Game Log: 4.29.05
GM: Cort Odekirk
In Attendance:
Dalen - Daughter of Dworkin. [Kath]
Elio - Son of Dalen. [Alfredo]
Erin - Child of Florimel. [Andis]
Ivan - Parentage Unknown [Alex]
Maladin - Son of Sand [Jeremy]
Ronin - Son of Benedict [Dan]
SCENE I: CASTLE AMBER
This adventure began, as these things often do, at a ball. Not just any gathering of the rich, noble and famous,
but the Gala to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Peace between Amber and the Oleai, aka Moonriders.
Invitations had been handed out a month previous, and King Random made it clear that he expected all the Family to attend.
For Ivan and Ronin, this evening began around dinner time, with a Trump call from the King, requesting their presence
in his office. After bringing them through the Trump, he explained that there was a small "situation" which needed
some attention, and Random believed that they were just the people to give the required time and energy. Florimel was
called in to explain the details: She imports certain armaments for Amber. When last visiting the supplier, Florimel
noticed an open box from another shipment; one not going to Amber, yet oddly enough, the bullets in the box were made
of Amber-style jewelers rouge. The Princess didn't let on that she had noticed the bullets, and completed her discussion
with the supplier. Ronan and Ivan were charged with finding out who is buying munitions which will work in Amber. The
arms dealer, Charles Franken, could be found in Berlin on Shadow Earth. Random asked that the inquiry will be quiet and
discrete.
The rest of the Family arrived to the festivities, as per their usual; on time, or fashionably late, with no one being
willing to arrive terribly early. King Random and Queen Vialle made their entrance and the music began to play, as did
the assembled Court. Enter Lady Calissera, stage right.
Though she had sixty years in which to land a husband, or other partner-y type, it was clear that Lady Calissera was still
very much "at large." Perhaps her shark-like devotion to being upwardly mobile scared off would-be suitors, or the fact that
her perfectly tuned teeth and breasts were (and still are) somewhat … shall we say, alarming? Perhaps the truth was simply
that after Aaron became Erin there was no one left within the Royal Family on whom she was willing to set her sights, for
whatever reason. Until along came Ivan. With the unerring instinct of a hunter zeroing in on her prey, Calissera zoomed
in on the young, and mostly-unknown man from Rebma. He, being wary but interested, moved forward with drinks, dancing, and
conversation, which was soon followed by Court gossip spiced with a dollop of intrigue. If nothing else, Ivan found Calissera
to be an interesting partner in the game, full of figure as well as information. The Lady's attention to Ivan also signaled
one other important fact to the rest of the assembled Family. Ivan had to be one of the "relatives," else Calissera wouldn't
be paying him any attention at all. On this matter, as in several others related to the Court, the Lady's instincts could be
trusted.
Disliking balls and other assemblies of that ilk, Elio and Ronin did their separate best to avoid the general Court
speculation which swirled around the room. After Maladin arrived, he and Elio spent a while reminiscing about their
time with the nomadic Oleai, while Ronin indulged in a little drinking and dancing to wile the night away.
Amidst the glittering gaiety and bright raiment of the guests, Erin stood out. Perhaps it was due to her brother,
Lore's, malicious gossip which kept the Court farther away from the Princess than the proverbial ten-foot pole, or
maybe it was her own, somewhat justified, reputation as the instable "Destroyer of Worlds." Either way, Erin, all
4' 2" of her, was alone in the crowd. As was her old friend, Dalen, who looked as if she would rather be anywhere
else. After walking a circuit or two of the assembly, doing the diplomatic meet-and-greet, Erin and Dalen met up,
each with the first of many drinks in hand, to talk for a while.
Their chat was interrupted by the approach of the Pontifex of Church of the Unicorn, who had focused in on Erin.
