Chapter Three

	Randall Trumps to Amber from Texorami.  He notices a 
temperature shift during the transit, but, oh well, let's not pay 
attention to that.  He learns that the castle guards are on yellow alert 
because Brand has the Jewel of Judgment, Julian and Garth are 
unhappy, and, oh yeah, Bleys and Fiona were thrown into the Abyss.  
Just your typical day in Amber.

	Kilroy goes looking for Zane.  Cuel doesn't know where Zane is, 
but he wants to know where Cat and Dworkin are.  No doubt he 
wants to apologize to Cat for trashing her room.  Kilroy helpfully 
reveals that Cat's in Marda, then decides maybe he should find out 
why Cuel's looking for her.  Cuel claims he owes her money.  Kilroy 
asks Randall where Zane is next, but he's equally clueless.

	For some reason Kilroy thinks Cat might know Zane's 
whereabouts, even though she's never hung out with him in the past, 
so he Trumps her.  Cat's at a bar in Marda and takes the call wearing 
leathers.  Fashionable ones, of course.  As you might have guessed, 
she has no idea where Zane is.  She asks if Cuel is still looking for her.  
When she learns he is, she explains that he tried to force a Trump 
contact with her, then forced his way into her room.  Which basically 
means she doesn't want to talk to him.

	It turns out Randall has a Trump of Zane, which Kilroy borrows.  
Zane is his usual pleasant self upon answering.  Kilroy claims he just 
wants to know why Zane did what he did.  They both hear an odd 
rumbling noise, so naturally Kilroy and Randall try to go through to 
Zane.  They find themselves in a gray void, about as warm as body 
temperature.  There is no sign of Zane, but the rumbling noise is 
growing louder from behind them and to the right.  Randall mentions 
he was here briefly before.  Unfortunately he has no clue as to how 
to get out.

	Li Chan tries to find someone who can draw a Trump of Sagan, 
so he can brain-blast him.  Since no one else likes him, he decides to 
look at his family home, where his father runs a humble martial arts 
school.  He and Isabel ride the motorcycles as far as they can, then 
Isabel uses the Pattern to find some horses for them.  This turns out 
to be a bad move.  They are soon encircled by flying steeds, 
surrounded by darkness, and ordered to surrender by order of House 
Braech.  I guess these Chaosites are touchy about using Pattern on 
their lands.

	A handsome young man buys Cat a drink.  She recognizes him 
as Lord Tempest, a Mardan noble.  They make small talk for a while, 
but before things can get serious, she gets a Trump call.  What 
timing.  Since she can't identify the caller, she ignores it.  It persists 
and when she checks again, it IDs as Sebastian.  He has a cunning 
plan.  He wants her to talk to Vale about how to free Fiona.  Oh yeah, 
and bring some Zima back from the bar.  Apparently Sebastian's 
fashion sense doesn't extend to alcohol.

	Finn wanders into town and gets breakfast.  Definitely Mr. 
Excitement.

	Randall looks around and spots a pack of geometric dogs 
heading their way.  Sound familiar, anyone?  He mentions that his 
Trump of Zane was drawn by Sebastian.  Kilroy takes this as a sign 
and Trumps Sebastian, who tries to pull them through, and fails.  
Sebastian finds this intriguing.  Kilroy and Randall find this annoying.  
Kilroy does something mysterious, which causes him to start to fade 
out and foam at the mouth.  He realizes he's going insane, so he stops.  
Good idea.  Randall tries to shake Kilroy out of it.  At this point, they 
are reminded rather forcefully of the original problem.  You 
remember those dogs?  They start chewing on Randall and Kilroy.  
Yum, dinner.  Eventually, the intrepid duo kill all of the dogs, but 
Randall gets pretty torn up in the process.  Kilroy is injured as well, 
but not nearly as badly.  Kilroy Trumps Sebastian again, who offers 
to help get them out of there in return for a favor.  Like they have 
much of a choice at this point.  Sebastian concentrates for a while, 
then tells them they'd better get out of there, especially if he breaks 
the contact.  Of course, if he breaks the contact, they can't get out of 
there, but never mind that.

