Session 6: "Waking Ours"

Pre-game quotes:

The trouble with large cons:

Lydia: "I believed they played some stuff that was lame, but - "
Shai: "It's GenCon."
Fred: "It's Gencon."

Scott's roleplay is best quoted by his expressions (yes, exactly the problem). On the power of understatement:

Scott of Benedict: "He's not a witty repartee kinda guy."
Jarrod: "/No/."
Shai: "_No_."

Scott: "It's, you know, Benedict puts on face Defcon 3."

Game quotes:

Do not meddle in the affairs of GMs, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup:

Lydia: "Why are we backing up?"
GM: "We're backing up because I feel it so. Benedict and Osric, roll awareness."

Ask not unless you are prepared to hear the answer:

Benedict: "Who was supposed to be on watch?"
GM: "Someone _was_ supposed to be on watch."
Scott gives the GM a Quizzical Look.
GM: "Everyone's asleep."
Benedict: "Benedict draws his sword."

On predictability:

GM to Osric: "Benedict is looking lethal, as usual. What are you doing?"
Osric: "I will get up and see what my dear brother is on about."

We're camped out in the stone tower of the decimated town where the sorcerer Ruustro (from last session) kept his studies. When Benedict and Osric wake up, it's unseasonably cold and it would appear, if one climbs up on a table to peer out the window, that it is snowing heavily outside. On pacing your taunting:

Benedict climbs up on a table to look out the window.
Osric: "I let him do that."
Deborah: "The table does not spontaneously rot?"
Osric: "Nooo. It's a bit early in the session for that."
Benedict [speaking of the snow]: "Brother, I think you should come take a look at this."

And then Benedict gets to discover that everyone else is literally frozen to the floor. On crying wolf:

Benedict curses soundly."
Jarrod: "That's not new."
Benedict: " - and moves to make light."

So Osric gets up on the table to look out. The GM has him roll observation not once but twice, to no avail:

GM: "Roll observation."
Jarrod rolls. Chuckles.
GM: "Still sub-fair?"
Jarrod: "Average." [Which is lower than fair]
GM: "Snow... *preeeeetty*."

Honesty in the wee hours of the morning:

Benedict: "Come here and take a look at our esteemed brother."
Osric: "Which one would that be?"
Benedict: "Forget the esteemed part."

GM: "Funny, the things they have to say when their brother's asleep."

Wacky, wacky people:

GM: "You think you hear something, faintly, very faintly, over the snow - a single word."
Benedict: "What's the word?"
Deborah: "Moooommmy."
GM: "Possibly -"
Rob: "Elk!"
GM: "- 'help!'"

I'm telling you, WACKY:

Lydia: "Arf!"
GM: "No, the dog is frozen as well - *grrrrrrr* *grrrrrryap!* arf! arf! *grrrrr*

On the lack of sympathy:

Deborah: "I can't quote that."
Lydia: "Oh, yes you can."

He has such a terse, descriptive way with words:

Osric: "I'm prodding at the Finndocicle."

Age and experience:

Benedict: "Someone is outside crying for help."
Osric: "What a lovely coincidence that is."

Youth and optimism:

Benedict: "I'm going to take a look."
Osric: "You don't think that was an accident, do you?"
Benedict hesitates. "Of course not."

But the boy learns. Really, he does:

Osric: "You don't think you should be going alone, do you?"
Benedict: "No. Actually, I don't."

So. Now we have everyone but Benedict and Osric frozen to the floor while a faint voice calls for help through the unseasonable (it being fall) blizzard raging outside. Bare is back without brother. Apparently very bare:

Osric: "What about them?"
Benedict: "They're not going anywhere for the moment."
Osric: "Keen grasp of the obvious, as always."

Benedict: "All we have to do is make sure we find our way back."
Osric: "Uh huh. I really can't let you go alone."
Benedict: "Generous, as always."

Verbiage is quickly adopted around here:

GM: "The horses are probably tied up outside - horsicles, in fact."

Let's you and him go explore the darkness and evil:

GM: "Who's opening the door [to the outside] first?"
Benedict: "He should."
Jarrod: "Asps. Very dangerous. You go first, Indy."

On nobility:

Osric: "I'll open the door first. What the hell; I've had a good life."

Or not:

GM to Osric: "And you can always use [the door] as a shield from whatever comes inside; it'll hit Ben first."

Learn from the wise:

GM: "You get a face full of really cold wind - reeaaallly cold. Like needles driving into your skin."
Jarrod: "Ah, Indiana." He leans forward to explain, "EIGHTY BELOW. Eight Zero Below."
Deborah: "I am never moving to Indiana."
Jarrod: "_Correct_."

Or is it fatalism:

GM: "There are some piled upon shapes to the right - horsicles."
Osric: "It's always something."

Trending:

Benedict: "The scowl deepens."
Osric: "That's _not_ _new_."

Osric and Benedict plow through the blizzard after the fleeing figure crying for help. This is a lot like volunteering in the military:

GM: "The snow is now not cold. In fact, it's stinging, in the way that snow does not."
Scott: "Like a sandstorm?"
Jarrod: "You Need To Not _Help_."

The snowstorm does in fact become a sandstorm; they find themselves in a desert with dunes and flinging sand; the sun is rising in the east. But there's always time for a little perspective and an I Told You So:

Osric: "Remember what I said about Nature being pissed?"

Another look at the youth and optimism theory says, well, Not:

GM: "The guy has dark skin, symbols on his robe, is still running away, yelling for help."
Benedict: "Oh. Bow's coming out!"
Deborah: "Benedict, originator of the shoot first, question later policy."
Scott: "Oh, Benedict, in his own mind, has concluded that the guy's running away, yelling for help. This is a trap."

Come closer, that you, too, may be honored, Ed Gruberman:

Osric: "I follow Benedict."
Benedict: "Only because you don't want to be left alone out here."
Osric: "Looks like you need a few more branches in the head."
Benedict: "I didn't say that out loud!"

Ruustro (the fleeing man) turns to Benedict and Osric over the crest of a dune, intoning 'help me'. It would earn more sympathy if he wasn't casting spells that turn their legs to stone and then crumple them. Meanwhile, the sun crosses the sky in accelerated time and a city, ghostlike, rises from the sands. Ruustro fades into the city, and as he does, a duplicate Osric appears. Aggravation, how-to:

Duplicate Osric to Osric: "It's all very interesting. What do you suppose it means?"
Jarrod shakes his head, staring at the GM.
GM, brightly: "And with that, both of you wake up."

Complaints from the peanut gallery:

Deborah to Jarrod: "Oh, good, your dreams _eat_ people now."

Don't _share_, brother:

Benedict: "I just had the strangest dream -"
Scott: "- and his sword is naked in the hand."
Osric eyes the sword, "Killing something, were you?"

Benedict: "Go check the window, climbing up -"
GM: "It's snowing."
Benedict: "Brother, I think you should come take a look at this."
Osric: "I give him an Arch Look."

Once more, Benedict and Osric try to wake up the rest of the party. This time, Benedict succeeds in waking Finndo. On the sources of inspiration:

GM to Finndo: "You would much rather stay under the covers where it's warm."
Finndo, reluctant and surly: ".... yes."
Deborah: "My god, that _is_ what he sounds like in the morning!"

Diplomacy for the sleep deprived:

GM: "Osric is standing on the table, looking out the window."
Finndo to Osric, condescendingly: "Yes, that is quite a sight. Anything else?"

On bad omens: the first thing the GM says to Cyrus in the game:

GM: "Cyrus, you weren't drinking, were you?"

These are not morning people:

GM: "Cyrus, it's... quite cold."
Cyrus: "I pull the covers over my head."

GM to Sybil: "You're awake. Benedict is working on a fire."
Sybil, flatly: "I encourage it to be bigger."
GM: *WHOOOOOSH*
Benedict curses.
Sybil: "I roll over."

Why be helpful when you can just press the little red buttons on Benedict?

