Session 11: Arise

Players and Characters:

Lydia ........ Cyrus
Shai ........ Sonnet
Scott ........ Benedict
Jarrod ....... Osric
Rob ........ Finndo
Deborah ...... Sybil
Fred ........ GM

Stat line up:

-2 Poor
-1 Mediocre
0 Average
1 Fair
2 Good
3 Great
4 Superb
5 Epic
6 Legendary
7 Legendary +1
etc.

When last we left our... band of ... never mind, Osric and Finndo had just broken through what they thought was a trump contact to the Hand, Amber City's criminal mastermind, and instead had their long-thought dead uncle Quinn pick up the trump contact. Benedict, Selm, Karm and Cyrus had, at the same time, attempted to apprehend the Hand in his whorehouse and instead gotten into a series of fights. Selm was possessed, and Benedict and Cyrus had to fight him down; the Hand fled and Benedict left Cyrus with Selm while he (Benedict) chased the Hand all the way to the docks. The Hand jumped into the water and turned into a merman (I'm not kidding).

Wistful thinking:

GM: "Where were we?"
Lydia: "Getting our asses kicked."
Rob: "In the land of the happy bunnies?!"
Jarrod: "It's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it?"

Benedict dived into the water after the Hand, only to see the Hand turn into a merman (fish from the waist down) and swim away - leaving Benedict dunked in harbour water. When even the little things aren't good:

GM: "Benedict. You're wet."
Benedict: "I get out of the water."
GM: "There's this problem where the dock is on the level where people can step onto the deck from their rather big boats."
Benedict sighs: "Of course there is."

Selm's men had followed Benedict in his headlong dash across the city and are now hovering on the nice, dry dock. Benedict calls for some rope, and naturally they have it right on hand, complete with knots at regular intervals. On hiring criteria:

Shai: "Wow. They're prepared."
Deborah: "They're Selm's men."
Jarrod: "It's a job requirement."

Benedict is still climbing up the rope when he asks the helpful soldier how things are in the city, and gets an indicative answer. Knowing when to jump:

GM: "And he says 'It's - '," thump thump, "and two crossbow bolts appear in his chest."
Benedict: "I let go of the rope and grab onto the docks."

Benedict manages to climb up to the docks just in time to get fired at. This is the future mastermind of strategy and tactics here, showing us what to do in an emergency:

GM: "Unfortunately there's some crates blocking the line of sight -"
Benedict: "Get behind the crates!"
GM: "Right. Good. Unfortunately, there seems to be some light suggesting that something behind you is burning."
Benedict: "Fuck! Right. I, uh -"
GM: "THUMP THUMP. Two more crossbow bolts appear in the crate, suggesting they have a good idea of where you are."
Benedict: "Right. Running!"

Sadist:

Benedict: "Where's the next crate!?"
GM beams, "Fifteen, twenty feet."

From knight to pragmatist in six crossbow bolts or less:

Benedict: "Right, uh, did the men -"
GM: "Twang twang."
Benedict stares.
GM: "They go into the crate."
Benedict: "Did the men who were shot go into the water?"
GM: "Right."
Benedict: "Damn. Can't use their bodies as shields."

Benedict's player, Scott, has a strong tendency to play characters who dash and derring do and swashbuckle. Hence everyone else's confusion:

GM: "Do you have a defensive skill for the running?"
Scott: "Athletics?"
GM: "You don't have swashbuckling."
Scott: "Nope."
Lydia: "Wow."
Deborah: "Are you feeling well?"
Rob: "It was an explicit choice."

Sybil spent the raid on the whorehouse back at the castle, being uninvolved. The trouble with reserves that aren't on hand is that, well, they're not on hand. The sense of immediate threat, meanwhile, has apparently been conveyed to the player:

GM: "It looks like one of the warehouse structures that sticks out partly across the docks has caught flame, and it's - you've seen wood burn, and something else is burning along with it."
Benedict: "Yeah, I need Sybil. Badly."
Deborah: "You left her in the castle, dude."
Scott: "Yeah, I know, I need to send for her after I survive this." Long pause. "When I survive this."

Ever have the sense you're being herded?

Benedict: "Can I figure out how many people are shooting at me? At least two, probably more..."
GM: "At least three. And you don't know if they have backup."
Benedict: "Uhm."
GM: "Twang twang. You recognize this pattern."

These attackers dealt with Selm's men, who are perpetually prepared. Underestimating the enemy:

Benedict: "I make like I'm going to go, show myself, and dive back!"
GM: "Grazes you. Doesn't do any damage."
Benedict: "GO."
GM: "Twang twang twang. "
Benedict stares.
GM: "They had more guys."
Benedict: "OH FUCK."

When you can't dazzle the GM with brilliance, baffle him with recklessness:

GM: "Okay, they shot at me this way, they shot at me that way - huh. Those guys are shooting at me from inside the smoke and they seem to have pretty good aim in spite of it."
Benedict: "Can I run into the smoke?"
GM: "What?"

Benedict has hit on the idea of using his magic (oriented to undoing or unraveling) to clear the smoke. Sadly, every thing in life has a price tag:

Benedict: "Unravel. Disperse."
GM: "You can try it."
Benedict: "What the hell."
GM: "You're going to have to roll out to do it."
Benedict hesitates.

Benedict is considering his options: roll into sight to unravel the smoke, run this way, run that way... Helpful peanut gallery support:

GM: "You could drop into the water, but to remind you, that's where the Hand is, which is why you got out of the water in the first place, and you're going to have a hard time getting back out, and there's eddies and currents -"
Jarrod: "You're going to get your head bashed in."

Benedict has been hiding behind two stacked crates. He decides to start sliding them in front of him as a kind of moving shield. Finally, the gods smile:

GM: "Roll observation."
Benedict: "HAHHAHAHAHA. THANK YOU!" Clears throat, "I rolled three pluses."

When it seems too easy, it generally is:

GM: "There's a distinct, vaguely sweet smell in the smoke around you -"
Deborah sings: "You're being drugged."
Shai: "Your warehouse is on fire!"
GM: "HUSH."
Jarrod sings: "No Helping."

Let's keep the game going, shall we?

GM to Benedict: "So what are you doing, besides looking miffed?"

Scott is permanently cursed to roll precisely what his opponent rolls. No, seriously:

GM: "Okay, heave, and roll, and I will adjust my OH SHIT clock -" He starts laughing.
Scott: "Plus four."
GM: "Guess what he just rolled?"
Scott levelly stares at the GM.

The Peanut Gallery was correct. The Fields of Flame produce uber-opium, heavy duty narcotics, if you will. Not the stuff you want to breathe in a fight for your life (preettty arrowthingies! pretty!). Oh dear:

Benedict: "Try to unravel the smoke now."
GM: "The smell is much stronger here; it's when you realize this is the opiate blossom of the Fields of Flame."
Benedict's shoulders droop.

The sweet delight of being a bigger mouthful than they can swallow:

GM: "Your vision wavers a moment and the smoke clears - you're in a region of smokelessness now. You hear a few people exclaim and then the sounds of swords being drawn."
Benedict: "Oh baby! Swords I can do! Charge!"
Rob: "They're just thinking dodge is an aspect I'd like to buy right now, please."

Of course, it's the GM's role to keep the challenges suited to the character's skill:

GM: "Roll right now."
Benedict: "Legendary."
GM: "You cut an arrow out of the air."
Rob: "Perhaps Yado."
GM: "And five come on you at the same time."

Ask a scientist, get an adaptable answer:

GM to Benedict: "Here's when you notice - you look up at their eyes, and all of them have kerchiefs wrapped around their faces, completely obscuring them."
Deborah: "WHAT?"
Jarrod: "Smoke inhalation."
GM: "And silver tracery around them."
Jarrod: "Scuba gear."

Swallow, dear boys. Swallow:

GM: "They had expected to touch you at least by now. And their body language - since you can't see their faces - is enough to tell you they're thinking 'oh crap, he is as good as we've heard'. And then you skewer one of them."

Now that Benedict has some felled enemies, he picks up the body of one of them and tries to use it as a body shield. Too much or too little time spent with Cyrus:

Shai: "Ben is trying to fight dirty; it's amusing."

A sense of immediacy is a fine thing to have:

GM: "The tracery up close has the air of runic magic; it has that look. It doesn't look like a decorative thing, although someone with a casual glance -"
Benedict: "Do I recognize the face? I take off the wrapping."
GM: "THUNK." Crossbow in the crates by him. "It's cinched pretty tight around the neck; do you try to take it off?"
Benedict: "Not here."

Please - I like my victims to feel that they were doing well:

GM: "You hear a curse as some guy's crossbow's wire just snapped - I rolled a negative four. You get behind the crate because, in the end, lifting 200 pounds in the middle of a fight is not a challenge for an Amberite. For an average joe, yeah, but you'd have fallen bloody into the sea by now if you were an average joe - just wanted to mention that."

This is a group that has played together and thus been traumatized together for much too long. Wrong Game, people:

Lydia: "And he has no face!"
GM: "Now that you mention it - he has a face! He could be anyone off the street."
Lydia: "Hey, you did not play in the Rob game where people had no faces!"
GM: "I did not promise there would not be faceless Hordes LATER."
Jarrod: "Swearing vengeance, no less."

Warrantied up to normal wear, tear and smoke but not projectile weapons:

Benedict: "At the very least, it's a piece of cloth; it will filter out at least some of the smoke."
GM: "Thump thump thump into the crate."
Jarrod: "Not so much the arrows."

Monkey see, monkey do:

Benedict: "Wrap it around my face -"
GM: "Okay, here's the problem, you can't see -"
Benedict: "No no no, eyes available -"
GM: "I just thought if you were imitating them..."

Not speaking from experience:

Shai: "Man, he's going to have the munchies when this is over."
Jarrod: "Poppies, poppies, poppies!"
Scott: "I have this craving for ... cheetos."
Jarrod: "What... are ... cheetos?"

Benedict is now pinned, with a meat shield, surrounded by narcotic smoke, and looking for a way out. Sometimes God parts the sea for you and sometimes you have to part the sea yourself:

Benedict: "Can I see the warehouse?"
GM: "You can in that there's a glowing orange haze that is probably the warehouse."
Benedict: "I'm going to take down the warehouse."
Deborah: "Uh...."
Benedict and GM look at her.
Deborah: "I should think so in that it's already mostly gone."
GM: "I'll get back to you."

And all the way back across town, Cyrus is stuck with Selm. Selm, normally a good guy, became possessed last session (cf. Session 10 - anal Annie) by the forces engineering the murder in the castle. Cyrus fought and was nearly skewered by Selm before Benedict rescued the situation and managed to know the possessed (by what, we're not sure) Selm unconscious before he left to deal with the Hand. What's the logical next step? Tie, remove weapons, apply incentive to not do anything... first things first:

GM: "Cyrus. Last we left you, you were tying up Selm."
Cyrus: "I tie his hands -"
Rob: "And then you tie his hands to his neck, so that if he tries to do that really cool just jump through the rope thing, he rips his own head off."
GM: "But first you work on his knives..."

Still tying up Selm, Cyrus removes the various hidden weaponry to be found on Selm's person. Confiscated by the state, and conveniently available for framing you with further crimes:

GM to Cyrus: "You liberate somewhere on the order of 7 or 8 daggers, and several tools whose function you're not sure of but some of which could be used for picking locks."
Cyrus: "I pocket those."

Not enough incentive, apparently. Cyrus is prompt with the quick answer:

GM to Cyrus: "And suddenly you're on your ass and he [Selm] is driving his forehead into your chin and he's on top of you, saying 'WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?'"
Cyrus: "You were possessed by a dark power, get the fuck off me?"

You can't blame Cyrus for applying common sense:

Selm backs up, tied hand and foot, and hops to his feet: "UNTIE ME!"
Cyrus: "No."

For Winter Court, Finndo gave Cyrus a pair of badass boots intended to assist in Cyrus' particular fighting style. Keeping up with the Joneses:

GM: "He [Selm] straightens his posture a little and blades come out the tips of his boots."
Cyrus: "My boots are not as cool as this."
Finndo: "Yes they are! They do this!"
Selm: "Do you want to argue about this now?"
Deborah: "Why are we arguing about this?"

