A Horse Of Another Timbre - Campaign Log: Session # 7

  The following is the campaign log for the seventh 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.

You can also Start from Session #1 or just pick up at Session #6.

Campaign log: November 23, 2020: Session #7

Setting the Scene: Caine's ships continue to assemble out in the bay, raising the specter of war. The King has returned after saving the life of the the ambassador from Chaos, but is keeping her son in the dungeons. Medore had just seen a mysterious Black Unicorn, and chased it down a dimensional tunnel that opened up inside the castle where Maarit and Fiona were having dinner.

The PCs are:

• Dalziel, son of Bleys of Amber. A scientist who has been in Amber for several months.
  
• Maarit, daughter of Sand. An orphan with a magic pendulum.
• Spinturnix, son of Julian. Grew up in Forest Arden.
  
• Medore, nonbinary offspring of Dierdre
• 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, such as Julian, Fiona, and Dworkin. 

One new character is "Margholo", who is a companion of Dworking. It's not a coincidence that her name is an anagram of hologram.  

Another is the Black Unicorn, which is much as the implies, a darkly-colored somewhat larger version of the mysterious living emblem of Amber.

Two characters from Chaos are mentioned below. One is Nykae of House Moen, the ambassador from Chaos, and mother of one of the PCs. The other Chaos character mentioned is her brother Severan.

 Scene 1: David's Pub-Crawl

David has watched the ships gather in the harbor, many around Caine's flag ship. David has learned a bit about Dalziel and Maarit: both have made a generally warm impression on the Amber public, though the public knows their lineage.

In a pub, he notices an veteran soldier who works down in the docks, who wears a full-face helmet all the time because he's horribly disfigured, he mentions "Julian's runt, someone Julian doesn't like."  He's veteran infantry, but the others around the bar shush him a bit; he continues in this way, trash talking Julian's "bookish" whelp, whom he calls "a sneaky little dink, and Shitternix."  

Elsewhere in town, David learns that the Chaos delegation has been arrested. He feeds and participates in the rumors. He leaves them seething.

David makes his way to the dungeons, where he discovers guards on heightened alert, noting down the names of all who come by. David reveals that he has "items belonging to the prisoners," and attempts to put the guards at ease. David asks after Niekye, but learns that Abn-Haram is the main prisoner being held; he proceeds down to visit, and follows the guard down the hall toward Haram.


Scene 2: Dalziel Finds the Primal Pattern

On a plateau in a wide open space, Dalziel finds the pattern, and notices a gust of uncomfortably warm air. He finds an enormous dragon curled up behind him, with one eye open and goat breath. As it sees Dalziel, it opens roughly twenty eyes. Dalziel bows and the dragon stretches, waking up. Dalziel tries introducing himself, name dropping King Random. The dragon sniffs strongly, then edges Dalziel away from the pattern a bit. He too looks about a bit, and the dragon answers with a low growl/rasp sound. Dalziel notices differences between Amber's forest and this one.

As Dalziel tries to climb up to get a better view of things, he hears a woman behind him say "hello there." She's wearing a white dress with greco-roman style white dress with black trim. Dalziel suggests he's her nephew, and she laughs. She says she's Margholo. She says she's impressed he got this far, that most people "stop one world back". She says she's taking "a short walk from her game, and invites Dalziel to 'meet him.' "

Margholo leads Dalziel down a mountain to a cave, where she says she'll introduce Dalziel to "him," who will be impressed and happy to meet him but also upset at having his concentration ruined. Inside the cave are signs of plenty of traffic, along with a large chain that could have been used to hold the dragon, maybe. In the heart of the cave is a little hunch-backed man sitting at a stone table (Dworkin), near a large pile of colorful stone playing pieces. He has a growth on the side of his face. Margholo reveals that Dalziel is the son of Bleys. The man asks what he's there for.

When Dalziel mentions the King, the man goes back to studying the board. Margolo seems to be giving some sort of signal to the man when he looks at her. The man molds his own face like it's clay and fixes his growth. He invites Dalziel to play a game, and suggests that the rules come from observing the universe. 

Here's what the board looks like:

  Dalziel guesses what some of the pieces are, and Dworkin does the same. In talking with Dalziel, Dworkin touches the white unicorn piece inadvertently and is forced to move it. Dalziel blames Margholo.

Scene 3: Medore and Maarit chase the Black Unicorn

As they chase the black unicorn, it encounters a white unicorn and flees. It turns out to be bleeding as it runs, and they're upset as they had already healed it.. While Maarit feels like she can get ahead of it, it eludes her and reveals that it has a very precise mental map of the castle. Medore realizes they have to decide whether to trap or release the black unicorn.

Maarit sends the guard who is following them after Medore to help the black unicorn. Medore goes outside and catches their breath, deciding to help the black unicorn escape rather than catch it or let the white unicorn catch it. The guard is amazed to have seen the unicorns.


Scene 4: Nix's Pub-Crawl

Trying to learn about Caine's machinations, Nix goes to town and visits the docks and the pubs, stopping into the "Crusty Typetray," a popular hangout for printing press operators, reporters, and printer's devils. He plies a printer's devil with food and drink to learn about the latest news. Caine has been hiring people for the navy, the visitors from Chaos have been arrested, and one maybe murdered. He learns that bandits have been spotted, there's trouble in Garnath, as well as mirror trouble in Rebma. (The devil goes on about this for a while.) He also reveals that the Mercantile Advisory Board has gained additional power and has great new shipments of jewelry in.

He wanders down to the beach and finds a secluded place, then uses his card to reach out to Julian. He gets no answer, so he desists. then he tries one of his spells and discovers, surprisingly, that it works far, far better than it should. He contacts Fiona and lets her know about this trouble, but she scolds him for being so open with his knowledge, then tells him that there are plenty of things afoot, and that sunset may change the situation. Fiona suggests that someone may have been doing some re-writing.

Nix returns to the library and finds Dik showing books to King Random, who is accompanied by his blind wife, the Queen.


Scene 5 + Scene 1b: Abn-Haram in jail, David visits

Abn Haram is visited by a guard, who brings paints and news and offers some comfort, perhaps. They discuss the situation about Haram's companions. He offers Haram a key to a disused door. David arrives, guided by the other guard.

They chat about their lives and their homeworlds while David paints Abn-Haram, though Abn-Haram suggests he's getting very little out of the conversation. David mentions that he's of House Weyland and served in the military for 946 years. Today is Abn-Haram's birthday. David toasts him, and Abn-Haram worries perhaps David has endangered himself. They keep chatting for about 45 minutes. David leaves his painting of Haram and some food when he leaves, a bit out of sorts due to the surprising thing Abn-Haram said in the conversation.


Scene 2b: Dalziel goes Grandmaster

Margholo adds a new red piece to the board, just above the other pieces already on the board. Dworkin says the white unicorn captured the black one, but now she removed it because of "outside interference." Next she moves the Green Narwhal, next to the red door. She says "The pattern in Rebma is sealed. Black will have to retreat across the board to its own territory."

Dworkin asks Dalziel what shape his piece would be; Dalziel doesn't know. Dworkin says he's the board. They discuss the realities/metaphors of the pieces. Dworkin says "Silver wants to beat Yellow."

Dalziel asks about the fire in the forest. Dworkin says there was a fire in his heart. If he were to pick up a piece, what would happen? Dalziel asks what would happen if he swept the board clear? Dalziel asks what the board is--Dworkin says it's a tool, a complex bit of math, a lens. He laments his decision to make the pattern, says it cost him a lot. He suggests he hasn't much control over the worlds or the pieces.

Dalziel asks about the pieces being Chaos and Red, and Dworkin then rants about Cyan.


Scene 3b: Medore at the Gate and Maarit on the Stairs + 1c David on his way

Satisfied that the black unicorn escaped, Medore allows the gate to be opened. Maarit overhears the guards debating the meaning of the two unicorns in the castle. She interrogates the guards about where the white unicorn went. They indicate that it disappeared on the stairs.

One of the guards goes with Maarit down the stairs, the other stays back to fill in the log book. They discuss where the unicorns came from (one on the stairs, the other through a TAPESTRY.)

David, leaving Abn-Haram's cell, passes Maarit on the stairs, notices fresh blood on the landing, and then learns from the guards that there were two unicorns (which David missed). The guards share the story of the unicorns' arrival, and their fight. David heads up to the roof to try and spot the unicorns from the roof.


Scene 4b: Nix in the Library

Upon arriving in the library, Nix finds King Random and Queen __ and Dik going through books in the library. Random has a bandage on his hand, which he reveals is a wound caused by an angry pig. Nix says he wouldn't have pegged Random as a Pollonaise du Hameau. Random says that isn't it. Instead, it was a pig whose magic had been disrupted by Random (using the magic ruby). Random and Nix go to the guard house by the stables where the pig is imprisoned. Random, after asking carefully if Nix is truly being helpful, enhances the magic in the air so that Nix can do a spell. Nix uses "Mind Touch" to reach out to the pig...

 Random: "Wizards don't tend to spend much time in Amber, because it doesn't work here. Anyone with a lick of magical knowledge or talent here makes their way out to the Golden Circle, usually Begma or Hepania. I can do a few tricks myself, but usually active work, not stored energies like this was. I need to know if its related to Nykae's magic armbands, and if I'm about to be flanked by an army of magical beasts. I know your dad has dabbled in this sort of stuff, thought maybe he'd have taught you. I can't call him directly under the circumstances."

