fiona wants to give Maarit a large green crystal skull to hand over, and wants to deliver the message "This man was unkind to him and has been punished" to Spinturnix. Maarit refuses to take the crystal but says she'll pass along the message. Then she leaves the bathroom. When she emerges, the guards are deferential to Maarit because they've confirmed she's nobility. She asks to speak to Spinturnix - the guard leads her to meet with Spinturnix.

Maarit and David meet with Nix. They catch up, a bit, and then Maarit shares Fiona's message, which Nix takes as confusing. He offers as a return message that he would take a sign of "good faith" if Fiona leaves the guarding of the archive to Nix alone. Nix tells Maarit and David about the attack, a little bit. Nix arranges for Maarit to use a suite to do research. 

Abn Haram sends his pig box and says Nix can talk to Abn Haram by speaking into it. Also, it's nuclear powered so should not be dismantled. Also, it will likely degrade if removed from Oberon's Loupe. After Abn Haram's gift arrives, Nix sends an Atlas to help on the journey. He also asks Bellantine to send Dictionary (in the care of Cadmus Benedict St. Rolfe) to help.