An offering of trust, Cyrus style:

Cyrus: "Does he look possessed still?"
GM: "He's talking. He wasn't doing that before."
Cyrus: "I untie him. And kill him if he moves."

Completely unnecessary Peanut Gallery assistance in ruthlessness aka When the _GM_ objects to helping, it's pretty bad:

Selm: "Cyrus, you appear to have a blade pointed at my back. What reassurances do I have that you aren't going to become possessed and stick that in my kidney?"
Rob: "The fact that I am also armed."
GM: "Don't help."

Optimism from the two men least likely to believe in it:

Selm: "Where are my men?"
Cyrus: "They're chasing Prince Benedict, who will hopefully also not become possessed by a dark power."
Selm: "I'm clear on that last part, but why?"

What, that old chestnut?

Cyrus: "What was the last thing you remember?"
Selm: "I was watching the - how did I get behind it?"
Cyrus: "You were possessed by a dark power."
Selm: "Yes yes yes."

When you cage a bear, don't lock yourself in _with_ the bear:

GM to Cyrus: "Selm takes a step forward, grabs your wrist in a way that hurts like a motherfucker. What are you doing?"
Cyrus: "I hit him."
GM: "With what?"

Getting one's point across:

Cyrus: "I try to throw him."
GM: "You lift him up and he twists but he doesn't let go."
Selm: "Don't. Point. Knives. At my back. Unless you mean to use it." He twists Cyrus's wrist and the knife drops. "And I mean that in an IMMEDIATE sense."

While we're mucking about with the third deadliest man in the kingdom, let's go look for the most deadly man. Karm's one of those men who scare people. A lot:

Selm looks contemplative: "Where's Karm?"
Cyrus: "Last I heard he was scaring whores."

We don't all have super hearing, Clark:

Cyrus: "Well, our target has escaped, so Benedict has been chasing it."
Selm: "I'm not sure I could help with /that/ - I'm sorry, what?"
Cyrus: "Benedict has gone chasing after our target."
Selm: "Yes, of course he has. With my men. Right. Do you hear that?"
Cyrus: "Hear what?"

Sneak, sneak, sneak - when you put the spook next to the underhanded guy:

GM: "You hear swordplay coming from the other street."
Cyrus: "I go cautiously forward."
GM: "Strangely, so does Selm. He goes up to a window, pulls the drape aside so gently that no one outside would notice the drape moving and says, 'That's odd; there's a fight outside.'"
Cyrus: "I pull the curtain aside gently."

While Selm and Cyrus were sizing each other up, the city has developed a riot and a large fire. The virtues of Paying Attention:

GM: "Karm is surrounded by any number of people with swords - fairly crude swords. He appears to have scared the piss out of all of them; he's batting their blades aside, turn, batting blades aside. There's at least several people on the ground missing pieces of their sword arms that have bled and passed out and beyond them a crowd of people with pointy bits sticking out engaged with Selm's men - and Selm's men are engaged with three of these people each."
Cyrus: "So Karm is fighting riffraff."
GM: "Looks like it, yes. And suddenly a bright orange light flares to your left."
Cyrus: "Inside or outside?"
GM: "Outside. And you can't see it directly, but you see enough of the characteristic of light that something is burning in the direction Benedict ran."

One man's hopeless fight is another man's inconvenience:

Cyrus: "How is Karm doing?"
GM: "He's fighting about 8 or 9 men, and he's holding them off, mostly."
Cyrus: "So he needs rescuing."

The hero falls:

GM: "Well, Selm doesn't seem inclined to. His men seem to be doing just fine."
Cyrus turns to Selm: "Who are we rescuing, Benedict or Karm?"
Selm: "I'm going to watch."
Deborah: "What?! Why?"
Jarrod: "Has he ruined your rosy image of him?"

Of all the people who might agree, Cyrus would be the one on hand:

Selm: "I'm not going to step out there and get myself filled with holes."
Cyrus: "An interesting philosophy."

One man's cowardice is another man's planning, too, I suppose:

GM: "And Selm is standing back, observing."
Scott: "Preparing."
GM taps his nose repeatedly.

A preference for dashing heroes vs. a preference for living anti-heroes:

Jarrod: "I like Selm."
Deborah: "I love Selm! I do! But he's not doing the Right Thing."
Jarrod, unperturbed: "I like Selm."

A man in the rioting crowd threw a rock through the window from which Cyrus and Selm are watching the fighting on the streets. Cyrus takes the opportunity handed to him to pick off the men fighting Karm. The man is _scary_:

Cyrus: "I shoot my crossbow out the hole in the window at the men on Karm."
GM: "It goes through the neck of one guy and imbeds itself in the head of another. Karm looks over, shrugs, and takes down two more guys. Backs up, and now he has most of them in the arc in front of him."
Rob: "Also know as the arc of death."

Doing what you do best:

Selm: "Hm. Feel like you have things under control?"
Cyrus: "More or less."
Selm: "I'll be back."
Cyrus: "I continue to snipe at people."

I was minding my own business, officer, when this mob attacked you...

GM: "Two guys drop from their knees and Karm drops two more - swipe, swipe . He looks at the other two and they, like, and the GM skitters frantically back from his desk, "Karm reaches back for two daggers and throws them in a v pattern and they drop. He looks at Selm's men, shrugs. Looks at the fire a moment, scowls. Looks at the window, figuring out who was helping him."
Cyrus: "I wave at him."
Karm stares, rolls his eyes, sighs. He motions Cyrus out.
Cyrus: "I come out. Carefully."

Smartass:

Karm: "There's a building on fire."
Cyrus: "I noticed."
Karm eyes Cyrus impatiently.

Yes sir, whatever you say, sir. Please don't skewer me, sir:

Cyrus: "Selm went that way. Prince Benedict went that way."
Karm: "Really."
Cyrus: "Yes."
GM: "He seems to be doing some calculations."
Karm: "He should be fine."
Cyrus: "He should be fine!"

Lydia has rolled poorly for the entire session thus far. When luck is not a lady:

Karm: "Oh. Perhaps not. "
Cyrus: "What?"
Karm: "Don't you smell that?"
GM: "Roll observation."
Cyrus: "Negative four."
GM stares at Lydia. He stomps over, takes her dice, swaps them out with another set of dice, but only gives her three.
Lydia: "Where's the fourth?"
Jarrod, gently: "Perhaps you should be happy with only three."

Karm has twigged to the smoke in the warehouse fire being narcotic. Observations on character:

Shai: "It's Cyrus; he should recognize the smell!"

Let me provide you with a sense of scale:

GM: "Crossbow bolts start appearing from the backs of the crowd fighting Selm's men and they just start taking them down with no trouble. One shouts, "We've got it from here, sir!"
Cyrus blinks.
GM, helpfully, "You don't want to fuck with either of these men, really."

Picking your fights carefully:

Cyrus to Karm: "What do you smell?"
Karm: "Have you ever been to the Fields of Flame?"
Cyrus: "No."
Karm: "You've probably never encountered the smoke."
Lydia to GM: "Actually. I probably have."
GM: "This is Karm speaking. Do you want to contradict him directly?"

Does _no_ one in Amber just get along with their fellow man without competition? At all? Ever?

GM: "Karm explains things you already know, in that Benedict is out of his gourd. "That might not be good for the Prince at all," says Karm.
Lydia: "Oh, the rivalry."
GM: "What are you doing?"

Being mocked by Karm and other dear god why me experiences:

Cyrus to Karm: "Do you expect someone to be attacking him?"
Karm, sarcastic: "No, there's just an open revolt in the street. Tell you what. You stay here."

Sure, you can trust me to do precisely what you say. Uh huh:

Cyrus: "I'll take a different path."

Some people's respect or obedience is difficult to earn:

Lydia: "Cyrus is just like, "Please somebody give me orders!""
Jarrod: "Well, he did, and you promptly ignored him!"
Lydia: "Well, it's Karm."

Back at the docks, Benedict was just taking down the warehouse. Look not into the abyss of common sense that is Cyrus, lest the abyss looks also into you:

Benedict: "I try to take down the warehouse."
GM: "A lot of sparks shoot into the air. Perhaps you did. The thump thump thump stops momentarily."
Benedict: "Go. To the next one [crate]."
GM: "Things are less linear here so 'next one' is an interesting proposition. What's your intention?"
Benedict: "I'm actually going to try to catch up with them."
Deborah: "You're going to what?"
Benedict: "I'm going to try to catch up with them.
Deborah: "Jesus Christ, man."
Jarrod: "He's just being self destructive today."

Tactics direct the exact manner of execution. Strategy determines the goal of the execution. (Manager execute; Directors strategize.) Jarrod has a fine future ahead of him:

GM to Benedict: "You come up on them and... strategy? There's five of them."
Jarrod: "Strategy: They need to die."

Pout. Awwww, little boy, doesn't anyone want to play with you?

GM: "A guy goes for his sword and he's got it an inch out of the scabbard when you cut his throat. He flails back 'Ugh Ugh'! And you take another guy apart and the other three break and run."
Benedict looks vaguely disappointed.

Cyrus was running towards the fire (and thus Benedict and the people who were busy ambushing Benedict - and as a consequence busy dying at Benedict's hand). Useful personal habits:

GM: "The warehouse has at least partly collapsed; you hear someone shouting. Cyrus, you hear this too."
Cyrus: "I am skulking."
Jarrod: "You can't help but skulk."
Cyrus: "And look for opportunities to shoot people."

Karm, at heart, is a knight. A very sad, twisted, psychotic knight, but a knight nonetheless. He declares his intent when he challenges the enemies of his liege. So imagine, if you will, an enormous bass roar of challenge... from Karm. The day stops looking up, I expect, for people for whom it was already looking rather down:

Karm shouts: "Enemies of Amber! I am your death! Come to meet me!"
GM: "And the guys running away from you stop for a moment as if considering their deaths."

Life's a bitch, and then you die, one way or the other:

Benedict: "So there's Karm in front of them and me behind them - these guys are so fucked."

Remember all that narcotic smoke? Oh yeah. Problem:

Benedict: "I'm looking to knock one of them out first. Legendary +3."
GM: "Wow. Their +4 doesn't help them. One guy ducks, the sword sweeps over and clubs the guy behind him in the chin. He wobbles and goes down. You raise your arm to strike at the other guy first and your arm has gone kind of ... rubbery."
Benedict: "Can I unravel?"
GM: "Huh? You can - whoah, dude. Uh. Try?"
Benedict: "I was hoping. I go to try to catch my breath first."
Rob, not unkindly: "That may not be such a good idea."

A man's gotta have standards to live up to:

Benedict: "Breath into my arm."
GM: "That might not be such a bad idea, because you have wet clothes. You drop to one knee; your vision wavers..."
Benedict: "Youuuu can haaaave them, Karm. PSSSHHHHHH."
GM: "As you're coming forward, you're like pat pat 'How you doin'? I feel kinda funny!' Let's put it this way: you're more stoned than stoned gets."
Lydia: "Lucan would be impressed!"

The bad luck is contagious. God bless Jarrod's dice and keep them Far Away From Me:

GM: "Several guys run past the route you anticipated, and Cyrus, let's see, you're wearing black and it's night - let's see if they see you? Don't roll. You're on the periphery and you know better than to breathe this stuff and you don't want to be stoned in a fight; you take shallow breaths, right?"
Cyrus: "Right."
GM: "Roll."
Lydia starts laughing.
GM: "What result is that?"
Lydia keeps laughing.
GM sees the negative three on her dice (the worst roll is a negative four). Chiding: "LYDIA."
Jarrod: "Local statistical anomalies!"
Lydia: "I have Jarrod's luck!"
Jarrod: "Yes."
Rob: "It has to go somewhere."

Use what you've got - even if it's Karm. Especially, really, if it's Karm:

GM: "The guy goes down; the other guy runs past. You don't have time to crank the crossbow."
Deborah: "Throw it at him."
Cyrus: "I throw a knife at him."
GM: "Strangely, you have several. And that's when you hear the bloody screams of people being cut down by Karm."

