Assault Hurricane

With the safe door ripped off, there is a ladder down to the tunnel, with metal rungs affixed to the wall. It looks like it goes down a little lower than the basement and then there's a drop to the ground. Nothing that an Amberite couldn't take easily, or even a normal Shadow dweller. Best guess it goes out under the lawn away from the building.

Fletcher drops quickly down the ladder, landing with his sword ready. (If necessary, he produces a flame from cigarette lighter and/or flips a light switch.) He moves to get an idea of where the tunnel might lead, leveraging his experience building shadow paths to determine if this is indeed a "shadow tunnel".

Raven drops down shortly thereafter, drawing her own sword and looking around alertly. "Looked like you could use some backup," she says softly when she catches up to Fletcher. "Most of the others are off to search and rescue or destroy something."

Edan drops down behind the pair and adds, "You might need some extra backup on this trip."

A few moments later, Huon joins them. "This, I think, is where all the interesting business will be. And probably Doctor Chew. Let's find him and give him a bad day, shall we?"

The tunnel is lit by bare lightbulbs in industrial metal cages, the kind of thing that could be strung or removed in a hurry. It's not evenly squared up with the hospital corridors above and seems to be constructed by different methods, or perhaps at a different time. At the end of it, there's another well-lit room and there are people in it, moving around. It looks like they've put up some sort of improvised barricade and they're shouting at each other.

"Hurry!"

"It won't light!"

"Nonono, they're coming! Run!"

Fletcher charges forward, ready to knock out, or at least knock aside, any of the tunnel inhabitants. Suspecting they were trying to light some sort of demolition charge, he's looking for whatever it is that "won't light," and is intent on making sure it doesn't light. As he advances he shouts, "Surrender and live!"

Raven's right behind him, with a snort of amusement, because really, we're warning these people? She's going over the barricades if there's room, and through a weak spot if there's not, with the goal of finding the exits on the other side and making sure that as few people as possible make it out.

Edan runs along, but a slight distance behind the others; if there's guns here as well as some kind of explosive, he's preparing to try and stop the first volley with Space or Magnetism as soon as he sees the first gun barrel.

Huon is keeping up with the others and joins Raven in barreling through the barricades. They're not really Raven-proof, much less Huon-proof.

The room is a workroom, of some sort. It contains worktables, microscopes, books, a pile of papers soaking in a pool of some kind of alcohol, but no people.

There's a door to the side. It's not well made or well attached, and it looks completely out of place with the technology down here. More like a shed door. Unless the people are hiding in the cabinets along the walls, they went that way.

Huon swears, in Bellumese. "I heard that Ossian reported that they had inter-shadow paths in tunnels. I can't leave the Queen. If you all go, be sure you can get back."

Edan casually reaches out, his hand suddenly on fire, and plunges it into the alcohol; instead of lighting up, a sparkling nimbus cloud of orange surrounds the pool and the papers neatly come out of the pool in reverse order they went in, looking completely dry. They also reverse any tearing or crumpling they had until they are in the shape they were in before being manhandled.

"No time to look over these, but I bet they're important. I can get back to Merlin, or Part the Veil back to here."

Huon grins ferally. "Excellent work, young cuz, excellent. You should go and I'll sort this out."

From over by the 'shed door' Fletcher says, "I've got to come back here to check out the tunnel anyway. Let's check this out," and he nods toward the door. He opens the door carefully, wary of an ambush, to try and pick up the trail of the fleeing tunnelers.

"Maybe tell 'em not to collapse this tunnel until we've come back up or somebody's heard from us," Raven suggests dryly as she moves to flank the door in case Fletcher needs backup. "Not as worried about getting back where I'm supposed to be as I was, but this is a nice, easy path back if it ain't one-way."

Huon nods. "I wound't collapse the tunnel myself. Aside from us being down here, we want them to run home, and have us follow them back. You might even let them lead you there. I'm sure no one will let you stay lost too long. Oh, and you'll probably want to check for a box of torches under that table. Amazing what might've been forgotten."

The door opens and the hallway construction has changed again. This looks more like an urban crypt, which doesn't make any sense for Greenwood, but it may not be in Greenwood any more. There are receding footsteps down the corridor, and it's dark.

"'Preciate it," Raven says as she sheathes her sword. She reaches under the table and unceremoniously yanks whatever boxes are under there out until she finds the torches. One torch gets jammed into her belt like an unusually flammable belaying pin; unless either waves her off, she tosses another to Fletcher and a third to Edan on her way back to the door.

Fletcher mutters, "If we wanted to follow them home we should have listed that among our goals in the first place," as he catches the torch and gives chase, pausing only momentarily to confirm via his Pattern senses that they are indeed transitioning to a different place. A more thorough analysis of how the tunnel was constructed will have to wait.