Benedict: "I had a dream. The snowstorm turned into a sandstorm."
Osric: "That's interesting. What do you suppose it means?"

The events repeat themselves. On quoting expressions:

GM: "He gets outside, he looks for the horses, the horses aren't there, and then he hears '... help'."
Benedict face palms: "I go back in."

The Amber version of hope:

Benedict: "There's someone crying for help outside."
Osric, arid: "That's VERY interesting."
GM: "This is Osric thinking 'maybe it's happening to someone else for a change'."

Let's Share:

Osric: "Welcome to my world."
Benedict: "Can I get off now?"
Osric: "You're not in your world anymore. We're in mine."

Speaking of worlds:

Sybil: "Isn't it a little early for death to start?"
Benedict: "Death?"
Sybil, rapidly: "Death, winter, to get life, you must get death, to get spring, you must get winter... "
Osric: "Winter."
Sybil: "Yes. Obviously."
Jarrod: "You dumbass."

Yes, yes, yadda yadda, what's your next move:

Benedict: "Benedict turns to Sybil and just... the glare _sets_."
Sybil shrinks and blinks wide-eyed up at him.
GM: "You have made Sybil meek, now what?"

Taking things in stride:

Lucan: "I know I'm going to regret asking this, but when did winter happen?"
Sonnet: "Last night, apparently. Want some tea?"

So they tromp out once more into the snow that will become a sandstorm. Benedict and subtlety, Finndo and consequences:

Benedict, yelling to Finndo: "The Last Time We Went Through This It Was A Trap. BEWARE!"
Finndo, sighing: "Allright. Benedict, lead on."

And, sure enough, the snowstorm turns to sand. Taking life personally:

Benedict: "Yeah, given a few moment, Benedict has a full-on mad going."
Deborah: "The weather is mocking you!"

They catch sight of the fleeing figure, who is still crying 'help!'. Use not sarcasm on those who wield it best:

Benedict looks at Osric: "Suggestions?"
Deborah: "Go back inside, have some tea."
Jarrod gives Deborah an Osric Look (TM).

'Hailing frequencies open, Captain' never works outside of Star Trek:

Finndo: "Finndo yells a greeting!"
Ruustro: " 'Help!' He keeps running that way."

Everyone brings their special little something to the table:

Benedict: "Benedict has his bow."
Finndo: "Finndo has his cane and a deck of cards in his hand."
GM: "Osric has Osric."

Commiserating. Winter means different things:

Shai: "Meanwhile, Sonnet is remarking on how much she hates winter."
Sybil: "Sybil is remarking how much she'll miss you guys. For the moment."
Sonnet: "For the moment. There is always tomorrow."

Carrying this pedestal thing a little far:

GM: "Those of you back in the cabin are starting to get a little sleepy."
Deborah: "That's not hard."
Shai: "That's not hard."
GM: "Actually, you just curl up."
Shai: "Oh, Great. They're going to come back and see Sybil leaning on Lucan on one side - "
Deborah: "- and Sonnet on the other!"
Shai: "- and Sonnet on the other!"

Your call is very important to us. Please remain on the line...

Benedict: "Suggestions?!"
Osric: "Working on it, brother!"

The Princes try a little parley. On observing trends:

Ruustro: "Help me."
Benedict: "How?"
Ruustro: "I don't know."
Deborah: "Oh, yay."
Jarrod: "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

On the futility of arguing with fate:

GM: "And, darkness, total. And you start to wake up."
Benedict's eyes close in slow, pained exasperation.

We still have that scruffy little rat-dog with us. Trust Rob to remember, and to rub a nose in it:

Osric: "I'm beginning to tire of this."
Rob: "Arf!"

Finndo, after each repetition of the dream (because it keeps repeating), sketches in the ghost city. Lydia has some practical suggestions for it if we can't treat it as a trump:

Lydia mimes holding up the sketch to random passerby: "Hi. Do you recognize this strange ghost city?"

Wiling away the hours with friendly sarcasm:

Sonnet: "Is it snowing?"
Osric: "Bit early for that."

Colorful Metaphor:

Jarrod: "I hate these temporal causality loops."

Lucan finally catches on:

Lucan: "You're very strange."
Sybil: "Yes!"

Some things are relative:

Cyrus: "Everyone is having a weirder morning than I am."

Splitting hairs:

Scott: "Oh, Benedict is looking disturbed."
Shai: "Again?"
Jarrod: "Again?"
Scott: "No, not angry. Disturbed and angry *are* separate things."

Karm coping mechanisms:

Sonnet: "Nice cozy start to the morning, nice cozy start to the morning, I should be paranoid; I'll drink more tea."

Pronouns without antecedents:

Benedict: "If you were you and you knew you were opposing you, what would you do?"
Osric: "/What/?"

Osric: "Want to try that again?"
Benedict: "I thought it was plainly stated."
Osric: "You thought wrong."

In Some Small Way, You Will Answer For This, Osric:

Benedict: "We're facing you."
Osric: "Possibly."

Or possibly not:

Benedict: "Or your double."
Osric: "We have more enemies than just that."

Slippersome Osric:

Benedict: "Yes, but who masterminded the trumps? That would have been you."
Osric: "Probably."

All of our customer service operators are assisting other people who are less annoying:

Benedict: "So, you need to come up with a way to defeat you."
Osric: "Working on it, brother."

The failed escalation:

Benedict: "I think you need to speed up the process."
Osric: "If you've got a suggestion..."
Benedict: "I'll take that under advisement."
Sonnet: "Worked well for me."

Captain James T. Kirk speaking:

Osric: "I must confess I'm curious to see what's out there now."

The party believes that they have escaped the recurring dreams; they set out riding south to find the Lieutenant whose Captain just passed away. Status check:

GM: "Having conversations while riding?"
Sybil: "I am not bitching to Finndo, strangely."
Osric: "This has got to be a dream, then."

Well, she _asked_:

Shai: "Sonnet has her usual morning face on."
Deborah: "What face would that be?"
Shai: "Oh look it's morning and we're going to be in a fight Any Moment Now but I'm just waking up and enjoying the day." Pause. "And I want a bath."

So we find the Lieutenant and Finndo has a word with him. For once, it does not start with 'so about those attempts to kill us'. This seems to mean that it starts with 'so about those attempts to kill you'. Equally startling is the fact that, for once, the other guy seems surprised:

Finndo: "We regret that there is reason to suspect that your captain has come to an ill end."
Lieutenant: "What?!"

Amber Condolences mean 'And we also need the following':

Lieutenant: "Do you know the means?"
Finndo: "We do not. We were hoping to discover the route."

Perhaps we don't have your attention sufficiently:

Finndo: "Then I regret I have more unpleasant news for you. This town," and he points to the map, "is no more."
Lieutenant: "I don't understand."
Finndo: "It was a charnel pit when we came upon it."

We all have our unique strengths:

Sybil: "It's very hard to plot against yourself."
Sonnet: "No, I manage it quite well."

Sybil decides to try Moving People Where She Wants Them. It does not work:

Sybil: "We should go to the source of the glamour and - and there find a, uhm, solution."
Finndo: "And where is the source?"
Sybil: "In the Land?"
Cyrus: "Right. NO."

It's always good to have a strategy:

Finndo: "I believe the next step is to hunt them down systematically and kill them all."
Jarrod: "Get her. That's your whole plan, Ray?"
Cyrus: "How are we going to find them next?"
Finndo: "That becomes a matter of the detail."

The Devil Is In:

Cyrus: "Important detail, isn't it?"
Osric: "We have a lot of details in there."
Finndo: "Yes, but we have a plan: hunt them all down and kill them. Executing it is just the next step."

Tactical planning, the passive approach:

Finndo: "We could run around with a sign saying evil duplicate, come find us here!"

Hey, now that you mention it:

Cyrus: "Possibly they are quite good at doing that without the big signs."
Finndo: "Interesting question. They seem quite good at that but we're not a hard party to follow."
Sonnet: "No, murder and mayhem seem to... follow us."