Scene 3c: Medore

Medore uses his Tarot to call Corwin, and tells Medore the story of finding the two unicorns, that the white unicorn wounded the black one, that Medore brought them to the castle, and they escaped. Corwin indicates that he found a corpse, killed by rapier. Corwin tells Medore he should go be a spy with the Pirate kings. (In other word, Corwin thought Medore should go talk to Caine as an intermediary on behalf of King Random.)

Medore goes looking for Maarit.


Scene 5b: Abn-Haram Receives a Call

Chillin' like a villain in his cell, Haram feels the connection of a Tarot, though weak. The call is from Nykae, who looks pretty bad for her injuries. She warns that a gate was opened in the cabinet in her room. Haram demands that Nykae tell him "something" she should have told him before. She acknowledges skullduggery.


She reveals that she wanted him to have the chance to try and live with the Amberites or to make a play for the throne. The two specialists she'd hired to do a task were killed on the ship, so she recruited Steward to steal things from "his father's wing of the castle" and told her Valet to do things. Nykae passes Abn-Haram a card for Severan, and asks if he wants a rescue. He says he would prefer not to leave, and finds the people here baffling. She hoped he would serve as a peace bridge between their peoples. He reveals that the King knows his ancestry.

She reassures him that when she's healed, she will back whatever play he wants to make.



Scene 2c: Dalziel and the Madman

Looking to the floor, Dalziel examines the discarded chess pieces.

 - The magenta pieces are mutants, cthuloid abominations, multi-headed monstrosities. There also seems to be a long snake-like piece broken into five or more pieces.

 - Yellow: Four pieces - a bishop, a queen, a 1970s supercomputer stack, a d4 point down, with three tiny legs.

 - Red: Five pieces - Doorway (on the board), a dragon, a queen (though not particularly tall), a knight, and a king (knife in the back).

 - Silver: Four pieces - stylized queen, can can dancer, bishop who paints, the eiffel tower

 - Black: Detailed carving of a woman, can't imagine how it would stand up, in a free-fall.

 - White: Some regular chess set pieces, but lots and lots of pawns

 - Cyan: One of the pieces seems to be family (looks like Osric)

 - Green: Some ships, seahorses, Kraken, dragons, ravens

Dalziel asks if Green were the Shadows that rose up to prominence; Dworkin suggests that Green are "interferon." Rebma is being menaced by a Narwhal, Crab, and Anglerfish (in chess piece form). He suggests that Red reaches in from spaces beyond the table. The fact that Green has a foothold means that Random's position is not great.

Dalziel has offered Dworkin an excuse for leaving the board and going walkabout. Margholo (the hologram?) gets confused when Dworkin leaves. "Coup is successful, Green takes Rebma." Dalziel explores the cave and finds a door, through which he finds an apartment, with several rooms. Within he finds bookshelves, a big deck of Tarot cards, and paintings galore. He finds cards for the player characters, and a double-sided card for the unicorn. Dalziel borrows some of the cards for people.

Next, he examines the paintings. One of them is a field of black with tiger stripes around the edge and a grey squiggle in the middle. The other painting is similar to the other, but still creepy. Now the gray squiggle is 3 sentences long. The next has a silhouette in front of a glow. The next is closer, now the silhouette is holding onto a man, covered in blood, chopping him up with an axe.

Quote Log: Session 7

"In my culture as well, being locked in a cell is a sign of good faith." - Abn Haram

"As I understand the situation, the King is afraid of his subjects, so I am to be imprisoned here indefinitely." - Abn Haram

“Never let it be said I don’t know how to make an entrance” - Medore

“Another drink for my wet-legged Friend.” - David

“I think I”ve met the man, thought I thought his name was “Sphincterneck!” -David

Dworkin: Have you met my lovely wife Margholo with an H?
David: I have, just moments before she led me here.
Dworkin: I think long after she began leading you here.
-Dworkin and Dalziel

Guard: Stop, Stop! What’s going on here?
Marit: We don’t know!
Medore: Unicorn Escort!

“D: Did you take the position?
A: Oh that’s right, you were there.
D: I’m afraid I have no intention of taking that position.
A: Well, you certainly made a great breakfast”
-Abn Haram and David

“I see Amber as the immovable object to the Unstoppable Force of Chaos.” -David
 

D: I feel like I am giving everything and receiving nothing.
A: On the contrary, the lion’s share of the questions have been yours.
D: Yes, but all of the answers have also been mine.”
-Abn Haram and David

“Today is my birthday, would you like to toast me?
Of course…
...Well?”
-Abn Haram and David
 

N: What happened to your hand!
R: A fucking pig!
N: Did one of your guards do this?
R: No! A literal pig!”
-Random and Nyx

“Is there anything you want to tell me. Is there perhaps anything you should have told me before?”
-Abn Haram to his mother
 

A Unicorn Of Another Timbre: Campaign Log: Session 6

 The following is the campaign log for the sixth session of my current Amber Diceless RPG campaign. Most of this was typed up by one my players during the session.  Usually these are typed up by Brendan, but he had to miss this session, and another player, Andrew, helpfully took notes in his absence. As usual, I (the GM) have added a few notes of my own after the fact.

You can Start from Session #1 or just pick up at Session #5

Campaign log: November 9, 2020: Session #6

Setting the Scene: A unicorn of another color has been spotted in Arden. Caine's fleet is posturing in Amber's bay, pressuring Random to act against the Chaos delegates. 

The PCs are:

• Dalziel, son of Bleys. A scientist who has been in Amber for several months.
  
• Maarit, daughter of Sand. An orphan with a magic pendulum.
• Spinturnix, son of Julian. Grew up in Forest Arden.
  
• Medore, nonbinary offspring of Dierdre
• David Weyreth is a retired officer from the militaries of Amber.
  
• Abn Haram, the human-shaped son of Lady Nykae of Chaos. 
  

Most of the NPCs are from the novels.

Scene 1: Corwin and Medore follow the unicorn and stumble upon a Weir encampment. They agree to split up with Corwyn tracking the Weir and Medore searching for the unicorn.

Scene 2: David leaves breakfast and heads out into the city seeking sparring partners and information.


Scene 3: Dal takes an armful of scientific instruments down to the dungeons and announces himself to the guards as the new minister of science. He pokes a bit at the evidence from the prior evening but then spends several hours measuring aspects of the pattern and pondering its nature.


Scene 4: Abh Haram is disappointed in his legal research then is arrested near the stables on charges of espionage and accessory to murder and brought to the dungeons.


Scene 5: Maarit returns from her ride on Bronze (Sand's wonderhorse) and learns that Brute the Pig and perhaps the rest of his entourage has been arrested. She then collides with Fiona who is headed to paint and they decide to meet for dinner and perhaps a portrait of Maarit.


Scene 1B: Medore tracks down the black unicorn and treats its wounds. It begins pawing a message into the dirt but then a white unicorn appears and the black one charges it. Medore uses some magic to even the clash despite the horses’ disparate size and prevent them from seriously injuring each other.. Eventually Medore is saved from being trampled when space distorts and both unicorns head off down strange tunnels in space. Medore follows the black unicorn down one corridor.

GM's Addendum re: Corwin and Medore

I had intended for Corwin and Medore to stick together, and both be present when the two unicorns clashed in Scene 1B (below). Medore however had picked up on the black unicorn being somewhat uncomfortable around Corwin, and sent him off on a bit of a fool's errand. This, it turns out, was a very wise decision on Medore's part. I had actually planned to have a clashing unicorn put out one of Corwin's eyes. The player's decision here saved Corwin from some more painful regeneration.

Scene 2B: David investigates some wreckage in the harbor and seeks information from the harbormaster about activity in the city and recruiting of sailors. 

GM's Addendum re: David's investigations

Caine's 3 ships in the harbor have increased to 7. Two other ships, captains unknown, seem to be standing guard against them. Things remain tense.  

David also learned that Caine had recently (within the last fortnight) offered sign-up bonuses for the Royal Navy, paid for from his own coffers.

David also discovered that the ship Abn Haram and Nykae arrived in sailed from Kashfa, and yet arrived from the wrong direction. It took the long way, so was either trying to avoid detection, or intentionally settting up the ambush.

Scene 3B/4B: Dal speaks with Random via Card and agrees to talk to Abn Haram and appraise him of the situation while getting the King to agree to allow him to walk the pattern. He speaks with Abn Haram and they verbally spar a bit while he delivers the King’s message while also offering to visit him and talk regularly.

GM's Addendum re: Abn Haram's dungeon cell

The cell Abn Haram is being held in is one of the nicest cells in the dungeon, fit for royalty. In fact, it once held Osric, when he was under house arrest after killing that guy from Karm. It has a drafting table, a painting easel, a fancy chess table with a drawer for the pieces, its own privy, and a dresser with several outfits in blue and yellow.

Scene 5B: Maarit meets with Fiona for dinner. They discuss her mother and family history. Fiona rather enthusiastically supports the idea of obeying the omens of the unicorn.


Scene 1C/5C: Medore follows the unicorn down weird space corridor, then uses magic to try to save them from falling. The unicorn and Medore come through a door (or a tapestry) and fall into the room where Medore and Fiona were having dinner.


Medore and Marit chase the unicorn toward the dungeons. It runs like it knows where it is going. At the guard post it encounters the white unicorn and they clash again. It runs off again and Medore and Marit blow past the white unicorn shouting pleas at it to stop while still chasing the black unicorn.


Scene 3C: Dal walks the pattern and remembers sections of his life while noting some interesting aspects of the experience where he can. Upon reaching the center he makes the somewhat impulsive decision to try to reach the “real” pattern Random told him existed. He appears, successfully at the edge of the primal pattern.

