Quotes from the session:Having been alerted by Benedict of the need, soon to arise, of fighting a retreating battle, William chose discretion over valour, and trumped back to Amber. There he was asked to swear obedience to Finndo as the Regent, which he did. There, also, he got completely drunk, along with Gerard and Jessica, and Gerard informed Jess she was wrestling him on the morrow. And this after she had wrestled him only a week or so before.
"William, you deserve to be preached to death by wild curates." Hazard.
"No-one trusts a child of Caine, Jessica. Remember that, if you consider betrayal." Gerard, acting for the best, he thinks.
"Jessica, your father is dead." Gerard
"I turn white. I don't faint. I walk away and say absolutely nothing, because I don't trust myself to speak. Jessica
"This bodes. Dunno what it bodes, but it just does." Lightning, William's sword, on hearing about the army advancing along the Black Road.
"I can not defeat Osric. He taught me how to fight. I estimate he is still my superior." Benedict to Hazard.
"Ohshit-ohshit-ohshit-we-are-all-going-to-die" Hazard to the world in general.
Next day, Gerard banging on the door, Jessica woke with a hangover and a sense of foreboding.
Gerard proceeded to beat the hell out of her, but gently, because she was young and female. Then, when she had come round, he told her that if she was to blame for the disturbances, like as a shield for putting Finndo on the throne, then she would be in trouble. (The first wrestling match had just been to check how much she would squash. Gerard rather liked Finndo once they had been introduced. However, he thought that getting Oberon to sanction it so fast, when it was thought the king was dead, was a bit too much)
While Jessica was unconscious and he waited for her to come round, Gerard wandered off into a clump of bushes to take a leak, and found Caine's body. There was not time to do anything about it at that point, except feel guilty that he had beaten Jessica to a pulp while her father lay dead only a few yards away. Things were moving just too fast.
Meanwhile, Benedict was fighting a decent retreat back towards Arden, where Julian had his reinforcments. They proved invaluable, but the Chaos Army continued. Finndo had to join the fighting as well, and he was wounded, but the battle was won.
Stopping only to mop up a few survivors, Benedict galloped out into the field again, to recee, leaving behind a victorious army and the wounded Prince Finndo, who was almost immediately murdered by Osric. Osric had come in with the wave of Chaos Lords, and gone unnoticed. (There was more to it than this, but that was what the characters saw, so that is all that is known)
Osric declared himself king, secure in the knowledge that his father must be dead, or else Finndo would not have returned.
With all those who would not swear alleigance to him (everyone) banished from Amber on pain of death, Osric proceeded to fortify the place.
When Hazard asked Benedict why he did not seize Amber back, she was told, "Because there is a good chance I would lose."
Hazard swore, then Trumped Osric to find out if this was true. Luckily, Benedict was not present at the time, but Osric swore to kill his younger brother, for betraying him to Oberon. Hazard, mildly in shock, Trumped William and Jessica and informed them of the exact situation, and took the opportunity to implant a suggestion of her solution into William's brain, so he would do the work.
William duly went and had another discussion with the Pattern, this time up in Tir-na Nog'th, and while it was no help at all, he did see Oberon there, and was informed that Oberon could defeat Osric.(At this point it must be stated that William did not realise Hazard had stolen his sword and replaced it with Grayswandir, suitably enchanted and disguised, so William could talk with ghosts. Hazard has amazing moments of mental clarity, and the occasional fit of lunacy. On this one, make up your own mind.)
William then set off on another quest, which I shall not detail here, but suffice it to say he was degraded, beaten, reduced to tears, stabbed and left for dead, and even thought about suicide, before he finally located Oberon again. Oberon was searching for the Jewel of Judgement, which had been stolen by persons unknown. (At this point, I gently reminded Roger that he had a Trump Card of Oberon, and he hit me. At no point had he thought of using it.)
Oberon returned, Osric disappeared, Oberon took the throne. The next few sessions were interesting, to say the least, as the poor kiddies tried to stop Brand from walking the Pattern, and bungled the job badly. Still, Hazard's inspired idea of walking the Amber Castle Pattern herself and then having it teleport her to the centre of whichever one needed help, then walking that backwards until she found Brand, was a corker. Eventually Benedict took the Jewel back from Brand, up in the Sky-City, even though Brand managed to freeze him. Jessica, Hazard and William were all watching as the arm did its work. Brand disappeared into the sky-city, shouting about being misunderstood, and things fell out well. Brand fell out literally, as the city dissolved beneath him as the moonset.
Hazard, who had walked the Pattern backwards, while the Jewel was close enough to be partially attuned to her, was having strange dreams about the future, which Oberon thought must be a manifestation of the Tarot Effect of the Trumps.
At the end of the session (again, several rolled into one) all of the kiddies were in Amber, recuperating. Hazard had not told anyone except Oberon about the dreams.