Ariana's log, Chapter 133

"(The players) aren't going to destroy the world until dawn, because they're afraid of the vampires."

Monday, November 21, 4

Ariana asks Lucien if he's warned Angelique about the vampire(s). He figures Angelique can take care of herself. So that means he didn't warn her? She can interpret it however she wishes. And what about Anne-Marie? He shrugs. Ariana leaves and warns Angelique. Angelique seems surprised by the news, but not overly concerned.

Tuesday, November 22, 4

Morning. The Disc-summoning group meets in a fallow field several miles outside of the city. Ariana turns her components over to Meander. A pentagram is drawn, and Alex, Ariana, Ishmael and Meander each stand on one of the points. Bart is brought in to take the fifth point. After making sure that everyone knows how to pronounce their part, Meander begins the spell. Everyone but Ishmael notices a pulling, tugging sensation, and then the group begins channeling a floodgate of magical energy, colored octarine.

After about half an hour, the spell is abruptly cut off. Ariana looks around and realizes that Bart is gone. There's no detectable trace of faerie magic, so everyone assumes that Jack has interfered. Since they can't be sure that the spell was going long enough to have worked, the group decides to gather more components and try again at the Shrine of the Unicorn. They all Trump out just as Gavin rides up on horseback.

Ariana is gathering more components from her garden when she gets a Trump call from Whimsy. Whimsy wants to know what's going on. Ariana pulls Whimsy and Edwin through and explains that she and the others are trying to summon a form of magic that's independent of faerie magic. Does Nicholas know about this? Yes. Whimsy offers the use of her Faerie Ward. Ariana asks her to be the fifth point, in place of Bart. She agrees.

Ariana, Whimsy and Edwin go to the Grove of the Unicorn, where they join Ishmael and Alex. Ishmael glares at Whimsy. Ariana explains why she invited Whimsy to join them. There is much awkward silence until Meander shows up. Ariana loans Alastor to Edwin to use in standing guard over them. The spell is recast. Not long after it begins, several candles are suddenly destroyed by crossbow bolts. The spell dies. Alex tries something with the Logrus and gets shot. Ariana shifts to her armored form. Meander tries to send Caine away. Alex acts as a shield, taking the many crossbow bolts that are sent Meander's way. Ishmael disappears into the woods. Whimsy and Ariana join forces and Trump Caine, but are blocked. Ariana points out that they can still distract Caine for Ishmael, so they keep up the effort. Alex leaves to get more candles. The Trump contact with Caine suddenly vanishes. Ishmael reappears shortly thereafter. Everyone waits for Alex to return.

Alex returns and the group casts the spell a third time. Fifteen minutes go by, then Ariana gets hit on the back of the head and briefly loses consciousness. When she wakes up, Ishmael is kneeling by Alex, who has a knife in his back, while Meander, Edwin and Whimsy are gone. She also senses an answering call to the spell. Ishmael explains that Whimsy vanished with Edwin, and then Meander was pulled into the ground. Ariana Trumps Meander, who appears to be in a castle sitting room. Ariana tells him to hold his hand out and pulls him through, reuniting him with Abel. Alex appears to be healing his spinal injury somewhat slowly, so Ariana offers to help. Alex looks dubious, but accepts. Ariana quickly finishes the job.

Alex gets a Trump call and pulls Random through. Random asks what's going on. Alex explains what they were trying to do. Random asks why they cast the spell multiple times. Because various people interfered: Caine, Eric, Jack, and either Alexandra or another faerie. Random isn't surprised by any of them except for Caine. He asks how Ishmael got permission for this. Ishmael explains that he went to see Nicholas, who asked if he thought it would work, and then gave his permission. Random is very disturbed by Caine's interference. Ishmael admits that Nicholas has been defeated by the fulfillment of Ahab's death curse, and the knowledge that he had no control over his life and has been playing into Faerie's hands all of this time. Ariana asks if Nicholas was aware enough to make a rational decision. Ishmael says he gave Nicholas all the information, including the fact that Meander and Alex thought it would work. This doesn't really answer Ariana's question, however, and everyone looks uneasy.

Random asks what happened to Caine and Eric, since he'll need to talk to Caine. Alex says that he dumped Eric outside of Nicholas' door. Random, Ishmael and Ariana Trump to the castle. Ariana and Ishmael appear in the main hall and run to Nicholas' office. They find Whimsy, Edwin and Random already inside, along with two dead guards. There is a splatter of blood on the floor. Ariana identifies it as being from someone of Corwin's line. Whimsy Trumps Eric, but can't get through, so she asks for Ariana's help. Together, they are able to force a contact with Eric, who admits he killed the guards but claims he didn't enter the room. Whimsy wants him to come through until the investigation is completed. He refuses. They end the contact.

