AmberShadowOfADoubt:Session10

Retcon of before waking up Oberon

Janica, Manfred, Hector discuss how to structure the new constitutional monarchy with Oberon at its head. Janica points out laws will not hold Oberon; we need a force that can oppose Oberon. Janica returns to our plan of installing/supporting Manfred as Emperor of Chaos and giving him a seat on some kind of Amber Parliament. Eric worries this is completely unrealistic. We argue that Eric should keep the jewel.

Eric: You'd surrender rather that go down spitting blood and cursing?

Janica: Yes. We come from an occupied country.

Hector: Live to fight another day and whatnot.

Manfred: I joined the enemy.

pause as we all consider the many ambiguities; which enemy? Nazis, British, Chaos, Amber?

Hector: Right. Join Chaos, destroy them from within.

Eric: He joined us too...

Eric and the rest of us propose this council, etc. to gathered family. Family of all of us who helped get Oberon back, plus heads of 7 houses.

Random laughs and asks for a pony, too. Caine and Benedict stand with us.

Oberon's return

We wake up Oberon and explain. Caine speaks first; Hector adds we brought him back as king because it's good, and right. We write the Magna Carta in magic-y-ness and all sign it in blood. We then return the crown to Oberon. He plays it cool. "In the morning, to war. Now I'm going to sleep."

In the night

Simuka (Amberite agent) knocks on Alexandra's window in the night. "Can you fly?" Proposes that they (Hendricks) keep Garnath as their own country and they stop fighting Amber. Alexandra refuses that proposal.

The redheads (Brand) call Manfred. "Oberon's back. Who has the jewel." "I don't know." "It's big and shiny. Are you still with me on trying to make a better world with a different Pattern?" Manfred: Yes. I don't know about the mechanics. "Are you still with me on stealing the jewel." "Yes. I have access to the castle now." "You signed the paper!" "It's a step forward for Amber... the jewel is important for Shadow... Eric & Oberon aren't trustworthy custodians of it."

OOC: Madeline asks John if Manfred intends to get the jewel for Brand or not? OOC: Lee comments that Manfred always agrees with everyone so you have to look at what he actually does.

Manfred and Brand discuss Moire and their disagreement in Rebma.

Trump call for Hector. "I'm always scared to answer." "Yes, as if every time you answered the phone there was a 1 in 5 chance the person on the other end would kill you with their mind."

Llewella and Hector talk. "Are you happy with the world as it is today?" Hector says "Call no man happy until he is dead" in Latin. She proposes he steal the jewel so Brand can remake the universe in a less autocratic pattern, a decentralized one, saving Rebma and England's shadow world for sentimental purposes. Llewella doesn't trust "flighty" people like Manfred with the Jewel. Is Hector willing to go with them providing an opportunity to steal it? Hector demurs and says it will depend on what happens. Llewella explains the new universe some more. Collective re-drawing of Pattern. OOC Liz: OMG it's an evil magic wiki! OOC Janica: America is a wiki! OMG! Hector: too many cooks spoil the soup and it only takes one to poison it. Llewella says they trust Hector to be forthright. (!?) Hector says he is uncertain on where that plan differentiates from Chaos. Llwella leaves somehow not quite getting it though Hector is a horrible liar.

Morning of the War

Janica joins Eric and Oberon in war council. They talk about fixing the pattern.

Janica describes her plan to install Manfred on the throne of Chaos. He can't stay in Amber. We can't kill him. He's good at getting what he wants. We can use him. If someone has to rule Chaos it might as well be our friend.

How to crush the armies of Chaos.

Oberon and Alexandra talk. Oberon proposes that Alexandra kick Simuka's ass. She perks up! She quits sullking. Oberon: "There's a whole army of chaosites out there whose asses you can kick." What! Why didn't you tell me!

Federico borrows the Himmler trump from Alexandra.

Janica and Hector conv. about pattern, jewel, wiping slate clean vs. caring about existing beings and life. Brand's not caring about being king and not wanting central power is evidence of his irresponsibility - power vacuum - fighting.

Federico is talking with Caine. Caine speculates that Brand must have been planning all this 70, 80 years ago because he started hiding kids raised in a decent place. Llewella probably fooled by this, but Brand's plan of the nucleus of a new family if he wiped the rest of the family out. When we (from Earth) reached useful age somehow a war broke out. Caine says someone has to kill Brand to save the universe. If Fede doesn't do it then Caine will. Brand must have a way to find people in Shadow, because he found all of you as babies.

Fede- the Heart of Secrets, the evil end table... That must be how they're doing it and it must be a "real" object, probably in Chaos.

Hector seeks out Manfred to tell him about the conversation with Llewella and to ask him to be the point man on lying and deceit. Hector is bad at it. Hector says he trusts Manfred. Manfred denies intending to steal the Jewel.

