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Quotes from the session
"He [Benedict] beats you, with an illegal manuever. 'Yield,' he says." GM
"'On one condition,' I say. Then I kiss him." Bronwyn"I coat GeltCarl's battleship in diamond chips by melting the hull slightly with the Abyss effect, then ram the Di'as machine with it." Jessica
"As you do. Give me a minute to work out what the hell ought to happen?" GM
With the cousins all out looking for an antidote for Hazard's poisoned fever, it was inevitable that they should cross paths at one point or another. Aneirin, unaware that Bronwyn was with Benedict, decided that was where he should go, and ordered the Pattern to take him there. Because he had annoyed the Pattern by staying there for so long, it teleported him within the letter but not the spirit of the law. Aneirin wound up clinging to the window-sill on the third floor of Benedict's mansion, Portfolio.
Benedict, despite being blind, was perfectly confident, and pulled Aneirin through the window, despite it still being closed. Then, as Aneirin was officially protected from vengeance against him after Dare's death, Benedict decided to dispense a little rough justice, and damaged Aneirin just a little - bounced him off a ceiling. He was however kind enough to call in a doctor.
Bronwyn was being kept sedated by morphine, because the tattoo of Crowley on her shoulder was so painful. Aneirin slunk of as soon as his bones had knitted a little, and found himself in terrible difficulties brought about by a curse. This was possibly laid upon him by Jessica. His teleports went wrong, and he somehow landed himself in the middle of the Battle of Little Big Horn, facing the indians who wiped out Custer. As he was still in a wheelchair he panicked, and his last teleport took him to Amber to recover. There he found that when he appeared, naked, in his room, it was filled with sheep worshippers, who called him the High Priest of the Damp Sheep, and followed him to Begma.
Josh had not been inactive either - Dara had gone home, and so had the Demon Martin, but Merlin remained, possibly because he had a crush on Hazard. Josh had fortified the place, and Amber settled in for a long siege. The two new cousins, who had been responsible for Benedict's kidnap, were given virtually free rein. Kharn hid in the library, while Slaine was to be found on the battlements with his Viking bodyguard, slaying freely. They waited.
Jessica, on the other hand, was busy - she had ordered the Abyss to open up a route to Dirithas, and found that the sword was buried deep within a machine. She could not cut through what it was buried in, and so she spent a few happy hours covering a battleship with diamond chips, and rammed the machine. Oddly, this worked, not least because the GM was too nonplussed to stop it.
And Bronwyn? What of her do I hear you say? Well, we answer anyhow. Bronwyn, cared for by Benedict's medical team, was getting along fine. She had a bit of a scare when she woke to find Benedict asleep in his armchair, breathing oddly, and he was very sarcastic when woken. Then, as she was about to leave, they both received an odd invitation. It was from the Mettik, a higher form of being, who had contacted Benedict once before. They were inviting Benedict and anyone he wished to bring to hear their poetry. Benedict told Bronwyn it would be good for her moral upbringing to hear it, and they both set off, riding on golden dragon-angel things, and somehow found themselves in a white hall. Both were dressed in white silk, and somehow, Benedict was good looking. (This is not to say he is not normally, but this was Mr Universe.) Bronwyn took one look at him and fell in love. The Mettik had taken the cares of the world away, as far as Bronwyn could understand, and both of them were as perfect as they could be. Even her tattoo had disappeared.
After the poetry, which was strange and empathic and so forth, Bronwyn was crying, and Benedict - in the Mettik place he could relax - challenged her to a pillowfight to cheer her up. He won with an illegal movement involving the blankets. When he demanded she should yield, she told him there was one condition - and kissed him. After a lot of agonising on his part, she coerced him into bed. Afterwards, she would never look at him the same way again. (After all, when you have all of Shadow and several thousand years, you get to be good at other stuff, not just soldiery.) That morning Benedict returned to the Portfolio, while Bronwyn stayed on for a while to dream of Moradin, and the things they used to do together.
Drawing a discreet curtain over that, we return to Jessica. She had rammed the machine and seized Dirithas. This burned her hand rather badly. She had to try again, and this time it didn't hurt, so she Trumped back to Amber and gave the sword to Hazard. Hazard came round, weakened, and asked for some very strange things which she knew, as a shapeshifter, she needed. Jessica Trumped Benedict and took Hazard through.
Shortly afterwards, the siege of Amber was broken by Hazard's relief army. Josh was given a medal and the order of the Blue Garter. Slaine was given trust by the king, and Kharn was given a minder - a spy to keep an eye on him. Slaine having walked the Pattern successfully, he was instructed in Shadow-walking by Fiona, told not to die by the king, and given some decent weapons training by Benedict, as soon as he was returned to Amber.
Josh, as well as being a great surgeon, somehow managed to regrow Benedict's right eye by magic or surgery or such. Benedict took over once again as Lord Protector, having been ordered to do so by the king, much against his own will. Life continued as normal for a few weeks, with Benedict being first seduced into an affair and then sworn at by a guilt-ridden Bronwyn. Yup, incest, intrigue, backstabbing - Amber!
The Royal Assassin was given the task of killing the King of Begma, by Rinaldo. This he achieved with "maximum prejudice" leaving a "Kashfa Special" - the dagger given only to Kashfa royalty - embedded in his chest. As he left the county both sides were embroiled in war already, and the Eregnor situation was made worse by the murder.
Slaine, meantime, had applied his attentions to trying to curry favour with the elders. As a talented fighter Benedict respected him, and Hazard liked him because even though he was terrified of dragon-cats he still fed them.
Slaine went out to his Shadow and exported earth to Kashfa, thus removing Kashfa's need for the Eregnor strip of arable land. He was warned off by the king, and went out into Shadow to look after his Personal World.
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