Game Log: 6.12.05
GM: Cort Odekirk
In Attendance:
Dalen - Daughter of Dworkin. [Kath]
Elio - Son of Dalen. [Alfredo]
Erin - Child of Florimel. [Andis]
Ivan - Son of Gerard [Alex]
Maladin - Son of Sand [Jeremy]
Ronin - Son of Benedict [Dan]
SCENE I: OVER THE BERLIN WALL
As the sun rose over Amber (and other environs pertinent to this campaign), Ronan was busy cooking breakfast at his Surf Shop, Erin was woozily fresh out of Maladin's Bacta Tank, Ivan was crawling out of bed at the White Rose Inn, Maladin was doing the same at his Fortress in Helmwind, Dalena had been up for hours and was chewing on the woodwork, and Elio was deep into the Vitae looking for Delwin.
All in all, a normal morning
save for the fact that by noon (in some time zone), all but one of them would be in Berlin. But we get ahead of ourselves.
Ivan walked to Ronan's Surf Shop, knowing by experience that despite the silence around the shop, Ronan would likely be up. Knocking on the door yesterday didn't draw much attention from inside, so he decided to throw pebbles at the upstairs windows. *tick* *tick* *tock*. After several throws, the front door opened and Ronan peered out with some irritability, obviously wondering who was throwing rocks at his window. While Ronan futzed with breakfast, they contacted Dalena who was likewise thinking of making breakfast. She and Galen were reviewing what their mutual days would be like, and it became apparent that she had neglected to tell him anything about the upcoming Adventure in Berlin. Asking the gentlemen to call back in five minutes, Galen was brought up to speed, whereupon he asked if she wanted him to come along. Though surprised that he could get away from governing for a couple of days, she was happy to have him along for whatever misadventure might lay ahead. Ivan Trumped her back after exactly five minutes had elapsed, then pulled the two over to the Surf Shop. Introductions were made, then Ivan, Ronan, Dalena and Galen all Trumped over to Florimel's house in NYC.
Consuela, the Housekeeper, greeted the group once more, and brought breakfast (dinner, actually, as it was past 10 PM in NYC time) for those who hadn't yet eaten, and supplies for Dalena to forge IDs for herself and Galen. After money, IDs and clothing were created, they then turn their attention to actually traveling from NYC to Berlin without getting burned by whomever was watching for Pattern use in the Shadow. Dalena Trumped Erin to see if she may use the computer at the house. Erin replied, "Sure," but then wanted to know why
and made it clear that she also wanted to be invited along. What else could they say but, "Yes"?
A search of the computer yielded no information about Mr. Charles Franken, though the Rolodex on Florimel's desk had a card for him listing a cell phone number. Erin called her mother to verify, and Flora told her to call Franken when she made it into town. As the call concluded, Consuela brought the cocktail cart, and various drinks were imbibed. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, the worm in the tequila bottle, sounding suspiciously like the Evil Gourd, tried to seduce Erin to the dark side. Not content with merely whispering to Erin, when ignored it tried more subtle means of manipulation
it Trumped her as well. Ignoring the illogic of a tiny, dead agave worm being able to Trump anyone (potency of the Tequila notwithstanding), Erin was a little leery when the next call came. It ended up being Maladin requesting her help. She said she would be glad to do whatever it was later
but in the mean time, why couldn't he come over and join the group headed to Berlin. He agreed to help, and came through the Trump.
As Maladin was getting caught up on the whys and wherefores of the trip, both he and Ivan noticed Erin talking to the worm in the bottle. She directed it to be silent, and then corked the bottle with a very satisfied expression on her face. Both men kept their concern to themselves.
Travel plans were set in motion. Erin, Maladin and Ivan decided to try to Shadow Walk, while Dalena, Ronan and Galen would take an airplane across the Atlantic. They'd all meet up, if everyone survived, at the hotel at which they had booked reservations. What could possibly go wrong?
Erin, Ivan and Maladin began their Shadow Walk. In the next Shadow over, they were hit by a brutal, Pattern-induced winter storm. Shift to London by a row of mailboxes
with men running toward them brandishing machine guns. Ivan shifted shape to something resembling a Wookie, and hoisted little Erin onto his back. It's clear that someone was working deliberately to keep the group (most likely Erin) from gaining any ground. Shift anywhere else
the building showed signs of German architecture as it began to collapse around their ears. Shift, shift shift!
a service tunnel which Maladin instinctively disliked. Shift
out of the tunnel and onto a bus with a driver who died at the wheel. Maladin grabbed the helm, stopping the vehicle safely. Finally he took the three of them into a Wave, and they doubled back, making it to the outskirts of Berlin. While they got their bearings, Erin downloaded a map of Berlin and high school level German into Maladin's brain.
Meanwhile, the trip for Ronan, Dalena and Galen on the plane was completely uneventful, even with having to negotiate two major airports. Galen complained about being bored. They caught a limo, made it to the Hotel and checked into their room without incident.