	Byron goes looking for Sebastian in Marda.  Waldhiem Trumps 
him and complains that Byron left his demon retainers, Kim and 
Mim, behind.  Surely an oversight on Byron's part.  Waldhiem 
explains that Logrus Masters are much too valuable to wander 
around unguarded.  Unfortunately, they're not valuable enough to be 
assigned decent retainers.  Waldhiem assigns Byron a third retainer 
as well, one Dominic by name.  And his horse, of course.  Byron 
reluctantly pulls the lot of them through.  Dominic makes mental 
contact and indicates that he only speaks the true language.  
Wonderful.  Byron tries to get him to find the demons more 
appropriate clothing.  No luck.  Only a brain transplant will help 
those two.

	Byron arrives at Sebastian's conference room.  It's hard to say 
which Cat is less happy to see, Dominic's horse or the slobbering 
demons.  Byron persuades them to wait in the hall.  He and Cat 
discuss how Bleys and Fiona might be rescued.  Cat mentions she's 
going to see one of the people who rescued Brand from the Abyss.  
Byron offers to show her the good bars in Chaos.  She asks whether 
he's on good terms with Barimen, since that's where she's going.  He 
explains that he doesn't really get involved in politics.  Like that will 
save him.  He also tells her that he may have Amber blood.  His 
mother wasn't a noble, and his father vanished before he was born.  
So, naturally, he must have been an Amberite.  He asks if she'd be 
willing to help him test this.  He wants to see if his blood flames on 
her Pattern sword.  Geez, don't we see enough of this in Andy's 
game?  Cat says now is not the appropriate place.  He might bleed on 
the rug, after all.

	The Braech cops want to know who used Pattern.  Li Chan 
convinces them to let them go.  He's such a fine, upstanding citizen, 
after all.  They do give him an escort, which later proves to be useful 
for decoration and not much else.  Li Chan, Isabel and co. continue on 
to their destination.  Li Chan introduces Isabel to his family, who 
immediately assume he's dating her.  Or sleeping with her.  Maybe 
both.  One of his sisters has tea with Isabel and pumps her with 
information.  Li Chan gets harassed by various other family 
members.  He tells his cousin, Fong Wei, that Sagan killed his partner, 
Leander, and he wants a Trump sketch of the bastard.  There's only 
one problem.  Fong Wei doesn't know what Sagan looks like.  Oh well.  
They try to come up with a cunning plan to correct this.  Li Chan gets 
in an argument with his father.  He, Isabel and Fong Wei ride back 
into town.

	Sebastian pulls Kilroy and Randall through.  They are both 
rather messy, so he makes sure they arrive on the tile and orders 
them not to move.  Cat casts a healing spell on both of them, which 
helps, but not much.  Inspection by Byron with Logrus reveals the 
presence of Logrus-based sorcery, although not the original Logrus.  
Don't ask.  Inspection by Cat with Pattern reveals the presence of 
Logrus energy.  So, all they have to do is walk the Pattern, right?  
Well, Kilroy isn't an Amberite (that we know of) and Randall never 
really got around to that.  He decides instead that dispelling the 
energy with Cat's Pattern blade is just the trick.  Cat touches one of 
his wounds with her sword, and they both receive a nasty shock.  
Remember kiddies, Pattern and Logrus don't mix.  Byron should have 
paid more attention to this lesson.  He starts working on a way to 
dispel the Logrus energy.  Kilroy goes to his room to meditate.

	Isabel Trumps Cat.  She mentions she's in Chaos, but they are 
both distracted by barking noises before she gets to the point of her 
call.  Cat tells the others about this.  Isabel is suddenly attacked by 
three dogs.  Cat takes this as a sign and breaks the contact.  Isabel 
and Li Chan kill the dogs handily.  The House Braech escorts are no 
help whatsoever.  Li Chan gets into an argument with them over the 
incident.  Isabel Trumps Finn, but hears barking when the contact 
opens, so she breaks it.  Learns fast, doesn't she?