Joy is where you find it:

GM to Benedict: "You've got your prisoner and you're happy." Drugged smile, "You're especially happy about all these people getting cut apart by Karm."
Benedict: "I'm too happy. Can I get out of the smoke?"
GM: "I'm happy. I can't be happy. I'm all about anger." He mimes patting the prisoner on the head, "Come on, let's go."
Rob: "I have this unfortunate fear of him wandering off the dock."
Jarrod and Shai: "NO HELPING!"
GM rolls just to check, "No."

Life is full of daisies and poppies:

Jarrod: "Niiiiiiice crate."

Helpful, helpful Cyrus:

GM: "Cyrus, there's someone coming towards you; they're carrying someone over their shoulder."
Cyrus: "I let them walk past me before I shoot them."

Keeping your focus is vital in times of crisis:

GM: "It's Benedict and he's stoned. It's pretty clear; he's got the loose features."
Cyrus: "I let him walk past me."
Benedict: "Benedict is talking to himself, "Angry. Not happy. Angry. Not happy...""

Pointless suggestions:

GM to Benedict: "You walk into the open street; there are a lot of bodies, Selm's men are cleaning their blades, you don't see Karm yet - roll alertness."
Everyone laughs.

As Robert put it, "Benedict's stoned? How'd that happen? That's a BAAAAAAAD idea." Cyrus is Helpful, of course:

GM: "Given your rather impressive alertness, you realize that SOMEONE's BEHINH ME!"
Benedict: "I whip around."
GM: "You turn 270 degrees."
Benedict: "Whossat?"
GM: "It's Cyrus? It's the fish man! No wait the other guy!"
Benedict: "Hashibut! Hashibut!"
Cyrus: "Yessss."
Benedict: "I got shumbo'ie."
Cyrus: "Yes, you too are a fish."

Let's review. Benedict has breathed in a _warehouse_ worth of opiate smoke:

GM: "In fact, Cyrus, you're pretty sure the amount of drugs to get him to this state would have killed a normal man."
Cyrus: "You should go back to the palace and have a drink of water."
Jarrod: "Or six."
Cyrus: "Many drinks of water."
Benedict breathes through his sleeve, which is still wet from his swim.

GM - > cat. Player - > wad o' tinfoil:

GM: "Benedict ... what's that?"
Benedict looks up, vaguely.
GM: "I'll get back to you."

Lay on, MacDuff:

Benedict: "We shull proly get back to - "
GM: "... and he just stops there."

All the way back at the castle, Finndo and Osric were trying to trump the Hand to psychically ambush him. They pushed and pushed and pushed and finally punched through - but not to the Hand. Instead, they reached their long lost sorcerer Uncle Quinn, the Queen Cymnea's brother. On the importance of being Earnest:

GM as Quinn: "So good of you to join me, nephews."
Finndo: "Good evening, Uncle. "
Osric: "I'll let him talk, because that's what he's for."

Ambiguity abounds:

Finndo: "I presume so, because this is the first opportunity we've had to meet."
Quinn: "You're Finndo, right?"
Finndo: "Yes."
Quinn: "Your descriptions precede you."

Wow. Not Comforting:

Finndo: "I hope this evening finds you well?"
Quinn: "Quite."
Finndo: "I hope we have not intruded."
Quinn: "No not at all. You walked through a door I had set up."
Finndo: "Well."

Not Comforting some more:

Quinn: "How are things?"
Finndo: "Quite well."
Quinn: "Do you think that's liable to change?"
Finndo: "I am willing to imagine all manner of things."
Quinn: "Fascinating."

What family doesn't have its ups and downs?

Finndo: "I presume there is a reason you've sought this audience."
Quinn: "Oh. Yes. You're a problem."
Finndo: "Sorry about that."
Quinn: "Yes, well, these things happen in families."

Resemblances and overtures:

Finndo: "Of course. Would you care to elaborate?"
Quinn: "You were about to uncover more than I was prepared for you to do. That's what contingencies are for. Right, Osric?"
Finndo: "Well, the other side of the family always seems to be the one with a favor for planning... "
Osric: "Chance favors the prepared mind, brother."
Quinn: "I hear your mother in you. Makes me proud."

Exchanging little courtesies:

Finndo: "Well, I hope the contingency doesn't upset your timeline too much."
Quinn: "Well, no. I hope your brother won't be too badly hurt."
Finndo: "I expect he'll be allright."
Quinn: "As would I, actually; it's really just to make his life more interesting."
Finndo: "Well, he'll appreciate that."

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio:

Quinn: "You sent quite a number of people with him."
Finndo: "Unfortunately you never know how unstable things are going to be that far into the city."
Quinn: "That's true. You don't."

And how is the weather and slaughter with you, Uncle? Oh, really? Gee. That's nice. Raining where you are?

Finndo: "That said, how may we be of assistance?"
Quinn: "Conversation, really."
Finndo: "Certainly. I hope the intervening time has found you well."
Quinn: "Reasonably. I have had time to plan."
Finndo: "That I do not doubt. I hope it has been a comfortable environment."
Quinn: "Well. There were a few rough spots."
Finndo: "Well, making do makes one appreciate what one has all the more, I suppose."
Quinn: "Yes. Care for anything to drink? It's not real, but..."
Finndo: "No, I'm quite fine. I assume you are also responsible for the news that got father so excited?"
Quinn: "Not that I'll admit to."

Mind if I pump you? Metaphors and more metaphors:

Finndo: "Fair enough. I wanted to see how many cards we were playing with."
Quinn: "There are more cards than you might anticipate."
Finndo: "I imagine there are a great many number of cards in any game - but like any player, I am only familiar with the cards in my own hand."
Quinn: "That is as it should be. You can't have everyone cheating."
Finndo: "I've found that cheating takes all the fun out of things."
Quinn: "I could agree with that."
Finndo: "I suppose that is a luxury more easily taken by one already in a secure position."

One should aspire to heights:

Jarrod: "I like to be problematic. Politically inconvenient."

Meanwhile, Lydia is struggling with her better instincts. Does it trouble anyone else that the husband and wife are the ones who see all the implications?

Lydia: "Ah, the urge to molest to molest Benedict while he is under the weather."
Scott: "That's what rivalries are for. Although Benedict did just save your life. Although it would just piss him off more..."
Jarrod and Shai: "Yeeeeessss."

And still in the wacky trump conversation. Finndo (who is a fantastic card player) settles down to poker. When you deal with the devil, the same thing is always on the line:

Finndo: "A card table and decks appear in front of Finndo."
Quinn: "A game!"
Finndo: "I presume you have reason to keep this going for a while?"
Quinn: "Enchanted!"
Finndo: "Osric?"
Osric: "Oh sure."
Finndo: "Seven card stud."
Quinn: "Stakes. What are you wagering, gentlemen?"
Lydia: "Your SOULS!"

When being high and chased through the city looks _good_ to you:

Scott covers his face with his hands.
GM: "This is the point where Scott collapses into a ball of pain going 'at least I'm stoned!'"
Osric: "It's your game, brother."
Quinn: "I will wager some of my secrets."
Finndo: "I will wager the contents of my conversation with Father after he took off."
Quinn: "Really? Osric? Or are you just going to sit this one out?"
Shai: "I am SO HAPPY to be back at the castle!"
Scott: "Needlework!"

Anyone remember the last time Sonnet said 'Oooh, I like lists'? Uh huh. She thought she was a prostitute (cf Session 8 - Needy Nell). Finding joy no matter what you do:

Shai: "No, I'm going through someone's room right now. I have a list!"
Scott: "Checking it twice."
Deborah: "A list with a different connotation than the last time she said that."
Shai: "Sonnet does. She likes lists."
Jarrod: "Makes her happy; consider it performance art."

At long last, Finndo's gambling investment pays off:

Osric: "I'm in for a secret or two."
Quinn: "Let's play then."
GM to Finndo: "Are you cheating?"
Finndo: "No."
GM: "Everyone roll straight out."
Osric: "-1.
Finndo: "+1."
GM: "Osric, alack, you lose most. Finndo, Quinn gave you a run for your money, but in the end... "

An embarrassment of riches:

Finndo: "My gambling skill?"
GM: "Your gambling skill kept the game fair."
Quinn: "Ah. So. I suppose Osric owes us a secret and I owe you some as well. Osric?"
Jarrod: "I have to figure out which one."

Osric is referring to Osrat, the evil doppleganger spawned by the bathwater of Granlibaaken (no, I'm not kidding). Osrat has escaped the party's vengeance, walked the Pattern and is off somewhere likely plotting our destruction and torment. (Not that I'm paranoid.) Family is relative, isn't it?

Osric: "I have a twin."
Quinn: "Do you?"
Finndo: "Well, I feel gipped."
Quinn: "Besides that one, you mean."
Finndo: "Yes. That's a really creepy way of looking at it, brother."

Sympathy, not so much:

Deborah: "Well, that was a dumb one to pick."
Jarrod: "What?"
Deborah: "Thank you for telling Quinn that there's an evil Osric out there."
Jarrod: "That would be your problem then, wouldn't it?"
Scott: "I agree with you."
Jarrod: "Everybody's life has static."

Looking on the bright side aka weighting your rivalries:

Deborah: "Well, Quinn already knows."
Jarrod: "More the point, Finndo already knows."

'I got no reason for the things I do / the dealer deals and then the dealer's screwed / You throw your cards upon a playing table / my name is Cain and I am now unable':

Quinn: "My secret, then. You're not talking to me."
Finndo: "That would explain it."
Quinn: "I set this up quite a while ago. Bit of a recording - a fragment, really."
Finndo: "You'll forgive me; we'll be leaving now, then."
Quinn: "I'm not sure I can allow that."
Finndo: "We'll see. And I think the cards are jumping off the table."

Secrets, troublesome secrets, and more secrets:

GM: "There's kind of a bulge in reality in the area where you're focusing and a shock wave goes out of it towards Quinn. It drives him back and through a wall you weren't aware was there, leaving a fairly large hole."
Finndo: "I go through."
Osric: "I'm going out the back way."
GM: "What back way?"
Osric: "I'm not sure how to answer that."
GM: "That back way. Okay. I'll get back to you."

A good villain loves a good challenge:

GM: "Quinn is on a big ass clock and he is receding away from you on one of the gears."
Finndo gestures, and there's the sound of a shuffling deck. A staircase of cards appears. He starts walking down it.
GM: "By this point, Quinn has disappeared inside the gears."
Quinn: "You won't find your way out!"
Finndo: "Oh, I'm not trying to find my way out!"
Quinn: "Delightful!"

Cross-game reference, inevitably. In Rob's Wednesday night game, a mechanized plane inhabitant ( a machine from a plane solely occupied by machines and robots), expressed 'concern' that the human party members would be crushed (where an inhabitant would not) because humans were at least 13 squishyons and the locals were 'a mere 3 squishyons'. The terminology... appealed:

Jarrod, of Quinn: "I suspect he is low on squishyons."

When being Finndo doesn't work, try an Osric:

GM: "You roll around a corner and there are sharp things coming at you."
Finndo: "Okay. I still have a swarm."
GM: "You manage to deflect some of the shards of metal and more of them hit you across the abdomen and boom he recedes and he's gone. Anything else?"
Finndo: "Concentrate. Pull myself upright and reassert that this is not real."
GM: "Interesting."

Osric, meanwhile, is having a private conversation in his head with a Mysterious Contact. The name of the Mysterious Contact is never specified. Osric asks him for the way out. Deus ex Machina, anyone?

Mysterious Contact: "I'm not sure I can do that"
Osric: "Try."
Mysterious Contact shakes his head. "You're tethered. I think there's an exit condition. I can probably give you the shortcut once someone satisfies it."
Osric: "Give me a hint?"
Mysterious Contact: "It's at the middle where your brother is headed. If Quinn is doing his job, he's probably leading him away from it."
Osric: "Right."
Mysterious Contact: "Do you want to go help him and I can go looking?"
Osric: "Sure."