Edan catches his thrown torch, and immediately lights it as he jogs after the others. "I'll lay off the Sorcery to let everything work like you expect," he says to Fletcher and Raven. "But if I say duck, then duck."

Behind them, Huon starts whistling a jaunty tune that sounds like it should be played on a Nyckelharpa. With Edan's torch behind them, the trio can run faster. After a momen, they spot two figures running in the tunnels away from them. They aren't carrying lights so they only are visible when they pass a lighted area. It's going to be hard to catch them, especially if they split up or hide in the dark.

As the bullhorn hits 5, Jerod whips the door open. The Atrium is large and would seem not-too-horrible, in an industrially cheery way, if it weren't for the howling blizzard outside, the alarm klaxons going off everywhere, and the furniture moved to provide a makeshift barricade behind the information counter. The bullhorn is portable, and in the hands of someone who may be nominally in charge. They are the only person without a weapon pointed towards Jerod.

Jerod counts a dozen troops spread out in 4-5 different locations between 6 and 20 feet from the door. They don't look like they're superior or battle-hardened. There may be more hiding behind the sofas. As Jerod surmised, he's coming through as a surprise.

The safe door turns into the "Frisbee of Maybe Death but Certainly Grevious Bodily Injury" for the group closest to Jerod as he hurls it at them while speeding into the room. He is not concerned about killing anyone...in a straight fight none of them individually are a match for him. He is more interested in causing chaos in their ranks and keeping their attention focused on him, while three more junior Amberites come racing in behind in. That will allow them to be mopped up quickly. So if a group of guards get messed up bad with a flying piece of steel door...well, one objective secured.

Jerod will be racing for the group furthest from the security office door and the three newcomers that are now entering since that group will have the greatest amount of time to respond while someone is closing. Any guards in between that target group and Jerod get clotheslined with a spear along the way...he's not engaging them, just going "through" them.

As he's racing he yells just once to those following. "One group each...keep them busy!"

Jerod charges across the intervening space, using his amazing speed and the guards general greenness to get to them before they shoot him up. One of them, who isn't wearing a mask, is shouting into some sort of communication device, while another is bringing a pistol to bear on Jerod. The first shot went wild, but she might get better.

About three heartbeats later -- enough time for everyone to focus on Jerod -- Alex comes barreling through the door. He grins when he sees the barricade, and goes straight for it: it's not an obstacle, it's a launch pad. He's aimed at one end of the makeshift thing, eschewing the center. A few paces off it, he launches, as if he expected to be able to take flight under his own power. Pushes off the top of the furniture, perhaps sending a chair scattering to improve the chaos. And fails to resist a mid-air flip as he comes down amidst the nearest group of unfortunate thugs.

One of them swings with a rifle butt at Alex and connects with his midsection. It's not enough to bring him down, but it gets his attention. One of the others has pulled a knife. Alex is a little too close to get shot, unless they take him down, but there are a lot of guns to hand.

Alex frowns a bit, with maybe a hint of uncertainty, but he's not about to give up his physical momentum. He keeps moving, swinging around behind the one with the knife. On the way, he entangles his left arm with the weapon arm of the knife-wielder, then drops: it's a modified arm drag, throwing the man over his hip and into anyone convenient. This leaves him without a shield and on the ground: step two in his plan is to leg sweep anyone close from where he is, then pull them down on top of himself for cover.

Alex succeeds in throwing the knife-weilder, sans knife, into another guard, and from the floor sweeps a guard down and holds him over his body for cover. He's starting to feel the exertion and this guy is, while not exactly skilled, at least big. Alex feels like s time to finish things, before he loses his edge. He needs a beer.

As Jerod moves ahead and Alex flips out towards the right, Misao moves to the left, surujin whirling and fangs bared. The surujin is aimed at the closest guard's neck, and as it wraps around in a strangling grip, Misao lets go, turning to grapple with the next guard.

It cuts through the material of the gas mask, but doesn't stop the guard from breathing. The other guard tries to block Misao with his rifle, but can't get it to bear for a shot.

Misao picks up a desk lamp with a heavy base that will do nicely as a skull-denting device. Or they can take a rifle and use it as a club.

Delta weaves through both Alex's and Misao's fights, staying low. The chair that slides back from Alex's leap-and-flip maneuver provides an excellent opportunity for her to leverage her height. With rapier in one hand and taser in the other, she steps lightly up onto the chair before launching herself down at the nearest guard. The rapier is a thrusting weapon; she makes a sharp move with it toward the guard's heart. With the blade still embedded wherever she struck, she aims the taser at the next closest guard and pushes the button Alex showed her. As advised, she aims the weapon toward bare skin. Taser prongs to the face!

Delta takes out the guard she stabs and leaves him lying where he fell, the hilt of the rapier sticking up from his bloody chest. Gas masks, alas, prevent taser-face.

