fter arriving (see an earlier
series of events.....), those of us that had arrived from, let us
say, elsewhere, encountered a battlefield, and left.
s we travelled away from this area,
strange events began to happen. Thor, a member of our group, felt that something
was very wrong, but hardly managed to say anything before there was an almighty
explosion. It seeemed to be coming from beneath us, and seemed centred on the
eldersthat had come with us, two of them sparkling with a golden light. Thor
was thrown high into the air, and I was knocked flying by the concussive blast. We
were all feeling ill. Thor completed his parabolic arc and started to descend at
dangerous acceleration..........he concentrated.
othing happened, but he managed to
land on the thick mattress, so thats OK.
s we sat upon the ground, mildly
shocked, to say the least, there was a terrible howl and something burst
forth from the centre of the group. It moved towards Thor and started
attacking the mattress that he was now hiding behind the tattered remains of.
It seemed to be some blurred set of teeth and claws and was really very nasty.
I was running away at this point. It followed me and, lets be brief here,
started to rend me, before ceasing for some reason and running off over the horizon.
t will be noted that no-one could find
or see either Darius or Bryan at this point in time.
s I lay on the ground bleeding, I was
aware of a large shadow across my face. Opening my eyes I saw a very tall man, who
introduced himself as Sir Frederick, and offered to help patch me up. He mentioned
that he knew a very good infirmary and said that we could walk towards it.....
Thor came out of hiding at this point and offered Sir Frederick a trump of Amber.
Sir Frederick tried to use it, but it didn't seem to work. Thor touched it
and fell to the ground writhing in pain, and the trump combusted.
patched my wounds and stood up, and
Frederick offered to lead us to his uncle Corwin. we started to follw and he soon
left me and Thor behin. We did however catch up with him when he came across a
chasm and a small pack of nasty dog like things. Sir Frederick yelled a warning,
having encountered such bests before, aparently they were mental parasites and
would inflict their pain on their victims. Sir Frederick picked up one and hurled
it at Thor, who was hit in the head by it, although the one that had been about
to attack him was now sitting on the ground with its tongue lolling out. I had
one land on me after a move to try and stun it failed spectacularly. Sir Frederick
appeared and attacked it from behind, throttling it. I couldn't breathe.
Sir Frederick then smashed it together with another dog. I passed out. I have
vague memories of a falling sensation and little more; apparently a little later
Sir Frederick saved me from a flying jellyfish. later we recovered Thor, with
Sir Frederick carrying two unconscious people.
ery quickly we were pursued by what
turned out to be a set of riders on centaurback. They took Thor and I back to
their camp; Sir Frederick had other business. They sometimes looked at Thor
as if he was half-familiar....
he Camp was really quite large, and
was in fact decamping and moving quite slowly through shadow. Me and Thor stayed
with it for a couple of weeks while we healed. We then noticed that it was
heading Amberwards. Someone attacked the camp one night but the attack was repulsed.
e arrived some time later at Castle Amber, where
after a tour of a very familiar city, we met Bleys. Bleys seemed to think Thor very
interesting, almost as if he recognised him from somewhere. Thor and Bleys and I had
a little chat. He then said that we could stay in Amber for a while.....
fter a day of rest, I determined to assay
The Pattern. This was the beginning of a very bad day. After a brief discussion with
the guards, I was allowed in. I gazed upon the awesome spiral, and moved toward the start.
The hilt at my belt glowed bright blue and started to smoke as I approached. I left it
on the floor. Elders started to arrive. I placed my foot upon the pattern and was
immediately wreathed in larger than usual blue sparks. At the first veil I faletered
and changed course slightly, and the path became agony. By the second veil my hair was
on fire and my skin blistered and peeling as immense temperatures scoured my flesh. I
called for help, and Benedict told me to keep going. I did. The grand curve to the third
veil was blessed relief in comparison to the last veil. The third veil would be agony.
hit it. By now the pain was more intense
than anything you could imagine. Flesh blackened, nails burnt off. I slowed.
I called for help.
hor produced a trump (of me) and tried something.
Many Elders looked at him as though he was completely iNsAnE. He flashed through the range
of trump colours briefly and, whilst one Fiona looked on with an intrigued expession, the
other Fiona was considering reeling her bottom jaw back into her mouth. The same could be
said of most of the Elders, however. Thor then said to the gawping Fiona "You've got to help
her - she's in real trouble!". Somewhat surprisingly, the Fiona in question did as he
requested, and jumped onto the Pattern. Noticing me slowing, she ran through the
first veil, and walked through the second. As she approacheed, I felt a surge of
new strength and completed the Pattern.....to find something there, and to find my body rejuvenated.
With Fiona getting inside the final veil, I turned, yelled my gratitude and teleported out
to the main group.
ack at the start, I could not see the hilt I had left there anywhere.
Sir Frederick meanwhile seemed to have just had some revelation. He reached forward to
take the Sword that I held. His fingers stopped a few inches from the hilt. He didn't
like this turn of events. But then again, many of the Elders were looking at him as if
he really shouldn't have been there. After a brief disagreement with Thor, Sir
Frederick developed an intense headache.
onclusion of part I.