Not to be daunted by being obvious the first time:

Sybil, hopefully: "We could travel much more quickly in The Land."
Finndo: "Do you have a reason to think they're there?"
Sybil is silent for a long moment. Then, brightly: "LOGIC!"
GM: "She says that as if she's just invented it."
Cyrus and Finndo, together: "NO."

Bad Idea Jeans:

GM to Sonnet: "Cyrus is advancing towards the forest. Someone seems to be whistling a faint tune... "
Sonnet to Cyrus: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
GM: "And the others come out."

Everyone has their methods:

Finndo: "Allright. Everyone pinch themselves."
Cyrus: "That's never worked for me..."

Let's review:

Finndo: "Trap."
Osric: "Oh yes."
Finndo: "Well, it's not like it wasn't obvious from the outside, but -
Osric: "Yes."
Finndo: "Even more so."

Bad influences, 101:

Finndo: "Lady Sybil, could you arrange to have something unpleasant on hand?"
Sybil: "Of course! What form of unpleasantness would you care for today, Prince Finndo?"
Sonnet: "She's sounding more and more like me..."

Questions You Just Shouldn't Ask:

Cyrus: "Why is it dark?"
Duplicate Osric: "That's very interesting."
GM: "He [Duplicate Osric] comes out of the forest. He looks over at Osric, and is wearing what he is."

On cutting to the chase:

Cyrus: "That's very nice. I kill him."

Accusations and protestations of innocence notwithstanding:

Sonnet: "And you said you weren't a bloody warlock!"
Osric and Finndo, together: "I'm not!"

Whimsical GM humor:

GM: "Let's call him Os-rat."

Cyrus, true to his word, attacks Osrat; he gets in a solidly good series of attacks. There's nothing quite like a backseat swordfighter:

Osrat: "That smarts."
Cyrus: "I run him through."
Sonnet: "Hold the blade in! Hold it!"

GM to Sonnet: What are you doing?"
Sonnet: "I'm coaching." To Cyrus, "Hold the blade in!"

If it looks too good to be true...

Cyrus: "That's good. I chop his head off."
GM: "And his head comes clean off."
Cyrus: "Okay. I'm worried. That was MUCH too easy."
Osrat's head: "You know, I never did believe that old wives' tale."

Nothing if not persistent:

GM: "The headless Osric body sits up."
Cyrus: "Right. I kick it."

Why diplomacy is not a famed skill of the Navy:

Osrat's head: "Please allow me to attach myself to my body."
Cyrus: "I pick it up by its hair and slam it into a tree."

On logistics:

GM: "He doesn't /have/ hair - have you seen his pictures?"
Cyrus: "Right. I pick him up by his EARS, then, and pummel him against the tree."

On positioning oneself:

Osrat: "Really, this isn't civi - OW! Do stop!"
Benedict to Finndo: "You really might want to pull Sir Cyrus off -"
Finndo: "I might, but I'm really not into supporting evil omens, so Cyrus can go nuts."

On perspective:

Cyrus: "I drop kick the head towards Finndo."
Osrat: "Brother, so good to see you."
Finndo: "I pick him up with the tip of the cane so that he looks up at me."
Osrat: "Well, this isn't quite how I'd pictured it, but I suppose it's how you've always seen me."

Let's get all our feelings out into the open:

Cyrus: "I beat up the body."
Osrat: "I can feel that, you know."
Finndo: "I believe that's the point."
Cyrus: "I break the legs."
Osrat: "/Ow/."

This is why we love Finndo:

Finndo: "Fine. Break off his thumbs and then attach the body."

Thus we begin our requisite, frank little chat:

Osrat looks at his thumbs.
Finndo: "I'm sure they'll re-attach easily later."
Osrat: "Quite a bit easily, actually." And thumbs grow out of the stumps.
Finndo: "Oooh. Aaaaah. Are you going to pull a quarter out of your ear?"
Osric: "No."

Being helpful:

Cyrus: "Do you want me to break him into little pieces?"
Finndo: "No, he has a few minutes to talk and then we break him into little pieces."

Famous last words:

Osrat: "You're doing what we did."
Finndo: "Then we'll just have to do it faster and beat you there."

'And _that's_ when I killed him, Your Honor':

Osrat: "It's all very interesting, but what do you suppose it means?"

Condescension from the not-quite-real and other hazards of adventuring:

Finndo: "We don't know."
Osrat: "_I_ never figured it out."

Not _quite_ 'You'll never get away with this, Luthor!':

Benedict: "What's going on?"
Osrat: "Ah. Yes. You are all trapped in a mutual dream. And I've discovered the most curious application of trumps."
Benedict: "Do you mind if I kill him? Some time later?"
Sonnet: "He'd probably enjoy it, because he'd probably analyze your technique and use it against you later."

Rage with a certain spice:

Scott: "Defcon level 3!"
Osrat: "Oh, that _is_ palpable. Rather tasty, at that. Pity your other one doesn't have the control you do; he'd be much more useful."

The cut-to-the-chase approach:

Sybil: "Uhm. Why can't we just kill him?"
Benedict: "Because we don't know Which is WHICH."
Sybil: "But if we can just chop off bits and see if they grow back, then we know which is which."

A little too adaptable:

Sonnet: "We're /dreaming/."
Sybil: "Right, so we kill them both; it won't matter."

We appear to still be stuck in a dream rotation, via Osrat The Evil Osric. He is helpfully escorting us through the paces, and has picked out his double to ... persuade. The trouble with manipulating Osric is that you're, well, manipulating Osric:

Osrat: "This is where we usually come in - Ruustro runs over the dune, the sun moves over the sky, the city rises, he calls for help, he fades into the city - right, shall we?"
Osric: "No."

Razzin frazzing prophetic dream sequences:

Osrat: "No? The scenery..."
GM: "The scenery is moving - the dunes are passing by. Once you guys start moving, the scenery stops moving for you."

Benedict and Finndo have gone over the dune after Ruustro, along with the rest of the party. The Trouble With Handling Osric, Part II:

Osric: "I watch him to see what he'll do."
Osrat: "You're not going to follow him?"
Osric: "Why should I?"

If you can't Handle, take advantage of the situation:

Osrat: "Or should we have a conversation back here while the others run off and are distracted?"
Osric: "All right."

On being perverse:

Deborah stares at Jarrod.
Jarrod: "I'm not just going to do the same thing again."
Rob: "And nothing good could come of this."

Sympathy from evil:

Osrat to Ruustro: "Help me help me help me help me help me. Do you never say anything else?"

Pigeons, roosts, evil, well:

GM: "And you wake up in the stone tower, it's fall, and there's someone knocking at the door."
Finndo: "Well, we're ready for battle; I go see who's at the door."
Osrat, at the door: "I always find that transition most disturbing."

Skipping the pretenses:

Finndo: "Considering how you're here, I can't imagine this door is much of an impediment."
Osrat: "I thought I'd do you the courtesy - oh very well."
GM: "And he ghosts through the door."

Ends and means:

Sybil: "Why are you here?"
Osrat: "Curiosity killed the cat, true for the rat, who cares?"
Sonnet: "He's come back to try to figure out /how/ to do it, because he didn't do it last time."

On predictability:

Benedict: "Why are you here?"
Osrat: "I want to help."
Sybil: "Call me quirky, but I don't believe that."

He's Just Misunderstood:

Benedict: "WHY are you here?"
Osrat: "I want to be left alone. I don't care about the others."

Helpful Osrat, making sure we understand our predicament. Helpful us, making sure he understands we can count:

Osrat: "It took us twenty, thirty times before all of us got out."
Sybil: "All of you? Sonnet, Benedict?"
Osrat: "Yes."
Sybil: "I'm just pointing that out."

On character and loyalty:

Sonnet: "She must have been clawing at the walls."
Osrat: "Yes. Good show with her, by the way."