She looks at the second guard and he's wearing some kind of armor, including a helmet with strange goggles over his eyes. He's got a handgun and he fires it at Delta. She feels something hot along her side, but it doesn't take her down.

The sizzle of pain along Delta's side is an unwelcome surprise, but fight adrenaline keeps Delta upright and moving. With no face on her foe visible to taser, she instead twists and aims a spinning kick at the gun-holder's weapon hand. She follows the momentum of her kick, slams her unweighted foot down on the prone, dead guard's stomach, and uses that as a brace as she attempts to yank her rapier free.

Delta kicks her gunman, knocking the gun out of his hands. It's still strapped to him and he doesn't lose it, but it's going to take a second to bring the gun back on target. That's important because it takes that moment for Delta to get the rapier free. Her guess is that it stuck into bone. It's free and the guard with the gun is pointing his gun at her. She can probably do something, as long as it's quick.

Alex pulls his legs up under the body of his shield, and pushes out hard in what's probably the last big exertion he has in him right now. It's targeted: the poor guard is going to go flying towards the man with a gun aimed at Delta. Nice situational awareness for a bar fighter. He exhales, begins to roll slowly back up to his feet, and catches sight of the man with the rapier through his heart. At which point he freezes.

If Alex's current opponent does careen into Delta's attacker, she'd certainly be grateful. She lets out a bright, "Ha!" and takes the opportunity to hopefully add her would-be killer to her own death count -- after all, momentum is a wonderful thing for sending a stumbling, off-balance man into a rapier. She lunges for the neck this time, and tries to keep her opponent between her and the man Alex kicked her way.

Blood is no doubt slicking the side of her simple linen garb and sash by now. Whether the bullet passed through flesh or she was simply grazed, the pain is probably also making itself apparent.

Jerod moves against the pair immediately in his proximity, using his spear for both ends with the one shouting into the comms being the first to get struck, followed by the gun wielder. His moves are quick, using the spear's length to alternate striking the targets. Hitting each once should be sufficient to put them off balance and make them easier to defeat with follow-up strikes which he inflicts in rapid succession.

Jerod's attack is a thing of beauty and an exercise in precision violence. The spear is like an extension of his arms and he uses it to lay out four attackers in short order. Anyone watching who can follow Jerod's speed could learn a thing or two about combat just by watching. Jerod doesn't even draw a bead of sweat in doing so. Jerod surveys the room. He sees Ossian and Merlin-the-large-snake at the far end the of the room. Misao is facing one attacker they've ripped the helmet off of, Alex is on the ground under a guard, and Delta is rapier-to-rifle with the last one in front of her. It's basically over here.

Misao grabs the rifle from the guard and swings the butt into his head, full-force, before turning to back deal with the first. Misao reaches out with a clawed hand to rip the strange helmet off his head.

The first guard goes down, his life possibly saved by his helmet. The second guard dodges backwards, but doesn't account for Misao's long arms. The strange helmet and horror mask combination rips free, not without effort or blood. The guard looks very young.

Misao calls to Jerod, "Do you want this one alive, or not?"

"Alive." Jerod says, surveying the scene, evaluating threats to ensure the guards are either dead or neutralized to be of no threat, including talking to others for reinforcements. "We don't kill anyone if we don't have to."

The two other youngers engaged, Jerod decides, will neutralize their targets without any problems, even if they are a bit slow. He pointedly ignores the memory of Venesch scolding him when he was too slow...that was a lifetime ago Jerod decides and besides, he has other things to look at.

"Bring him." Jerod says to Misao, in regards to the last guard, as he scoops up a radio. He is unconcerned with Ossian and Merlin having to deal with only four guards but confident they will be done in good time. He goes to check the doors out to get an idea of what might be up.

He is also looking around to see if any of them have a pack. Cause for sure, he's going to find grenades.

Yes, some of Auntie Flora's bad habits have worn off on Jerod, and that's the official story he is sticking to.

Jerod sees a pack on the ground. Who knows what might be in it? He picks it up.

Misao springs forward and ducks into a roll, ending up at the guard's feet. As they roll, they shift into the form of the harinago, a heart-stoppingly beautiful woman with incredibly long hair. As they rise, the hair lashes out and ensnares the guard, trapping him.

Misao ducks and rolls and begins to transform. The guard lifts his boot to stomp them, but both are interrupted by what happens next.

Across the room, Alex's foe slams into Delta's gunman, causing him to fire his weapon into the air.

Or more precisely, into the glass-front of the atrium.

One of those moments happens, where a sudden lull in the sound of the combat happens across the field all at once. Into the audio void, the glass, stressed from without by the combination blizzard/hurricane Huon has been summoning and from within by sudden gunfire, makes a delicate crackling sound, rapidly getting louder until it's painfully loud.