As the old man talked, she suddenly began to feel drained and woozy, and her view of the Pontifex was as if she
were looking through a fish-eye lens - distorted and dizzying. As he continued prattling on, he invaded closer
and closer into her personal space and, with each step, it was as if he sucked away her energy and life, draining
her dry. Erin took a few quick steps backward, and waved her arms at the old man. When she looked again, the
Pontifex looked like his normal withered, banal, old self. Not being able to miss the flailing or the freaked expression
on her friend's face, Dalen stepped in to take the Pontifex's attention off of Erin. It worked, and after a few words
about how he never saw her or her family in Church anymore, and an insincere promise on Dalen's part to rectify that
situation, the Pontifex left them to attend other guests. To Dalen's inquiry, all Erin would say was "I'm fine."
After finishing what was in their glasses, the two decided it was time to pay respects to Queen Vialle, who was circling
the room separately from her husband, the King (a worrisome sign). Dalen gave her oldest friend a very un-royal hug, and
engaged her in light, easy conversation that left no obligations on the Queen. Meanwhile, Erin did a "scan" of Vialle.
She verified what they had feared; The Queen's programming was losing integrity. As there were other guests wishing to
spend time with Her Majesty, Dalen ended the interview by telling Vialle that they should really get out of Amber for a
relaxing "girls week" to a spa shadow, and that she would contact the Queen soon to arrange just that. The Queen agreed
that "that would be lovely." Erin and Dalen wandered back toward the drinks table.
Ivan, who after disengaging himself from Lady Calissera's tender clutches, surveyed the room. Upon seeing who was doing
what and where, he noted the interaction between Dalen, Erin and Queen Vialle. He observed that while Dalen spoke with
the Queen like the good, old friend she was reputed to be, Erin's expression was one of calculation and cold analysis.
As Vialle was considered to be something of a "national treasure" in Rebma, Ivan talked to the Queen himself, to see what
was going on. As he "read" her, he grew puzzled. Queen Vialle had always been reputed to be insightful, deep-thinking,
warm and caring. What Ivan experienced was a shallow woman, a dizzy blonde … not anything like what he was led to expect.
As the Ball progressed to the "fashionably late" part of the evening, Dalen wandered past one of the balconies that overlooked
the garden, and spied Prince Bleys with his obviously infatuated girl-du jour; her youngest daughter, Misha. With a frustrated
sigh, and a glare aimed in Bleys' general direction, Dalen went to find Maladin, her children's self-appointed "uncle."With a
request from Dalen to "talk to Misha, please!" Maladin requested a dance from the youngest of the Dalena/Galen brood. To pave
the way, Dalen dragged Bleys, ever so politely, out onto the dance floor.
With her partner gone, Misha, with petulant surrender, danced with her Uncle Maladin. He didn't try to talk her out of her
infatuation with Bleys, but only asked her to listen to her heart, her intuition, and to maybe not let Bleys be her "first."
Misha pooh-poohed his warnings and good advice, and proceeded to act like a twelve-year old with not too much by way of sound
judgment but plenty of hormones. Before he led her back to the balcony, Maladin reminded Misha that if she ever needed anything,
to contact him. She pooh-poohed that too.
Meanwhile, Dalen's dance with Bleys was just as frustrating. She told Bleys very pointedly to not fuck her daughter. Bleys,
like Misha, but for entirely different reasons, dismissed Dalen's suggestions and, happily warped everything she said to suit
his own purpose. By the end of the dance, he was quite delighted with the discussion, while she was contemplating murder. She
released him with a shrug of her shoulders, the warning having been fairly given.
And it was back to the drinks table for Dalen, whereupon Ivan found her. He had watched her dance with Bleys, and couldn't help
noticing that she seemed a bit put out. Ivan inquired as to the cause, and she explained about her daughter, Misha, and Bleys'
attentions to her. With something akin to a sparkle in his eye, he asked if he might be of assistance, and she, nothing loath
to throw monkey wrenches in the way of ne'er do well nephews, told Ivan to go for it.