Twisting the knife:

Osrat: "What do you know about your status?"
Benedict: "I don't even know what time it is or what day."
Osrat: "But some things persist. Have you already forgotten?"
Benedict: "Enlighten me."
Osrat: "You're engaged."

Dividing the loyalties:

Osrat: "Let me alone, and I'll get the three of you out."
Benedict: "The six of us."
Osrat: "I don't care much for the others."
Benedict: "You're giving me somewhat of an interesting choice. My bride to be or my three companions here."

Can you arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?

Osrat: "I thought you had more esteem for Logan than that."
Benedict: "I have quite a bit of esteem for Logan."

On motivation:

Finndo: "I can't imagine how a cry for help drew you and your companions out of the tower."
Osrat: "Eventually, it got annoying."

It's good to want things:

Benedict: "My /trumps/."
Osrat: "What about them?"
Benedict: "I want them BACK."
Osrat: "I imagine you /do/."

Whole, split, you still can't win:

Benedict: "I want my trumps back."
Osrat: "And the other you wants your body back. It's always about stuff you've lost, isn't it?"

The useful questions are the ones they ignore. Twist the knife the other way, now:

Sybil: "Can I ask a dumb question? If you want your body back and Sonnet wanted Lucan's body or her body - I'm confused about that - why doesn't he want his body back?"
Osrat to Benedict: "He'll be getting to her by now."

Out of the mouths of babes (if not exactly innocents):

Osrat: "I assure you - "
Sybil: "You'll assure me of whatever is convenient for you. I Don't Like You. You should go away and Shut Up."
Finndo: "That is a tempting prospect, isn't it?"

Finndo, having had several long looks at the ghostly city that rises in the desert, proceeds to draw a Trump of that city. Meanwhile, Sonnet is just waking up. On straightforward explanations:

GM: "Sybil, Finndo is drawing a circle around something. It's not you and it's not here - "
Sybil to Sonnet, extremely agitated: "He's drawing a circle!"
Sonnet, sleepily: "Yes."
Finndo: "Warlock."
Sybil: "Oh."

Finndo went upstairs to trump the City. Be wary of gentlemen, maids:

GM: "There's a shuffling upstairs and then a THUMP!! and darkness falls over all of you and you wake up."
Finndo: "MOST intriguing."
Sonnet: "When a man wakes up saying that, it's never a good sign."

This time, it's Osric that calls Oberon for the initial 'we have a small problem' call. On warm parental greetings:

Oberon: "Strange for you to be calling."

Helpful, cryptic Dad. Hey, at least it's not talking trees this time:

Osric: "Mind pulling me through, father?"
Oberon pulls him through to Castle Amber: "Did you have something to tell me?"
Osric: "It would seem our party is trapped in a dream and I'm experimenting with ways to get out."
Oberon: "Hm. I see."

Troubled father-son relationships:

GM: "He draws a sword and attacks you. Are you backing up?"
Osric: "I'll fight him. You never did like me, did you?"
Oberon: "Not really."

Jarrod rolls a mediocre on his combat roll. Dad, how come we never really _talk_ anymore?

GM: "And you're dead. He wipes his blade off on your shirt, and walks off, shaking his head. 'Had such potential... '"

Well, now we know where he gets that impression of distance:

GM: "And Osric, with blood seeping from a wound in his chest, sits up with you all in the desert."
Finndo: "I take it it didn't go well with Father?"
Osric: "No. He never did like me."

The trouble with asking Amberites for their word of honor is that they don't usually have one:

Ruustro: "Help me with my people!"
Benedict: "Very well!"
Ruustro: "Do I have your pledge?"
The silence is one of universal hesitation.

Patience, patience, grasshopper:

Benedict: "You /are/ going to kill him."
Sybil: "Are we going to burn the fucking town down around his head?"
Osric: "I tend not to think that far ahead; one thing at a time."

Here We Go Again:

Ruustro: "Your blood is your word and your word is your blood; by your pledge I bind you. The true kingdom will be restored!"
Sonnet: "Oh, bugger."

We are at last /really/ out of the dream sequence (we think). Now we must get to Benedict's fiancee before Duplicate Benedict does. The consequences of older brothers and misplacing trumps:

Finndo: "You're hellriding for speed, Benedict. Trump back."
Benedict: "*I* *can't*."
Finndo studies the ceiling, flips through the trumps, hands one to Benedict. "I do want that /back/."

And once Benedict is gone, we engage in Brotherly Help:

Finndo: "Now, everyone else: Benedict is going to get ambushed. So. Who wants to stay here and who wants to go rescue Benedict from himself?"
Cyrus: "Why did we let him go by himself, then?"
Finndo: "It was faster than explaining."

That's it, man! Enthusiasm!

Sonnet: "I am going. I am SICK of this tower."
Sybil: "I'm going where Sonnet goes!"
Osric: "Oh, so you're all going with me, how NICE."

Benedict has gotten to Homewood via hellriding, found a guard, and his questioning him as to his fiancee's or his duplicates whereabouts. Unfortunately, the duplicate has already ridden out with the fiancee. Benedict finds himself asking the awkward question of where he, himself, went:

Benedict: "Which trail did I take?"
Guard: "I'm sorry my lord but I ... didn't presume to follow you."

Some days you just can't win:

Benedict: "Did anyone else see where I went?"
Guard: I'm sorry, milord, but courtship being what it is - have you lost her?

Let's be blunt, shall we?

Benedict: "No, she's been kidnapped," and he rides off.
The guard stares after him.

Furthering the 'how do we explain this':

GM: "Do you put up an alert?"
Benedict: "No."
Finndo: "Strangely, an alert is sent up."

And the lucky winner is:

GM: "Who's telling Logan?"
Rob: "That would be Finndo."
GM: "Riiiight."

Still Trying:

Finndo: "Sybil, please find Benedict."
Sybil: "And then can we go to the Land?"
Cyrus: "NO."
Finndo: "Let us deal with the more pressing issue."
Jarrod: "I don't think you're budging Cyrus on this one."

Finndo gets to explain to Logan. There's just no good way to take this sort of news:

Finndo: "Ah, here's what we feel has transpired recently, my lord. The Benedict who recently arrived to escort your daughter was a duplicate."
Logan: "WHAT?"

When you're in the wrong, hang a lantern on the problem:

Finndo: "My brother is currently hunting them in the woods."
Logan: "This is NOT an undead army!"
Finndo: "And we did warn you there were strange magics afoot."
Logan: "She's all I have."
Finndo: "And we are all endeavoring to find her right away."

Speaking of which:

Finndo: "Lady Sybil, would it be possible for you to find our dual Benedict."
Sybil: "... probably. I think."
Sonnet: "Benedict's gone off to find himself."

Meanwhile, Benedict is tracking his doppleganger through the woods. Unfortunate echoes:

GM: "Hrm. Ben, they're on a single horse."
Benedict, slowly: "Poor impulse control."
Osric: "She's going to have a bunch of little ratlings."
GM: "Rat nookie!"

Sonnet's adapting nicely to these warlock tricks. Lucan is not:

GM: "He [Osric] steps you guys around a couple trees and you're at the coast."
Sonnet: "NEAT. Lucan, shut up. Shut up, Lucan."
Lucan: "Uuuuuh."

A familiar howling picks up, triangulating through the woods. It takes a moment to realize that the howling belongs to the wolf pack (cf. session 1) of the white armor. We all have our little issues:

GM: "Sybil, your guts turn to water."
Sybil: "... eep."

When an Amberite Prince says Trust Me:

Sybil: "Sybil attempts to go backwards through Finndo."
Finndo: "Trust me, Sybil, there's no safer place than this horse."
Sybil: "... eep."

Osric, meanwhile, is using Pattern to dart around the wolves. He is drawing them, deliberately, further and further away from Benedict. That lovely, twisting sense of 'oh shit':

Osric to GM: "I want to be behind them (the wolves)."
GM: "You swoosh, go back, and you hear the howling in front of you - and behind you."
Sonnet, slowly: "We're between packs."