The glass wall then collapses, absolutely buffeting the room with snow, glass, sound, and wind. The fury of the storm makes it hard to believe that it is less than the actions of an angry deity, and anyone who manages to survive will be dealing with frozen glass for a long time.

It's hard to see, it's hard to hear, and it's hard to stand. It's freezing and it's not out of the question that someone could drown if they don't freeze or bleed to death first.

Jerod bears the brunt of the blast, as he was approaching the doors when they blew. It's good thing he's as tough as he is, because anyone from this shadow would've been blown over and probably into something. As it is Jerod is on his feet.

Jerod leans into force of the blizzard to keep his balance. Without the barrier to keep the blizzard and elements out, options are limited until the group can gather and escape. They need a respite, even if momentary...so Jerod makes ones.

He summons the Pattern and uses it to impose his will, to create an eye in the hurricane, long enough to gain bearings for himself and his not yet family introduced cousins. He does not fight the forces that Huon summoned...he has no desire to get into a battle against other Pattern forces that might have been imposed on the Shadow...instead he feels for their flow of probability and adjusts them, creating the pocket that they need.

"We need cover...get us a way out!" he yells to the others. His gaze is distant, as if looking beyond the doors, the blizzard, maybe even the world. It is a look that seems oddly appropriate for him.

Misao reaches up and pulls the guard down on top of them, then pushes to their feet, carrying the guard over their back/shoulders, and starts for the door to the office at best possible speed. "The tunnel!" they yell.

Whatever Alex is howling, it's clearly deeply profane and it's utterly inaudible against the louder, more powerful howls of the wind. By a fair margin.

He orients himself as best he can, and trudges against the blizzard towards the spot where he last saw Delta, still yelling. He's waving his hands in front of him, haphazardly, and if he catches a hold of an arm he'll assume it's a friendly and start trying to drag them back towards the corridor into what an optimistic man might think could possibly be shelter.

He won't spend more than a couple of minutes trying to find Delta before he gives up and just goes for the dubious promise of the corridor by himself. As for Misao and the madman, well, he's not feeling great about any of this but he's lost track of where they were in the fight.

It is a fine thing to not be shot -- again -- but the new foes of glass, blizzard, and torrential waters are no joy either. The pounding wind and freezing spray numb her hand quickly enough that when her borrowed rapier slips from her grip, she barely notices. She keeps her head ducked as best she can and blunders in the direction of the door they first emerged from to begin the fight.

If Alex's grip finds her arm, she goes with it. Light as she is, the tether would be most welcome.

With an almost theatrical crash, the winds pick up and the eyewall crosses the broken atrium entrance. Glass falls and items thrown in the air hit the wall and slide down, with a great cacophonous crash.

The winds have stilled. Coming towards the hospital, at something akin to a brisk walking pace, is the opposite eyewall of the hurricane.

Even the alarms for the building have failed. Emergency lights are on, but the place is eerily silent, after the earlier noise.

If they want, it's easy to get down into the tunnel that Huon took just a few minutes ago.

Jerod adjusts as the wind drops suddenly, relaxing just slightly from the effort of fighting the hurricane. His gaze extends to the opposing eyewall that approaches, calculating the time required for it to reach them, adding probability variables to slow it down as much as possible without getting into a Pattern contest against whatever Huon used.

Even with that, he knows their respite will not last long and he turns away to head to the tunnel. As he does he spots guards in various stages of debility. He starts to walk away and then stops...looking back at them...realizing they maybe have a few minutes before the force of the hurricane reasserts itself. And he knows...if he would have trouble fighting the hurricane, they will have no hope at all.

Were his cousins here now, they might view his expression as being very uncharacteristic of him...but these are uncharacteristic moments. And maybe, just maybe, he's tired of Death for the moment.

"You!" Jerod says, catching the attention of the most mobile and alert of the group, focusing his presence on this person the way he was taught by his parents, especially by his father, to lead, to command as only a Prince does.

"You have a couple of minutes before that arrives." he says, pointing the eyewall. "You want to live...get the rest of them deeper in the building, isolate the air paths to keep the cold out and huddle everyone up to stay warm."

Knowing they will be slow to respond, given what was just inflicted on them, he pauses before thundering at the one. "Move damn it!"

And with that, he turns away and heads to the office and the tunnel entrance.

Ossian swings himself up into the ceiling crawl space. He will crawl as quickly as possible without making too much sound, but between the bull horn and Jerod crashing out through the door he thinks he can risk some sounds. He's going for the barricade at the end of the hall, using his architecture experience to guide him. The idea is to drop down behind the barricade close to the guards, being able to dispatch them quickly.

He mutters to himself "Ugly, ugly. We should burn it down for that case alone.".

If he sees anything looking like a data cable he will take note.

