Quotes from the session.
"If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?" Martin
"Um, yes." Jessica
"Jessica, you have a beautiful body." Martin
"If I agree not to kill you, will you swear fealty to me?" Dalt
"YES!" Jessica
"Whoops!" GM
Jess returned safely, Hazard returned in one piece, and an army appeared on the outskirts of Arden. Jessica was properly introduced to the Pattern, making Shadow manipulation a lot easier. It had surprised some of the older ones that she could do it without the Pattern, but Fiona reckoned it was her wild psychic talent coming to the fore, so everybody just ignored her. (In fact, Fi had guided her through the Shadows, shifting via trump - no easy task.)
Jess needed help from her father and Hazard to get through the Pattern. Moral support only, but still, she felt she wanted friends. Random also pitched up to help, or to see the results if she failed. He never told her which he was hoping for.
Benedict was recalled to Amber by his father to deal with the hostile army, and told Jess to find out who had raised the troops in the first place, as there were no markings on the banners or uniforms. Benedict was worried because the army had beaten Julian's woodsmen and forest guard hands down. With Julian in the infirmary after getting in the way of the army, and Hazard failing to volunteer, and in fact being absent altogether, Jess was the only person who could be sent out, being expendable and liable to believe what she was told.
She shifted Shadow to find somewhere where the army had been, ending up in the village of Thuxton, on the outskirts of Camelot. Turns out, some huge blond guy with a medallion and a bad attitude had been here, and taken away most of the able-bodied young men and some of the women to fight with him. A gold medallion, said one of the frightened villagers, with a lion tearing up a unicorn on it, or some such device.
In the meantime, Hazard had been yanked back from Shadow by an un-impressed Benedict, and detailed to find out about it, and she had used magic, and found out it was Dalt, her dad's once best friend, now no longer welcome in Kashfa.
Jess reported back to Benedict by trump, and was surprised that he now knew who the General of the army was - Dalt, a Shadow mage, said Benedict, and then ordered Jess to infiltrate the army and find out about its organisation, his usual sources, rumour and hearsay, being blocked by Dalt, who had imposed the death sentence on spies an deserters, plus a little torture on the side. Of course, Benedict failed to tell Jessica about the death sentence bit. He also sent in Martin, so that at least one person would make it back alive.
Jess walked into the camp, which stretched for miles, unobstructed, and by asking the most subtle of questions, such as, "Where is Dalt's tent?" and "Which way am I facing?" found her way to the nerve centre of the invaders. There she managed to get herself captured by Dalt, by the simple expedient of walking in and saying "Are you Dalt,"the telling him who she was. If she had bothered to come giftwrapped, Dalt would have thought it was his birthday, as shortly afterwards, Martin was brought in. The soldiers had been alerted to the possible presence of spies by Jess's questioning of the officers. Dalt agreed not to kill them if they swore to fight on his side, and not to harm him. They both agreed, glad to escape with their lives, and he ordered them to find a roof for the night. They found a two-man tent, and by their looks the morning after, both had enjoyed themselves immensely, much to the chagrin of Hazard, who trumped Jess to check on her, only to find out that:
This was the first time Jessica had ever even kissed a man, and Hazard teased her for weeks afterwards about whether she could be pregnant.
Hazard informed Benedict of the situation, and he, after a few choice words about the youth of today, and a quick discussion of tactics, sent her into the camp to start a few rumours for him. THe way in which Hazard starts rumours is wonderful - she denies they are true, and then has to explain what is not true, in full detail, and then everyone pretends they knew it already and wasn't fooled.
With the story going around like wildfire that Dalt had challenged Benedict to a personal duel, Dalt himself had no choice but to say that yes, there would be a duel, but, ah, not between the two leaders of the army. In fact, it was rather fortuitous for Dalt that at that time, a message arrived from Hazard, challenging any member of the opposing army to fight on the field of honour to settle this battle. Dalt, beset by rumours (untrue) of cowardice, and believing the rumours (true) about foul magics to be used against the army as soon as it de-fortified, had no choice but to agree. In fact, there were rumours (possibly true) that the duel would be rigged anyhow, so he decided to give up the whole thing as a lost cause and come back again later. At least he knew when to cut his losses, but he was terrified that Benedict would catch him, and that was one of the rumours...(Possibly true) While he was prepared to slip out the back way, leaving his troops vulnerable and his officers in confusion, he did at least decide that the duel should go ahead, for honour, and to save lives. And who better to take on Hazard than her own cousin, Jess? That way one of the family would probably end up dead.
On being told by Dalt that she would be fighting Hazard, Jess asked what weapon she could use, and so in the end, Hazard, wearing a borrowed Greyswandir, Corwin's weapon, fought against Jessica and Stormtooth, the blade that Dalt had used in his younger days, when he was raisng merry hell along the Golden Circle borders. Nobody ever had the guts to ask Hazard how she got Greyswandir out from Corwin's locked and ensorscelled rooms. She wouldn't have told them, and they wouldn't have believed it if she had. (She had Trumped Corwin and asked him if he could borrow his sword, and he said yes.)
At the end of the session,
Jessica and Hazard are preparing to fight each other for the safety of Amber, while their seconds, Benedict and Martin, have the decency to look slightly embarrassed about the whole thing. Dalt has already left, vowing revenge, and remembering the oaths that the cousins swore to him.