Sometime during that same day, Elio found Delwin in the Vitae. Elio communicated the concerns his mother had regarding Amber's interest in the Oleai, and how that might manifest. Delwin, having no love of Amber, nor much regard for the deal which was struck between Amber and Dalena's camp of the Oleai told his cousin that "The Oleai will go where they wish to go," indicating both that treaties won't hold them if they decide to take a different path (and there are many who travel almost solely in Vitae who have no notion or no caring of the treaty with Amber), and that Destiny will-out, again regardless of what treaties were penned. Elio explained that Galen wanted to talk to Delwin, and was told that Dalena's Trump was available and that he'd be in contact. Delwin then gave Elio the "Be true to your nature," talk
obviously stressing the Oleai side of Elio's nature.
When the discussion with Delwin concluded, Elio Trumped his brother, Marcus, for some assistance. He wanted to check out the Trump which had been given to him anonymously, and wanted a connection open with someone just in case. If Marcus would please contact him in five minutes
? Marcus replies that he'll do so, and if something went wrong, he thought he'd be able to find help quickly. They closed the connection, and Elio took a few minutes to meditate. After finding a center of calm and peace, he pulled out the Trump of the field, opened it, and stepped through. Vitae was very strong in this place, and there was something else there, something constructed
a twist in the middle of the shadow. Moving toward the twist, Elio saw what looked to be a "bump" that seemed to be an accelerator or an intensifier
it seemed to give Logrus or Pattern a bit of extra punch as it ran through the construct. He continued to explore the Shadow, and after a couple of minutes Marcus reconnected. "You alive?" Elio noted that Marcus was not calling from Helmwind, as the view over his brother's shoulder was unfamiliar. As Elio was obviously alive and well, Marcus signed off. Elio stayed in the Shadow, attuned himself to Vitae and took the time to pursue some scholarly research on the construct.
Back in Berlin, Dalena Trumped Maladin, and pulled that half of the group through to the Hotel suite. Time being mutable, they found it to be afternoon instead of very early morning. Dalena contacted Mr. Franken, under an assumed name, to set up an appointment to meet with him. He wouldn't talk unless she gave him the name of who referred her to him. With misgivings, Dalena dropped Florimel's. Franken was surprised, but he seemingly accepted the referral as valid. A time was set up to meet
Seven in the evening tomorrow, at the Canton Club. Mr. Franken rang off, and the group started pulling things together for the meeting (which is to say some small amount of shopping, research, and creation was in order). Maladin suggested that money wasn't the only currency, and that diamonds would probably be an acceptable medium for exchange
and untraceable too. Then everyone else ate cheeseburgers, watched German TV and was bored while Dalena pulled diamonds, more clothing, and weapons out of Vitae for the next several hours in preparation.
During the prep time, Dalena was Trumped by Lyden to complain that his twin sister, Thisbe, had started a war. As Galen was right there, Dalena had no issues with pulling him into the Trump ("Oh man! She told Dad!"), then dragging Maladin also into the connection, as twins' mentor. There was much whining and pouting and "Did not," "Did so!" shouting from Thisbe, who was hiding in the bathroom, to Lyden with the Trump, and much nonplussedness from their parents. Maladin denied any culpability for his part in their upbringing, and Galen just shrugged. The end result was Dalena telling Lyden that if Thisbe wouldn't come out of the bathroom and discuss it like an adult, then he should wipe her army out. Kill them all. Have done with it. Lyden, much encouraged, closed the connection.
Shortly thereafter Elio trumped his mother to bring her up to speed regarding the conversation with Delwin. He also mentioned that the anonymous Trump led to a field with a construct at the center, and that he'd be spending the next while seeing what he could discover about it.
While all this was going on, Ronan was sensing something peculiar; that the group was being spied upon! Alerting the group to this possibility, Ivan looked to see if someone was misusing Trump for this purpose, while Erin hitched a mental ride with him to see if they could check out the spy. Yes, someone IS spying via Trump. Another push, this time with Ronan adding his oomph to help focus and calm Ivan, and the trio found themselves in the middle of a psychic battle. They could tell the observer was a young female of House blood
House Cho to be precise. Not happy to find herself tangled in a battle with the trio in Berlin, Ms. Cho rather contemptuously sent a storm spell back down the psychic connection. Disconnect, disconnect!! As they did so, a mighty storm blasted into the hotel room, blowing out the windows, tossing the people and furniture around like so much straw, and sending Maladin flying through the now empty casements. Maladin stopped his fall with a very recently created spell, while Galen grabbed his wife and cast his shield spell around them both. When the storm finally died, the room looked like it had been through a hurricane. Furniture was smashed, the walls were gouged, and the aforementioned windows were in shards on the ground outside and a long ways down. The group was a little worse for wear, but intact. *Knock* *knock*. It was the concierge, "Is everything all right in there?" Dalena opened the door by way of answer and replied, with nothing like a straight face, "We had a little problem with the air conditioner." Luckily, Erin stepped in and offered her credit card by way of reparation, and asked for a new suite. One was promptly given, and the group relocated.