Curiosity killed the party:

Lydia: "What a strange conversation."
Rob: "Oh dear."
Deborah: "That was Cymnea."
Rob: "NO."
Scott: "I'm curious as to who that was."
Jarrod: "I'm sure you are."

Genie in a bottle, perhaps:

GM: "You intuitively find your way to Finndo, Osric. As he's focusing, you're concentrating."
Finndo: "The main part of the focus is not that this is not reality but that these injuries are not real."
GM: "As you watch, the bloody injuries heal and his clothes start to heal."
Osric: "A bit of drama?"
Finndo: "He got away."
Osric: "I submit that isn't a problem."
Finndo: "On the contrary, a fragment of Quinn would be a remarkably useful thing to have in a bottle. If he created this construct off himself, then it can be potentially contained."

Or perhaps not:

Osric: "Carrot, brother?"
Finndo: "Precisely. I'm willing to give it up but it was far too tempting a prospect."
Osric: "That was the point."
Finndo: "What did you find out?"
Osric: "That our priority should be to leave this place."
Finndo: "Given that he's trying to tie us up for time."

The advantage of a reputation for Thinking And Staring Into The Distance:

GM to Osric: "Pssst psst." In other words, the Mysterious Contact wants to talk again. "You're going to have to go physically introspective in front of Finndo to have this conversation - not that it's not out of character for Osric to stand around sniffing the daisies."
Osric: "We need to find the key," and he'll look thoughtful.
Finndo: "I'm used to that; I'll look around."

Once more, dealing with the devil:

Mysterious Contact: "I appear to have found something."
Osric: "Excellent."
Mysterious Contact: "Would you like me to disable it now?"
Osric: "In what way?"
Mysterious Contact: "Satisfy the exit condition?" And he smiles.

There's nothing quite like watching your doom OOC and being unable to protest:

Osric: "What should I expect if you do?"
Mysterious Contact: "We'll get to that. First, about the girl. "
Osric: "Mmmhmm."
The Mysterious Contact opens his hand. An image of Sybil appears in his palm; he closes up his hand. "You should bring her when you come visiting."
Deborah: "EEEEP."

Objection! Objection your Honor! Oh, wait, Amber, no honor to speak of:

Mysterious Contact: "In exchange for me getting you out of this. Otherwise, I could make it much more difficult to get out."
Osric: "Threats aren't necessary."
Mysterious Contact: "I know. It's more a statement of capability."
Osric: "Heavy handed, though."
Mysterious Contact: "I admit it. I hate it, but there are certain compulsions where she's involved."
Osric: "Yes, well, that's unfortunate, but I don't see where that's a problem."
Deborah: "MEEEEEEEP!!!!"

Oh, did I forget to mention something?

Mysterious Contact: "I also need you to not be in the way."
Osric: "I'll make every effort."
Mysterious Contact: "When the time comes, with her. Very well - oh, hold your breath."
Osric: "Riiiiiight."
GM: "And Finndo, as you're up there, something clicks and the gears stop. And THUMP you're under water, it's wet, it's dark, you can't tell which way is up; you didn't get a chance to catch your breath."

A variance in perspective:

GM to Osric: "There's something thrashing near you. What are you doing?"
Osric: "Try to grab him."
GM to Finndo: "Something's grabbing at you. What are you doing?"
Finndo: "Kick them in the head."

Osric and Finndo have been dumped deep into a body of water. They take different approaches to the problem - Finndo blows out a small bubble to watch which way it floats (in order to determine 'up'). Going with the flow, so to speak:

Osric: "Do I know which way is up?"
GM: "No."
Osric: "Great. I should be floating."
Finndo: "Small bubble."
GM: "Ah. There's kind of a direction it takes but then something comes up behind you two, grabs your clothes and starts pulling you in a particular direction. It at least doesn't seem to be deeper."
Finndo sucks on an air pocket trapped in his clothes.
GM: "Are either of you resisting this thing?"
Finndo: "Not yet."
Osric: "I don't see a reason to yet."

AAA emergency ocean service:

GM: "You have a sense you're coming near some rocky stuff - maybe it's rocky coral or a piece of island. There's a quick turn and there's a rising glow above you. You get a chance to look at the shape above you and it's human from the waist up."
Scott: "That's what I was afraid of."
Lydia: "You've been towed by the fish people."

So the Mystery Contact was possibly the Hand...

GM: "And it's taking you up. You emerge; there is an underwater cave here, and air, and a faint bioluminscence here which is enough for you to get a faint moonlight's worth. You two are both emptied onto what amounts to a short shoreline grotto in this cave; it's not large, but you don't need to worry about running out of air. The face bobbing up out of the water is the Hand with extremely slicked back hair."
Finndo: "Excellent. This is an interesting turn of events."
Hand: "You wish to be here when I come back; there is no harm in it."
Finndo: "Understood. "
Hand: "I will join you shortly."

Or possibly not. On false apologies:

Finndo: "So what happened in there?"
Osric: "In where?"
Finndo: "In the clock."
Osric: "I got us out. Sorry I had no chance to warn you."
Finndo: "Is there a trick to it?"
Osric: "Always."
Finndo: "Is there a trick to it that might be useful to know if we end up there again."
Osric: "I doubt that we'll be put there again but I'm not sure you could do it." Pause. Cheerfully, "Sorry."
Finndo: "No problem."

And all the way back to the castle again. During last session's events, Sonnet and Sybil stayed back at the castle, completely uninvolved. What do the ladies do when uninvolved with the men's affairs? Discuss the men, naturally. On differences, the same:

GM: "You were having a conversation, ladies. What were you talking about?"
Deborah: "I think we were discussing the men being dumb."
Shai: "Probably having dinner."

Lucan rushes in on Sybil and Sonnet's dinner. It's _rude_ to interrupt dinner:

Lucan: "I need to show you [Sonnet] something."
Sonnet: "Now?"
Sybil: "But... can't I come?"
Lucan: "Come on!"

They rush down the hall, through a door that leads to a study. There is water all over the floor. The trouble with using sarcasm on the Fae:

Lucan: "Finndo and Osric turned into water!"
Sybil, unperturbed: "Oh. Allright."

Lucan shows them a window through which they can see that there's a full moon out. In Amber, at the peak of Kolvir (on which Amber Castle is situated), on a full moon, a ghostly echo of Amber forms in the sky. The Amberites refer to this echo as the City of the Dead. However, neither Sonnet nor Sybil nor Lucan has ever seen this before. A staircase forms off the three stone steps carved into the mountain peak and climbs, wrought of moonlight, up to the city of the dead. Guilty conscience aka The Lady Doth Protest Too Much:

Sonnet: "Oh, that's very interesting..."
Lucan: "Yup. That's where you [Sybil] woke the mountain."
Sybil: "I didn't do it! It's not my fault!"

You wait here. I'll flee:

Sonnet: "We need bottles."
Lucan: "I'll go get some. You figure out the magicky shit."

Sybil and Sonnet, inevitably, decide to investigate. They resolve the issue of Informing The Authorities of their intentions by sending a servant to tell the queen. Lucan, meanwhile, returns with to large jugs that happen to both reek of alcohol and be empty. Enjoying your work:

Sonnet: "You're so resourceful."
Sybil makes a face.
Lucan, thoroughly drunk: "Woooooooo! Where do they get this stuff?"

Sonnet and Sybil leave the castle to investigate the stairway; Lucan is delegated to scooping the water into the jugs.

GM: "It's a thirty minute hike up the mountain."
Sonnet: "I'm in one of my muslin and flowers dresses."
Sybil: "I'm in one of my godawful gowns."
GM: "It's a fourty five minute hike up the mountain..."

The women espy someone apparently moving up at the peak of the mountain just before attackers fall upon both of them - and neither made their alertness rolls. Sonnet gets hit, takes an injury and starts falling down the mountain. Sybil, clever tactician that she is, just wants to go after Sonnet, never mind dealing with the two swords in front of *her*.

GM stares.
Sybil, defensively: "They went after Sonnet!"
GM walks over to look at Sybil's sheet: "Let me see how you defend yourself when you aren't intending to."

One of the attackers misses Sybil outright; the other swings and his sword goes flying out of his grip and over the edge. Sybil ignores this, diving after Sonnet. Behind her, someone is exasperated:

Attacker In The Night "Lutz, dude, ALWAYS wrap leather around the hilt of your sword..."

Sonnet, meanwhile, has also gone over the edge. Always a Karm, never one to refrain from using a tool, she tries to break her fall by using her massive layers of skirts and petticoats. The image is... unfortunate:

Lydia: "The parachute of skirts!"

Thus, when Sybil gets to Sonnet, she finds Sonnet hanging off an outcropping on the cliff, caught by her skirts. On failing to resist temptation:

Deborah: "I see London, I see France..."

Several sessions ago, Sybil took the sorcerer Piero up on a dare and woke Mt. Kolvir. Not a piece of Kolvir, not a part of Kolvir, but the _whole_ _mountain_. Then she tried to bind it. It did not like that; it ate her for her trouble. This has managed to leave an impression on Sybil. Refraining from the dragon's tail:

Deborah: "Is this the mountain I pissed off?"
Jarrod: " Yes."
Sybil: "Oh shit."

Sybil has sent a fire elemental up the mountain at their pursuers to distract them while she calls an air elemental to bring Sonnet back up to the edge.
By the time Sonnet is safely landed, however, the fire elemental has been snuffed. Sybil looks up the mountain to see this. Sonnet influence crossed with Cyrus influence:

Sybil, daintily: "Oh holy fuck."

New tactic: if the elementals won't work, let's try ordinary mundane arrows (snuff that, bubba). She starbursts her targets, shoots where she picked out the forms and takes out two people that way. A dark clad figure steps out of the night, pulls three arrows and fires them all at once at Sybil. Tactics, not so much Sybil's specialty. Self preservation instinct, however:

Sonnet: "Incoming!"
Sybil "I become one with the ground!"

Sybil lost her powers of glamour (Fae illusion) at least five sessions ago when they were taken from her by the Prince of Colors. Since then, it's been assumed that they have been completely lost. But because Sonnet is running from the terrifyingly good archer, Sybil belies that assumption to cover Sonnet's retreat. In Amber, revealing a secret says you care:

GM: "Sonnet, you run past yourself...."

Sonnet is trying to convince Sybil to retreat; Sybil has learned that she doesn't like backing down. Too much time with this crowd breeds a tendency to bite off WAY more than you can chew:

Sonnet: "They can fire FOUR arrows at once!"
Sybil: "But... but... I can do that!" In a small voice, "Um. Maybe."

And back in the city, Benedict and Cyrus are returning from their lovely afternoon of battling off ambushes, street riots and burning opiate warehouses. They can see the City of the Dead in the sky. Benedict is still high as a kite. When you wish you were more stoned:

GM: "Benedict! What the hell's THAT!"
Cyrus: "What the hell is that?"
Benedict: "Lord Halidbut? Am I really seeing shat?"
Cyrus: "Yes."
Benedict: "FUCK!"

Yes, our players /are/ evil:

Lydia, thoughtfully: "I should have told him no to fuck with his brain. "
Scott stares.
Lydia: "I'm kidding."

Benedict and Cyrus are being accompanied back to Amber Castle by Selm's men; having espied the City of the Dead, they (like the women) decide to investigate - a far more interesting prospect than hauling unconscious men around. Rank Hath Its Priveleges:

Benedict: "I stagger over to one of Selm's men. "
Selm's man: "Sir? Are you allright, sir?"
Benedict: "Here. Take this. Put it in the dungeon." He dumps the body he's been carrying on the man. "Prishoner of war. Givim to Selm."
Selm's man: "Yes sir. Anything about the stairs, sir?"
Cyrus: "We should go up there."
Benedict: "Yeah, I'd love to; how do we get up there?"
Cyrus: "I hand over my prisoner."
Selm's man: "Guys? Some help here?!"

A little bit reckless:

Benedict: "Do you think I can unravel my state of mind?"
Cyrus: "I soooooo back away."
Jarrod: "You may be wearing his brains in a minute."