	The gang in Marda discuss the Trump problem.  Sebastian 
thinks that the realm the dogs reside in exists between Trumps.  He's 
upset that he hasn't found it before now.  Cat suggests it may be new.  
So far, all of the affected Trumps have been drawn by Sebastian.  Cat 
Trumps Isabel with a sketch of her own, to see if the problem affects 
other Trumps as well.  She hears a dog bark, and the sound of paws 
sneaking quietly on a featureless plain.  Hey, don't look at me, I just 
write what I hear.  Cat ascertains that Isabel is all right and breaks 
the contact.  Sebastian says he needs to meditate and leaves.  No 
doubt he's going to pout over some Zima.

	Cat speculates that location may be the determining factor in 
the Trump travails.  She wants to Trump Randall, to see if they have 
the same problems, despite their close proximity.  Randall tells her 
he's already getting a Trump call from someone else.  Cat volunteers 
to ID the caller.  It's Cuel, her favorite cousin.  She tells Randall to 
answer it, hoping that Cuel will be attacked by dogs.

	Cuel asks for help investigating some sort of plot his father 
wants looked into that he doesn't want to do himself.  Randall points 
out that he's in bad shape.  Cuel asks how long it will take him to 
heal.  Randall comes up with a sum of eight hours or so.  He probably 
made it up, hoping that Cuel would think it was too long and leave 
him alone.  Cuel breaks the contact.  Cat is disappointed that there 
were no dogs.

	Cat Trumps Randall and even pulls him through.  Still no dogs.  
Another theory, shot to Hell.  Cat theorizes that maybe one of the 
people in the Trump contact has to be in Chaos.  She asks where Zane 
was when Randall Trumped him.  Randall says Kilroy did the actual 
Trumping, he just went along for the ride.  Cat asks the guards to 
inform her when Kilroy leaves his room.

	Kilroy emerges after a couple of hours as a lizard man with a 
taste for human blood.  The guards are quite upset.  Not because he's 
a hideous lizard man, but because his clothes are in tatters.  Kilroy 
changes immediately.  Cat is informed of the fashion faux pas, and 
she hurries to the scene with Randall.  Kilroy emerges from his room 
again, impeccably dressed this time.  He tells Cat she looks 
scrumptious.  For some reason, I suspect he was thinking more of 
how she'd taste than how she looked.

	Byron finds everyone gathered outside of Kilroy's room.  He 
casts the spell he's devised on Kilroy.  It removes the Logrus 
infection, but the change has progressed too far for the spell to 
reverse it.  Kilroy doesn't seem too upset about this.  Byron Trumps 
Waldhiem to tell him what's going on.  Waldhiem indicates he may 
be able to help.  What a pal.  Byron, Cat, Kilroy and Randall go 
through.  Kilroy keeps thinking Byron would taste awfully good.  
Someone needs to feed this boy, and soon.

	Isabel, Li Chan and Fong Wei disguise themselves and wait at 
Sagan's favorite bar.  Does he show up?  Are you kidding me?  After 
20 minutes pass, the trio gets impatient and starts thinking up ways 
to lure him to the bar.  Their latest clever plan is that Isabel will 
pretend to hire Sagan.  She prepares a message and sends it through 
the local demon messenger service.  Handy little suckers.  Another 
three hours pass before Isabel is approached by a guy in a trench 
coat.  He looks suspiciously like the Zima guy.  Unfortunately he talks 
like him too.  She tells him she's looking for a guy named Verdan.  
They arrange to have him leave a message at the bar when he finds 
some information.  Then they find a hotel room and wait for Fong 
Wei to draw a Trump of the poor schmuck.  If nothing else, they'll 
have instant access to a Zima supplier.

	Waldhiem takes care of Kilroy and Randall.  The process is 
rather messy, especially for Kilroy.  Another suit ruined.  Waldhiem 
says they owe him a favor.  On top of the one they owe Sebastian, of 
course.  I'll bet Randall wishes he'd never loaned his Trump to Kilroy.  
Waldhiem tells Cat that she shares her aunt's beauty.  No one 
remarks on the fact that Cat doesn't have an aunt.  Byron tries to 
wangle some different guards, and fails.  I'll bet Waldhiem just 
doesn't want Kim and Mim hanging around him.  Byron tells 
Waldhiem they are going to see Vale.  He also wants to ask Oliver 
about Undershadow.  Don't ask me why.  Waldhiem gives Byron a 
blue box with a latch on it.  He claims it's from Mandor.  And it's not 
even Byron's Birthday.  Waldhiem also gives Byron a choker for Vale.  
I suppose it's too much to hope the thing will literally choke her.  
Byron goes to his room to open his present in secret.  Everyone else 
leaves to get ready for the trip.