On keeping the Karm distracted, and necessities of:

Shai: "Sonnet is thinking again; this is bad, Sonnet should not be thinking. Sonnet should kill things."
Jarrod: "Yes, well."

It's nice to know they think alike (and the combat music cues):

Benedict rolls alertness.
GM: "You hear a twang just as you roll and an arrow is in the tree where you were. You see yourself throw away the bow, and draw your sword."
Benedict: "I draw my sword."

Last fight between the two Benedicts was composed of exactly matching die rolls. History repeats itself:

GM: "Roll."
Scott: "Legendary +1, Legendary +1, Legendary."
GM: "He rolled the exact same thing, just different order."
Scott just /looks/ at the GM.

Pushing your own buttons:

GM: "Duplicate Benedict is muttering something under his breath and after a while you realize he's saying 'tasty'."
Benedict: "And I'm saying 'Is that all you have? That's PATHETIC!'"
GM: "He snarls," and the GM mimes a dramatic swing of a sword.

Then the rolls stop matching. On satisfaction and the last word:

GM: "You chop off his hand, you drive your sword through him, and that last blow knocked him on his ass."
Benedict: "I raise my sword -"
Duplicate Benedict says, "Pity you won't be the first to share her bed."
Benedict, through gritted teeth: "And I chop his head off."

'It is my Nature':

Deborah, staring: "You son of a bitch."
Jarrod, reminding: "He's Not Nice."

Finndo realizes that the girl has been left in a tree while all this was afoot. After everything else, this is hardly odd:

Finndo: "Sybil, we are going up a tree."
Sybil: "Allright."

Stating the obvious:

GM: "There's a young lady in the tree."
Sybil: "Hello!"
Alyra, gagged: *mrf*
Sybil to Finndo: "She's not very talkative."

Benedict is searching his doppleganger's body. An excellent example of how to induce your players to loathe the villain (who is going to die for this, we promise you). When the 'you son of a bitch' is inadequate:

GM: "He's got a lock of hair - probably Alyra's. He's got a rolled up little note or something at his waist. It's bound with a piece of string."
Benedict: "I read the note."
GM: "It's written in Osric's hand: 'Perhaps you should attend to your bride to be.'"

On signatures:

Cyrus: "He should have signed it with a little heart."
GM: "No."
Jarrod: "Osric doesn't do little hearts."

The GM addresses the party, listing off everyone involved. On not being precisely a silent observer:

GM: "Oh, right and Lucan, sorry."
Shai: "Who has been told to shut up at LEAST twenty times."

Benedict has the sad duty of escorting Alyra home to her father. Male bonding, the painful way:

GM to Benedict: "And you see an anger on Logan that you have rarely seen before - and you are impressed because he doesn't usually show it."
Benedict gives him the head in the bag.
Logan, quietly: "I told her mother to stay away."
Benedict: "Her abductor is dead."
Logan: "Good. I hope you made it hurt."
Benedict: "Quite."

The best laid plans of mice and GMs:

GM: "It was a good fucking plan, too. But for once splitting up DID help you cover more ground that way."

Arf is barking loudly at the rat head. Recognizing merit:

Cyrus: "Well, at least he recognizes the scent."
Osric: "Money well spent, Sir Cyrus."

Working it out, much too late:

Cyrus: "He [Benedict] must have come for a reason."
Finndo: "No. He was allowed to come."
Cyrus: "I don't understand."
Finndo: "Poor impulse control. He [Osric] knew what he [Benedict] would do. It was more useful to let him [Benedict] go and possibly kill one or two of us -"
Sybil: "And then have the threat to hold over us to buy his way out. It's a button."
Finndo taps his nose.

Don't teach grandma about stealing eggs:

Sybil throws her hands up, "It's all about buttons; it's just more buttons. They all live with buttons, you see."
Finndo: "Yes. Some of them labeled the Land, apparently."

It was Logan's daughter Alyra who was misused by the doppleganger Benedict. On repercussions, and having something in common:

Benedict to Logan: "I'm sorry."
Logan: "I think I'm more sorry than you. Given what did that to her, I don't imagine the marriage will be easy." He pauses, "But it must happen for the realm; you realize that."
GM: "He looks like he's hating himself for saying that. But you now have this moment of realizing that he's as trapped by this as you are."

Everyone retires to Finndo's hunting lodge (cf. session 1, when it was bought). On unfortunate choice of words:

Finndo: "In fact, my staff has appointed the place with the appropriate stuff for a civilized bath."
Everyone stares at Rob.
GM, gently: "Don't say civilized."

Benedict waits by Alyra's bedside. The results are sad, but his comrades helpfully try to find a positive angle:

GM: "I'll tell you this, Benedict. At one point she does wake up, sees you, and turns away."
Jarrod: "At least she's not screaming."
Deborah: "Or throwing things or trying to kill him."

Now that we have established that Osrat isn't ashamed to stoop to deviltry, it might be wise to plan for the deviltry. Speaking of buttons, Cyrus has a small child and a young wife at home in Rosewood:

Cyrus: "So, Prince Finndo, what other leverages does Prince Osric have on us?"
Finndo: "An excellent question."
Cyrus: "I should not like to return home to discover -"
Finndo: "Oberon is aware of it."

Government reassurances not workin':

Cyrus: "He was aware before this."
Finndo: "I imagine our other Osric has made a break for the mountains by now."
Cyrus: "Still, it would make me feel better."

The Karm way of coping is to cut to the heart of the matters. In her fashion:

Sonnet: "What does Osric care about?"
Finndo: "I have been asking myself that for years, madam."
Sonnet: "He did say that your father doesn't like him very much?" Pause. "Good night."

Finndo is known for his skill at playing cards. Bringing your hobbies to the office:

Finndo: "There has been some tension. If Osric attempts to kill Oberon, I don't place odds on him at very long."

Nonetheless:

Finndo: "Right, before I go to sleep, call Dad and give him an update on the situation."
GM: "He doesn't answer immediately."
Finndo: "I'm sure he's off drinking."
Jarrod: "Banging some barmaid."
Deborah: "Fighting off Osrat."
Jarrod: "Because that took so long."

Ah, rivalry:

Shai: "That's the question Sonnet wasn't going to ask Osric. So she asked Finndo."
Jarrod: "Yeah, like he knows."

Still trumping Oberon:

GM: "Contact comes on in a rush. He says, 'Friend or foe?!'"
Finndo: "Friend!"
Oberon: "Busy - shit!"
GM: "Contact drops."
Finndo: "FUCK!" To the GM, "I get everyone NOW."
Shai: "You get Sonnet out of bed?"
Finndo: "/Yes/."

The trouble with sassy valets who like to send you to bed in strips of frippery (cf. session 1):

Shai: "Sonnet's wearing a nightshift - and Lucan packed."
GM: "This is such a cheesecake cover art moment."

Short, evocative descriptions are a part of any game:

GM: "The party gathers. Sonnet is wearing something VERY inappropriately revealing."

Finndo trumps everyone with very little explanation into Castle Amber, as they are. Summing up:

Finndo: "We're in Castle Amber; something is going on; something very /bad/. Let's go."

Osrics plan ahead. Very far ahead:

GM to Sybil, on the number of elementals in range: "You're getting signals, lots of signals."

So too much warlocky pattern glamour elemental exposure and you tend to forget how other people do things:

Sybil: "I release the /big/ fire elemental."
Sonnet: "They could be using catapults, did anyone think of that? CATAPULTS! Mundane catapults!"

They find Oberon in his study, surrounded and beset by countless elementals. He has cleared a small radius around himself to fight them off. Reassuring words:

Deborah: "I'm going to try something amazingly stupid."
Jarrod: "Oh good."

Oh, yeah, /two/ parents to worry about:

Finndo: "Is there anything else in the castle worth intercepting?"
GM: "Your mom."
Finndo: "I don't know. Osric, where would you go?"
Osric: "Mother?"