From below, as he starts to move, Ossian hears Merlin say loudly over all the noise, "I will go with Ossian in the form of a snake." Then there is some noise and a loud scraping and some hissed breathing and soon enough, a very large black snake is in the ceiling with him. the snake flicks his tongue near Ossian's face briefly, which seems like some sort of greeting, and lets Ossian take the lead.

There are data cables all over the place. They look like they were installed over time and don't all match up, and aren't properly gathered up and routed, just dropped where it was convenient. Somebody, or a lot of somebodies, were lazy when they put this stuff in.

Ossian is specifically looking for the cross-shadow-network cables, if any is identifiable as such.

Ossian thinks they're too haphazard to tell, without tracing them.

Ossian whisper to the snake. "When I drop, wait for a breath before joining me. By then they will be watching me and you can strike them." He tries to place himself right over the guards, looking through any openings in the ceiling.

Ossian is above the last group. He sees the various groups below. Alex fights like an acrobat, Delta like a sailor, Jerod like a Prince of Amber, and Misao like a demon. The group he is above is trying to control and coordinate the fight, and seems to be ordering the guards to fall back, or perhaps they're trying to call in reinforcements. One of them seems, like Jerod's adversaries, to be a commander of some sort. Nobody looks happy, on their side.

Ossian can hear and feel Merlin beside him, scraping into place for the drop. Merlin is a very big snake.

Ossian pulls out his rapier and a glass shard before the drop. He wants to be on the floor as quickly as possible after disturbing the roof. (If the roof material is flimsy this probably means crashing through it.) Ossian fights like a dancer, smooth but unpredictable. Already on the way down he starts whistling on an eerie tune, that is really too low tempo for a fight. His priorities are
1. Anyone pointing a gun at him.
2. Anyone using a com radio.
3. Anyone else.

Ossian fights to kill, except for the commander who he wants to knock out.

Merlin drops as soon as the ceiling tile goes, staying clear of Ossian and moving across the floor to the leader, wrapping up his legs and bringing him quickly to the ground. He's called for help, but it's unclear if anyone is going to answer.

Ossian faces the remaining 4, stabbing one through his facemask and opening up the leg of a second with his wrapped glass shard. He kicks the gun from the hand of the third and lets his momentum throw him into the fourth, hip-first, sending the man reeling into a potted plant. The one he kicked starts running away. Ossian could throw something or chase him down.

That's why Ossian picked up the glass shards in the first place. He throws it at the fleeing guard. Hard.

The sheet of glass, thick enough to hold back a literal ton of water, makes a deadly projectile. It hits the guard, slicing his neck and sending him to the ground, dead and half-decapitated.

Ossian's hands are bleeding from holding the glass to throw, but in the excitement of the moment, he doesn't really feel it as pain.

If the remaining three seems to be able to do anything meaningful (like using their com radios or shooting) Ossian will knock them out or kill them, whatever is quickest.

Boots applied to helmets encourage them to not move for some time to come. Ossian's targets are no longer able to take meaningful action. They may be alive.

He then picks up a com radio (if they have them) and a gun and heads for the leader.

"Is that one alive? Then don't kill him. We could ask him questions."

Merlin hisses in agreement.

Across the room, Alex's foe slams into Delta's gunman, causing him to fire his weapon into the air.

Or more precisely, into the glass-front of the atrium.

One of those moments happens, where a sudden lull in the sound of the combat happens across the field all at once. Into the audio void, the glass, stressed from without by the combination blizzard/hurricane Huon has been summoning and from within by sudden gunfire, makes a delicate crackling sound, rapidly getting louder until it's painfully loud.

The glass wall then collapses, absolutely buffeting the room with snow, glass, sound, and wind. The fury of the storm makes it hard to believe that it is less than the actions of an angry deity, and anyone who manages to survive will be dealing with frozen glass for a long time.

It's hard to see, it's hard to hear, and it's hard to stand. It's freezing and it's not out of the question that someone could drown if they don't freeze or bleed to death first.

Merlin drops his captive and changes back as rapidly as he can to his own shape.

Ossian grabs the capitve leader and drags him into the closest office. The door is not locked.

The closest office is back the way Ossian came, and others are also headed that way. Ossian and his prisoner get there first.

There's a loud roar, followed by a crash, and then relative silence.

"Where is ...Dr. Chew? Answer, and my friend won't eat you."

Merlin hurries in and bares his teeth. There seem to be a lot of them.

The man catches his breath and is panting and not very clear, but he gets the gist of the question. "He was in here. We thought you'd killed them."

"That's possible,"Ossian says. "Where does he keep his computer? The secret one."

He's starting to panic. To be fair, you all are scary and Merlin was a big snake. "I don't know, I don't know! I'm just a guard! Probably down there," he says, indicating the open trapdoor in the floor. "They came and went from there all the time!"