GM's addendum re: Fiona

Fiona did a lot of very specific things that I couldn't tell if the players were picking up on or not.   I'm not sure I want to spell them all out, as she's definitely my most "read-between-the-lines" / "wheels within wheels" character.  When I'm prepping scenes for Corwin, I put a lot of effort into his words (trying in vain to emulate Zelazny's voice)... but with Fiona I put a lot more effort into every little detail because absolutely everything matters whenever Fiona is on camera (trying to emulate what Zelazny does in the novels). Fiona is complex, and operates on a level all her own.

 

Quote Log: Session 6

• Corwyn: Do you know your way around?
  Medore: This is my second time in Amber, but I can see mountains…” 
   
• “Seven ships isn’t an invasion… that’s somebody being grumpy!” - Soldier
   
• “I look at him like I don’t want some filthy peasant touching my sword” - Peter
   
• “Guard: I guess there’s a certain poetry in it.
  Abn Haram: Good! I like poetry!”
   
• “Guard: I’m not sure I’m allowed to talk to you sir.
  Abn Haram: that sounds like a question for your superior, I can’t help you with that, but I have stood many watches and I know how boring they are.”
   
• “Stablehand: Funny you should mention that, the pig was put under arrest.
  “Marit: …Do you think it understood the charges?”
   
• “I may even apologize as long as you don’t tell any of my siblings.” Fiona
   
• “If I can’t make a pig do what I want then I probably don’t deserve the throne.” - Random
   

Shock & Awe: How To Do A Decent Benedict

 A second installment in my takes on how to do justice to Zelazny's NPCs. In my first installment I talked at great length about how tricky it is to capture the feel of Corwin, and discussed the methods I use to prep for any scene or session I know he'll be in. 

This time, I discuss Benedict, the first bloody bastard of Amber.

"...the old arguments were resumed as to who was more legitimate. Of course, you and Eric are both my elders, but while Faiella, mother to Eric and myself was his wife after the death of Cymnea, they-"

"Enough!" cried Benedict, slapping the table so hard that it cracked.  The lamp danced and sputtered, but by some small miracle was not upset. The tent's entrance flap was immediately pushed aside and a concerned guard peered in. Benedict glanced at him and he withdrew.

"I do not wish to sit in on our respective bastardy proceeding," Benedict said softly. "That obscene pastime was one of the reasons I initially absented myself from felicity. Please continue your story without the benefit of footnotes..."

-Corwin and Benedict, in The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny

 

Benedict boils down to three main traits in order from most to least: Short-Tempered,  Erudite, and Laconic. He's the eldest of the family, meaning that he's had the most time to accumulate a sizable vocabulary and extensive education. A particular set of skills, if you will. Also, it means that all the other NPCs seem like squabbling children from his point of view. Depending on how deep you want to stare into the implied Abyss, you may or may not also see Benedict as Oberon's enforcer or enabler: The big bully of the family. We're sort of told by Corwin that Benedict's amongst the moral best of the siblings, or at least the only brother likely to be above suspicion. Despite that praise, he's clearly a murderous bastard with serious anger management issues... even more so than his siblings. He's not above suspicion because he's a good guy. He's above suspicion only because if he was the secret villain, he would have already killed everyone by now.

We are told that Benedict spends millennia practicing warfare, running the same campaigns and battles over and over again with minor changes. Actively sacrificing countless lives to find the most effective solutions and the most efficient methods. I put forth that he treats the language with the same martial determinism. He has figured out the best words to use, and the sharpest way to wield them. He moves to convey his meaning quickly and precisely, and remind the listener that he's better than them. Shock and awe.

So when I know that there's a big scene coming up with Benedict in it, I try to think ahead (between sessions) to the sorts of things he's likely to say, and write them out. Then I run them through a few "algorithms", I guess:

1.) I crank up the volatility a bit. Figure out how might he say it with an air of menace or insult. The man does not hesitate to throw his weight around, and he does not suffer fools.

2.) Then I break out a thesaurus, and upgrade my native vocabulary with a few $5 words. Terminology that I can mostly follow the gist of when they came up in conversation, but which I'd be hard pressed to give a nuanced definition of without a reference.

3.) So armed, I pare it back down, so that there's not a lot of wasted words, nor time for people to interrupt. Benedict is lean, and so are his paragraphs. His sentences certainly aren't short or simple, but he doesn't pause to let you process, and he sure as hell isn't going to elaborate or repeat himself if you weren't quick enough to parse it the first time.

For example, in a recent session of my current A Horse Of Another Timbre campaign, Benedict and Random were talking, and Ben said:

"Your first duty as sovereign of Amber is to demonstrate the immutability of the realm, NOT the pursuit of your cornucopian fantasies of libertine socialist reform! Your overly egalitarian reign has fostered the appearance of caducity. This weakness will not be allowed to persist. You will end it, or I will end it, before our enemies can!"

Obviously, that leans most heavily on steps 1 (volatility) & 2 (vocabulary), and could arguably have benefited from a bit more of step 3 (brevity).   I delivered the lines as quickly and sternly as I could, though, and it made all the players flinch on Random's behalf. That's Benedict for you.

A Horse Of Another Timbre, Campaign Log: Session 5

The following is the campaign log for the fifth session of my current Amber Diceless RPG campaign. Most of this was typed up by one my players during the session. I've added a few notes of my own. 

You can Start from Session #1 or just pick up at Session #4.

Campaign log: 26 October, 2020

Setting the Scene: At this point the "murder mystery" angle (re: the attempted assassination of Nykae the Chaos ambassador) was fading in the background, and more of the immediate threats to Amber start showing up. Still, it starts off calmly with a peaceful group breakfast.

The PCs are:

• Dalziel, son of Bleys. A scientist who has been in Amber for several months.
  
• Maarit, daughter of Sand. An orphan with a magic pendulum.
• Spinturnix, son of Julian. Grew up in Forest Arden.
  
• Medore, nonbinary child of Dierdre
• David Weyreth is a retired officer from the militaries of Amber.
  
• Abn Haram, the human-shaped son of Lady Nykae of Chaos. 
  

Most of the NPCs are from the novels. The only real exception are the Chaosites, Nykae and Sevran (who are reused from previous Amber campaigns -- ages ago with other players -- so I didn't have to dream up new personalities and backstories.)

 Scene 1: Abn Haram "wakes," David serves eggs
A knock early in the morning wakes Abn Haram. Waiting in the hallway is a messenger asking him to visit the King. The messenger mentions that Nykae survived the surgery, and invites Haram to join the King for breakfast. The food David serves is VeryTasty™. 

(One of the two main inspirations for the character of David is apparently Hannibal, so he's a bit of a foodie. He makes a meal that seems fancy to the GM and other players, but in-character David insists it's nothing special.)  

Abn Haram and David have a chance to chat before the King arrives. King Random and his wife arrive. The King eats some without using a taster first, then invites his wife to eat. Random reports that when he stepped away to use a card, Nykae used a card as well and slipped away.

Nykae tells Haram she has returned home. Random swears he will find the person who arranged the attack and make them pay. Random questions Haram, mentioning that Nykae had something "important" to tell him, but never got the chance. Random asks if perhaps Nykae was there to stir up trouble, rather than conduct diplomacy. Random asks if Haram had a reason Nykae brought him. Haram reveals that Osric is Haram's father (he's a nephew of Random!). Random wonders if Haram might have been the target of the assassination; he wonders whether Haram should stay or not.

After a bit more thought, Random asks Haram to leave, because he's a diplomatic pain. Meanwhile, Haram takes a trump call from his uncle Sevran (Nykae's brother, also from Chaos). Corwin comes in and Random becomes a bit more belligerent, telling Abn Haram he needs to leave.  Haram agrees and stands up to go get Brute (the pig). Random says he wants to go talk to Caine, and take Corwin along. Corwin says he's tired of trying to fix everything in Amber, Random asks for his help; he's convinced Caine was the one who attempted the attack. Corwin says he doesn't want to go along and stand up to Caine, tells Random he needs to be firm enough to stay on the throne to keep it. 

GM's notes on the call from Severan: "Your mother is safe, we have rescued her from attempted murder and from imprisonment. She is recovering at home in Moenways, but is not yet hale enough to call you directly herself. She expressed concerns about your safety, and wanted me to bring you to home, along with any members of your combined entourage who survived the encounter."

Abn Haram decides he will leave immediately... or as soon as Random gives him Nykae's necklace.

GM's reconstruction of the Random-Corwin argument over breakfast, based on my notes and plans pre-session:

Random tries to boss Corwin around, and it backfires.   "You're gonna help me with Caine. A show of force. You'll be at my side when I sail out to meet him. Maybe two hours of your time."

Corwin doesn't like being told what to do: "I spent all night checking the locks on cupboard drawers and poking bodies with silverware. I feel I've done my part, and then some. It's damn easy to fall back into the old patterns of trying to fix everything broken in Amber, but that's some other sap's job now."

Random:  "Come on man, it's me. Usually my biggest advantage over brothers is their tendencies to underestimate me. Him thinking I'm weaker than I am isn't exactly an asset when trying to dissuade treason or posturing. You being at my si-"

Corwin: "Caine is just expressing his dissatisfaction that you've been cozy with chaos. I've literally slept with the enemy, so my presence is not the boon you're imagining. Be a strong, just, Amber-centric king, and your rule will be the better for it. Caine will back down when he sees you pick family over foreigners. If he doesn't, then we'll talk again." 

Random: "If he doesn't, I might be dead. You know how he plays. Your king is in danger. The crown commands you to step up."