Ishmael contacts Vincent and asks him to locate Nicholas. Vincent says he can't reach him because he's wearing something that blocks contact. He can tell that Nicholas is moving through Shadow, though. Ariana asks Ishmael to ask Vincent if Eric is near Nicholas. Not now, but he did just contact Felix. Whimsy adds Felix to her list of those to be investigated.

Ariana Trumps Lucien and asks him to come through. He does, and she explains the situation. Whimsy looks annoyed, and says she doesn't want this information spread far and wide. Lucien studies the blood splatter and figures it came from a backhand. Ishmael says that Vincent can't trace Nicholas. Lucien says that he can trace Nicholas wherever he goes. Ishmael wants to come along. How good is he at handling oddity? Well, he lived with Whimsy for 100 years... Ariana asks if she'd be of any use. Lucien says that the more people he has with him, the slower he has to go. Ariana opts out, in that case. Lucien absorbs a chair and shapeshifts into a cross between a llama and a wolf. Ishmael saddles up and they vanish in a Trump shimmer.

Whimsy Trumps Tamaryn and goes through to talk to Felix. Ariana asks Random if there's anything she can do. Not really. Since Nicholas hasn't been receiving visitors lately, it won't be hard to cover up the fact that he's gone. Given that she can't help with anything, Ariana retrieves Alastor from Edwin and heads for home.

As Ariana is walking through the city, she hears people begin to scream behind her. She shifts to her armored form and turns, drawing Morglyph. She sees an Abyssal demon winging its way towards her, so she gets her back against a wall beneath an overhang and prepares to defend herself. The demon is very hard to kill, but eventually she succeeds. She Trumps Random and explains that she was just attacked by an Abyssal demon. Does she know why? She suggests he talk to Gavin, since he dabbles in that sort of thing.

Ariana Trumps Whimsy. Whimsy looks rather battered. Ariana asks what happened. Demons. Her too. Ariana comes through and asks Edwin if he needs any help healing Whimsy. No, he's managed. Ariana Trumps Tamaryn and asks her to watch the children, because there are demons in town. Whimsy wants to go to Ishmael's to protect his kids. Ariana thinks that might be a bad idea, since her demon, at least, was obviously targeting her. Whimsy suggests she have Tamaryn take the kids to Maddy's. Ariana Trumps Tamaryn again and arranges this.

The group hears scratching noises at Whimsy's door. Edwin says that Abyssal demons are nasty, and the door won't stop them for long. Whimsy suggests that the Pattern room might provide more protection. Ariana travels there via Earth Passage, then Trumps Whimsy and pulls her through with Edwin. Ariana and Whimsy tell the guards not to attempt to stop the demons, since they'll just be torn to shreds. The guards insist that they must do their duty. They are persuaded to at least come into the Pattern room, however. The door is then closed and locked.

Ariana Trumps Alex, who comes through with Meander. They were attacked by demons as well. It seems obvious that those who were involved in casting the summoning spell are being targeted. Solutions are discussed. Whimsy wants to walk the Pattern, figuring the demons will have trouble getting through to the center. She gives her Faerie Ward to Edwin and has him move to the opposite end of the room from her, then casts a spell to finish healing herself.

Ariana remembers that Bart was in on the first spell attempt, and Trumps him. He wants to come through to the Pattern room. She brings him through with Gavin. Bart says that walking the Pattern will remove the magical signature that the demons are using to trace them. Gavin thinks he can contain the demons, if they can get them all into one spot. Which means someone will have to forgo walking the Pattern and act as bait. Ishmael is volunteered, since he's not there.

Everyone hears the sound of demons digging through the wall. Whimsy begins walking the Pattern. As she nears the center, she begins screaming and a gray smoke forms around her. Edwin runs for the Pattern, then realizes what he's doing and stops. Ariana asks if he still has Whimsy's Faerie Ward. Nope. Ariana smacks her forehead. Alex grimaces. Ariana says that the power of the Ward is incompatible with the Pattern. Ooops. Whimsy reaches the center and collapses. Ariana begins walking to reach her, followed closely by Alex and Meander. After much effort, they reach Whimsy's body. Ariana uses her shapeshifting to check Whimsy and heal her. Whimsy stands, and the cord that was holding her Faerie Ward around her neck falls to the ground. There's no sign of the Ward itself. Ariana and Alex exchange glances.