Misao is next, carrying a wounded guard across their back. They clear the door and move towards the tunnel, but do not enter it yet, waiting for the others.

Jerod follows a moment later, waiting for the two remaining family members to enter. He takes in the scene and frowns slightly. He does not interrupt Ossian or his line of questioning, focusing on Merlin.

"We're in the storm eye...we don't have much time. And these ones need to be out of here," he says quietly while motioning to Misao and the others. "Until we get them initiated, they're not safe."

"They have names," says Alex as he enters the room, "and while I'm footloose and fancy free with a frivolous smile and few fetters, I can't speak for my escape pals."

He thinks for a moment, then waves a hand around the room. "The rest of you are still kind of complicate the situation pals, no offense."

Delta staggers in as well, soaked and shivering. She might have a retort to make as well, but her teeth are chattering too hard for her to get any words out. If any bodies are still in the room, she goes right for them, ready to strip off at least a jacket to add to her own garb. She finally manages to say, "Can't go. Cards," after a moment has passed.

Merlin draws out his deck of Trumps and shows them to Delta. "If they are like this, we will find them and return them." The cards have a different kind of back to the ones Delta knows, but as he fans them out, some of them have the same images, and are of similar qualities.

Misao also recognizes Merlin's Trumps as Trumps, though obviously not made by their father or themself.

"As for names, I am Merlin of Paris, this is Jerod of Amber, and this is Ossian of Amber. We believe the people in this hospital prison have kidnapped you because you are related to the three of us and Huon, and also to the others who came at Huon's request. I would like to take you somewhere safe, away from the storm that is going to destroy this building, somewhere that your injuries can be treated and we can all talk. Will you come?"

Misao steps forward. "I will come. I am also missing pictures like those. And my tanto." They briefly describe the tanto and the red oiled silk wrapping the pictures.

(Misao has already described the tanto for Huon. It's about a foot long, with a black handle and sheath with gold embellishments.)

Misao is ready to leave.

Alex says, "Deal! Thanks, escape pal Merlin."

Jerod listens for a moment to Merlin as he speaks to them, calculating time remaining for them within the storm eye. As he does he silently pulls his deck from a belt pouch, riffling it rapidly to pull out Corwin's card, the image facing away from him to prevent accidental activation.

"Got an idea." he says, mostly to Merlin though everyone else will hear it, motioning with the card as he starts to stare off into space.

As a Trump, it must be real since they are very difficult to destroy. Though they do not project energy, their essence would serve to act in a small fashion upon the Shadow they are within, though not as much as an initiate would. But each card logically would act upon its environment based on its characteristics...and those would include some characteristic of the subject of the card and the artist who made it.

Since Jerod has a regular deck, the cards were made, as far as anyone knows, by the same artist as the images of the elders are all the same from deck to deck. Logically, Jerod deduces, if these elements are correct, then Jerod's card would act in a small fashion upon the shadow in the same way as the same card from a different deck - same artist, same source material for the image.

Summoning the Pattern again, he looks at the card in his hand, feeling the essence of what it is, it's realness against the vagaries of this Shadow. He is careful to isolate other Pattern impressions that can intrude such as from Merlin or Ossian as he does so, to ensure he has as close an understanding of the card's nature as he can get, how it sits in the chaos of Shadow, how it touches or ignores its surroundings.

Once he thinks he has a good enough impression, he reaches out from the center point where he is to see if he can find a similar impression. He limits his search to the confines of the complex itself, not bothering to try to sift all of the shadow's reality. He includes the below ground elements as well, not just the above ground structures.

With the heavy Pattern, Sorcery, and Trump use in the vicinity, there is too much interference to get a read on the missing cards.

Ossian sees that Jerod is working on something and refrains from interfering.

He knocks the guard out with his dagger handle. He looks down the hatch. Does it look like the other Klybesian tunnels he has seen?

It looks so similar that Ossian thinks he might have been in it.

Delta listens closely to Merlin's words. While Misao and Alex make their statements, she keeps gazing into the man's eyes, as if they might tell her something words cannot. Whatever she discerns, it seems to be enough. "I'm taking your word on that," she says quietly to Merlin. "And with that, aye. I'm happy to put this place behind us."

Merlin unfans his cards, shuffles one out, and speaks to it. To Alex, it's like he's using a mobile phone. Delta has never seen one used in this way: it's a revelation. He says, "It is Merlin. Jerod is destroying this place. Can you take three, at least one of whom is injured? One of them is not entirely human as you account things." After a moment, he says to Delta, "Take my hand" and reaches out with his free hand.

Once she takes Merlin's hand, Delta can see who Merlin is talking to, like an illusion on the water: he's a blond man, in a room in a stone building. "I'm Martin," the blond man tells Delta. "Take my hand and step through, and we'll get you some help."

Delta steps through.