Corwin: "The same crown I once wore for a half a second? I threw it away. It clashed with my manacles."

Random: "I also spent those years under arrest. I did right by you! Why are you making me beg? Screw! Have you had second thoughts about your abnegation? Are you in this with Caine?"

Corwin: "Don't be stupid. If I felt like ruling a universe, I have a whole new one to play with. I don't want Amber destroyed, but I won't start up the old vendettas again against a threat that's both family and not of the existential sort. I did one night of detective work, for which I won't submit an invoice, because it amused me to see how my nieces and nephews think. Be happy with the facts uncovered. Caine trying to kill her revealed that Chaos has some defense against the Pattern.  That ought to bridge the ideological gap between yourself and Caine. I've done my part. So unless you're arresting me, I'll be taking my leave and bringing my niece to her mother's grave."

Scene 2: Spinternix and Fiona "just happen" to provide arrows for Julian

Nix wakes early and, after his morning ablutions, plans to go birding with the rising sun. When he leaves his room, he finds Fiona "walking by," with a quiverful of silver arrows and a bow with a broken string. Nix accompanies her to the armory, telling her while on the way of the Cat that came to the library, of the crazy banquet, and asking her about Caine (she hadn't seen Caine). She indicates she had a "hunch" that Julian would need help with silver arrows, as she hands several quiversful of arrows to Nix. She suggests that Nix call Julian and hand over the arrows, but not to mention Fiona's involvement.

Nix does call Julian--ostensibly to mention that Nix was returning to Oberon's Loupe with Silver Arrows to defend against future attacks from the Cats--and learns his father is in a heated battle with the Wier, running low on silver arrows. Nix passes all but one of the quivers through and finds his father thankful (a rare thing). Julian asks Nix to tell the King that "Eric's Weir are acting up" and Julian expects to have them under control by the end of the day. Nix heads toward the King's breakfast chamber and finds himself waiting to speak to the King as the King argues with Corwin.


Scene 3: Dalziel joins the breakfast, too

Dalziel wakes up and heads toward the King's breakfast room. He sees Nix in the hall (but doesn't know him) and joins the page, who is waiting to interrupt Random and Corwin, who are shouting at one another. Dalziel edges into the room, listens to the argument for a minute, and interrupts to tell the King that Bleys has left the castle for a short while, but asked his family to stay and help the King. Dalziel tries to help Random find the best course of action for the royals to proceed. Just as Random is getting especially upset about Bleys, Dalziel reveals that Abn Haram had been asking about how to blow things up in Amber.

Random reveals that the dead folks from Chaos "should have been burning and they weren't burning." Things here are supposed to be fine-tuned to keep the Chaosites out. But that fine-tuning seems to be failing. Random tells the story of Nykae fighting with swords, recently out of the bath, but still wearing her bracelets. When her blood sprayed across the room, it started smoking. Random imagined that the bracelets gave her protection from the magic of Amber. He reveals that he kept one of the bracelets.

In the discussion of the fight, it becomes evident that "Caine's assassination attempt" revealed a crucial flaw in the Amber defenses. Dalziel reveals, secretly, that his scientific research makes him think that their inability to discuss how to secure the kingdom endangers us all. Dalziel offers himself as the King's science man, suggests he would be helpful to learn about the nature of the kingdom. Random declares that Dalziel will be the Royal Science Advisor™, and challenges him to figure out how the assassins came through the cabinet. Random also offers David the job of Royal Chef.

Corwin takes Dalziel for a walk, and gives him a chance to ask questions and find answers. Corwin tells Dalziel what he knows of the magic that makes Amber work the way it does. Oberon's setup created a situation designed to stop an arms race. Dalziel expresses concern that the members of the family could cause a lot of trouble. They chat about Corwin's discovery of Amber gunpowder, but he won't give Dalziel much information about it. Dalziel insists that his efforts could help detect and protect against our enemies. Corwin says the pattern likes us, Dalziel asks if he's being cryptic, Corwin thinks it's more than that -- the universe that he made maybe wanted to be made. Corwin worries he infected Dalziel with the idea of the universe, but offers to bring a sample of the explosive substance at some point in the future.

Scene 4: Medore and Corwin head to the Cenotaph

After Corwin finishes his conversation with Dalziel, he gets Medore from their rooms and invites them to visit the cemetery. Medore is dressed in an outfit not unlike a priest's robes. They go riding toward the cenotaph, and Corwin points out that the Forest Arden grew up aggressively. He says part of it didn't grow after the war, and other parts DID. They travel to the two stone cenotaphs, one for Medore's mother--Dierdre--one for Corwin himself. Corwin reminisced about Dierdre, telling Medore about her life and her death. He explains to Medore that he tried for a couple years to find Dierdre and had no luck. He had the feeling of anticipation for her return, Iktsuarpok.

Medore mentions that they've had less than a day to deal with Dierdre's death. The first time Medore was in Amber, Eric didn't want them to walk the pattern -- Dierdre let them walk anyway. The second time they visited.... Amidst the diplomatic incidents, Medore has been distracted from discussing Dierdre.  Medore says Corwin seems like the only one who's given Dierdre her due, so Medore offers to help defend Amber in Dierdre's memory.

Medore asks Corwin - "what would my mother be doing if she were here right now in Amber?" Corwin says it depends on whether she and Random were getting along. Corwin thinks he might have to go lean on Caine. She was strong and smart, but would figure out the moment when she HAD to lean in. Medore asks to learn more, and Corwin tells the story of the other brother who sided with Chaos. Corwin acknowledges that this conversation will lead him on a wild goose chase again, but Medore assures him it will be different this time. He mentions getting help from Fiona first and extensively, but then later wondering if maybe she was actually leading him astray. So he got Random, Bleys, Llewella, Gerard and Benedict together to give it another try. He didn't ask Caine or Julian to help. There are also people who are missing. Medore comes away from the discussion feeling like they should be the one who goes to confront Caine.

GM's reconstruction of the scene at the Cenotaph, based on my prep notes:  (Some of the lines below are appropriated from Alyson Noel and others from Edna St. Vincent Millay, because the GM Corwin steals lines stands on the shoulders of giants.)

She doesn't have a proper grave, because there was no body, but I did raise a Cenotaph in her memory. It's a decent spot for a picnic, with a breathtaking view of Arden, yet far enough away that no nosy relatives are likely interrupt us.

As I was almost saying last night, when we were kids, your mother and I were thick as thieves. Twin blades, back-to-back against our Father, our Brothers, and the World. Then, later, I messed that up, and have always regretted it. 

She was my favorite relative, which means little, and my favorite person, which means a good deal more.

If I should manage to do right by you, Medore, it would help me feel a bit better about an ancient karmic equity, a debt I'd thought I'd lost all opportunity to repay.

I'm coming on strong, I know, and your instinct should be to distrust every word I say. Just the same, I hope that, given time, we might grow to be friends.

On the topic of grief:

In my experience, you never really stop missing someone -- you just learn to live around outskirts of the huge gaping hole of their absence. Tiptoeing around it by daylight, falling in deep at night.

Your mother was beautiful, and brilliant, and ferocious. The ultimate survivor, the embodiment of grace under pressure. A perfect princess and a bitchy tomboy, somehow both at once without it feeling a contradiction. 

What I'm saying is, she could cut a rug, and she could cut a man in half. Backwards and in high heels for either, if need be.

She had 5 cruel older brothers, me among them, and an abusive psychopath for a father, and she could play as nasty and hard as any of us, but she could also surprise you with a tenderness that was uniquely her own. It couldn't have been easy being the first daughter in a family like that. When we were young, I tried to protect her, especially from Eric, who blamed her for our mother's death, ...but from Dad, too. Eventually, she grew up, and insisted on doing her own protecting.

If asked about her death:

She perished on the battlefield, axe in hand and fully armored. Her murder was the final act of treason by a villain who had tried to Brand the entire universe with his own iron. She fought him all the way, but he pulled her with him into the yawning emptiness at the end of all universes.

There was no body, so I held out hope. I tried her Tarot a hundred times. I walked among the enemy, and asked all the leading experts in Chaos if there was any chance of survival. No one lost to that pit has ever returned. I tried anyway. I even asked for fairly risky help from my sister that understands the cards better than all but their original artist. We failed, and I still didn't give up. My worse if wiser self remembered a time when Fi had sabotaged an attempt by a group of us to save someone else by card. So I gathered a different group of family, without her, and nagged them into all trying it together. When that failed too, I even went in search of that original artist I alluded to earlier, but he was no longer home. Nothing, nothing, and nothing again, each less sane than the nothing before it.

After all that failure and nothingness, I decided to build a cenotaph for Deirdre, here, next to mine. Some sort of wish-fulfilment, I guess. 

Whenever I'm here at her Cenotaph, I get this intense feeling of Iktsuarpok - You know what I mean? It's a word from this little place I used to live, called Earth. On Earth there were these people, the Inuits. I spent a long hard year with them before walking home when our ships got stuck in the ice. Anyway, they had this word, Iktsuarpok... it means the intense anticipation that you feel when waiting for someone to arrive, that keeps sending you out into the cold every few minutes to see if they're here yet, even though you know that if they were out there, they'd be rushing inside to warm up next to your fire.

Scene 5: Maarit sleeps in

Maarit wakes, meditates, then heads for brunch.


