Editing AmberShadowOfADoubt:Session9

==Session #9: Assault on the Courts==

The session begins with the Amberites all gathered in the castle.  Flora, Caine, Deirdre, Random, Gerard, and Benedict are all in Castle Amber -- with Hector, Federico, Janica, and Alexandra as well.  Manfred is secretly staying in the Rebman embassy, having arrived as the anonymous escort of Virgil, who is brother of Random's Rebman wife Vialle.  

===Plots In Castle Amber===

Hector gets a trump call from Bleys -- whom no one has heard of in a while, though he had contacted Alexandra about Brand.  Bleys tells Hector that he is still after the throne (and not planning on joining the party), but feels that the bigger problem is Brand.  He reports that Brand killed (?) Martin, bleeding him over the Pattern, and was captured by Fiona.  

Around the same time, Federico interrogates the agent of Chaos whom Alexandra and he captured.  The agent, who introduces himself as Samuka, offers to help kill the Lord of Hendrake for them in return for his life and freedom.  Federico then contacts Hector and Alexandra to consider his offer.  

Janica talks to her father Eric, plotting about what is to be done about rescuing Oberon.  Eric seems resigned to giving up his position as king when Oberon returns, but is willing to do it nonetheless.  

===Manfred Breaks In===

That night, Manfred implements a plot to break into Castle Amber.  Late at night, he arranges with some thugs on the street to create a loud distraction -- then in his demon form he flies from the Rebman Embassy across the street into the castle.  Landing in the castle, he changes back and receives a trump call from his contact Percy in Glamaria.  He pulls through a Glamarian double of Janica.  The double then pretends to be drunk, going with Manfred and getting servants help to find her way to her room.  They slip into Janica's room.  

Janica was asleep, but woke up and had slipped on a robe as the two of them slipped in.  Janica and Manfred immediately had a tense standoff.  Manfred revealed that he had a "hideous demon form" and that he had infiltrated the armies of Chaos besieging Amber.  However, he tried to convince her that he is not in league with the attacking Chaosites -- eventually successfully.  [....notes on how they resolve?....]

After they have hashed out their issues, Janica sends for Hector -- waking him at 4:00 in the morning to come to her room.  Two hours later, Federico drops by to talk as well.  

===Meeting With King Eric===

Later in the morning, somewhat blearily, Janica goes to talk to her father King Eric.  She finds he is strangely hostile, and only belatedly realizes that he imagines that Manfred has tarnished her virtue.  The thought of Manfred doing any such was just so alien to her that she laughs, and then tries to reassure Eric that Manfred is totally uninterested in tarnishing the virtue of any women.  She then brings Manfred in to meet him, telling him to swish a little extra, and he pinches the bottom of a guard as he walks in.  

King Eric is suspicious of Manfred, but eventually accepts him.  Janica and Hector then talk with Eric for a while, selling him with difficulty on the idea of rescuing Oberon with the condition of limiting his power as king -- creating a constitutional monarchy.  Eric has many arguments to the contrary, saying among other objections that it would be difficult for the rest of family to unify to enforce such limits.  However, he agrees to try in the end.  

The larger question is also what to do about Chaos.  Manfred expresses his concern that Chaos will be beaten off temporarily only to further worsen relations, and a new force in Chaos could repeat this a few years down the line.  He describes that "regime change" is needed, and that Amber needs to move to normalize relations again with Chaos.  They consider assaults on Chaos, and someone (?) suggests that Manfred could try to be installed as the new emperor.  Manfred is intrigued, but they drop it for the moment.  

===Eleanor Calls Her Son===

Eleanor then contacts Hector by trump.  She says that she was imprisoned by Eric and company for her association with Brand (and Corwin) and their conspiracy against Eric's kingship, and admits this and her true identity as Llewella.  She is a shapeshifter. She says that she wants to support him, and reveals that she is his mother.  Hector takes this with some shock, and then reveals in turn that she now has a grandson, Merlin.  Afterwards, Hector explains this to all of the others.

===The Assault on Chaos===

The Amberites then conceive a two-part attack on Chaos.  The first assault is to go to the Sawall's lands to rescue Oberon, following Dara's intelligence and direction.  During this, Dara would be in disguise as Aurel of Helgram -- accompanied by Samuka disguised as Lord Helgram.  This attack would hopefully be blamed on the Helgrams.  The second assault would be to kill members of the House of Helgram, hopefully to be blamed on the Sawalls.  

The Amberites all gear up, leaving behind only a few to man the fort.  Using a trump which Dara has, they enter the Sawall's lands led by Dara and Samuka in disguise.  They then fight their way through chaotic jumps in landscape and geometry to where Dara says that Oberon is.  He is imprisoned in an artificial darkness, but is easy to release after slaying the guards.  

They return to Amber via trump, and immediately gear up for their assault on Helgram.  For the first time, Manfred changes into his demon form before others, which turns out to be a short, busty black-haired woman with small horns on her head and bat wings.  Janica and Alexandra look askance at him for describing this as a "hideous demon form".  He/she then takes the trump which he was given by Aurel of Helgram -- the diplomat whom he had negotiated with weeks ago.  He explains that he is Manfred and at first pretends that he is escaping and coming to their side.  He then kills Aurel and trumps in the others.  Again, they slip through the chaotic environment, and eventually assault Lord Helgram.  It is a difficult fight, with sorcerers defending him as well as his own shapeshifting abilities.  Eventually, though, they overpower them.  Lord Helgram melts into a black ooze, but Hector (?) and Manfred divide him and he dissolves.  The force then trump back to Amber triumphant.