Merlin repeats this procedure for Alex, and then Misao. Last, but not least, he passes another card through to Martin. "Celina is looking for the archivists; please call her as soon as you can."

Vere steps into the hallway from the cell opposite Tomat. "we're clear in here," he says, and then with a nod to Tomat, "The Queen is in here, seeing to Archivist Descant."

Celina arrives in the hall with Descant cradled in her arms.

Signy reaches the guards and gestures with her sword for the two to precede her back down the hallway to the rest of her Cousins, though she doesn't offer any words. As they walk back down the hallway towards Brennan and the others, she takes the opportunity to glance in any windows in the doors quickly to see if there's anyone in the rooms.

She doesn't see anyone in the other cells. All of which have slightly opened doors.

As Tomat emerges from her cell her face doesn't change, but a certain tension that she wasn't aware of eases from her shoulders.

Brennan takes a master key from the pockets of one of the guards and starts looking into the cells of the corridor, and unlocking them if they have additional captives. Once the immediate corridor is done, Brennan takes a hard look with Astral vision into the other corridors of this wing, looking for other signs of captives or guards.

They may all end up searching the rest of the wing anyway, but if there are other captives especially, Brennan wants to know where they are.

Brennan looks and the cells are empty. The sorcery is difficult because a working of Pattern on Immense scale is happening overhead ('so, big weather we're having. And so much of it...'), but aside form the headache, it's not impossible to get the basics of the find people spell going.

Conner moves into the hallway and gives Descant a medical inspection. "Let me look at the wounded." Conner does a quick triage of the archivists and sees what first aid might be given to those that need it.

As far as Conner can tell at a glance, it looks like injuries that could've been taken in a shipwreck. Bandages for broken ribs, small lacerations along her arms, neatly stitched injuries on her lower legs and feet. For all that she's in the care of Klybesians, they're treating her well. At least medically, as far as Conner can tell without lab work or at least a story.

Descant doesn't regain consiousness, but doesn't look to be in distress.

Tomat bows. He has signs of injuries as well, but isn't acting like he's in pain. "Your majesty! We are all here, save Carina, who went out to help Prince Huon. The Prince says there are other prisoners here, also relatives of his. A man named Alex and a woman named Delta."

Tomat looks up the hall. "We should leave, My Queen. This place is unsafe. It's connected to other Klybesian outposts."

Celina nods.

The guards, marching down the hall with raised hands, arrive, followed closely by their captor, Signy.

Celina exchanges a look with Conner. "We'll need to check them all for anything inserted into their wounds." It sounds matter-of-fact, but Conner can tell Celina is masking the summit of her emotions. Celina has already counted noses in the hallway. Huon is off with a goodly group of cousins. "Withdrawal seems wise. If we could handle the next set of conversations quickly it may be we can still catch them again at Paris."

"Yeah, we need to start the evac-- I have a card if no one else does," Brennan says.

Then he turns to Signy's captives and gives them the full weight of his attention: "My name is Brennan of Amber. We're about to take these people to safety, away from the five-hundred year blizzard that's sealed off the facility, and before we tear this place from its foundations. Perhaps one of you would like to come with us--" he smiles a brilliant smile-- "so I'm going to ask these exactly once, and you're going to answer each question: Where are the prisoners' belongings? All of them, including valuable or dangerous objects. Where is Chew or anyone else that thinks they're in charge? How many others are being held here?"

Brennan does not share with them the results of his Astral scrying, so he can use it to judge their veracity on the other questions.

They look at each other. The older of the pair speaks. "The Brothers evacuated most people and the hospital when they determined that they had de-- dangerous prisoners. There were about ten when the alarms went. Seven here, two in the other wing, and one in the hospital above this." He pauses. "We are guards, not brothers."

The younger speaks as well. His accent is different. He's clearly not a local recruit. "In the way of the Klybesians, we are freely giving information in hope that you will mercifully save our lives. Neither of us wish to die. Father Chew was not in charge here, but was sent for. This is a somewhat... remote outpost. They acted without authority."

The other one snorts. "Because it would lead to this. Everything taken from the prisoners would be in the security office, or taken to a more secure holding."

Vere passes by Tomat, nodding to him as he passes, and enters the room behind him. From Tomat's words he is assuming that the other archivists are in that room, and he wants to quickly examine them, and Tomat, with his Third Eye, looking for any signs of compulsions or other spells that might have been placed on them.

Several more archivists, the rest of the party except Carina, are here. They are all pretty banged up, but seem in good spirits. They also look like shipwreck survivors. They are very happy to be rescued, and they want to report to the Queen, who they've heard in the hallway.

Vere doesn't see anything abnormal with the Third Eye.

Celina catches some of the guards' patter to Brennan even as she hears archivists welcoming Vere.