Scene 2b: David counsels Random, Nix delivers a message

Random feels unconfident about his choices and performance thus far. David implies that Caine and Bleys are working to undermine Random. Nix arrives and delivers Julian's message that Eric's Weir are causing a bit of trouble, but will be under control by evening. Nix is invited to join them for breakfast. He mentions off hand that the chef wanted time alone with the banquet hall, and mentions the other rumors he heard about the banquet. He and David get to talking about Xandria and Narnia. David never agrees to become head chef for Random.


Scene 1b: Abn Haram in the library
An old book on law and politics in Amber declare that Osric and Findo were removed from the line of succession before they died. It's unclear what that means for Abn Haram's status, but the book is a summary, not a direct translation. Osric was arrested in Karm and then transferred to Amber, where he was held in the dungeons. He learns that concessions were made to Karm, and that a discussion regarding the line of succession is ongoing. Haram discovers that if he's able to prove his paternity, he might have a claim to keep the king from exiling him.

(The player keeping these notes was away from keyboard for a bit, so there's a hole in the log here.)

Scene 5b: Maarit goes to get Bronze
The stablehand feels embarrassed and scared that he misunderstood Maarit's nature when he was telling Maarit about Sand. She asks to take him for a ride or a walk. They take the horse out, and Maarit goes a' ridin. The horse is very excited to go riding, Maarit leads him down the royal promenade, by the valley. The horse leads Maarit to a rarely-used road that runs along the shore, far from the woods among civilized territory. The horse leads her to a series of intersections toward ericsburn.

The horse catches something on the wind, then turns and heads on a route and begins moving faster. This leads past another sign, heads further along the path. Maarit discovers that Bronze is heading past Baylesport, toward Murn. She decides that she doesn't want to risk going out into shadow, or just several days out near the woods full of werewolves, and so she turns around and heads back to the Castle.


Scene 4b: Medore and Corwin in the Grove of the Unicorn.

Coming down from the Cenotaphs, Corwin leads Medore on a different route to the bluffs overlooking Garnath, to a place called the Grove of the Unicorn. He says that in times of trouble, the Unicorn would often show up here in visions. If it doesn't, he thinks that might be a good sign that the current troubles are more minor than they seem. They wait a while, and then decide to ride off. But wait! There is a unicorn here! It's just not the tiny alabaster-and-mother-of-pearl creature Corwin is used to. It's a full sized black horse with a golden horn and bloody claw marks on its haunches. It's leary of Corwin, but seems to be okay with Medore. Medore tends its wounds while Corwin stays at a distance. Then there are horns and hounds in the distance. Several Weir rush into the area, but they aren't attacking, their running for their lives. Corwin and Medore kill a few and scatter the others. One even jumps off the cliff!. Then Julian's hounds arrive in pursuit, and this is too much, the Black Unicorn runs off into the woods. There's a tense moment where Corwin has to kill a couple of the hounds before Julian shows up to call them off. The hounds try to chase the Black Unicorn (which Julian hasn't seen) so Corwin claims it's Medore's horse that was a gift from her mom. Julian's reaction to Medore makes Corwin's awkward double-take seem progressive and sensitive by comparison.


Scene 3b: Dalziel talks to Random again

Dalz and Random have another longer conversation, and the King actually opens up a bit. He acknowledges the Jewel of Judgment is how the nature of Amber can be tuned, and cops to having done a bit of that. He says his attempts were mostly social equity improvements, not laws of magic or science changes, but acknowledges he's learning as he goes and could be changing more than he realizes. He also speculates that changes could have been made by Oberon, Dworkin, Eric, or Corwin. Another bombshell concerns actual bombshells: Random says that according to old records and things Benedict has told him, Corwin's rifle company wasn't the first time guns had fired in Amber. They did so thousands of years ago, in the days of Osric and Finndo. He said Dad changed things after that so it wouldn't work any more. Dalz suggests that Corwin's universe could have "evil twins" of people they know. Random says that Corwin had promised to show him his universe, and then went AWOL for three years instead. They talk about the ramifications of reflections and galaxies. Random spells out how Rebma reflects Amber. King Oberon went missing and thereafter Queen Moins vanished. Queen Moire took the throne of Rebma and some years later Eric became King of Amber. Eric and Moire died within a few days of each other, each fighting against their realm's version of the Black Road. By rights, Random's son Martin (son of Morganthe the deceased daughter of Moire) should have been King of Rebma, but Random didn't really back his play, and an underdog candidate Queen Psamathe took the throne of Rebma instead. This causes Random to remember that there's a Jewel of Judgment analog in Rebma, and he wonders if that couldn't be what's changing things in Amber, since he's not sure who has it. Random essentially confesses that he's not only be making tweaks with the jewel, but that he's also actively trying to subvert the power and financial systems of Amber and bring power to the downtrodden at home and abroad.  Random talks about the Primal Pattern Land, but without calling it that or really providing many details. Dalziel advocates for the idea of bringing thousands of scientists to study Amber and make it all open-source.



Quote Log: Night 5 10/26/20
Compiled by one of my players during the game, these are memorable statements by players and/or the GM.

• “We draw energy from what we consume.” -David
  

• “Are you asking me to leave?"  "...I think I might be asking you to leave."  "Well, let me know when you know.” -Abn Haram / King Random
  
   
• “Welcome to the Family…" - Corwyn
  
  "Fuck!” -Dalziel
  
   
• "Go and spend time with your niece and mourn the dead. But don't forget about me please." - Dal
   
• "I assume I can't just pee a Pattern into the snow..." - Dal
  
   
• "It doesn't work like that. I don't just magically know everyone's secrets... I only magically know the secrets of those I choose to focus on.” - Fiona
  
   
• “You never really get over losing someone. You dance around the edges of the gaping hole they left during the day and you fall in hard at night.” Corwyn
   
• “She could cut a rug, and she could cut a man in half, both backward and in high heels if necessary.” Corwyn
   
• “And here I am, a horrible mess of a man, and I manage to turn my memorial of her in to talking about myself."   "Well, I wasn’t going to say anything....” Corwyn / Medore
  
   
• “I may have to decline to answer your question on the grounds that I would then have to ride back in there and go deal with Caine like Random wants me to.” - Corwyn to Medore
  
   
• “Corwyn: Whatever man… oh… I’m sorry
  
  Medore: You aren’t wrong…
  
  Corwyn: I’ve misread something…
  
  Medore: No you haven’t.
  
  Corwyn: I thought you were your mother’s daughter but with her tomboy streak.
  
  Medore: I am…
  
  Corwyn: stammers.”
  

(For context on that last bit, one of the PCs in non-binary, and the NPCs reactions have ranged from acceptance, to awkwardness, to far worse, depending on how open-minded they are and where they fall on the spectrum from hero to villain. One can make a good case that the thesis of the first five novels is that Corwin starts out wrong about everything, but every 50 pages or so he discovers that he was wrong about something else and adjusts his world view to incorporate the new information. That trend holds true with this topic as well.)

Platypus Justification

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced the Platypus only exists because God needed a CR3 monster for the third room of his new "Australia" dungeon, and he'd already used up Owlbears in the first room and Displacer Beasts in the second.

A Horse Of Another Timbre: Campaign Log, Session 4

 The following is the campaign log for the fourth session of my current Amber Diceless RPG campaign. Most of this log was typed up by one my players (thanks, Brendan!) during the session. I've added a few notes of my own. 

You can Start from Session #1 or just Rewind to Session #3.

Campaign log: 12 October

Setting the Scene: The first few sessions were a failed assassination attempt and a murder investigation set against the backdrop of a banquet in Amber with visitors from Chaos. Tangential investigations continues in this session more than anything else.

The PCs are:

• Dalziel, son of Bleys. A scientist who has been in Amber for several months.
  
• Maarit, daughter of Sand. An orphan who never met her mother.
• Spinturnix, son of Julian. Grew up in Forest Arden.
  
• Medore, child of Dierdre, just recently arrived in Amber to learn Dierdre is dead.
  
• David Weyreth is a retired officer from the militaries of Amber.
  
• Abn Haram, the human-shaped son of Lady Nykae of Chaos. 
  

Most of the NPCs are from the novels. Not just the big-name Amber Royals, but also plenty of minor characters, such as Will and Dik, who only show up in a paragraph or three of a single novel each. I was particularly happy with the way I utilized Roger and Rolf, two castle guards from the novels. Another non-Royal is completely my own invention: Jinna the Scullion, who dispensed exposition and minor clues in several later sessions as well.

A few major Chaosites show up in this session: Nykae is the mother of one of the PC, and serves as General in the armies of her brother Sevran. Other minor Chaosites such as Brute and Steward are present as well, these are all connected to Abn Haram's character sheet in one way or another. Allies, minions, conjuration results, etc.

Scene 1: Abn Haram heads to the stable with Steward - Abn Haram, Steward, Brute in the stables of Castle Amber
Abn Haram stuck Kimchee in his eye. (He was trying to figure out if chemical weapons work in Amber.) Steward shows up with a painting, front/back, and some Amber chess pieces. 

That's the back of the painting. It's sort of a map.

Steward says she was on an errand for Abn Haram's mother, Nykae. They head for the stables.

Abn Haram wanders the castle some more, and Maarit (who was in the opposite end of the stables, see scene 3 below) decides to stay on his trail.

Abn Haram tries to use the Tarot to find his mother (the card grows cold but he cannot establish a connection). Haram asks a guard if he can have someone contact King Random, but no one is willing to do so. Haram goes to the library and marvels at the old timey technology. He browses the organizational materials, histories, scientific treatises, etc. Haram makes an excuse to head for the toilet when he senses contact through a Tarot.