Ariana gets a Trump call from Random, who asks her to turn down the power when she answers. Have they found a solution yet? Ariana explains Bart's Pattern idea. Random says he'll tell Ishmael. Ariana mentions Gavin's plan to use Ishmael for bait, adding that if it interferes with his current assignment, he's free to refuse. Random says he'll talk to Ishmael and get back to her.

Ishmael Trumps Ariana and has her pull him through. He is actually civil to Whimsy, which strikes everyone as odd. Ishmael claims that now is not the time for petty differences. Everyone teleports back to the beginning of the Pattern. Ten demons break through the wall. Five are contained by Gavin. The other five attack Ishmael. The two guards attempt to protect him, and are killed. Ariana begins hacking at the demons with Morglyph. Edwin remains by Whimsy until she sends him over to help Ishmael. Alexandra appears in the room, grabs a demon, drops through the floor, then reappears over the Pattern and drops the demon. It fries, and a shockwave knocks everyone on their ass. Whimsy yells at Alexandra that they can't fix the Pattern anymore. Ooops. Gavin attempts to join the fray, but he is carefully tossed aside by the demons whenever he tries. Ariana manages to kill one of the demons, leaving three on Ishmael, who is beginning to look like he's rolled in a briar patch. Since his sword appears to be useless against them, she tosses Morglyph to him. He manages to kill the rest of them, with a little help on the last one from Ariana. Ariana pushes its body off of Ishmael and offers to heal him. Um, no thanks. He's got to get back to his previous job. He Trumps someone and goes through.

Whimsy motions Ariana over and quietly asks her what she thinks happened to the Faerie Ward. Ariana explains that when another individual walked the Pattern with a faerie object, it fused into their hand. But this was an anti-faerie object. True, but they might react similarly. Ariana tests her theory by trying to cast a spell. The energy is immediately sucked into Whimsy. Whimsy asks if Ariana can remove the Ward from her. Ariana scans her, but can find no sign of it. She explains this to Whimsy, adding that Lucien could probably give a more accurate scan. Whimsy yells, 'No!' and runs from the room. Alexandra asks what that was about. Ariana says she'll need to ask Whimsy.

Ariana asks Gavin if there are any more demons left. He checks and says there are two more, but they're moving away from Amber. Bartholomew scoops something up and pockets it. Ariana asks what it was. Oh, nothing. He says he's not needed anymore and disappears. Ariana asks if Gavin can trace the demons. Not from here. They ride out in pursuit of the demons, but the demons are moving faster than they are. Ariana asks if Gavin can set up something to detect if the demons return to Amber. He should be able to. Good.

Ariana returns home and has a long, hot soak to get rid of all the demon gore that splattered on her. Lucien is still gone. Ariana Trumps Tamaryn and tells her that the demons are gone. Tamaryn passes the children through. Ariana spends the evening playing with the younger ones. She checks her Trumps of Jackie and Looks Twice, and is happy to note that they appear to work now.

Lucien eventually returns home. Ariana asks him if he found Nicholas. Yes. And Eric didn't have him? Yes. He's not going to tell her anything more than that, is he? He could, but then he'd have to kill her. He has the gleeful look of someone who's gotten away with something. Ariana asks if he did something to Ishmael, since Ishmael came out remarkably unscathed for someone who had five demons trying to rip him to shreds. Lucien claims he did, but his expression is not exactly convincing. Ariana suspects that Lucien might have been impersonating Ishmael, and tries to trip him up, but is unsuccessful. He even tries to make love to her that evening, acting as if he didn't know she had walked the Pattern. Ariana eventually tells him that she did. He rolls over and says that it, then. She speculates that the increased fertility effect might not be true anymore, after what happened to the Orb. He suggests that she check. She does so, and finds that the effect sadly still exists. She tries to make herself infertile, but can't counter the Pattern's effect. Neither can Lucien. Damn. Ariana suggests that Lucien make himself infertile instead. He pretends to have lost interest, but Ariana has little trouble persuading him to change his mind.