She smiles at Signy. Takes Conner's thoughtful quiet to mean they should address medical things in Xanadu and then wonders exactly how many hints and years of observations it would take the senior guard to cough up that kernel of Klybesian core strategy. Lots.

"Brennan, I like the sassy older one for my treasure palace. If he helps us nail down the personal effects, he's a keeper. I'm taking the wounded out." She doesn't add anything about Huon. No real point to it right now.

"Who has a card handy?"

If any of the archivists are injured to the point that they have trouble walking then Vere will assist them to join Celina in the corridor, otherwise he simply follows them out.

Vere has seen shipwreck victims in the Isles. The archivists were either very lucky or had magical or technological healing that allowed them to keep their limbs. There are no amputations, although there's at least one woman with a bandage over her ear.

Conner has no card to hand and shakes his head no to Celina's question. He too stands ready to help with the archivists if needed.

Signy arrives and shakes her head in the negative to Brennan, the cells all appeared empty. The question of the other doors will have to wait for a little before they decide if more exploration is called for.

She gives Celina a quick, tight smile before moving closer to Tomat. "I'm glad to see you on your feet and relatively unscathed, I'd worried if the Order had hold of you....."

He smiles. "I'm glad you came. I didn't mean to worry you. They had me, but they hadn't figured out who I was, so you rescued us just in time."

Meanwhile, Celina feels the pressure in her head that signifies someone is contacting her via Trump.

Celina decides what combat moves she will make if this is the infamous Chew and a flanking attack. Then she takes the call.

She sees Martin in what looks like a very busy infirmary. "Celina. Have you got the archivists? Send them through if you do and then come through yourselves. Merlin thinks you need to get out of there."

Celina nods once. "Passing through Descant." And she does. "Open call here. Get me all the wounded and Merlin says we need to be gone," she raises her voice so that everyone hears.

Martin takes Descant and gets some help placing her in a bed.

Vere nods and quietly begins directing the archivists to line up and take the queen's hand, while remaining alert for a possible attack.

No attack comes, but they appreciate someone telling them what to do and protecting them. They line up, saving only Tomat, who is talking to Signy, and Celina starts passing them through.

Signy waves off Tomat's mild objection. "You chose to break with the Order for me, so helping seemed the least I could do." She offers a brief grin at this, before becoming more serious. "We're trying to get out, but how did they find your group? Did they come across you by chance, or did they seek you out deliberately?"

Tomat nods to Signy. "That's what Huon wanted us to find out. Huon thought the wreck was unnatural. It happened off Honfleur, just as we were about to begin to travel upriver to Paris. He got us all to shore and was pulling Descant in from the water when the Klybesians came out of a cave and took us prisoner. He went along with it to try to find out who would do that." The man pauses. "I think we were targeted because of where we were and where we were coming from, not that they knew who we were."

Brennan keeps his attention on the two conscious brothers with more immediate questions: "If Chew is not normally in charge of this location, then who is? Name. Description. And if the personal effects are not in the security office, where would this more secure holding be?"

The foreign one fields Brennan's questions. "Doctor Ranke is the local administrator. She's a brother, but few of the rest are. She's in her sixties, and is shorter than the average person here. There are offices in the sub-basement for secure projects." The local guard looks at him. Apparently that wasn't common knowledge.

Then to Celina, "Can you pass that information about the effects back to the others? And tell Merlin I'd say the same to him-- if they've got everyone we came for, I'm about to do my best impression of Edan on this place." Brennan doesn't shout, but he's not exactly keeping his voice down either, as he expects Merlin can hear him and maybe even see him.

Celina speaks as she guides another archivist through the prismatic connection. "Brennan is going to burn this outpost to ash. But we are staying to find personal effects. Cards. There is some unknown major calamity upstairs. We are split up here. Do you have word from other teams?"

Martin says to Celina, "Only Merlin; I don't know where the rest are. But I agree with flattening it to the extent that whatever the others are doing hasn't done it already."

"Right," Celina responds. "Prisoners follow Tomat and Signy." Keeping her focus on the connection, Celina asks for an orderly withdrawal, Tomat and Signy first. She suggests with her hands the downed guards and other spoils of battle get arranged and passed by Connor and Vere to her to be handed off.

"Martin says flatten it all," Celina adds to the three cousins remaining.

"Unsurprising," Vere murmurs quietly, as he follows Celina's instructions and passes prisoners on to her for delivery.

Signy reaches out to take both Tomat's hand and the Queen's, and passes through to Xanadu in a flash of rainbow-colored light.

Brennan nods. "Get the other teams to safety, then I'll find the gas lines into this place. Martin will know what that means and why everyone else has to be out, first."

Celina doubles her focus on the Trump. "Clearing here. Brennan stays to put the place into history."

Celina allows all to pass through her to Xanadu and follows.

Vere passes through the Trump connection back to Xanadu.