At the start of the day, Maladin, Dalena and Galen are in Fiona's Land of the Milk-Fed Boys (hereafter known as LofMFB). Erin is with Fiona, herself, in Castle Amber. Kira is also in the Castle, drawing Trumps in her rooms. Elio is in Helmwind, looking for his sister, Galia. Ivan is back at the Cho Family summer estate. Ronan is in Castle Amber too (what are you doing, Ronan?)

Ivan had left Rebma earlier in the morning, and headed out to see Miranda Cho. They chat, and she offers a sandwich. "Sorry to hear about your father," she says. "I don't think that was part of our plans …" Ivan asks why this is all happening, and she tells him, that "It's for embarrassment … for giving Helmwind to the Moonriders. That Dalena person, she's such a bitch." They talk some more, Ivan slowly insinuating himself thoroughly into Miranda's good graces (and confidence).

Elio finds Galia. He tells her about the "D" Sisters. "They're proselytizing, Elio." They're not Pattern nor Vitae Powered. He asks for her help in getting as Sister into a wave. Galia tells him why this plan won't work. With the plan blown, Elio says his goodbyes and tunes himself back to Amber.

Erin is trying on white clothes in the hopes of looking demure when she head to Church. She takes the "horn" from the first crime scene with her and some money, then heads to the main Church of the Unicorn in Amber City … to see the Pontifex. She's met at the vestibule by a church underling who asks, "Are you at a point of spiritual crises?" She dumps her bribe money and is given an interview. She asks the Pontifex about the Brotherhood of Darkness, and is thwarted in her inquiry by stupidity and dementia. A ray of hope! The Church Library may have information on the Dark Brotherhood! Oddly, the Pontifex recognizes the horn she brought … "12th Century Romaniac. It's from the northlands. He shows her the general location on a tapestry map. She rolls it up, and hauls it over her shoulders to borrow, then says her goodbyes … time to head to the library. She's stopped by one of the priests who tells her that she can't take the tapestry … "But I need the map on it!" "Then why don't you just copy a map. There's bound to be one in the library." She summarily dumps the tapestry. Darn thing was heavy! In the library, she asks about the Dark Brotherhood and comes away with a bunch of books on metaphysics, religion and mythology.

Erin and the books head to the LotMFB. She gets Dalena and Maladin to review all of the tomes. Galen, not too keen on the Shadow in the first place, cuts and runs. It takes them two days of LotMFB time to get through the books. The research revealed:

The Unicorn gave a piece of herself to Dworkin. In the space that resulted, a piece of humanity filled the Unicorn - it's the Darkness of Humanity. She can't see it, is blind to it, because it's part of her. The Brotherhood of Darkness follow that aspect of the Unicorn, the polar opposite to the Light we know as the Unicorn.

Dalena tells Galen that she'd really like to talk to Delwin, then possibly on to talk to Daron. He suggests that the latter is a really stupid idea.

Ivan returns to the Castle and looks for everyone, and only finds Kira. She tells him why The Plan to Capture a Sister won't work. She asks after Miranda, and Ivan tells her that after the group messed with her, Daron has stopped talking to her.

Maladin wants some answers about the nature of the Universe, and Dalena suggests he talks to Dworkin … though Dworkin won't answer his trump call. She gives it a try, and Dworkin pops through. Ferns are good! Maladin gets a fern pulled out of the ground by Dworkin, and now is pretty darn Real. Pudding!! He has some pudding, and is messy about it. He wipes his hands off with a towel. Maladin asks about Spirit … and is told that Spirit is like Draino. "The matrices are good," he says, draping Erin's head with the pudding-laden towel. There is much butt wiggling, esoteric unintelligible talk, and Dworkin leaves.

Ivan trumps Elio re the complication with The Plan. They talk about including Miranda in it.

Kira is finishing off her Trump of Sister Decay when she sees an old-fashioned automobile with people wearing old-fashioned clothes pass through the wall. She gets up to follow them into the next room, then into the hall, but they're gone, and no one else around saw them.

Elio trumps Dalena and they talk about The Plan. She brings up her own concerns.

Much later that evening …

Ronan wakes up - to the sound of children singing and dancing - something is terribly wrong. The children are covered in blood and are carrying knives and any other pointy object they could get their hands on, slicing anyone getting in their way … and they're heading to the Castle. Elio and Kira also wake. Ronan heads out to the causeway, and tries to stop the flow of the kids, by throwing up a shield across the road. It keeps them from attacking him, though they press toward him relentlessly. On and on the kids surge, finally getting around Ronan's shields and into the Castle bailey. Kira tries to open a trump gate somewhere to toss the kids through to. Elio take some of the children through into Vitae where they collapse out of exhaustion, the geas on them gone. He drops them in Arden, marking their position with a torch. Ronan finally makes it through the farside of the kids, and trumps Bleys who tells him he's aware of the situation. Elio cast "weaken" on a group, then thickens his skin so they can't stab him too badly. Ivan is drafted to lead the guard (as they have no idea what to do against children like this!). The children have moved to slicing up the bodies of those they've slain and eating them. Ivan suggests to Elio to use Vitae on them. Elio returns to Helmwind and gathers up Galen and approx 20 other Moonriders, who help to grab the kids, move them into Vitae and thence into Arden. Slowly the attack is resolved, and everyone starts cleaning up the mess.