Everyone settled in for the night. Dalena took a bath and had a bottle of wine. Galen and Maladin re-racked their spells. The tequila bottle from the minibar tried to implant paranoid thoughts about Ivan into Erin's mind, and while she played hard to get, Erin still listened somewhat. After it came to Maladin's attention that Erin and the tequila bottle were having deep and meaningful moments, he took the bottle away, flushed the alcohol and threw the bottle out the window. Enter the whisky bottle to carry on
It was 2:00 AM, and Dalena was awakened by a Trump call from one of her kids. Groggily, she woke up an equally groggy Galen, then answered. It was Elio. He spent the better part of a handful of hours examining the construct in the field and didn't come up with much more than what he knew previously
that it was some sort of amplification device. He had tried to contact Marcus for his help, but his brother wasn't answering the call. He wanted to show it to someone who had more history with picking things apart. Dalena and Galen shared a glance after Elio showed them the construct; it was one of the Wave Amplifiers which had been used by the Oleai during the attacks on Amber sixty years ago. Galen thought they had all been destroyed, but perhaps not. Vitae is infinite, after all. They explained to Elio what it was, who built them originally, and why. Elio, having a decided bent towards the Oleai who were not aligned with Amber (for whatever reason), especially after his earlier discussion with Delwin, confessed that he felt that this amplifier and the person who sent him the trump were part of his Destiny, were *leading* him to his Destiny. With remarkable calm, both Dalena and Galen tried very hard to present the facts about the ongoing situation concerning the Oleai and Amber, but also to let their son make his own choices about what path he walked, even if they weren't not too keen about whatever that path might entail. Dalena stressed the fact that Elio always had a "choic" about what he did. They all had the option of "choice." After climbing out of bed and throwing some clothes on, Galen materialized his armor and went through the connection to the field. Without much fanfare, he destroyed the amplifier, then said he'd stay in that area to look for more. Galen suggested that Elio go to Berlin to help his mother. Goodbyes were said, and Elio was pulled through to the hotel.
Morning came and, oddly enough, it was breakfast time once more. Elio and Maladin went downstairs to the hotel's restaurant to talk in semi-private. While there, Elio was struck by one of the photographs hanging on the wall. It was a large, black-and-white of an open-work, steel-beamed tower. Elio asked Maladin if he knew what it was, and was told it was the Eiffel Tower in Paris. "Is it close by?" "Near enough, as it's in the same Shadow." Elio told Maladin that when Marcus had called him the second time to do the check, he was standing on a balcony, and beyond him was this tower.
They decided to take a trip over to Paris. Maladin was missing a date with Llewella to accompany the group on this mission, so he thought he may as well get some bribe-shopping in while he was in the area. Some naughty clothing from the Moulin Rouge wouldn't go amiss, he thought. Maladin asked Erin to download some working French into his and Elio's brains. Wasn't Erin surprised when she couldn't just dump the data into Elio, but had to actually leave it on the outside, like a present on a house porch? With their French intact, Maladin and Elio did some very slow wave riding over to gay Paris.
Once they arrived, they started looking for Marcus (and to browse the stores!). By a dint of triangulation, they were able to find the hotel Marcus had broadcast from and, after Elio assumed Marcus' form, they were able to get the room number from the hotel staff. They made it to the right floor, and quietly approached the room. Elio tested the space beyond the door for live bodies by using sonar. Obviously their sneakiness wasn't quiet enough, as the door opened. As Maladin quickly retreated behind a potted palm, Marcus stuck his head out of the doorway looking perplexed. "Elio? What are you doing here?" "Elio?" a second, female voice asked, from inside the door. It was Florimel. "What is he doing here?" Flora poked her head outside. "Maladin, is that you hiding over there? Come on out." Maladin did so, rather sheepishly, while Elio explained that he had been worried about Marcus when he didn't answer the trump call yesterday. The situation devolved from there. Florimel was amused, Maladin continued to be sheepish. Marcus was completely nonplussed, and Elio spilled a lot of beans to his brother and Flora. Maladin dragged Elio away, and they heard the room door close once more. Marcus was fine! Maladin proclaimed. Time to shop for Llewella!
Back in Berlin, Dalena ordered brunch and tried to figure out what one wears to an arms deal. Erin puttered about in the hotel room, bored, bored, bored. Ivan pulled Dalena aside for a brief conversation about his concern for/about Erin. She was talking to the bottles of alcohol, he explained, and after she stuffed a cork in the bottle of tequila last night, it popped back out again on it's own! What can Dalena really say? She knows. She explained that Erin had been through a very great physical ordeal during the hard times sixty years ago, and while she might be very strong mentally, in some ways, in others she was fairly fragile. She explained that Erin had had discussions with other inanimate objects before, and it was Dalena's opinion that it was Erin's own psyche which was making things like the popping cork happen. Why it was happening, she wouldn't conjecture, only that it was most likely Erin, herself, who was doing it.. As to how to work with/help Erin and the situation
Ivan's guess was as good as Dalena's.
And that's where the group left off. Maladin and Elio were continuing their shopping in the Moulin Rouge. Ivan, Ronan and Dalena were getting ready to take a little reconnaissance trip around The Canton Club, and Erin was going to stay in the Hotel room to watch the exciting misadventures of Gilligan on German TV.
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