Oh, right, and that central sigil of order and the source of the Blood's power - whoops, we should check on that:

Shai: "Are there guards on the Pattern Room now?"
GM: "There are. And they turn to you, and the glamours fall away, and they claim vengeance against you. There's twelve of them and the hall is three people wide."

Keep It Simple, Stupid:

Cyrus: "Do we want to kill them or get past them?"
Sonnet: "Past."
Cyrus: "I charge through them."
GM: "That gets you your self destructive bonus."

Give the Rampaging Guy *Directions* On Where To Rampage:

GM: "... and Cyrus without hesitation charges forward and," he swings both arms out simultaneously, with force, "one fist per throat and he runs over the third one! And that's only the first row."
Cyrus: "Where am I going?!"
Benedict: "The closet door!"
Cyrus: "What closet? I charge the closet door."

On the tacks one takes to problems:

GM: "And it's about this time you recall that Cyrus spent time with Baron Rast."
Rob: "Because that fighting style looks really familiar."
Osric: "Fighting STYLE?"
GM: "You see him trip someone so bad their neck breaks, he takes a sword to the next guy and he doesn't care whether the _edge_ hits him - meanwhile the guy with the broken neck is trying to move."

As Cyrus charges his way through twelve guards in a one man self destructive assault:

GM: "Last row. Oh my god they rolled so bad."
Cyrus: "Legendary."
GM: "And they're all dead. Their pieces are demanding vengeance."

The problem with leaping before you look:

Cyrus: "I charge the closet door."
GM: "You charge THROUGH the closet door." He pauses. He tosses Cyrus a fate point. "And /down/ the flight of stairs you weren't expecting to be there."

Bit belated there, guys:

Cyrus: "I was expecting floor!"
Benedict: "Oh. Watch that first step!"
Osric: "Mind the gap!"

The boot of justice, blind, in flowing stuff:

Jarrod: "That should cheer you up, Ben!"
Sonnet kicks Benedict in the ass.
Benedict: "What was that for?!"
Sonnet: "You should have told him there were stairs!"

Getting your own back on women wearing indecent strips of frippery in the middle of a fight for Castle Amber:

Benedict: "That looks very fetching, by the way."
Sonnet lets out a disgusted breath.

Finndo, meanwhile, has gone to make sure his mother is allright. He needn't have; the hallway to her rooms are suffused with inky darkness. Now we know where Osric gets it:

GM: "A face resolves, not unlike your mother's."
Finndo: "Mother. Are you allright?"
Cymnea: "Oh, /quite/ all right."

Nice to know where the Queen stands:

Finndo: "Is there anything I can get you?"
Cymnea: "Oh, no."
Finndo: "Very well."
Cymnea: I'll go back to protecting all my things."

And nice to have your assumptions realigned, while you're at it:

Finndo: "Have you seen the little witch girl?"
Cymnea: "Little witch girl?"
Finndo: "The one who called up all these unpleasant things."
Cymnea: "Oh, I thought that was your brother."

After a certain point, it's all about going in a straight line:

GM: "A red light comes up behind you -"
Cyrus: "Yeah, whatever."

The joys of costume design:

Deborah to Shai: "You have a red light showing through your transluscent inappropriately revealing lingerie -"
Shai: "Which is plastered to you with /ick/."
Deborah and Shai and Jarrod and Scott and the GM, together: "Yeah, that's cover art."

Sledgehammers used to kill ants:

GM: "The [pattern-room] door is closed. That's usual."
Cyrus: "I believe I will be trying to knock down the door."
GM: "It's a pretty fucking solid door."
Sonnet: "Is it locked?"

Finndo: "I reach to open it."
GM: "It opens."

Simple solutions:

GM: "Finndo throws his entire deck into the air - and it stays there. There's a figure that kind of looks like Osric on the Pattern, past the first veil. It's trailing a long pinkish rat tail. He's just plodding forward."
Finndo: "Cyrus, get a crossbow."

Traditional OOC lore tells the players that you don't spill Amber Blood on the Pattern because the Pattern tends to break and that tends to break reality (literally). This is not a traditional game, however. Separating the men from the hesitating men:

Cyrus: "I shoot him."

This generates appalled silence from the party. A kind of 'who would shoot someone on the pattern' silence. Ask a question, get an answer:

Benedict: "I shoot him."

On cryptic replies:

GM: "Upon release the arrows, the figure in the middle pauses for a moment. A shower of sparks rises from one of the areas he was already on and eats the arrows."
Cyrus: "Wait. Did he raise the sparks or did it raise the sparks?"
GM: "Interesting question."

It's bad when you deploy your right hand man to your left side:

Finndo: "Osric, what did he DO? Benedict, take a shot across a part he hasn't walked. Cyrus, take Osric's orders."

Sonnet is still in her gore-covered lingerie. They don't plan those things for practical use:

Finndo: "Sonnet, scatter iron in a circle!"
Sonnet: "I don't have any!"
Osric: "_Here_!"
Sonnet: "NO POCKETS!"

Cyrus has picked an edge of the Pattern from which to try to get a shot or a sword swipe at the walking figure. On leading a man to temptation:

Cyrus: "Is he getting closer to the edge ever?"
GM: "Near as you can tell, it's a gradual working inward."
Cyrus: "Shit."
GM: "You /are/ pretty sure it starts over there..."

'That whole building says 'go away'':

GM: "It doesn't repel you so much as sparkly - sorry, sparky -"
Rob: "Exuding Bad Idea."

The right tool for the right job:

Benedict: "I line up for my shot -"
GM: "The wall behind you grows a face and then arms and legs and THUMP THUMP steps out -"
Benedict: "I draw my sword."

Sybil, meanwhile, has been outside the walls turning aside Elementals - until she notices that her large scale fire elemental seems to be nowhere in sight. She goes looking for it down the same stairs the rest of the party has already traversed. On becoming inured:

GM: "You pick your way past the heads -"
Sybil: "I /kick/ my way past the heads - "

When you expose sensitive little Fae to Great Big Sources of Power and Reality:

GM: "You go down the stairs and down the stairs and down towards the thing that is... very strong, that is... Right. This is Right. It is Right. Yeeesss. Very Right."
Lydia: "Oooooh, this is bad."
Rob: "Oh, shit."
Sybil, wide-eyed, nodding: "Right."

GM: "Sybil, you drift in behind them all and that's a very true, very pretty thing."
Deborah: "ARRRRGH!"

Do not lose control of your thermonuclear tactical weapons:

GM: "This thing is true and right in the way that the Land is but it is not the Land at all."
Deborah: "What is my impulse?"
GM: "To do whatever this thing wants you to."
Deborah: "Oh. Shit. Right."
Jarrod: "Oooooh no."
Sybil: "I do whatever it wants me to do. What does it want me to do?"
GM: "I'll get back to you."

Those are the goooood drugs:

Jarrod: "Oh this is bad. Sybil!"
Sonnet: "SYBIL!!"
GM: "She's not hearing you. She's zoned."

Meanwhile, Osric has gotten onto the Pattern in an attempt to use it to influence Osrat's walk. The two end up arguing in a mindmeld sort of way. I feel your pain, brother:

Osric: "You can't do this."
Osrat: "Yes. I can."
Osric: "Oh, no, you can't."
Osrat: "The fact that I've gotten this far suggests that I can. The third veil is just ahead, then three steps."
Osric: "Yes it is."
Osrat: "You have no idea what it is like to have knowledge of power and not be able to draw on it."

Cyrus, having been told by Finndo to Not Go Onto The Pattern, determines that the thing he should do is prevent anyone from stepping onto it. So he stands at its start where he and his sword will be in the way of anyone trying to get to the beginning. Unfortunately, the fire elemental coming through the wall blinds him, he steps back, lifting his sword, and - well. The GM smiled:

GM: "Cyrus, you step back, facing the wall, and one foot is on the Pattern."