It's his Uncle Sevran; they chat about the state of things. Sevran suggests Nykae might be injured, suggests it's suspicious that Haram hasn't seen her. Sevran tells Haram that Nykae was trying to get "some objects," directed toward an effort to reach Haram's father. Haram passes the chess set and painting through to Sevran. Sevran decides to bring Haram into his confidence in his mother's absence. Nykae and Sevran have been watching a hole in reality, which has been growing. Recently the hole ruptured and a "horse with a horn" came out of the hole, killed people, and escaped. Sevran's trackers went after it, but they haven't returned.

Sevran says he will assemble a group of people to try and force a call to Nykae. Haram gives Sevran's card to Steward to use to give Sevran regular updates. Maarit and Haram chat about Haram's pretend diarrhea that he used as an excuse to avoid being observed on his call.

Haram studied the painting before he passed it to Sevran - the painting is very old, has cracks where it was folded. No tarot quality to it, but the paints are very high quality. It has the potential to have some under painting. 

GM's Note: I have had very little luck in anticipating the motivations and actions of Abn Haram. His player always surprises me, which is really cool, but does sometime result in wasted efforts on my part. This map-like-thing (above) was clearly a secret the character's mother was interested in, with an implication that it was the whole point of her traveling to Amber. It was also implied to be related to the disappearance of his father (Osric). We're six months and a dozen sessions since that prop's introduction, and this thread has gone more or less nowhere. That's okay, the campaign has a lot of subplots, so there's plenty happening. It _may_ mean that this could prop back up later in the campaign if the plot ever slows down a bit. Which will probably feel like a cool call-back when and if that happens. Until and unless it does, though, I can't help but feel like it's a failure on my part. A bit of a fizzle in an otherwise excellent campaign.

Scene 2: Dalziel heads for the dungeon to check on the pattern - Dalziel, Rolf, Roger, and what's left of Will in Dungeons of Amber
Dalziel sees the guards Rolf and Roger, discovers that someone "fell" down the stairs. They report that someone tried to access the dungeon. The story Rolf tells: the guard Will came by with a junk of drink, they imbibed, then a person from the Court came by to try to get down the stairs, called himself "Thelkor," Will relieved Rolf while he whizzed, and when he returned, he found Will missing. Roger reported that Will fell down the stairs and had a burnt artifact. Dalziel examines the burnt object, which smells like a burned heavily-decayed body. The object that fell with Will has human-like teeth in it. Roger mentions he thought he saw a hand reaching from the burning corpse.

GM's Meta-Note: Rolf, Roger, and Will are actual minor characters from the Amber novels. All three are guards in Amber's dungeons. Of the three, only Roger gets any memorable lines or development in the books: he's basically an author-insert character. The books are written by Roger Zelazny, and Roger the guard is writing a novel at his guard post. My real-life name happens to be Rolfe, so I decided to give Rolf a tiny bit of development and screen time as well, as a tip of the hat. In one of these early sessions (probably this one) there was a fair bit of meta-/sub-text to the banter as Rolf and Roger talked about how they split the responsibilities of keeping the Pattern safe.

The pattern is glowing but seems undisturbed. Dalziel decides to secure the door with himself inside, sends Roger back to his post.

2b: Dalziel waits at the pattern. - Dalziel, Corwin, Dungeons of Amber
He uses the opportunity to study the pattern, attempting to draw it on a page, checking out the pattern. The proportions of the pattern keep messing up the drawing. Eventually, Corwin knocks on the door and Dalziel lets him in. They discuss the odd state of Will and his attacker. Dalziel worries about pattern whizzers. Corwin says he needs to go check the corpses in the murder scene; he asks Dalziel to go check on Maarit, and then to bed.

2c: Dalziels slumbers - Dalziel and Bleys
As he sleeps, Dalziel dreams of walking around the pattern, but its fire has gone out and instead it smokes, as if full of incense. Time stretches and he finds himself fruitlessly walking around the pattern, getting nowhere. He spots his father on the other side of the pattern, speaking to him but beyond being heard. Finally his father shouts at the top of his lungs and can barely be heard shouting, "Wake up, Dalziel! Wake up!"

As he wakes, he receives a Tarot contact from his dad. Bleys asks Dalziel for info (says Dalziel is the "most trustworthy" person there). He indicates that there's "blood in the water" and says Caine is up to something, and that there might be a war. He suggests Caine is mounting an offensive against Random, and says he can avoid taking a side by not being there. Dalziel suggests that the assassins LOOK like they were sent by Bleys.

Bleys ponders the idea that there is an impending coup, wonders if Corwin is still in the capital, thinking that having a powerful brother of the King in town would help keep Caine from advancing "his coup." He asks Dalziel to pass along the impression that Bleys is still there, contemplating the defense of the city. He also gives Dalziel a request to find or speak to David, and then suggests that Dalziel get David's message for Bleys.

They also discuss the burning bodies / burned bodies, and some magic / person who makes beings appear? They discuss whether someone else might be marshalling a new attack on Amber. Bleys, a bit annoyed, breaks things off. 

GM's Edit: The thing that caused Bleys to break off was Dalz thanking him for including him in things and not treating him like a child. Bleys said "let's not get all sappy about it" or something to that effect as he broke off the contact.

Scene 3: Maarit heads for the stables - Maarit, Mathis, Bronze
She looks for some guards on her way, adding the stables to their rosters. Then she finds a spot to sit in the stables where she can listen for Abn Haram to guard him, subtly. Steward sees Maarit and alerts Abn Haram to the surveillance. Haram goes back to sleep.

Maarit admires Bronze, a strangely-patterned horse (it's striped brown and green), and chats with a stablehand about it -- who reveals that these are "wonder horses." She and the stablehand open the idea that she might come back and ride the horse. Bronze belonged to Sand, whom Maarit has never met, but has been told is her mother. Bronze has been maintained in these stables for a very long time.



Scene 4: Medore questions Dik - Medore, Nix (Spinturnix), Dik in Castle Amber
Upon realizing Medore is trying to get Dik alone, Nix stays in the library while Medore walks toward Dik's quarters. Medore questions Dik about the messages written under the plates. Dik confesses that he smuggled a gift on behalf of Lady Karm to Abn Haram, some sort of light love token. Medore promises to protect Dik in exchange for his help finding out which Kitchen staff might have planted the message. Dik suggests Ginna the Scullion seems suspicious, as does the chef.

Dik mentions the message he had to give - "The door is open far below...Lady Karm remembers the debt owed to Gehenna's finest son... Many happy returns" - it was accompanied by a key. Dik hands out a folded-over handkerchief with a gravy-stain image of the key stuck on it. Medore assures Dik that he's protected.

4b: Medore meets up with Corwin - Medore, Corwin,
Medore asks Corwin about Lady Karm, that she's trying to reach out to the Chaosites.. Medore suggests that it was a servant who wrote the message, and Corwin agrees, but suggests it was done at the behest of a family member. Medore says it could have been "Jinna the Scullion" or "Chef Wilhelm." Corwin invites Medore to join him in the morning at the place where Corwin likes to go to remember Medore's mother.

Corwin asks more about Karm's message, Medore repeats the message to Corwin. They proceed to the ambassadorial suite, then stab some bodies and rifle through their clothes. The bodies start smoking after he stabs them; Corwin puts the smoking body in the bath tub and takes its clothes. They search the bodies to see if they're carrying any shared item. They each have a piece of iron jewelry, which Corwin finds significant. Corwin suggests he'd want the King to arrest the Chaos delegation. Corwin establishes that the murdered Chaosites smoke or burn when he stabs their corpses with Greyswandir; the assassins do NOT smoke.

Medore and Corwin discuss the next steps -- who they can trust, which door they think the key opens. Medore gives the gravy napkin to Corwin, then heads for the kitchen. He gossips with the kitchen staff and learns that the Chef yelled at everyone that night, was fussy for his table settings. Medore has a tasty dessert and reports to Corwin before he goes to bed.


Scene 5: David leaves Caine's ship - David, Caine and (Caine's nephew from Rebma?) aboard the Venom
As David leaves Caine's ship, he sees an eddy of water and a submarine from Rebma surfaces. The person on the ship calls out that his uncle is expecting him, and Caine's crew invites the unknown person aboard. David, having seen this, rows ashore and heads for his camp to go to bed. He arranges for an early call.  

5b. David makes breakfast - David in City of Amber then Castle Amber
David rises early, takes a run to the early markets, and then begins cooking breakfast for King Random. He learns that Chef Wilhelm has taken the morning off, so David makes the relatively simple dish: pancetta something something something (not at all simple). David has to rush and ends up giving the King a plate of total garbage. 

(David's Edit: In fact, I simply stopped curing the pancetta a few minutes early, so it may be only somewhat less salty than optimal. And the meal is pancetta, oysters, and crayfish in a soft scramble with Egg-Avocado toast, which I assure you is quite simple, in the grand scheme of culinary things: a protein scramble with toast, more or less. One must be mindful of what one puts in one's body, yes?)

GM's Edit: That is one of the great things about running your game online, and having logs and pages the players can access. Players can jump in and later clarify bits that others didn't catch the first time. I'm lucky to have such active participants.

Scene 6: Nix roams the castle - Nix (Spinturnix), Jinna the scullion, Hendon in Castle Amber
Nix spends about an hour researching a) recent events at the castle and b) methods of movement among shadow. After learning a bit, he leaves to try and dig up a little gossip with the scullery maid. He chats with Jinna, the scullery maid, who reveals that the banquet wasn't well attended, that Droppa MaPants chased everyone out with his bad performance, and that Lord Bleys was in charge. Nix learns that Chef Wilhelm demanded some time alone with the table settings, and later Bleys did the "yank the tablecloth" magic trick. Next, Nix seeks out Hendon to find lodgings. After revealing who his identity, Hendon eagerly helps Nix find rooms. Nix takes modest rooms near Julian's wing of the castle. Hendon tells Nix he'd be welcome to have lunch with King Random the next day.