Giant Disaster

Eric trumps Janica and says someone has her kid. (!!!) Manfred tries to tag along and Janica does not allow it. She is pulled through. Chebek called... She was in my safest shadow... Deirdre, Eric, take off on horses. Brand has the blood of Amber; he might be about to sacrifice Janica's daughter on the Pattern.

Kid/jewel trade. Manfred tries flying over the pattern. Corwin stabs Deirdre through the heart with greyswandir. Eric and Janica are running through the Pattern. Bad horrible black clouds are swirling around...

Hector runs to find Oberon in the palace. They whisk off to some weird dark area where Oberon takes the staff of chaos and stasis and gives it to Hector

Blood on pattern. Earthquake and horrid storm clouds, sky opening, world breaking. Fede organizes an evacuation of amber by way fo the black road, to our Shadow Earth. Madeleine: You're going to ahve to triage because the tidal wave is going to hit the harbor before you can get there. Fede's family is by the harbor. Earthquake. All very grim. 15K out of 2 million show up on Earth.

Manfred is in the middle of the Logrus and it goes to the middle of the dead pattern with the dead body of Deirdre. Oberon is doing something with the Jewel. The kid sticks close to him. Janica and Hector too.

Manfred cuts himself. HIs plan was to bleed all over the Logrus to keep the balance of power stable. His blood turns into ropy snakey tangles and talks to him. Ew! Draw out the power fro here and keep it in this vessel. the blood says instead, let go with the shape shifting! Manfred: you're lying! Blood: I'm your blood, would I lie? Manfred: Yes! Get in there! And leaps into Deirdre's body through the open chest wound. Ew. He goes a bit insane and turns sort of into the Logrus and tentacles and stuff.

Hector, Sophia, Janica, and Oberon go into the heart of the Jewel which contains the pattern of all possible patterns and they teleport to the old resistance hq in London. then they run to a hideout in an abandoned tube station. Miss Havisham passes it on thru the network to Alexandra, who is in her mother's garden with 15,000 refugees.

Fede hears news from White Sands. His network tells him about a guy with red hair in a fedora, Brandon Ambrose. Fede: "That man is a danger, not only to America, but to the universe. Doomsday device. "Perhaps we can arrange for the area to be bombed accidentally."

A train is comiong where no train should come! Our minions run forth with explosives! A lot of them explode.

A lot of them are dying. Hector: Heroism. Janica: not dying. Hector: It means more when you die. Janica: No, it means more when you win.

Fede runs up! Doomsday device, white sands! Nazis start coming down the stairs. Another train is coming!

These are some well directed Nazis. Himmler? No, better than Himmler. Brand? No! Corwin. Still mostly blind. Federico shoots up Corwin with a machine gun! Corwin fades back. Fede uses a cantrip for fixing and breaking things to break the roof so people can't come in.

Brand and Alexandra have a totally insane conversation while falling through the air. "You suck. You did a piss poor job. You fucked up my life and my whole planet. I didnt' ask for t hat." "I wanted to teach you how to work as part of a team." "Fuck that shit, I learned how to work as a team in field hockey." "You learned everything you know from field hockey?" "Yup, hockey is everything." "Amber sucked, i wanted to go home." ... Fighting all your life.... "you're a fucked up sperm donor! you set me up!" "I apologize" "Not. Good. enough." STAB through the heart while falling through the air, 50 ft off the ground. "may you always hunger for glory" he curses her... and then they go splat at terminal velocity. Cynthia demands that Alexandra die.

Hector is concentrating with his Staff of Stasis and Chaos to keep back the horrid wingy clawy bat things trying to come through the cracks in reality in between wehre Oberon is drawing the new Pattern. He keeps getting claw wounds, sometimes from within his own body, that then heal up again, and he screams a lot in agony.

Manfred rather weak and insane pulls himself through a hole in the new Logrus with Deirdre who is now scaly and scary. Hector lets them through (exhausted) Janica chops Deirdre's head off just as Manfred was kissing her. A serpent comes up through her neck. I think it ate her head. swallows manfred, he dives down its throat. the serpent swallows its tail, the pattern is complete and the serpent vanishes.

Janica picks up the Jewel, Oberon and Hector collapse, Sofia and them are in the center of the new pattern. There is no Amber anymore... or anywhere else but Earth, maybe Rebma and Chaos too...

Epilogue

Lydia finds the bodies of Brand and Alexandra in the desert at White Sands where instead of a bomb, Brand was preparing his new pattern.

Hector tells Lady Alexandra's mom about her death.

We set up the abandoned tube station with beds, lights, food, etc. The new center of the universe.

Manfred exists as part of the serpent and he manifests a lot. Often in Hollywood movies.

Hector gets very into rebuilding bombed London. It's like a stodgy Brasilia.

Janica and Sophie train in the use of the Jewel. Fede's family was mostly rescued.

There are monuments to Lady Alexandra all over London and for all eternity Hector envies her glorious death.