Cyrus immediately freezes, his back to the Pattern, one foot on and one foot off of it. On closing the barn door after the horses are loose:

Sonnet: "Cyrus, what are you DOING?"
Cyrus: "Finndo told me to not move and I'm trying to listen for once!!"

Finding the silver lining:

Sonnet: "You're not dead."
Cyrus: "You don't know how happy that makes me."

On propriety:

Finndo: "Yell to Osric when he gets to the middle."
GM to Osric: "You're in the middle."
Finndo: "Trump Benedict!"
Osric: "What, HERE?!"
Finndo: "Yes! Fine. Never mind. Benedict, Trump Osric!"

Polar power of reality as magic eight ball and/or NT machine:

Osric: "I ask the Pattern to send me where it sent the rat."
GM: "There's a pause. It doesn't seem to know how to answer that; you're still where you are."
Jarrod: "Shit."

On picking up the spirits of the doomed:

Finndo: "Meanwhile, I'm going to go over to Cyrus and give him everything I know about walking the Pattern for a minute or less."

Sonnet had, at Finndo's request, scattered iron filings in a circle around the Pattern. She's a bit annoyed to be stuck inside as a target. Do not tick off the Karm:

Sonnet: "You're absolutely right, Prince Finndo; I defer to your wisdom. CAN I GET OUT OF YOUR CIRCLE NOW?"

Finndo continues to be helpful. Nothing puts your life into perspective like the prospect of not having one:

Cyrus: "I'm just going to stand here and enjoy living."
Finndo: "Here are the awful things that are going to happen to you and the awful awful awful things that are going to happen to you -"
Sonnet's eyes are getting bigger and bigger: "Can't you coach him?"

We don't /have/ bad stuff in this game, folks:

Lydia: "I'm also facing backwards. This is an amazing bad stuff moment."

Some of us wear lingerie under our daily wear; some of us wear... well:

Finndo: "Finndo actually tell Cyrus to chuck off anything he can as excess weight."
GM: "An arsenal drops."

But I don't /want/ to go to my death:

Finndo: "Allright, he's been given the full lecture, as soon as the other foot goes up, he has to get moving." Turning back to Cyrus, "I, uhm, we'll say a prayer for you."
Cyrus: "How long can I stand here?"

Okay, so by now we're stretching to find the bright side:

Shai: "It could be worse for Sonnet; she could meet her father while going up the stairs. Hi Dad!"

The inevitable line in any campaign, delivered a bit late and a bit anti-climatically. On mastering understatement:

Finndo: "Allright, we've got another problem!"
Osric: "Oh, shit."

Let's not reassure the man /too/ much:

Finndo: "Allright, Cyrus, that is everything I can tell you. Go, and God be fucking with you. Do you have any last requests?"
GM to Cyrus: "You think of your daughter."
Cyrus: "I don't say anything."
Sonnet: "I'll take care of your dog!"

Well, the thought's what counts:

GM to Cyrus during his Pattern-walk: "As you step forward, you are remembering your childhood in great detail - this is much worse than Osric remembering his childhood."
Sonnet: "Keep going. Please... keep going. And don't... die. I don't know why I care but KEEP GOING."

The GM walks Cyrus through his Pattern walk, in which he relives his life. Know thyself:

GM: "And this is your naval career. You remember every brutal murder you've ever committed - "
Cyrus: "That's a lot."
GM: "Including the man you murdered on a deserted island. And then you pass the second veil and you're drowning; your ship is above you, burning; you're going down, arms are reaching for you - you look down, flowing hair, a pretty face, a fish-tail? and you're through the second veil."
Cyrus: "Okay."
GM: "And these are the hardest steps and every step is a punch to the gut of memory, and it being Cyrus, most of it is bad. The one respite from the horrors is the birth of your daughter and then the horrors return and you relive the horrors in that eternity again and again and then sweaty and weak in the knees, you step into the center of the pattern."
Jarrod: "And Osric is there."
Cyrus: "I so did not intend to do that."

Sybil finally shakes free of the Pattern's thrall. Not being an idiot:

Deborah: "Sybil has quietly bolted up the stairs while all this was going on."
Rob grunts.
Deborah: "You can't blame the girl's sense of self preservation. Considering."

Still inured, still frightened:

GM: "You get to the top of the stairs, Sybil, and 'vengeance... vengeance...'"
Sybil: "I kick it out of the way and keep going up."

Checking that you've got the right one:

Finndo: "Sybil?"
Sybil, flatly petulant and uncooperative: "What."
Finndo: "Never mind."

Classic, melodramatic moments:

Osric: "Who /are/ you?"
Cyrus: "I spend a lot of time gasping."

We all have our little concerns:

Finndo: "Lady Sonnet, please keep an eye on Lady Sybil while I check on my father."
Sonnet: "And if you see mine? Distract him."

Finndo gets to tell Oberon all the festive news. He starts by explaining that Osrat made it across the Pattern:

Oberon: "Well, the boy is nothing if not persistent."
Finndo: "With elementals on him and three arrows in him."
Oberon: "Mmm."

Whiskey Tango Fox-trot, over:

Finndo: "It gets more fun. Cyrus just walked the Pattern."
Oberon, not serious: "He survived. Right."
Finndo: "Yes."
Oberon squints.
Osric: "Yeah, that's kinda my reaction."

You get attacked by evil rat dopplegangers of our children who shake the palace, threaten my stuff and walk the Pattern, well, you just have to sleep on the couch, then:

Oberon: "I'm too tired to think about all this."
Finndo: "No problem."
Oberon: "And I have nowhere to sleep."
Finndo: "Mother's rooms were quite intact."
Osric: "Mother's rooms weren't damaged at all."
Oberon: "You think she's going to let down her protection magics?"
Finndo: "Well, we'll leave Mother behind the magic eight ball then."
Jarrod: "Reply hazy, try again later."

Wishful thinking:

Cyrus: "Perhaps the Pattern is malfunctioning and when I wake up it'll all be better."

They have gradually figured out that there doesn't seem to be a missing fourth doppleganger - Sybil's doppleganger. Nobody listens to Zathras:

Finndo: "I am beginning to suspect Osric analog managed to take her power."
Sybil: "I SUGGESTED that."
Jarrod: "You dumbass."

Sometimes, the only medicine:

Oberon to servant: "YOU!"
Servant quivers.
Oberon: "LOTS of brandy!!"
Osric: "Ah, the drinks trolley."
Lydia: "There is the drinks trolley and the fucking bad day drinks trolley."

Some of us have security blankets; some of us have security arsenals:

GM: "Okay, back in the center of the pattern."
Osric: "Okay, if Cyrus is coherent..."
Cyrus: "I have my arsenal at the edge of the pattern."
GM: "Osric only has like a dagger or a sword."
Cyrus: "Yes, I know but I like my arsenal."

It takes Osric perhaps three milliseconds to start getting his hooks in. For some reason, this seems shocking:

Osric: "Did my brother tell you how to leave here?"
Cyrus: "... nooo."
Osric: "Riiiight. Lack of confidence, I'd say."
Deborah: "You're shameless!"
Jarrod: "What?"
Shai: "Manipulative!"

Orientation, day 1, first five minutes, let's reverse your notion of how physics works:

Cyrus: "There's no way off this thing, is there?"
GM: "No. You might be able to go back through the way you came."
Osric: "Allright, the front chamber of the castle?"
Cyrus: "Yes, what about it."
Osric: "Imagine you're there."
GM: "Boom! you're there."
Cyrus: "That's very unsettling."

Taking the GM several ways:

GM: "You know what that Pattern looks like now; you can keep it in your mind."
Lydia: "Is that a good keep in the mind or a bad keep in the mind?"
Osric: "You and I will need to talk later, but right now, let's go see Daddy."

Sonnet unwittingly starts a legend about Karm women:

GM: "You run into the occasional castle functionary, who says 'You're naked! You're carrying a sword! You're covered in gore!' They run away."