With barely time enough to acquire a fresh drink, Dalen was then approached by her son, Marcus, who informed her that there was
something "interesting" in the garden that she might wish to view. So off they went, avoiding the Bleys-Misha side of the garden
entrance. There, in the deepest shade of a very large tree, was pinned, upside down, one of Maladin's knights -- Very dead. A
similarly dead horse was arranged below the knight, so as to seem as if the man was "pleasuring" the beast. The crowning piece
in this tableau was a stone horn broken from something else, rammed blunt-end first into the horse's skull. Dalen shifted shape
to see if she could smell any lingering scent not of the knight or the horse, but found nothing. Marcus had already looked for
clues around the scene before he brought his mother out to view it. With a shrug, Dalen told him that she would get Maladin.
Marcus wasn't sure that was a wise move and Dalen, not understanding Marcus' hesitancy to involve Maladin, simply replied that
her old friend could be trusted implicitly. Marcus shrugged and acquiesced.
Erin, who had continued her drinking from the start of the evening, had met up with Ronin. They were having a pleasant, easy
conversation when Erin saw a large black bird fly to a nearby statue and perch. "Eeeeerrrrinnnnnn!!" it squawked!
"Eeerrrriiiiiiinnnn!" it cawed! She looked up to see what the hell the bird wanted when it flew directly at her face as
if to attack. She flailed her arms in a gesture that couldn't be missed, and the bird disappeared. Her brother, Lore,
noticed the erratic behavior (how could he not, as he seemed to be watching for situations just like that), and began making
snide commentary on the state of Erin's sanity. Erin had another drink and continued to talk to Ronin. What else was there
to do? Ronin had seen nothing out of the ordinary … except for Erin's own reaction.
Elio, who had been watching earlier when Dalen was giving "the talk" to his cousin, Bleys, noticed when she came back into the
room to get Maladin. As the two of them returned to the garden, he came along to find out what was going on. Maladin took the
tableau fairly calmly, and he and Elio hatched a small maneuver to see if the person responsible was in the ballroom watching
the comings and goings. While Elio shape-shifted into the form of the dead knight, Maladin Trumped Erin. He told her that soon
one of his knights would walk into the ballroom. Would she please scan those assembled to see if anyone gave signs of being
surprised, worried or anything else that might indicate they weren't expecting to see the dead knight returning. She agreed,
and Elio, in the guise of the knight, entered the assembly. The scan was accomplished, but nothing was revealed.
Erin found Maladin in person to ask what was up. He took her to the garden to view the tableau. King Random also came out to
see why all the to-ing and fro-ing, and merely groaned when he saw the situation. Maladin was asked to take care of the Inquiry,
to which he agreed. Bringing up her Pattern lens, Erin and Marcus began checking over the scene for clues. Nothing at all was
forthcoming, though all agreed that the bodies had been killed elsewhere and moved to the Castle. Marcus left to start the
investigation from other directions.
While all the brouhaha in the garden was happening, Ivan availed himself of the sweet Calissera's company once again, to have a
meeting of the minds. The topic of discussion was Prince Bleys, how to best ruin his pursuing of Lady Misha. Calissera, while
intrigued, warned that crossing Bleys may not be the wisest thing to do, as the Prince was known to have a very, very long memory
and was not a forgiving sort. In the end, Ivan's persuasive skills won out, and Lady Calissera agreed to see what mayhem might
be wrought on Bleys' planned seduction and longer term plans.
As the evening, and the guest's fortitude, wound to a close, Erin and Elio (who was back in his own shape again) were to be found
with cups in hand, conversing quietly about who knew what. All anyone really knew was that Erin, by that point, was highly drunk.
Elio was keeping her company, waiting for her blood alcohol level to recede. Maladin, Ronin, Dalen and Ivan had an interesting,
and very quiet discussion about Bleys' motivations in seducing the immature Misha. At the end of the conversation, Ivan wandered
off to set whatever plans he had in motion, while Maladin left to begin making arrangements for the knight's burial. Dalen just
wandered off, as did Ronin.
And so the evening ended.
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