Wednesday, November 23, 4

Ariana Trumps Meander and asks if she can speak with him. OK. Can she come through to him? He says that would be interesting and pulls her through. She finds herself on the Disc, where she detects the presence of a Pattern-based connection. It feels a lot like being in someone else's Shadow. Recalling Bartholomew's earlier ability to control access to the Disc, she assumes he still has that control. She explains that she has a few questions for Meander. First, is it possible to recreate some of the items she used to have with magic? Yes, but the wizards won't let a woman see the books. She doesn't want to learn the spell, just hire someone to do it, if it can be done. It can be. And an enchantment between two rings? That, too. She asks how much something like that tends to cost. It varies, but it won't be cheap. The wizards tend to like gems as payment. Ariana asks if he can help her find a instructor in magic. Well, she won't be able to learn wizardry, but witchcraft is open to her. What does she want to learn? She's not sure what is available, but she has a certain interest in anything that can stop vampires or faeries. He says there isn't much one can do against vampires, other than befriend one. The people from one religion seem to be able to ward them off, however. What religion is this? They believe in only one god. Ariana asks if she could speak to one of them. He says they are less fanatical now. What did they do before? Burn a lot of witches. They don't treat women well in general. Ariana changes her mind about speaking with them. Their ability probably wouldn't work outside of the Disc, anyway. Ariana muses that if she were a proper Amberite, she'd drag one of them to Amber and see if they were still able to hold off vampires. Sadly, she has a conscience, which is very inconvenient. Meander disagrees. She says it is in Amber. Meander says that Amber seems to be a smaller place now. In other words, there are other places she can go. She's considered that. Meander says he'll talk to Jackie about finding an instructor for her.

Ariana Trumps Looks Twice and goes through to him. They hug and spend some time catching up with each other. He's the chief of his tribe now. Things are looking better for them, and they are negotiating to get their borders set and respected. Ariana offers her help, if they ever have more problems with slavers. She also volunteers to bring her children by to see him, if he's interested. He is.

Ariana Trumps to Amber, gathers some gems, then returns to Looks Twice with her younger children, who have grown quite a bit since he last saw them. She also introduces him to Bryan and her grandchildren. Leaving the children in his care, Ariana goes into Altair to look for a wizard to enchant her sword and her ring. She soon learns that such a request is not a common one, so it will take some time to find a wizard who can do what she asks.

Ariana receives a Trump call from Whimsy, who has some questions about magic and was pointed in her direction by Meander. Ariana brings Whimsy through and explains about the differences between witchcraft and wizardry. She also mentions that Bart has control over the Disc. Whimsy is interested in learning witchcraft, now that faerie magic is lost to her. She reveals that Lucien examined her and found that the Faerie Ward has been absorbed into her body on a molecular level. In order to remove it, he'd have to separate it out bit by bit, a process Whimsy is not eager to undergo. Ariana points out that Jack will be vulnerable around Whimsy now, and offers to help if Whimsy ever decides to take advantage of this. Whimsy says she would not allow Ariana to kill Jack in her presence. Ariana says she might be content to simply inflict some pain on him, as a small compensation for the pain he's inflicted on her. Whimsy is less than enthused about this. Ariana asks what she'd do if it had been her child that Jack had stolen. Whimsy admits that she'd probably want to kill him, but Jack was her teacher for a long time, and she can't just forget that. They spend some time discussing Nicholas' current state of mind. Whimsy finds it distressing to see him acting this way, when he was always so strong. Ariana says that everyone has their breaking point, and Nicholas certainly has been through enough. Seeing all that he's lost makes her appreciate her own family all the more. Whimsy asks how things are going with Angelique. Ariana says she hasn't seen her since she warned her about the vampire(s). They talk from time to time, but they really don't have anything in common, besides Lucien.

Quotables:

"Hey, (Ariana) can grow an extra brain now." -- Kris
"Where's the first one?" -- Sean

"(The players) aren't going to destroy the world until dawn, because they're afraid of the vampires." -- GM to the group

"Caine gets up and goes to the window, showing you more of him than you really wanted to see." -- GM
"Oh yeah, that's attractive. Have you ever considered shaving?" -- Whimsy to Caine
"Caine cuts the contact." -- GM

"Oh well, I warned someone. I can go back to bed now." -- Whimsy to the group

"How are you reacting to the big light?" -- GM
"I'm going to stand there and shake my head. Then I'm going to go get breakfast." -- Felix

"(Whimsy) doesn't want revenge on Jack?" -- Liam
"(She's) got revenge - he's married to (her) sister." -- Matthew R.

"Felix, it's kind of a sparsely attended breakfast." -- GM
"More food for me." -- Felix

"You were trying to summon the Turtle, but you only managed to raise Caine." -- Sean to the group

"How do you handle oddity?" -- Lucien
"I lived with Whimsy for 100 years." -- Ishmael

"(Lucien) can imitate Benedict." -- GM to the group
"That's got to be handy." -- George

"Ooh, scrawny necromancer." -- Sean, referring to Gavin
"He's not scrawny." -- George
"You're denying the wrong thing, dude." -- GM

"Outrageous Fortune"
Game Logs for Sessions 1-115 | Character Logs for Sessions 116+

Last modified on June 23, 1999 by Kris Fazzari.