Even the alcoholic doesn't want the ultimate hangover cure:

Benedict succeeds in sobering himself up.
Cyrus: "Wow, that's a neat trick. I don't want that."

Euphemisms:

Benedict: "Two horses! Now!"
Selm's man: "Uh. Didn't bring them!" He turns to another man, "Find them!"
Lydia, happily: "Steal them!"
GM: "Requisition for the crown is the phrase."

The women, in turn, have made it back down the mountain and to the castle. That's when they notice that the city is burning. On knowing your trademarks:

GM: "Sonnet, now that you're back down by the castle and you're looking down at the city, part of it is on fire."
Shai: "And I would imagine that's where the guys are."

The Lady is still Protesting (guilty much?):

Sybil: "I didn't do that either!"
Sonnet: "I know it isn't; you were with me, eating pastries, the entire time. Let's find some guards."

Loyalty and Obligation:

Sonnet: "Sybil. We can do this."
Sybil: "If you make me."
Sonnet: "I'm not going to force you. However, I'm going."
Sybil squeeze her eyes shut, "Me too."

The women dutifully report in to the Queen - or try to. There's the black sphere eating up the corridor outside the Queen's quarters: Her Majesty's standard protective spell. Sonnet eyes this and reports directly to it. Prod prod prod at the tail:

Sonnet: "Your Majesty, there's a hostile situation; I'm sure you're aware of it."
GM: "No response."
Sybil: "Your sons are dead, the city's on fire, hello?"
GM: "No response."

In the very first session of the game, Sybil's mother sold her daughter to the Hunter in White (specifically, she gave up her objections). Scarring one's child for life:

Sybil: "She's not aware."
Sonnet: "Yes, she is."
Sybil: "Oh. Right. Yes. She's a Mother."

So the women check on Lucan and his progress at scooping the water into the jugs. Lucan is in a fine state. He'd make a lousy necromancer:

Sonnet: "I check on Lucan."
Lucan, incredibly drunk: "I've got tem in jugs! They might be missing and ear or a nose or something. Maybe they'll be like - oh wait, that's not funny."
Sonnet: "No, that's funny."
Lucan: "Okay, maybe now I won't drink them because that would be bad."

SOMEONE please pay attention to us? Hello? At last, the women find Benedict, sober, and Cyrus, level headed. Terse, factual summations:

Sonnet: "There's a hostile situation on the mountain. They are hostiles, we got rid of about four of them, perhaps six."
GM to Benedict, of Sonnet: "She might have a leg wound, from the way she's walking."
Benedict: "You allright?"
Sonnet: "No. We're going back."

Not so terse, partly factual summation:

Sybil blinks up at Benedict: "Benedict? Benedict."
Benedict: "What?"
Sybil announces: "There's a problem."
Benedict looks at her flatly.
Sonnet, calmly: "They can snuff elementals and fire up to four arrows at the same time."
Sybil, brightly: "That would be the problem."

That's when Sybil looks out the window and notices a man descending the moon-made stairway from the City of the Dead. What is it, Lassie? Did Timmy fall down the well?

Sybil: "Benedict?"
Benedict: "What?"
Sybil announces: "Benedict, we have a problem."
Benedict gives her another flat look.
Sybil: "There's someone walking down the stairs [of the City of the Dead]."

But when a MAN says it, they listen:

Cyrus: "There's someone walking down the stairs, in armour. They're a little ghostly."
Benedict: "We need to get up there."

Someone's feeling resentful:

Sybil, muttering, "See if they want to take on Benedict. Ha! Bet they'll like THAT."

Cyrus, Benedict, Sonnet and Sybil ride up the mountain to investigate (sound familiar?). They promptly get shot at. Cyrus neatly ducks - like an invitation:

GM: "Cyrus rolls off the back of his horse and lands behind the horse, crouching."
Deborah: "Cyrus, with your bad stuff, you'd better pray that horse doesn't lift his tail."

The party dismounts and finds cover. Sybil sets up her pattern of starbursted fire elementals to silhouette their opponents and then firing at them with her bow. Deja vu:

Benedict: "I am advancing up the mountain; Sybil, keep doing what you're doing."
Sybil: "Certainly, Prince Benedict. I will do my best not to try to shoot you."
Benedict: "And see if you can find Sonnet."

Kindness to Everyone Else from the GM:

Sybil, happily: "I'm going to try something immensely stupid and dangerous."
GM: "I'll get back to you."

Sonnet sneaks up on one of their assailants. Sonnet is a Karm, and thorough. Sonnet is also a lady, and jumpy:

GM: "He's dead."
Sonnet: "Is he?"
GM: "He's dead. He's very dead."
Sonnet: "We're sure?"
GM: "He's extremely dead. That third cut you made from ear to ear ensured that he was dead."

Finndo and Osric are still in their watery cave while the rest of the party is off mountain climbing. Their host returns. Starting things out dripping naked:

GM: "The Hand comes out of the water and he's fishy for a bit. Then it resolves into man parts - unclothed man parts."
Deborah: "Ewwww."
Rob: "I didn't need to see pantsless crime boss."

Finndo tosses the Hand his cloak and the three men settle down to negotiate. Sometimes, the bad guys just hand you control of the situation:

Hand: "Considering that you came out of that, I'm going to conclude that Quinn set me up."
Finndo: "Uh huh."
Hand: "Since that was supposed to be my protection."
Finndo: "Aha."
Hand: "Considering if that was how he was to deliver you into my hands, and I was running from you - "

Finndo has this habit of collecting people's weak points, much the way Osric collects unfortunate information:

Hand: "I did not wish to incur your wrath, sir."
Finndo: "I appreciate that. And it seems the situation has evolved considerably since the evening began."
Hand: "I'm sure it has but I'm not apprised of it."
Finndo: "What do you two have planned?"
Hand: "Well, outside of you and your brother, no one knows that I am a fish."
Finndo: "I take it you wish to keep it that way."

'Things are not always what they seem. Your friend today can be your enemy tomorrow.' And vice versa:

Finndo: "And beyond that, what is your interest in these affairs?"
Hand: "Living."
Finndo: "Ah. That can also be arranged."
Hand: "Fantastic. That is exactly the situation that I would prefer to be arranged, but I was informed the situation was otherwise."
Finndo: "There are terms, of course, but you seem a talented and resourceful individual."

'We've got him, but only so long as he knows we know that he knows.' Complicating life:

Finndo: "That leads to a second point; you are a sharp gentleman and there is at least some that you inferred by what questions he had to ask."
Hand: "Mm. He was communicating with both of his elder sisters in the castle."
Finndo: "Interesting. Do you have any family."
Hand: "Schools."
Finndo: "Are they anywhere this much of a headache?"
Hand: "Occasionally."

Enforcing the No Helping rule. It's a bad sign when Scott's the one who wants to chime in:

Finndo: "Do you know why all of this is going down now?"
Scott raises his hand emphatically.
Jarrod: "You don't get to say anything."
Hand: "No."

Turning coat both ways:

Finndo: "Who is possessing people?"
Hand: "Oh, that's most certainly Quinn. He has a certain talent for the psychic."
Finndo: "That's what I was afraid of."
Hand: "I conclude that he did away with the woman I had working."

So that's why he never says anything:

GM: "Osric, you're getting a trump call."
Osric: "Oh good."
GM: "You let on?"
Osric: "Since I've been silent, I don't think they'll notice."

The trump call is from Benedict, who is calling for reinforcements from the middle of the firefight on the mountain. The aggravating thing about Osric is that he knows so goddamned much:

GM to Osric: "Benedict is crouched somewhere dark."
Osric: "Hello, brother."
Benedict: "I see your circumstances have changed as well. We have a bit of a situation up here at the peak of Kolvir..."
Osric, sounding unsurprised: "Really."

Amiably switching sides mid-battle is the classic stuff of Amber interaction. It just warms my heart:

Finndo: "If you are comfortable with a new employer, I believe we have settled matters."
Hand: "Precisely the sort of arrangement I'd hoped we would reach."

A polite way to say 'I could have crushed you to little bits':

Finndo: "Where are we?"
Hand: "Several hundred feet below the surface. "
Finndo: "Yes. "
Hand: "The nearest place I knew of. I did not want to discomfit you."
Finndo: "Appreciate that."

In order to get help, one must admit weakness:

Benedict: "It may be difficult even for me?"
Osric: "What? I have great faith in you, brother."
Benedict: "Sybil has her elementals; they keep going away."
Osric: "Mmmhmmm."
Benedict: "Hurry along, then."

Osric has a _gift_ for understatement:

Osric to Finndo: "Gone then, has he? Our brother needs us."
Finndo: "For the moment, he seems sufficiently unenamoured of Quinn."
Osric: "Funny that, so am I."
Finndo: "For the moment, his fishy nature is something to keep to ourselves. So what's amiss?"
Osric: "Brother says there's some sort of disturbance at the peak of Kolvir. Hostile forces trying to make their way up there now."

Chalk another one up to Osric. One problem down, another pops up:

Jarrod, innocently: "It's factually true."
Shai: "And that vein in Finndo's forehead is beginning to throb."
Finndo: "Well, then, here. It's a trump into the city. I believe your men are still there."
Osric: "Perhaps I should add that I believe we have ten minutes."
Finndo stares at him.
Osric, not at all apologetically: "Sorry."

During the fight on the mountain, Sybil has tried to counteract the remarkable night vision of the attackers with glamour: she has coated the party in glamours to make them look like mountainside. Identity issues:

Finndo: "Cyrus."
Cyrus: "I am a boulder. I have been crawling up the mountain."

Cyrus is unaccustomed to being trumped:

GM to Cyrus: "You're getting a weird tingle in your head."
Scott: "You're being taken over! You're being taken over!"
Cyrus: "I keep crawling."
Finndo: "I know Cyrus has never taken a trump before, so I push it."
GM to Cyrus: "Oooooooaaaawwwwwh. You stop moving. There's a ghostly Finndo."
Cyrus: "The boulder flips you off, Finndo."

A little too much honesty:

Finndo: "Thirty second briefing, please. Just think loud."
GM: "OH MY GOD HE'S SHOUTING! You basically hear him go FUCK FUCK FUCK."

Status update: we're fucked, sir. How are you? Oh, glad you could take that calmly:

Finndo: "How safe is it near you?"
GM to Cyrus: "You have no idea."
Cyrus: "I'm a rock. There are people with bows and some kind of magic snuffing things at the top of the mountain. Also there are stairs up to the city of the dead."
Finndo: "Excellent. Well, thank you."

Uh huh, right, thanks, NEXT:

GM: "Do you drop the connection?"
Finndo: "No, because the person I would like to trump would be a bad, bad idea."
Deborah: "No, Sybil would - well, yeah. She'd try to shoot him."
Finndo to Cyrus: "Hold out your hand."

Cyrus pulls Finndo and Osric through to the combat zone that is the mountainside of Kolvir underneath the City of the Dead. Paranoia by the plateful:

GM to Finndo: "You hear a twang, you whip around with the cards in the way and an arrow flips off of it. Cyrus, you instinctively roll to the side, the arrow hits where you were. Osric, two arrows come towards you and open up the sides of your arms, but that's it. Finndo, whoever was shooting him should have had him to rights."
Finndo: "They deliberately missed Osric."
Deborah: "No, they deliberately provided Osric's blood."
Finndo: "No, they deliberately missed Osric."
Jarrod: "You people are so untrusting."

Do not misplace your thermonuclear weaponry:

Finndo: "Cyrus, do you have any idea where Sybil is?"
Cyrus: "Over there. I was /trying/ to be sneaky."
Finndo: "Well, I'll make noise over here."

The party's players are working on the theory that the purpose of the activity on the mountain is to resurrect - from the City of the Dead - the dead members of the vanquished family of Nod, relatives of Cymnea - i.e. the family that held the realm of Andros before Oberon conquered it and everything in sight and married Cymnea to fortify his rule. The idea would be to rise against Oberon and restore the old Kingdom of Andros. It can always be worse:

Lydia: "My fear is they just summoned Kip out of the City of the Dead."
Rob: "No, they just summoned NOD out of the City of the Dead."