Quote Log:

“I can still deny everything. I don’t know anything about it.” -Abn Haram

I rub a bit of Kimchee in my eye. Does it hurt?  I am a man of science after all!  - Peter/Abn Haram

"I'm giving him space, but also making sure that he doesn't get got." -Marit

“I’ll protect your secret, but in exchange, you will help me figure out who on the kitchen staff had motive to leave those messages.” -Medore

“My friends do very well… I protect my friends.” -Medore

“That does make sense… he is always trying to get in mah pants too.” -Kitchen Maid

“Yes, turns out Dick is the center of the universe.” -Rolfe

“I am in a bit of a hurry, I had a lot of that Kimchee.” -Abn Haram, hoping to not be followed into the bathroom

I supposed we should serve less Kimchee next time. -Marit

“I haven’t had a party this interesting in at least six months.” -Medore

"Family is far more plural than it used to be." -- Corwin, to Dalziel

A Song Of Ice And Fan Theories

 In the Discord group we'd set up for my Amber campaign, me and my players were discussing our favorite Fan Theories from various media. I decided to snip my rambling opinions from there and repost it here, because I feel I did a decent job of summarizing some complicated and nerdy theories.

I will say, if you like fan theories, and can stomach a bit of literary gore, you'll find no series of novels more rewarding than A Song Of Ice And Fire. They are intentionally written to encourage infinite dissection and analysis. Every chapter has a point-of-view character, which are chosen by the author to very strictly control the reader's access to what's really happening and what the prime movers actually think about it. Varys and Baelish and most of the other big conspirators never get POV chapters of their own, so you're constantly trying to puzzle out their schemes from what others observe. Most viewers of the show are aware of the famous fan theory about John Snow's true parentage (which was proven true after the show outpaced the novels) but there's hundreds of fan theories conjecturing all sorts of secret conspiracies and hidden meanings, and I'd guess more than 30 of those hundreds are actually truly what the author intends to reveal by the end of the series. If you want to send your brain down a deep dark rabbit-hole, ASOIAF is your bunny-burrow. 

The following Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones theories are without major spoilers, unless of course all my harebrained theories prove ultimately to be true. So most likely <1% spoilers, but with an outside chance that it's 100% spoilers if I'm actually correct on all counts. And if it is possible that I'm right on any of this, it's not because I'm clever. None of these theories are my own, they're almost all from random videos on Youtube. I've collected them here because I've never seen them in one short place in print together, but generally posted in multi-chapter youtube video channels.

 Where to start: The internet has determined that the final season of GOT was not up to the same standards of the previous seasons. I believe the reason it falls apart is because the motives and schemes of the two most important manipulative bastards in the novels, Varys and Littlefinger, simply proved to be too byzantine to translate to the screen. Once their goals were cut, it left huge holes where the plot should have been, and the show-runners couldn't fill the gaps in a way that lived up to the premise.

So here's my beliefs on the motives and backstories of Varys and Littlefinger in the novels:

Varys is a secret Blackfyre, and this hidden King's Blood within him is why he was castrated by the wizard in his youth. Young Griff (a character who didn't even make it into the show) is not the semi-secret Targaryen he appears to be, but is actually a secret Blackfyre. Specifically, he is the son of Varys's sister Serra, who was the second wife of Illyrio Mopatis. Serra and Varys are matrilineally descended from the Blackfyre line. Varys is just looking to put his own nephew on the throne, which is a simple-enough goal, but you would have to put 300 years of world-building and history on the screen to explain who the Blackfyres are and why anyone should care. That's a lot (s)exposition, even for GOT.  Also, Young Griff doesn't show up until maybe book 4 or so, meaning there would have been no way to introduce him before Season 5, and giving him a major story arc at that point would have taken too much focus off the fan-favorite characters (Jon and Dany).

Peter "Littlefinger" Baelish has goals that are legitimately much harder to make seem sensible on screen. Hidden mystical /occult goals, that involve deceptively-fulfilling specific bits of prophecy in front of the Weirwood trees. The most powerful supernatural beings of the setting can see through the trees. Baelish's goal is to fool the Gods (or at least the three-eyed raven) into thinking he is the messiah. He is definitely NOT actually The Prince Who Was Promised, but if you can only see the things he does in front of the Weirwood Trees, he is recreating all the story beats of the in-universe tales of  Bael the Bard, the Night's Queen, and Azor Ahai myth-cycles. It's a little unclear to me what power he thinks this will get him, but he does very specific things in places where specifically only the Children of the Forest can see them happening, and coincidentally these are also the only places in the world where the Children of the Forest would be able to see him. Each such action casts him in the role of the hero figure of yore who kidnapped a Stark bride, or the other hero figure of yore who defeated the Others. It probably also means he's planning to sacrifice Sansa in a ritual. Tangential to all this, it is also worth noting that all the major plotpoints that take place 17 years prior to the first novel, including the deaths of Ned Stark's father and the birth of Robert's Rebellion, are also events engineered by Peter Baelish. It's just not clear to me yet if he did these things to advance his magical agenda, or if said occult agenda came about after seeing as a young man how easy it was to upend the world.

Credits: Most of the Baelish stuff came from videos by Preston Jacobs. There are a ton of videos about Varys and Young Griff being Blackfires, but I know I've watched some (f)Aegon videos by In Deep Geek that we pretty great. So if you want to learn more about these theories, those are your search terms. Happy hunting.

As I said there are hundreds more theories of ASOIAF, and I think a few dozen are likely to be true, but those two are among my favorites, and their absence goes a long way towards explaining the way Varys and Littlefinger fizzle out in the later seasons of GOT.

A Horse Of Another Timbre: Campaign Log, Session 3

  The following is the campaign log for the third session of my current Amber campaign. Most of this log was typed up by one my players (thanks, Brendan!) during the session. I've added a few notes of my own.  Click here to start with session #1 or session #2.

 

Campaign log: 28 September 2020, turn by turn

Setting the Scene: Much of the previous session took place at a somewhat sabotaged dinner party in Castle Amber. At the start of this session, Bleys brings the banquet to an end by bringing Droppa Ma'Pantz, the Court Jester, in to do a performance. The performance is borderline offensive. Lord Rein leads the exodus out of the hall, largely to assist in clearing the room before minor nobles can start asking questions about why the King and Queen never showed up to their own party.

Most of this session is a murder investigation, being conducted by 6 PCs and multiple NPCs, none of whom particularly trust one another.  Information was dolled out slowly and tightly, with lots of scenery chewing to help establish characters, and some detective legwork of the crime-scene procedural variety as well.

The PCs are:

• Dalziel, son of Bleys. A scientist who has been in Amber for several months.
  
• Maarit, daughter of Sand. An orphan who never met her mother.
• Spinturnix, son of Julian. Grew up in Forest Arden.
  
• Medore, child of Dierdre, just recently arrived in Amber to learn Dierdre is dead.
  
• David Weyreth is a retired officer from the militaries of Amber.
  
• Abn Haram, the human-shaped son of Lady Nykae of Chaos. 
  

Most of the NPCs are from the novels. Not just the big-name Amber Royals, but also plenty of minor characters, the non-Royals who only show up in a paragraph or three of a single novel. Lord Feldane, for example, is present at the final battle of the Black Road War, and witness to the deaths of Deirdre and Brand.


Scene 1: David, Bleys, Lord Feldane,  -  (Banquet hall)
David listens to Bleys talk to Lord Feldane, who is worried he offended the King. Then Bleys chats with David about Caine; Bleys is worried about Caine's motives, learns that Caine is "fascinated" with David, Bleys asks David to make contact (for the children!). Bleys reveals three potential bad things Caine did recently:

    1) Hiring the treacherous captain that attacked the Chaos delegation in on the boat.
    2) Put the insulting messages on the buffet table to call out the Chaos delegation and the King for treating with them.
    3) something far worse, but Bleys doesn't say what exactly (GM: because he doesn't actually know yet) and wants David to try to get info about it from Caine.
 

David notices the guards are writing down who leaves. He goes to the harbor and surveys the ships in the harbor, they are the Venom, the Revenge, and the Knife in the Dark. He commissions a dinghy to go out in the harbor. He rowed out to the ship he thought was likely Caine's ship, The Venom. He spots Caine on deck, Caine has the crew lower a rope down to the boat, David rows toward the ship.

Scene 2: Abn Haram, Dalziel, Maarit, and Corwin,  (Banquet hall in Castle Amber, then Dalziel's lab)
Haram, Dalziel, and Maarit leave the hall to go discuss science, taking food with them to Dalziel's Lab. Dalziel's Lab is snazzy and as high tech as possible without electricity. Abn Haram examines Dal's equipment. They have a discussion of how fire works in Amber. Haram explores heat and water, Maarit goes to get safety devices.

Dalziel thinks about two principles:

    The numbers/ laws of physics here are not the same as they were shadow worlds.
    As something approaches weaponization, it becomes harder to use

As they talk about these things, Abn Haram feels like someone is making a "bad call" to his Tarot card, so he moves into another room. Abn Haram focuses and connects with Sevran, a blue-fur tentacled horror who is a friend, calling from a place where there's a lot of entropic energy and a hole in reality. The friend warns that there's been a "development at the rift" which might affect the negotiations. It asks if "the various missions have been a success" and asks for Haram's mother to call it.