	Li Chan drops Fong Wei off at the furthest boundary of his 
family's lands, then gets the Hell out of there.  He and Isabel begin 
riding through shadow.  Steam begins rising out of the ground 
around them.  Li Chan shifts to a steam resistant form while Isabel 
tries to subtract the steam.  The ground buckles around them.  Isabel 
tries to shift back to the steam, but the ground keeps buckling.  Li 
Chan figures this is the fault of her strange Pattern magic.  They 
quickly realize that they somehow have wound up on the back of a 
giant dragon.  Make that a giant flying dragon.  When Isabel screws 
up her shadow shifting, she screws up big.  Li Chan loses his horse.  
Isabel decides that subtracting the dragon is a bit too risky, so she 
tries to shift shadow around the dragon so that they are heading to 
Amber.  Hey, at least it's faster than walking.

	Randall tries to Trump Oliver, but he doesn't answer.  Raise 
your hand if you're surprised.

	Byron cast a vision spell on the box.  He sees Mandor, and 
possibly Modred behind him.  He opens the box and finds a silver 
ball inside.  There are five protrusions on it.  Touching the 
protrusions has no affect.  Logrus reveals that it's magic (now there's 
a shocker).  Byron concentrates on it, and an eight inch tall, silver 
Mandor steps out (aw, how cute).  It says it's there to continue 
Byron's training.  Byron tells it he's helping to seek out Fiona and 
Bleys.  Mandor asks to be told when they near their destination.  
Byron asks if he's communicating with Mandor.  It replies that it is 
an imprint of Mandor, which still doesn't exactly answer the 
question.  It suggests Byron wear the ball around his neck.  My, that 
certainly will be subtle.  No one will notice that at all.

	Everyone mounts up and rides off.  Byron refuses to allow the 
demons to ride on the same horse with him.  He's probably afraid 
they'll eat him.  Or wipe their noses on his shirt.  They spot a shadow 
storm in the distance.  Byron wants to try Trumping past it, but he 
hears growling when he activates the Trump.  They decide to try to 
ride around the storm instead.  Cat theorizes that perhaps the 
shadow storm is the Trump barrier as well.

	The dragon encounters a shadow storm.  Isabel's horse is lost.  
The group on the ground spots a 2000 yard-long dragon descending 
towards them.  Where does a 2000 yard-long dragon crash?  
Anywhere it wants to.  The group scatters.  Byron pulls himself out 
of that shadow with the Logrus.  Cat tries shifting shadow to get 
away, but somehow she and Kilroy wind up in the shadow storm.  
Another suit, ruined.  Cat brings Pattern to mind, but still can't see 
the edge of the storm, so she starts retracing her steps.

	The dragon smashes to the ground.  This makes it very upset.  
It tries to stand up and breaks it's legs.  Li Chan realizes it's a long 
way to the ground.  They decide to wait for the dragon to quiet down 
before trying to get off.

	Randall watches the dragon flail around for a while, from a safe 
distance.  He seems to be the only member of the group still in the 
area.

	Byron summons the miniature Mandor, who asks where Kim 
and Mim are.  Oops, it seems Byron accidentally left them behind 
when he ran from the dragon.  Splat!  Mandor is unhelpful about the 
shadow storm, other than to say it will distort his abilities.  Byron 
sends a Logrus tendril looking for Cat, figuring she must be 
someplace better than he is.  Don't bet on it.  Unfortunately, Cat still 
has Pattern to mind, so when the Logrus tendril touches her, Byron is 
knocked unconscious and Cat gets a nasty shock.  Like I said before, 
Logrus and Pattern don't mix.