Sybil manages to find Sonnet. Telltale tendencies:

Sonnet: "Where's Benedict?"
Sybil: "He said something about killing everything that moved and, well."
GM: "You hear swordplay ting ting ting over there."
Sonnet: "That would be Benedict."

Like an iron skillet to the forehead:

Finndo: "If there was an easy - however, I was just hit by an idea."
Shai: "Much like an arrow."
GM: "Sure."
Finndo: "I will trump back to the city. To the castle. Okay, booking down to the troops, trumping Osric."

Perhaps you have cleverly noticed the battle going on around us?

Osric: "Oh good, you made it. Ow."
Finndo: "Get to some place secure. I'm passing your men to you."
Osric: "Secure /here/?"
GM: "You find an outcropping of trees. Something."

The women attempt to reach Benedict; for their trouble, they get nailed. Literally. Their shrieks draw Benedict's attention. Damsels in distress:

GM: "Benedict, you get over to the women. Sybil has been pinned by her arm to a tree by her arrow. Sonnet is unconscious."
Benedict: "Any threats in the area?"
GM: "Whoever it is very mobile."
Benedict: "I pull them into cover."

Cyrus has been steadily sneaking up the mountain to the staircase. Onimosity Update:

GM: "You're looking up. Looks like a second figure has started down the stairs."
Cyrus: "Oh, God, that's bad. I keep following upwards."

Disadvantageous camouflage:

GM: "Cyrus, you think you have a clear break to run, but you'd have to be a running boulder."

Getting a little too emotionally involved:

GM: "Benedict, roll hunting."
Benedict: "Good."
GM: "You move move move move you kick something loose. Someone real nearby steps back, whips out a bow. What are you doing?"
Deborah: "Kill her."
GM: " 'Drop your sword.' It's a woman's voice."
Benedict: "Clink."
Deborah: "What?!"

All the strangers look like Family; All the Family looks so strange:

The Woman: "Sit."
Benedict: "Yes sir."
The Woman: "You're going to stay like this for a while, allright? Who else is with you? No wait, you aren't going to tell me that."
Benedict: "Do I recognize the voice?"
GM: "Wendra."
Benedict grins: "I thought that might be you."

Disagreement from the defining entity:

GM: "She shakes her head a little; her hood falls back and you can see - her eyes are completely black."
Benedict: "That's a neat trick."
GM: "It's creepy."

Family Resemblance:

Benedict: "So what are you doing here, Auntie? of course you're not going to tell me."

Sonnet is unconscious, although being tended by a badly wounded Sybil. This is sure to make Karm hyperprotective for a while longer:

Scott to Shai: "Looks like you'll be hearing bedtime stories from Dad for a little longer."

Karm, if the Gentle Reader will recall, is psychotically protective of his daughter and is likely to look darkly (at best) on people who allowed her to get hurt. Helpful Advice:

Deborah: "I am framing my apology to Karm."
GM: "A good use of your time, yes."
Deborah: "I am trying to figure out how one apologizes to Karm for not keeping his baby girl safe."
Lydia: "From a Great Distance."

Cyrus has made it to the peak where he can observe the attackers at their purpose. What we had only guessed turns out to be troublingly accurate. And a knife twist in the gut, lightly garnished with lemon:

GM to Cyrus: "There's a man at the base of the stairs, looking every bit the hero, looking up at a larger man in robes, descending. There's a sharp pointy featured man, Quinn, pacing around, looking contemplative. There's the Queen. There are two other people. One of them is your wife, who looks like she's in a trance; she's wavering. The other is your daughter, who is beaming up at everything. She looks aware."

Tell us how you feel. Don't hold back, now:

Scott: "I'm actually glad you're up there now, because it is your daughter - although that may inspire you to do something suicidal."
GM coyly covers his mouth, "Oh! No!"
Lydia "LAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH!!!"

Cyrus trumps Finndo in a cry for help that's a little... unfiltered:

Finndo: "Yes?"
Cyrus: "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!"
GM to Finndo: "Same as before - all caps."

GM to Osric: "Your men, as far as you can tell, are taking apart the competition on this mountain."
Osric: "They should keep doing that."

Cyrus relays to Finndo. Finndo has a Plan. That's Never Good:

Cyrus: "Her Majesty the Queen is doing, like, the stairs.... thing."
Finndo looks at the 8 ball, waves a hand at it, "Right. Okay. Remain calm."
Cyrus: "Everyone's up there, except the King."
Finndo: "Describe who you can see."
Cyrus does so.
Finndo: "I will arrange a distraction. Grab your daughter when it starts."
Cyrus: "But - I - "
Finndo: "You'll know."
GM: "Click. Contact's gone."
Cyrus: "I - wait! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK."

That's your plan, Ray?!

Finndo: "_Sybil_."
Scott looks at Deborah: "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD."

Razzin frazzin bizarre fucking technology:

Cyrus: "I try to call Finndo again."
GM: "It's not working. Maybe you broke it."

Here's an idea: let's upset the thermonuclear weapon:

GM: "Sybil, someone is drawing a circle in your mind."

Finndo manages to get through to Sybil, to whom the contact is like an iron circle with spikes being drawn in her head. Sybil barely manages to call back the elemental she was throwing at him. Remember summoning Kolvir? And how she isn't supposed to do that EVER AGAIN? Rules change:

Finndo: "Sybil, I need a small list of things from you. I need the biggest list of elementals that you can provide -"
Sybil: "THE biggest?"
Finndo: "And I am giving you permission to summon the mountain."
Cyrus: "I'm staring frantically at Finndo's trump."
Sybil: "That's what I wanted to know."
Finndo: "Please feel free to direct its inquiries to me."

He thinks. I just do, to the background of Lydia screaming out her panic. Sybil cuts loose her largest elementals and directs them to the peak, specifying who they cannot kill. Cyrus is not quite the daring hero:

GM: "What are you doing?"
Sybil: "I am carrying out my instructions to the best of my ability."
Cyrus: "AAARGH!"
GM to Cyrus: "There is a bright light rushing towards you. What are you doing?"
Deborah to Lydia: "Your daughter and wife are about to die. I'm very sorry."
Cyrus: "I find the nearest cover and become the mountain there."

SOS! SOS! SOS! DAAAAAAAAD! Send lawyers, guns and money, for the shit has hit the fan:

GM to Cyrus: "You watch Quinn reach over to Cymnea and tap tap tap on her shoulder. He looks at the stairs like this is the most inconvenient thing he's had to deal with; Cymnea looks over and the elementals are swatted to the ground."
Cyrus: "FUCK."
GM: "You think you just heard her say it's time to take care of that fae bitch."
Finndo: "Plan C: I am breaking Oberon's trump back out."
Scott: "Dad, Emergency NOW! I don't care! Whatever it is can't be as bad as what's going on out here."

Meanwhile, Plan B enacts:

Sybil: "And I wake the mountain."
Scott winces.
GM: "Finndo, are you going to continue to concentrate on the trump while the mountain shakes?"
Finndo: "Yep."

Per Finndo's instructions, Sybil has obediently summoned the entire mountain of Kolvir. Getting what you asked for:

Kolvir: "YOU DARE?"
Sybil, cautiously: "Finndo requested that I wake you."
Kolvir: "DID HE."
Sybil: "There's a disturbance -"
Kolvir: "The air does not concern me."
Sybil: "Wait, hang on -"
Kolvir: whooshes off to Finndo.
Sybil, wincing: "Ooops."

When the mountain started to shake, Benedict fast-drew his sword and cut Wendra's bow in half; then she disappeared. What next? No dumb boy he:

GM to Benedict: "You saw the elementals get smacked, you feel the rumbling - "
Benedict: "I'm running."

True to himself, no matter what they say:

GM: "You run past Osric's men dealing with the last bit of resistance... "
Osric: "I'll advance up the mountain cause I want to see what's going on."
GM: "You get a fix on Benedict; you can follow him - well. Let him go first, of course..."

The mountain finds Finndo and Expresses Its Displeasure. Finndo, predictably, bargains:

Kolvir: "I had your pledge."
Finndo: "You did. And as such, I am offering to negotiate."
Kolvir: "I will listen."
Finndo: "You have been tied to the sky."
Kolvir: "And?"
Finndo: "I cannot imagine this is a particularly appealing thing to you. "
Kolvir: "It will pass. All things do."
Finndo: "Indeed they do."
Kolvir: "Except for me."
Finndo: "Interesting question, that. In time, even a mountain can pass. That said, it would be of great convenience to me should your tie to the mountain be severed somewhat earlier."
Kolvir: "What do you offer?"
Finndo: "What do you need?"

This woman was married to Oberon for over a century. Perhaps we should have considered what such a union would have taught her:

Lydia: "Your mother is gaining in evil!!"
Jarrod: "Yeah, Mom's even starting to spook Osric, I think."
Lydia: "Whose side is she on?!"
Jarrod: "Hers."

Hey, if he did sell Sybil, Kolvir and the Mysterious Contact could fight it out for possession of Sybil's limp little corpse:

Kolvir: "I will take one of two things."
Deborah: "Oh, please not me."
Scott: "No helping!"

'... and Vir? Don't give away the home planet.'

Kolvir: "Remove the wound inscribed upon my flesh, or give me a child of your family's blood."
Finndo: "Interesting. Which family?"
Kolvir: "Do not presume you can barter with those over whom you have no control. There is a family who is responsible for the wound. That is what I ask after."
Finndo: "Removing the wound may be beyond my capabilities. So instead I offer you variety."
Kolvir: "You offer me variety."
Finndo: "I offer you a month to walk your own slopes."
Kolvir: "Uninteresting. I know my own slopes down to each pebble."
Finndo: "Then I offer you that which is beyond your own slopes."
Kolvir: "Uninteresting."
Finndo: "You are content."
Kolvir: "I am a mountain, that is what I do."

Keep in mind that Aine is the daughter of Cyrus, the bastard son of Oberon - and therefore Cyrus' four year old daughter carries the blood of Oberon. Selling his own soul:

Finndo: "What use would you have for a child of our blood?"
Kolvir: "That is my business, mortal."
Finndo: "Very well. There is a child of our blood who stands upon your peak."
Kolvir: "Yes."
Finndo: "She is mine to dispense with."
Kolvir: "Is she."
Finndo: "She is."
Kolvir: "Fascinating."
Finndo: "Take her and take her quickly."
GM: "He's gone."

Think about the implications for just five minutes: Finndo gave Cyrus's daughter to Kolvir if Kolvir would sever the tie to the City of the Dead's stairs. People often seem to forget just how ruthless Finndo can be beneath the terribly polite exterior. Consequences and secrets:

Lydia: "Oh you are so dead if Cyrus finds out about that."
Scott: "Wow."
GM: "And the mountain shakes again, but you are closer, Osric; you are close enough to be pretty sure you see your mother up there amongst other people including a ghostly guy with armour."

Kolvir is true to its word. Cyrus watches his daughter vanish, unaware that Finndo has sold her to the mountain. Losing one's family to one's obligation the fast and horrible way:

GM: "Cyrus, you hear Quinn say it's lost, we have to leave him. And this looks like it's the toughest decision Cymnea's made; she nods once, quickly, Kipwin puts his hand on her shoulder and she reaches up for it, and then the mountain nearby more or less erupts. It's not molten but it's limbs. You lose sight of your daughter as something passes through the stairs. The ghost vision of Nod is knocked free of it and falls, silently, disappearing. There's an exploding mountain ahead; what are you doing? Benedict has run past you."
Cyrus: "I'm going to run up there."
GM: "Ben, the boulder gets up and runs with you. Osric, you're following two boulder people. The chaos up ahead subsides but there is dust; you can't quite make it out. You're running and the stairs are still there - it's almost as if the mountain didn't disrupt, Cymnea is gone, Kipwin is gone and you don't see Aine."
Cyrus: "I check on Cynthia."
GM: "Breathing very shallowly. Possibly some sort of head trauma has occurred."
Cyrus: "I do what I can."