After the call, Haram excuses himself to head back to his mother's chambers; Dalziel calls Corwin to warn him that Haram is on his way back to the suite.

The group heads toward the ambassadorial suite. Corwin asked Dalziel to stall him, but Abn Haram continues at speed. Maarit and Dalziel keep up with him. Lord Corwin appears and tells Haram that his mother (Nike) had been attacked; she killed 14 people in defending herself. Corwin reveals she's been removed to another place and the King isn't answering calls. Haram, Dalziel, and Maarit accompany Corwin into the murder scene. Haram sees neither Brute nor Steward among the corpses. The assassins are humanoid but not human.

    Bald assassins with chunky jaws, bloodshot eyes, jaws open (in horror? or someone was checking their mouths)
    wearing functional black clothing, like ninja outfits with sport coats
    Stabbed to death (recognizably by Nike's sword skills)
    Back of one assassin's hand has a bony protrusion
    Door is damaged FROM THE INSIDE
    Haram notices: It was a surprise attack, seemingly from the wardrobe?
    Wet footprints on the floor - was Nike in the bath when the attack began?
    Likely conclusion: the assassins trumped in, or perhaps one or two were hiding inside and trumped in.
    There are a pair of men's shoeprints and women's shoeprints that Corwin doesn't mention.

Haram suggests the door was "broken in," and Corwin suggests someone smashed against the door from inside, then explains the battle scene in detail. Meanwhile, Maarit uses her pendulum to investigate. Haram steps to the side and reaches out to Nike through his Tarot card, but gets no connection at all. Corwin said that Random took Nike to a surgery in a place shielded against the tarot.

Abn Haram starts to cut open one of the assassins; Corwin starts to object but then changes his mind and says Haram could go ahead. Corwin indicates that he's seen the creatures before, reveals that forensics might be valuable. Haram passive-aggressively implies Corwin isn't working hard to solve the attack. A card call to the King fails to connect.

Scene 3: Nix and Medore in the library with Dik and eventually Corwin and Umbra
Dik arrives in the library, being gently pursued by Medore. He tries to lock the door but Medore shoves the door open. Nix and Medore meet and briefly chat about with Dik a bit about whether he would like to chat. Medore reveals he's Dierdre's son and is supposed to bring Dik to talk to Corwin. Nix indicates he also wanted to speak with Dik, so he accompanies Dik and Medore back to meet with Corwin.

When we return to the banquet hall, Nix and Medore find it mostly abandoned. Medore mentions a "spill" that Dik made / covered up. Medore directs Dik toward the royal chambers; Nix follows. At the royal chambers, they are redirected to the ambassadorial suite, where they meet Corwin. Corwin asks Medore to conduct the interview with Dik, then meets Nix. Corwin asks Nix if he or Julian had anything to do with "this," Nix says no. They turn away.

Nix asks Dik about creatures traveling between shadow worlds, they discuss a few obvious ways the creature could have traveled to the shadow world. Medore's raven arrives and Nix becomes enamored of it. Dik and Medore talk about the message on the tablecloth, then about how politics is scary, then about literature.

Scene 1b: David, Caine - Caine's Ship The Venom - Worlds mentioned: Ikseth, Karm, Hepania, Xandria

Caine waits in the Captain's Quarters of the ship, they chat and meet. David suggests that Chaos is being sown in the city, Caine agrees and says he dislikes the way things are going. Caine tries to recruit David. David tries to confirm that it was about 10 years since he was on a march with Caine.

    Caine did get in the way of a ship, he intentionally got in the way of the ship, knew that there was a mutiny.
    Then David mentions the comments on the tablecloth, and Caine acknowledges that he was behind it (or knew about it).
    He did know that an "enemy general" was being allowed into Amber.
    David tries to ask about the third thing he doesn't know about. Caine doesn't acknowledge whether he knew in advance or not.
    David mentions Llewella, and he and Caine agree that she is patriotic for Rebma more than Amber.  

David changes tack and asks what Caine has been doing "these many years." The routes have changed after the Black Road War. Lands changed and landmarks have been destabilized. David offers to work on Caine's behalf "on the shadow paths." They specifically discuss changes on the routes from Ikseth to Karm by way of Hepania, and how that route was more disturbed by the Great Storm than most - entire islands were in different positions after the war. David has been living in "Xandria." Caine seems to trust or welcome the relationship with David. Caine indicates that he will not condone violence or attacks on Amber itself, but he wants to "course correct" the King.

Scene 2b: (GM's Addendum) Dalziel, Maarit, Abn Haram, and Corwin, and later Steward and Vialle.

The scooby gang inspects the crime scene further. Maarit crawls into the wardrobe, and is certain that somehow, the attackers came out of it. There's a footprint inside suggesting that someone in it kicked the door open, but she can't line up her foot at that angle. It has two marks on it, suggesting that the door was at least twice smashed open from the inside, and hit the corner of the table where a chaos person was pouring a drink. One of the thugs has thug money, like if Al Capone was the Treasury Secretary. None have ID, and they were carrying shortswords as well as guns (though none of them drew their guns).

Abn Haram's Steward walks in from the hallway.

Dalziel tries Queen Vialle's tarot, and is able to reach her. She says Nykae's surgery is wrapping up, and they think she's going to make it. She says both sovereigns of Amber are dedicated to Nykae's safety and survival.  Abn Haram and Steward head to the stables, but might not be leaving.

Corwin reveals about when he'd seen this thugs before, 15 and 10 years ago. The first batch seemed to work for either Bleys or Fiona, and had tried to kill Corwin and Random. The second batch were Caine's attempt to frame whoever they belonged to, but Caine incorrectly thought that was Corwin. This third attempt could belong to Fi or Bleys or Caine, but the could also be Random's. What if the King created the situation that he then rescued Nykae from, as a way to manipulate her?

Corwin notes that Haram seemed less concerned about his mother's welfare than you might expect. He may have known the attack was coming. Corwin also notes that Steward did not comment on where she'd been during the fight. Then Corwin realizes Abn Haram might be half-Amberite, because of what Dara had told him long ago about none of her Chaos relatives being able to look human. Abn Haram is now suspect number one, and Corwin says if he gets to the Pattern, Haram can do worse things than walk it. Dalziel suggested magic may be different here now, because of what Julian said about the Weir.

Corwin assigns a guard each to help Dalziel and Maarit. He tells Dalziel to check that the Pattern chamber is safe, then sweep the Castle for anything else that seems out of place. He tells Maarit to babysit Abn Haram some more. Corwin is going to meet with Medore, and follow-up on something else he thinks may be connected to all this.

Quote Log - Night 3, 9/28/2020

“Fondness might  not be the right word, but maybe fascination would be more appropriate… or fixation.” David

“You wouldn’t want to disappoint the little children!” - Bleys

“Let’s do some science!” - Abn Haram

“Oh my, that would make the two of you cousins, wouldn’t it!” -Dik, realizing that Nix probably wasn't going to cover for him with Medore

“I just can’t get enough of Dick” - Gavin

“Being good at warfare and having a sense of self preservation doesn’t make you not a little shit.” - Andrew

“Since all communication will have to go through you I have to trust you. And since I have no other choice, you have my explicit trust… Thank you, though.” -Abn Haram

“David:        I saw Llewella tonight
Caine: Oh? That is unusual, usually to talk to her I have to lean over the deck.

David: Yes, meetings with Llewella are usually more… wet.
Caine: And not in the fun way.”

My favorite exchange of the night was partly out-of-character:

“The ships are the Venom, the Revenge, and I think the Knife in the Dark was out there at some point.” - Dock Guard.
(So they are all named after virtues? - asks Abn Haram's player)

GM's ruminations: 

This session was about simmering tension. The players started with basically zero knowledge of the murder-mystery, just awareness that bad things were afoot. They interviewed suspects, but didn't yet know the right questions to ask because none of them really knew what had happened until late in the session. They poked a lot dead bodies, and engaged in colorful banter, and slowly put together at least a bit of what was going on. 

Mysteries are absolutely vital to Amber, and you need a lot of them. They don't have to be police-procedurals like this session, but they do need to be layered and complex. This is especially true if your play group isn't particularly hot on the prospect of Amber PVP. Each PC in an Amber game packs a ton of power, so if 2 or 3 PCs collectively decide a particular NPC needs to go down, they usually will pretty fast. For that reason, the Amber GM needs to have multiple pots boiling at any given time, with more than one villain waiting in the wings. Luckily, the canonical NPCs are sneaky, murderous, manipulative bastards... so you can have 1 or 2  Big Bads and additional just-as-big-and-certainly-bad-but-not-necessarily-the-villian-of-the-story types. 

The bodies of the assassins that tried to kill Lady Nykae of Chaos were the spur-handed thugs that appear a few times in Corwin's novels. Most readings of the books interpret them as belonging to Bleys or Fiona, but I feel you can also make a compelling case for them working for Caine or Oberon without having to twist much, and if you assume some of the uncorroborated narrations in the novels are straight-up lies then you could argue that they might be Julian's, Random's, or even Corwin's goons.

It was clear that Caine was up to some sort of power play, but at this point no one was really sure if his motive was truly treason, or was just overzealous patriotism and was only incidentally making the King look bad.  Though David sailed out and talked to Caine, he didn't actually ask him straight up "Did you attempt to kill the Chaos delegation tonight?" As such, the answers he got were inconclusive and maybe even misleading. 

Things were about to get much worse. Tune in next time.