On a better angle for dealing with Dad, and the different approaches to a problem:

Osric: "Benedict should have had me beat him up first before he went back."
Deborah: "He's not as manipulative as you are."

A fussed Sonnet asked Sybil what her counterpart would be doing. Sybil has done this. Did we mention the fussed Sonnet:

Sonnet: "We didn't find her. We've been wandering the castle on YOUR orders, *Prince* Finndo."
Sybil, helpfully: "She said to do what I would do and she doesn't like it when I sniff grapes or lick walls and she's very very very grumpy. I think she would like a bath and some tea."
Sonnet, smiling too much: "I only live to serve, Prince Finndo."

A distracted Finndo:

Finndo: "Yes and thoughts about that outfit in conjunction with some tea..."
Sonnet: "I don't think it's your color."

Administrivia gets you perks:

GM: "He manages to chance upon some very eye averting functionaries."

Why you sneak into Dad's office:

GM: "Finndo, that's Cyrus and Osric over there heading towards Dad's chambers."
Finndo: "About time."
Osric: "Oh, I so don't have time for you."
Finndo: "I go trundling over. This will be far too interesting a conversation to miss."

Amberite rule #15: Never let up kicking a man who's down:

GM: "The door is open and Dad is on you don't know how many of glasses of brandy. He looks a little happier, tho."
Osric to Oberon, gesturing to Cyrus: "Before you kill me again, what exactly the FUCK?"
Oberon puts his face in his hands.

About that 'troubled relationship':

Oberon to Cyrus: "Where do you come from?"
Cyrus: "Amber City."
Oberon: "That's all you know, even after walking The Pattern."
Cyrus: "Yes."
Oberon: "I have no idea how you came about. This is very troubling."
Osric: "Oh, yes."
Oberon just LOOKS at Osric.
Jarrod: "Oh, Osric is as close to seething as he gets."

So, did we actually miscalculate or is the Pattern broken? Let's get some hapless bystanders and experiment:

Oberon to Finndo: "I don't think I have it in me to toss other volunteers across that to see if it works."
Cyrus: "A rat just crossed it."
Finndo: "A rat with rather peculiar circumstances. Do we have any condemned prisoners on hand?"
Oberon: "We might. I'm not sure I like that idea."

Dragging things back to who we really are. Family bonding, inevitably with several dozen dashes of irony:

Cyrus: "I hate to interrupt, but there is this crazed rat out there and I do have family that is not here."
Oberon: "Yes, and what would it care of that?"
Cyrus: "I believe it is out to hurt each of us."
Finndo: "I remain unhurt. I believe it was after what you just achieved."
Oberon: "I need some fresh air." He walks over to the window. "It's snowing. Early."
Finndo: "Oh, he's giving us the finger."
Oberon: "Well, at least it's bracing. I appear to be out of brandy. Here's to family. Brandy, Osric?"

When you shock men, prepare to get them drunk:

Finndo: "The good news is he's old enough at least we can be sure he's neither of ours."
Oberon: "Oh, that's heartening."
Osric: "At this point, I'll take the brandy.
GM: "It's not poisoned."
Osric: "Oh, that's heartening."

How to stun a room full of experienced players:

Oberon to Cyrus: "Tell me what you know of your childhood."
Cyrus: "I lie to him."

The first rule of a good sting operation is picking your mark carefully:

GM to Osric: "You're sure he [Cyrus] is lying. How good did you get on your deceit roll?"
Osric: "Epic."
GM: "You're sure Oberon knows he's lying."
Scott: "You know he knows he's lying."
GM to Cyrus: "You think they took it."

Introducing new ideas to the King of Amber:

Oberon summons a servant. To Cyrus: "I will have them take you to quarters that are still reasonably well constructed and not behind the," he squints at Finndo, "Magic Eight Ball."
Finndo: "I'll get you one for your next birthday."

Cyrus stops a servant to ask that his things be brought up from the Pattern room. The servant is very confused, Cyrus is very drunk. Oops:

Cyrus: "From the basement."
Servant: "The... basement?" His head tilts, "I don't understand, sir."
Cyrus: "The basement. Behind the closet door."
Servant: "The closet door?"
Cyrus: "It occurs to Cyrus somewhere through the brandy that he wasn't supposed to talk about it."

Oberon sends Cyrus from the room, and promptly turns to Osric and Finndo, who are still present. It takes Oberon very little time to distrust his latest son along with everyone else. On being succinct:

Oberon to Finndo and Osric: "He's lying. Find out the parentage of both of your companions, aside from the Karm woman. I know something of the Faerie court; names... are important."
Finndo: "I'll inquire of Sir Cyrus and I will set Sonnet, as she is best suited to it, to discovering it."
Oberon: "Fuck. And good night."

Karm tact and sympathy; Amberite patience:

Sonnet: "... and His Majesty is not confessing that he took someone to a tumble that he shouldn't have."
Finndo: "Lady Sonnet, I do not mind your barbs. I do not even mind your observations on that which should not be observed. I am not stupid, however, and there are certain things that are not said. I did not hear what you just said."
Sonnet: "I was just muttering. I know nothing of events that transpired tonight. There was a great battle; it was most confusing."
Finndo: "Allright."
Sonnet: "Several men died."
Finndo: "... _yes_."
Sonnet, sweetly: "Pity."

Not ones to let brotherhood cease the intolerance:

Benedict to Osric: "So, brother, did Lord Halibut survive?"
Osric: "Yes."
Benedict: "Oh, dear. And Father's reaction?"
Osric: "Well, he actually said 'fuck'."
Benedict: "Positively apoplectic."

On checking references:

Finndo: "And then I use my contacts and I research this Uncle who purchased this commission for Cyrus."
Lydia: "All the documents exist."
Finndo: "Yes. I know exactly how thorough Cyrus is."

Well, it's not like the kingdom doesn't have a precedent for it:

Oberon: "How's the girl?"
Benedict: "Catatonic."
Oberon: "I'm sorry."
Benedict: "I still have a bride."
Deborah: "Karm style."
Oberon: "That's how it goes sometimes."
Shai: "Yeah, just ask my Daddy."

Cyrus and Lady Cynthia don't exactly get along, tho it's not for lack of his trying. Dear John:

Cyrus: "I send a message that Lady Cynthia and his daughter should get a guard and come to the city where there are no rat creatures.
GM: "I'll tell you when the - when the message comes back. "
Rob: "Not your wife, the message."

Admiral Boyd lost the last major war of Amber, and then managed to spend his governorship of the Isles of the Sun becoming an alcoholic. When he was retired from that role, he perfected becoming an alcoholic, largely at Cyrus' home. Perhaps the Lady Cynthia would like to share her pain:

GM: "The rider comes back and says it should take us a few days to embark; I will assume that you will wish me to bring Father along."
Cyrus: "OH SHIT."
Shai: "... ah, shit."

And sometimes there is no silver lining:

Cyrus: "I could just shoot myself now and get it over with. Or I could just get a head start on the brandy. Yes. Cyrus restocks his liquor cabinet - thoroughly."
Rob: "And has a new lock put on it."

Cyrus and Finndo have a private pow wow. Cyrus tells Finndo things he did not tell Oberon; Finndo establishes the warm brother rapport right off:

Cyrus to Finndo: "I have a memory of a woman - a very early memory of a woman - "
Finndo: "Swaddled in expensive sheets?"

Sonnet persuades Benedict to train her at swordplay while she awaits the training and tasks that Finndo has promised to arrange for her. The swords and shameless innuendos fly:

Sonnet: "At your convenience - because I /am/ at your convenience."
Deborah: "Since your wife won't be much use to you."
Sonnet: "As I shall be all winter long."

Benedict: "Well, I could use a stretch now, if you care to -"
Sonnet: "Well, I tuck a lock behind the ear -"
Deborah: "Do you saunter?"
Shai: "I /sashay/! In a dress with a sword -"
Benedict: "You should dress more appropriately."
Sonnet: "What would you suggest?"