Elio trumps Dalena in the morning. She comes though and checks on Random. The Guards tell her that the King isn't taking visitors. "That's not what I asked. I asked how he is." "His Majesty isn't seeing anyone." "RANDOM!!" Of course, it didn't get her anywhere, so she went down into the kitchen to start with the clean up there, as there are no servants in the castle yet. She makes soup and starts on some bread.

Ivan is down in the City being diplomatic with the Mayor etc.

Kira is coordinating what needs to be done with those who can do it.

Ronan trumped Maladin, explained the situation, and pulled him through to the Castle.

Elio trumped Erin. They also talk for a while, and she gets pulled through to the Castle.

Maladin heads to his rooms for a spell. Trump call! He answers it. All goes black.

Meanwhile, Ronan's SpideySense is tingling.

Maladin snaps awake. He's in his room, on the bed. Erin and Dalena are trumped. Dalena gets there first, and does a quick check of Maladin, once he tells her what happened. No physical signs of trauma. Dalena, being paranoid over the demon that's around, suggests that Erin looks for signs of a "tag".

Erin looks at Dalena, confused and dismissive. "What are you …"

"What am I doing here?" Dalena suggests.

"Yeah." Totally.

"Bitch."

They get over it, and see what else they can do to figure out what's going on with Maladin. By this time Ivan, Ronan and Kira are there. Ah hah! He was used as a Trump Gate.

Oh damn. Dalena shifts to her tracker form, and scents the air. "Daron came through." Ivan rushes out the door, and the rest follow to Random's quarters. The guards are slain in the hallway, and Random is on the bed … dead. The Jewel is missing … or at least, they can't find it.

Dalena goes into the adjoining room, which is Vialle's. The Construct Vialle is there, "What's wrong? What happened?" she asks in the tones of a machine whose programming is winding down, or just of a woman with much apathy and very little brains (which is about the same thing). Dalena, who is sad and weary about the fate of her friend, takes out her sword and says, "It's time to say goodbye, Vialle." She kills the construct, cleans her sword, and starts looking for the jewel.

Benedict is called by Ronan. He receives an overall brain dump. He takes stock of the situation in Random's room, then moves to Vialle's … noting that the Queen has only been dead only a few minutes. Dalena makes some lame excuses and continues on her search.

Ivan shifts form and races to the Pattern room. Dalena thinks that's an excellent idea, and tunes herself to the Primal Pattern. Ivan finds the Pattern room to be unlocked, as always, and uninhabited. Everything looks fine. Dalena slams into the Primal Pattern … and it resolves into Dworkin. She tells him about the attack, and Random's death … and the loss of the Jewel. He digs under a rock, and pulls the Jewel forth. "Oh," she says, as he hands it to her. "Thanks." She tells him to be careful, because of the Sisters … and Daron, and he poop-poohs the need for care. A kiss and a hug for her dad, and Dalena heads to the LotMFB … wherein she attunes herself to the Jewel.

Ivan and Ronin go to where the children originally appeared.. Ivan checks the energies there, and finds the remains of a trump gate.

Kira goes into the city to do damage control.

Maladin goes to Helmwind, and calls all his knights to the Stronghold. They're to stay in Helmwind for a time. Then he heads off into Vitae to talk to Delwin.

Erin takes one of the children to Fiona, and gives her a brain-dump of what happened the previous night. "Why didn't you call me?" Flora asks with a sigh. They bring up the Pattern and begin the autopsy.

Ivan trumps Erin to tell her about the children's being trumped into the area. Then he goes to visit Miranda.

Elio returns to Helmwind to talk to Galen about the situation. Galen tells him that Helmwind will take no action unless Amber asks them to do so. That question being answered, Elio heads into Vitae to find his convert.

Dalena checks in with Galen, tells him what's been going happening on her end. They discuss the ramifications of her making a bid for the Throne, and they're agreed that it wouldn't be that great an idea … though perhaps for different reasons. She tells him to be careful, and hops a wave back to Amber.

Erin and Fiona finish with their autopsy, and only found signs of Coercion … and not much else. Erin has an idea. She goes outside, closes the door, and trumps Merlin. "Baaaabe!" She asks him to look at the kid, using Logrus. After much lascivious laughing on his part, she gives him the requisite brian-dump. He does his own woojie on the kid (sans Pattern) and says that the child is absolutely dripping with "human flavored" Pattern. Merlin isolates the weird signature and encases it with Logrus. After much desire to hurl on the part of the ladies, they take a look at it.

Ivan arrives at Miranda's summer home … and shifts back to his human form. They talk about the attack of the children, and then he grills her about her actions in the last few days. What was her involvement? She gives him (Chaos file s__yy??? WTF??)

Maladin finds Delwin, in a floating cloud-house. They talk about Random's death and the situation with Daron. Delwin has no information about Daron's whereabouts or any knowledge of Oleai who may have allied themselves with him. After a bit more talk about some personal matters, Maladin heads deeper into Vitae to say goodbye to Random.

As the day wraps up:

Maladin will drop out of Vitae to start making Trump calls. Dalena is first on his list.

Erin is in the Castle.

Ivan has returned to Castle Amber after being Trumped through by Ronan. He's in his own rooms.

Dalena is looking at the Trump of her son, Marcus, and trying to decide if she's going to trump him or not … or if she should talk to Galen first. Her instincts have sucked so far in regard to everything that's happened, so she's having doubts about the wisdom of it.

Ronan is going back to his Surf Shop.

Kira is having lunch with Floramel … in Shadow Earth.

Elio is in Vitae, looking for Baral.

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