	Kilroy asks Cat what happened.  She's not sure, and tells him it 
felt like a mental attack.  As long as it was nothing serious.  They 
continue on their way.  After a while they hear the dragon squealing, 
so they figure they're getting close to the edge of the storm.  Cat 
alters their path to give the dragon a wide birth, not wanting to get 
squashed.  Suddenly, Cat has Pattern to mind, and they're back 
where they started.  Huh?  They try to get out again, taking a 
straighter, quicker path, and make it out this time.

	They spot Randall in one direction, and two figures (guess who) 
approaching from the dragon.  Oh yeah, and Dominic managed to 
survive.  He offers a hand to Kilroy, which Kilroy refuses.  In a rather 
humorous sequence, Dominic chases Kilroy around for a while, trying 
to touch him.  He even knocks Kilroy off his horse at one point.  This 
guy's got to find a better way to communicate.  Cat aims her 
crossbow at Dominic and suggests he cease and desist.  Dominic holds 
out a hand to recently arrived Li Chan.  When Li Chan shakes, he 
tries for mental contact.  Li Chan pulls his hand away.  What's a mute 
guy to do?  Isabel introduces Cat to Li Chan and reveals that Sagan 
was the one who was hired to attack Bleys and Fiona.  Cat doesn't 
think this says much about Barimen security.  She tries Trumping 
Byron, but hears dogs growling and breaks the contact.

	Dominic eventually communicates that he wants to lead them 
to Byron.  Unfortunately, this seems to involve going into the shadow 
storm.  For some reason, no one is willing to do this, except for Kilroy, 
who really should know better.  He and Cat had such a wonderful 
experience the first time.  Dominic goes into the storm alone.  
Everyone else tries to ride around the storm.  Well everyone except 
Li Chan, who no one wants to share a horse with, so he has to run 
alongside everyone else.  Ah, the things a lowly Chaos cop must 
endure.  Several hours of riding (or running) later, it becomes 
apparent that the storm doesn't seem to have an end.  Cat tries 
Trumping Sebastian, but he doesn't answer.  Drunk on Zima, no 
doubt.  The group decides they've had enough excitement for one 
day and Trump back to Amber.  Isabel and Li Chan return separately 
from the others, just to be different.

	Cat and Isabel make appointments to see Garth and tell him 
about Sagan, the shadow storm, the gray, featureless plain, and those 
annoying dogs.  Cat mentions her current theory that the Trump 
barrier and the shadow storm are connected.  Garth thinks Brand 
may be responsible.  Just because a shadow storm or two turns up 
right after you get the Jewel of Judgment, everyone thinks it's your 
fault.  It's tough being a megalomaniac nowadays.

	Byron is slapped awake by Dominic.  Dominic motions for him 
to get on his horse and leads him out of the shadow storm.  Byron 
traces the others until the trail disappears.  He Trumps back to 
Amber and cleans up before reporting in to Waldhiem.

	Isabel finds Julian, and notices he's massing an army (kind of 
hard to miss).  Julian says Kurt is having trouble in Kashfa, so they're 
going to back him up with some troops.  Isabel asks for Li Chan's 
Trumps.  Julian won't give them to her (what a surprise).  
Apparently Sebastian is currently examining them.  Isabel tells him 
about Sagan's treachery.  Julian still thinks Li Chan was responsible, 
although Isabel tries to convince him otherwise.  Julian decides to 
discuss strategy with Gerard and Garth.  Don't you feel so much safer 
now?

	Li Chan reports in to Phaedra.  He asks Phaedra to request the 
return of his Trumps.  This turns out to be unnecessary, since she 
gives him Trumps of herself, Chaos, Ygg and Amber.  Li Chan asks 
about Sagan's progress and learns he doesn't have any leads.  My, 
this is certainly a surprise.

	Cat Trumps back to Marda, because you just can't find Zima in 
Amber.

Quotables:

"Zane hasn't sacrificed the Unicorn on the Pattern, has he?" -- Cat
"What would that do?" -- Kilroy

"You hear the sound of paws sneaking quietly on a featureless plain." 
-- GM to Cat

"The dragon is over a mile long and 400 yards wide." -- GM
"So it's not very wide." -- Cat

"Order is an interesting thing in Chaos." -- Li Chan

"I will have to get together with Garth and Gerard to discuss 
strategy." -- Julian