Calling for help too late:

Benedict: "I get out Dad's trump and start pushing at it."
GM: "Well, that may be a problem."

We knew it was a distraction last session. They probably knew it was a distraction. Barn doors and horses:

GM: "It's like you're running into a wall of steel and you take a diamond bit to it."
Finndo throws everything he has at trumping Oberon.
GM: "It is like you are reaching through an incredible amount of heat distortion; it's like your arm is over an open pit of flames. And... you're absolutely certain that he is unconscious. You do have this trump of Piero. You might even be able to swap it out mid call. With a Legendary +3 I'll let you do that."
Finndo: "I think I do."
GM: "And this plane, so to speak, of fire greets you like maybe it's a cage or a sphere or a bubble or something like that. There's a ship there made more or less of charred ash and it's being held together; Piero stands on it. He stands with Oberon at his feet; Piero looks ragged and the gemstone that he has for an eye has cracks in it."
Finndo: "I take it you realized this was a trap."

When the point of safety isn't:

Piero: "Son of Oberon."
Finndo: "Pick him up."
Piero hands him over and steps through.
GM: "And they're there and smoke is coming off of them."
Piero: "I will be back; your father is alive," and he stalks off.
Finndo: "Right. Pick up Dad. Take him somewhere secure and surround myself with several guards I know to be loyal."

Win conditions met, and somehow not:

Cyrus: "I call Finndo."
Shai: "Fuck fuck fuck..."
GM: "It's Cyrus."
Finndo: "Yeah."
Cyrus: "It's over."
Finndo: "Did we win?"
Cyrus: "Define winning."

The guilt has already begun:

Finndo: "Are we alive?"
Cyrus: "Everyone is gone. Cynthia is alive; everyone else is gone. Benedict is also here."
Finndo extends a hand: "He can fucking walk."

I find your lack of faith... disturbing:

GM: "Osric, your man comes up, "All rebels exterminated, sir."
Osric: "Well done."
GM: "Darth Vader breathing: 'Well.... Done.'"

Finding a scapegoat:

Cyrus: "Yes, well, what the hell was your Queen doing?"
Finndo: "Describe what you saw."

That sinking feeling that you failed failed failed:

Finndo: "Then they were trying to bring them back."
Cyrus: "Successfully, it would seem."

Finndo trumps Sybil again. Sybil has been watching over an unconscious, concussed Sonnet and is furious and uncooperative. Finndo insists that she keep silent the deal he made with Kolvir. Sybil picks the worst possible time to draw a line in the sand:

Finndo: "I have one more task for you."
Sybil: "You make me regret my bargain."

Finndo collects Sybil and Sonnet through the trump; Osric and Benedict are left on the mountain to discuss events and make their way home. Anticipating the comeback:

Benedict: "I don't suppose you could tell me what that was."
Osric: "I'm not entirely sure myself."
Benedict: "What do you know? Yes, volumes, I know."

Understanding your role in life isn't always a pretty thing:

Osric: "In this case, that wasn't what I expected. I dislike being used."
Benedict: "It would seem we've been used since before we were born."
Deborah: "You feel like a soggy paper towel, don't you?"

Finndo has surgeons see to Sonnet and, when she comes to, attempts to reassure her. The trouble is that she's right:

Finndo: "Sonnet, you're safe."
Sonnet, croaking: "That's a very interesting definition of safe."

And then Finndo has to talk to Cyrus about his daughter's fate. The horribly ironic thing about the lie that Finndo tells Cyrus is that it very well might be true:

Finndo: "I have an unfortunate supposition as to why they wanted your daughter."
Cyrus: "Oh?"
Finndo: "The power of her blood. They have a ghost."
Cyrus: "I see. You do not know where they might have gone?"
Finndo: "I intend to find out, but that's a matter that will wait till morning; they still have fires burning in the city."
Cyrus: "I had not thought it wise to kill any of them."
Finndo: "That thinking may need to be revised."
Cyrus: "Next time when I object, you might answer a question before letting go."
Finndo: "Time was, unfortunately, of the essence. But I will take that under consideration."
Cyrus: "I will tend to my wife."
Finndo: "Excellent."
Lydia: "Cyrus hovers around making people nervous."

Karm, once Sonnet is safely in her rooms, visits. He sits by her side and waits until she surfaces to consciousness once more. And, for once, Daddy scolds. It's not a good night for anyone:

Karm: "Why did you involve yourself?"
Sonnet: "It was necessary; we were attacked."
Karm: "You were attacked, personally."
Sonnet: "Yes, men came after me; I fell down a bloody mountain."
Karm: "That would involve you going up the mountain in the first place."
Sonnet, weakly: "I wanted to see what was going on."

Loyalties surface under crises; Benedict, with the best of intentions, opens a certain door by trumping Dorr. Sensible man, Dorr:

Dorr: "Ben! This is an odd ass way of talking to me."
Benedict: "One of Finndo's little tricks."
Dorr: "Right. Allow me to not learn it."

Very very sensible man:

Benedict: "Due to the severity of this evening's events - "
Dorr: "What?"
Benedict: "You should know. I am presently sitting at the top of Kolvir."
Dorr: "Chilly."
Benedict: "Yes. Stairs appeared to the city of the dead."
Dorr: "Anyone walk it up?"
Benedict: "No, but two people came down. Nod's eldest."
Dorr pinches his nose: "A retraction: "'Oh bad.'""

You have to wonder about a man who greets the news that the Queen is accused of High Treason with cheerful amusement:

Benedict: "Yeah. Uh, Nod almost made it down, but he was apparently knocked off before he made it down."
Dorr looks wistful: "And I didn't get to see it."
Benedict: "But apparently Quinn was at the base of the stairs with my dearest mother - "
Dorr: "So, Queen, enemy of the state. Excellent!"

Opening the gossip mill:

Benedict: "As well as Dear Auntie Wendra who by the way has quite a bit of skill with a bow, about as much as I have with a sword."
Dorr: "Right. That's a lot."
Benedict: "Quite. "
Dorr: "Dolcea?"
Benedict: "Did not see her up there at the little family gathering."
Dorr: "Huh. Okay. She won't go on the list yet."
Benedict: "Send word to the northern -"
Dorr: "It'll be happening as soon as we're done here.

Oh, yeah, kid, and about your honorable intentions to my daughter:

Dorr: "I think Alrya's almost ready."
Benedict: "Excellent. There was a complicated plot that diverted our attention from this matter..."
Dorr: "That's enough."
Benedict: "I'm going to go find a place to sleep for about two days."
Dorr: "Good plan. I'll put the rangers on alert."

Warrants for the arrest of half the royal family. That's gotta look odd:

Rob: "Finndo is putting out warrants for the lot of them under his seal."

I don't think Benedict is interested in subtlety or implications:

Benedict: "The northern realms have been informed."
Osric: "Of what?"
Benedict: "High treason."
Osric just stares.
Benedict pulls his sword out and starts walking down the mountain.
Osric: "Oh shit."
Scott: "You dumbass."
Osric: "They're not going to be subtle."
Benedict gives him that look.

Karm, having queried Sonnet, queries Finndo. Karm may be psychotic and insane, but he's not stupid:

Karm: "My prince!"
Finndo: "Lord Karm."
Karm: "May I request an explanation of events so I can appreciate my daughter's role in them."
Finndo: "You may, but I myself am still gathering the information. It seems the events in the city were a distraction to allow the Queen, her brother, and her sister Wendra to get her dead out of the City of the Dead."
Karm: "Who did they get out?"
Finndo: "By all reports, Kipwin and Nod, but he didn't make it all the way down. I do not know what your daughter was doing there."
Karm: "Going off on her own, then."

The leopard's spots will out:

Finndo: "Of course, it was most interesting to me, and of course this is to be kept in the strictest confidence, Lady Wendra is an amazingly good shot. To complicate matters, I had certain defenses in position that Osric did not. Mine kept me alive. Osric is also alive."
Karm: "That's curious."
Finndo: "Yes."
Karm: "However, he is a Prince. I might inform you that the contract between him and my daughter has been terminated by the change of the Queen's status."
Finndo: "I had not been informed of this contract."
Karm: "Ah. The Queen made her the protector of your brother."
Finndo: "That seems a very bad idea in itself."
Karm: "Yes. I will think on her new role."
Finndo: "And, please, make it one that will make use of her many talents. You have a very competent daughter."

After his conversation with Finndo, Karm takes back up his vigil of Sonnet. Touching moments:

GM to Sybil: "Karm reappears, takes a chair, sits down next to Sonnet, and ... watches."
Deborah: "That's sweet in a fucked up way, because there's two them, side by side, watching her."

Benedict visits Sonnet's chambers during Karm's and Sybil's vigil. Indicative, telling answer:

GM: "There's a knock on the door."
Sybil: "I reach for my bow."
GM: "Karm gives you a slight smile at that. He opens the door to the side, not blocking the shot. Benedict is there."
Benedict: "Is she going to be allright?"
Karm: "She'll heal."

Later that day, Benedict finds Selm standing by a castle wall, looking out over the fields. On regret:

Benedict steps up beside him: "Lord Selm."
Selm turns very slightly to the side, not looking at him: "Prince Benedict."
Benedict: "You've heard of yesterday's events, I assume?"
Selm: "Quite."
Benedict: "Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the matter?"
Selm: "Fairly certain I couldn't have foreseen it... fairly certain.
Benedict looks at him.
Selm: "Wendra I really should have anticipated. It's not as if she didn't openly announce her intent every day for the past century."
Benedict: "Indeed. Perhaps that's why I wasn't so shocked when she had me at arrow's point."

Appreciating another man's position:

Selm stares straight ahead. "Please do not take offense, sir, but I do not envy you your family."
Benedict _laughs_.
Selm: "Oh good. Not offended."
Benedict: "No. Not at all. I have a general dislike for most of them myself."

Oh, now _there's_ a comfort:

Selm: "How's your father?"
Benedict: "Comatose."
Selm: "There are worse things to be."
Benedict claps him on the shoulder.
Selm nods.
Benedict walks off.

Even in crises, one must pun:

Finndo sends Benedict a note: "The hand has turned traitor against Quinn; keep any fishy information to yourself."

Back on the mountain, it's time for honest sentiments:

Cyrus: "I feel the need for someone to die."
Osric: "A great many someones, I should think."
Cyrus: "I feel the need for a great many people to die _right_ _now_."
Osric: "You'll excuse me if I feel the need to back away."

Osric is referring to Cyrus' notorious impression of Rosewood being occupied by happy field hands who sing merrily at their work all day. Cyrus is referring to his bitter side:

Osric: "Should I be concerned?"
Cyrus: "I don't know? Should you?"
Osric: "You're not going to kill the singing people, are you? Should I be concerned for them."

Helping a man out when he's down:

Osric: "I'm sure there are shadows full of people that need killing. I know exactly where."

Benedict succeeds in unraveling the magical protections around Cymnea's quarters. He calls Finndo, and the two men enter the Queen's chambers to find them occupied by... the Queen, who seems quite unaware of any regrettable activity like High Treason. Awkward family moments:

Finndo: "Mother, I am afraid I am obliged to place you under house arrest."
Cymnea: "Oh! Whatever for?"
Finndo: "A very long list of deeds that have culminated in a visit to the City of the Dead."
Cymnea: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

That sinking moment of realization that, once again, he's been had. You'd think the party as a whole would get used to it:

Finndo: "Sweet baby Jesus. Finndo trumps her."
GM:"You get nothing."
Finndo: "Aunt."
Cymnea sings: "I don't thiiiiink so."
Finndo: "Right. Dad gets to deal with this one. In the short, you have been seen allying with Quinn to return Kipwynn and Nod from the city of the dead."
Cymnea: "No."

Was it the Chad? Was the Chad not good?

Cymnea: "Is something bothering you?"
Benedict: "A great many things, Mother. A great many things."
Finndo: "Come on, Benedict, there's still a great many things to be dealt with. I cannot wait for Osric to show up." To the GM, "We will arrange for servants and I'll step into the hall with Benedict."
Benedict: "Shall we?"
Finndo: "Oh yes. Oh we shall."

These prejudices are just shameful. Oh! Did you hear the one about why the trees of Paris are lined with trees?

Osric: "Osric is going to take Cyrus to France."
Cyrus: "WHAT?"
Deborah: "To kill many people?"
Jarrod: "To kill many Franche! Because they need it!"

Finndo just couldn't resist:

Finndo: "We have managed to take down the magic 8 ball and we got to Mother's rooms and found the most peculiar thing."
Osric: "What?"
Finndo: "Mother!"
Osric: "REALLY."
Finndo: "Oh, yes. I have a theory of course but I think you'll want to speak to her."
Osric: "Yes, I think I shall." To Cyrus, "I will finish describing France to Cyrus so he can find it."
Cyrus: "Where are you going?"
Osric: "My brother needs me. You'll be able to get back. That in itself is simple."
Cyrus: "No, I am going to wander off and find a good shadow to be a hero at."
Osric shakes his head sadly.

Finndo pulls Osric through the trump and shows him into Cymnea's chamber. Twitting doesn't happen:

GM: "Osric, you're looking at this, and you're seeing Dolcea. But she looks up and says, "Osric!""
Osric: "Hello. How are you?"
Cymnea: "Under house arrest really, but that's all."
Osric: "This doesn't trouble you at all, does it?"
Cymnea: "Should it?"
Osric: "Yes."
Cymnea: "Well, it doesn't. "
Osric: "We'll see if we can take care of this."
Cymnea: "Oh allright! Come by for tea sometime!"

Explaining in small words to the smart guy:

Osric: "Who did you say you found?"
Finndo: "Mother."
Osric: "No, you didn't!"
Finndo: "Oh I didn't, but I did."
Osric: "WHAT."
Finndo: "I take it you saw through it quickly."
Osric: "Saw through what quickly?"
Finndo: "Oh. Glamour. That appears to be Mother, but it is our Aunt."
Osric: "What."
Finndo: "Osric, your gigantic brain has once again worked in your favor. She appears to be Mother."
Osric: "That would explain why you're being such a fucking nutball."
Finndo: "She also has been ensorceled to think she's Mother."

Osric and Finndo immediately hit on the idea of not putting out an alert just yet, but using the deception against the real Cymnea to buy time to mount the search. Unfortunately... well. Benedict is going to have another 'I messed up' conversation:

Finndo: "It can all be dealt with appropriate paperwork."
GM: "However, Benedict, you know you've already told Dorr and that it's spreading all over the north."
Benedict: "No, we can't."
Osric: "Oh, do tell."
Finndo: "Because..."
Benedict: "Because the entire north has been notified of the warrant."
Finndo: "I haven't even sent them out yet. How has the entire north been notified?"
Benedict: "The gift you made me."
Osric smiles.
Finndo: "Very well, then, Benedict. See about doing something about our Aunt."
Osric: "Yeah, just brain her on the stairs."
Finndo: "Until Piero is feeling better."

Take out the SPELL, not the WOMAN. Finesse is still sometimes a, uhm, challenge:

Benedict: "Mother!"
Dolcea: "Son!"
Osric smiles.
Benedict attempts to unravel the spell.
Dolcea: "Pardon me. I don't feel well."

Bitter, much?

Benedict: "That doesn't surprise me."
Osric: "Now you'll really mess with her head."
Deborah: "Try hitting her over the head repeatedly, that ought to do it."
Jarrod: "She's the nice one!! Bit of an airhead, really, but she's nice."

Like we needed one more thoroughly unpleasant thought to ponder:

Benedict tries again.
Dolcea: "OH! Oh, terribly sorry; I fear I need to rest."
Lydia: "God, we don't know how long she's been like this, either, do we?"

Much later, Finndo is speaking with Sybil when he trumps Benedict - only to find him several steps up the staircase to the City of the Dead. Consistent trending is its own reward:

Finndo: "What in God's name are you doing?"
Benedict: "Investigating."
Finndo: "If you do not mind, I'd like to keep this contact open in case, I don't know, the City of the Dead turns out to be a bad place to be."

NO HELPING:

GM to Benedict: "This is a long ass staircase, longer than the one to the Pattern. The mountain gets further and further beneath you and the city above you closer and closer and it looks _alot_ like Amber City. And there's an archway - no 'abandon hope all ye who enter here', just an archway. There are faint faint shapes that seem to be walking around."
Jarrod: "Are any of them yelling VENGEANCE?"
GM: "Not yet."

The City of the Dead is known to most Amber players as Tir, the city of moonlight. It is infamous for its prophetic properties: it shows visions of past and future, visions that might or will come true. And if often punches them in the gut:

GM: "You go through the city, and then you're in Arden. Something is going on over there. There's a hall festooned in ribbons and there are images of you and Alrya dancing around it - it appears to be a wedding celebration. There's no sound. A woman walks up to you two, and bows deep. Finndo, you are profoundly disturbed -"
Finndo: "Oh sweet god, it's her, isn't it?"
GM nods.

Finndo, long ago, had a true love. He lost her in a freak storm on a beach when she was waiting for him; with her, he lost all his love of life. That's why Finndo is so dutiful: duty is all he has left. Expressions of concern:

Finndo does not hide this one at all well. He turns ashen.
Sybil: "Finndo? Finndo, what's wrong?"
Finndo: "Nothing."
Sybil: "You lie better, usually."

Finndo has never told his brothers. Yet more secrets:

Benedict: "Who is that, brother?"
Finndo: "No one of consequence. Carry on."

Apocolypse now:

GM: "She becomes agitated."
Benedict: "Follow her."
GM: "Trees go by, city, you're in the castle. Castle is burning, bodies everywhere."
Benedict: "Enter the castle."
GM: "Carnage."
Benedict: "Anyone recognizable there? Selm, Karm -"
GM: "Selm is not there. Karm lies there dead. Piero hangs broken upon the walls."
Benedict: "Rast?"
GM: "You don't see Rast. "
Benedict: "The rest of our party?"
GM: "That might be Sybil over there but you don't know how to disturb the corpse enough to find out. Osric, anything?"
Osric: "Oh hell."

Osric is up there with Benedict, by the way. The Pattern is the source of the power of Oberon's family; they walk it to gain its imprint and to be able to use it to alter reality and walk shadow. Like lemmings over a cliff:

Osric heads to where the Pattern ought to be.
GM: "Interesting. You descend and descend and you get to the door of the Pattern room. Do you open it?"
Benedict: "Yep."
GM: "There's a Pattern there. It has a ghostly white shimmer rather than the blue glow you expect."
Benedict: "Does it radiate power?"
GM: "Yes. You have no concept, by the way, of there being a second Pattern."
Finndo: "Is that -"
Benedict: "Yes."

Sybil is still watching Finndo worriedly. Finndo, too, has learned to plan ahead:

Sybil: "Finndo?"
Finndo: "Sybil, I want you to do something for me. I am going away now. I want you to arrange as much liquor as possible and leave them in my room."

Prophecy and dreams, I should add:

GM: "A woman walks up to you. She's pregnant. Sonnet. She looks at Benedict, and kind of smiles."
Benedict: "I look at her."
Finndo: "I look at Benedict."
Benedict: "A wish or something to come?"
Finndo: "That depends. Have you ever..."
Benedict: "Ghenesh."
Finndo: "Ew. That's right. Eehhhrrrr. You know, I think I need a good palette cleansing burning self destruction right about now."

Where are the simple joys of maidenhood?

GM to Osric: "This feels different; you're going through a lot of the same memories as you usually do, there's nothing new there, certainly, but the aftertaste is different..."
Scott: "It's grape instead of cranberry!"
Shai: "Great. I drove a man to Pattern."

Motivation to find Osrat, anyone?

GM to Benedict: "You're watching the army of Amber ride away from you and bit by bit, man by man, they are cut down by these dark, wild _things_ lead by a rat in white armour. You get the feeling, watching, that these things are Sybil gone through several degrees of darkness."

Walking right into the parlour:

GM: "That woman from before appears the moment Finndo steps onto the Pattern."
Benedict: "You knew him."
GM: "She looks... sad. Wistful. She motions you away."
Benedict: "I can't go with you."
GM: "She looks hurt."
Benedict: "I must guard his back - there is some message you wish to impart?"
GM: "She gestures out at the beyond."
Benedict: "Can it wait till he finishes?"
GM: "She looks up to the moon."
Benedict: "Is there anything that will disturb him?"
GM: "She shakes her head."
Benedict: "I follow her."

Foreshadowing on demand. OW:

GM: "What happens next could best be described as a montage. First, you're in Arden again. You see Sybil, tied to a stake. There are wolves running in a circle around her."
Benedict: "Like the big white wolves we fought?"
GM: "No, not at all like those. One of them veers in front of her, becomes a man, just looks at her, and the scene dissolves. Next, you're even deeper in Arden, in fact you're in a part of Arden that you are not familiar with and this BIG guy in white armour stalks past you from behind you towards a woman who bears some resemblance to Sybil - possibly looks a bit older - who is backing up, shaking her head. He grabs her; some sort of chasm opens in the ground as he does this and he throws her into it. He looks over and on this stone table nearby is a squalling infant, a male. And it washes away. Next, you aren't quite sure of the surrounding, the setting, but you see Finndo with a wild look in his eye and he turns around, reaches into what is essentially nothing and a form resolves out of it. It's Ruustro and he has his hands around Ruustro's throat, driving him to his knees, chocking the life out of him."
Lydia: "Well, at least one good image."
Jarrod: "I was just thinking that."
GM: "He throws him aside, turns around, draws his sword, his hair starts from his current darker tone but white shoots through it like he's an older man. Osric walks up and Finndo, very quickly, slits Osric's throat. One last thing, she [the ghost woman] looks apologetic. She takes you and you have the sense of terrific amounts of distance, and it's you. An older you in a fight with this large creature that looks kind of female but isn't entirely and there's a blow and she hacks off your arm and then you run her through. All that washes away and you're standing at the base of Kolvir. You get the sense of there being a storm but the sky is still the sky it is right now and you see this woman - her eyes glaze over, as if she can't see you, she's staggering along the beach, running, the waves come up and sweep her away."

Cyrus trumps Finndo while the latter is still at the center of the Pattern. Starting to take things in stride:

Finndo: "Cyrus!"
Lydia: "Cyrus is looking all knightly."
Finndo: "What an amazing silver doublet you're wearing."
GM to Cyrus: "As far as you can tell, he's in the sky."

Ask a question:

Cyrus: "Where have you been?"
Finndo points up.
Cyrus: "What's there?"
Finndo: "Ghosts. Visions."

Working on it!

Benedict describes the visions to Osric.
Osric: "He gives you the impression that you are telling him things he already knew."
Benedict: "But you already knew that, didn't you?"
Osric: "I had an educated guess."
Benedict: "I don't suppose you have a plan, then?"

Masochists:

GM: "Where are you going?"
Osric and Benedict: "Savoy."
Deborah: "What? Because you haven't had enough agony?"

Not _that_ much masochists:

GM: "Where in Savoy?"
Shai: "Ismerelda's bedchamber."
GM: "They haven't seen those."
Benedict: "GOD no."
Jarrod: "Nor do we wish to!"

Finding the little bright spots:

GM: "People in the square run away."
Osric: "That's good, keeping them scared is a good thing."

Karm imitation still in progress:

Cyrus: "I go back to the castle, check on my wife."
GM: "Cynthia's still out."
Cyrus: "I continue to scare surgeons."
GM: "Yes, I'm sure you do."

After session quotes:

Why does this sound so familiar?

Rob: "OW OW OW. My ASS."

Relative merits of coming out even:

Jarrod: "But you all don't trust me anymore!"
Shai: "We don't trust you any /less/."

A boy's loyalty changes when he sees the flaws in his parents:

Lydia: "I don't like your mother!"
Jarrod: "I don't like her very much either!"
Rob: "My fondness for her is not overwhelming right now, either."

Shai: "May I say THANK YOU for making me unconscious."