Jovian nods with an after-you sort of gesture in reply to Martin's abrupt "Bide." While he doesn't often have difficulties with it, he does know that many riders can't converse out loud and telepathically to their dragons at the same time without earning a splitting headache for their trouble; he's thus indulgent of incoming Trump contacts having right-of-way.
Ossian tries to Trump Martin [Assuming contact. I have included rather much below to keep the pace up, feel free to declare parts of it as obsolete]:
He achieves the contact.
"Hello cousin." Ossian smiles.
"Ossian," says Martin, as if identifying him for someone standing nearby. To Ossian, Martin seems annoyed, or perhaps disappointed. Perhaps he was expecting someone else.
Ossian shrugs, his smile getting a somewhat sad look.
Jovian's brows knit for a moment as the name wanders around his head looking for something to attach itself to. Presently he decides he'll know soon enough and lets it slide for now with an almost visible shrug.
"We seem to have the situation in control on our side, even if this bleeding guy caused some stir.
"Things started to get boring here, so I decided to chat a bit with you.
"Just joking. We wonder what happens at your side now. How soon will the army come?
"And Martin, the new people at Ygg, Merlin for instance, does he know that I might contact them when things start to get busy. We might not have time for long introductions, or suspicious relatives then."
"I'll mention it to Merle. Corwin and Bleys are working on the transit plan with Fiona; I'll ask someone for a report in a moment. Who was the bleeding guy and what happened to him? Do we know yet?"
The Shadowflyer's head snaps up at this. "Bleeding guy?" he half- demands before the rudeness of it dawns on him. "But we had the worst casualties, and they were mostly stabilized when we sent them through...."
He remembers himself then and practices patience perforce, looking a bit abashed.
[Is it Daeon or Adonis...?] He came here with Caine who says the boy's name is Daeon. He's another cousin, half-brother to Robin, I think. Anyway, this girl, Aisling, tried to heal him, but he woke up and was really upset. He teared his wound open again." Ossian pauses for dramatic effect.
"In the end Brita had to knock him out. They patched him up as good as possible. He's still unconcious, and Paige watches over him.
"Or whatever she does with unconcious naked men."
Martin just shakes his head at that. "Hey, let me go see what the others are up to. You can trump me again in five or so; everybody's vanished over to where Bleys is, which I think means we're getting a plan together."
And he relinquishes the contact.
Once Julian has gone, Jerod returns to the group to find Jovian. He waits patiently for a moment while Jovian and Martin converse, stepping in to get Jovian's attention once Martin is distracted.
"Your father has departed for Amber." Jerod says, motioning to the empty spot where Morgenstern and Julian stood. "He was contacted via trump concerning your brother Daeon. He asked me to give you his farewell and that he expects you in Arden later."
"Daeon is in Arden already?" Jovian asks a little sharply as he parses this new development. His green eyes almost spark as he does the math. Bleeding guy in Arden, Daeon in Arden...all things considered, he gets it pretty quickly for a bronze rider. "What has happened to my brother?" he half pleads, half demands, turning to face Jerod squarely.
"I'm not sure." Jerod replies. "I made contact with Caine and he requested immediate transfer to Amber. I pulled him through and my sister sent him onward. He was in the process of rendering first aid to Daeon at the moment I contacted him. Since Caine was doing so, I figured that Caine wasn't the person responsible for the injury. Otherwise we'd be burying Daeon, not helping him.
"Beyond that, there is little more. I figured it was better to get him to the field hospital first and ask questions later. The wound was serious, but did not appear mortal. I'm sure he'll recover."
"Thank you for that much, at least," Jovian nods, calming. "Was he the only casualty to come through after the group Dad Trumped ahead of us earlier?"
Jerod nods, looking over at the planning group of Elders and cousins. "Yes. We were originally trying to get ahold of Caine to determine the status of army when he requested to come through. It would seem to have left us in a bit of a lurch at the moment."
Jovian has only a moment to puzzle over how his brother obtained what sounds like a combat wound - perhaps he put a move on the wrong woman? - before his contemplation is distracted.
"Let us see how our uncles are faring in arranging things. We're all going to be busy shortly I suspect." and with that, Jerod nods to Martin and wanders over to Bleys, Corwin and company.
"I'd say so," Jovian responds, keeping pace. "Near as I can tell, the army has Fiona and Llewella only - someone said something about Benedict being elsewhere, right? Sounds like one of us will have to go through to the army to get enough lines going."
Martin catches up with Jerod and Jovian. "Jovian, it sounds like the wounded guy is your brother. Apparently Aisling -- you know her, right -- tried to patch him up and he didn't take to it. Brita -- she's Fiona's daughter -- had to knock him out to keep him from injuring himself worse. Our cousin Paige, Bleys' daughter, is watching over him now. She's a pretty good nurse; he's in good hands."
Martin seems confident of that last bit, as if he can personally vouch for Paige's ability to patch wounded people up.
"Paige and a naked unconscious guy?" Jerod asks, looking at both Martin and Jovian for just a moment as he puts back the remainder of the trump deck, careful not to raise his voice too loudly with Bleys somewhere around. "And Julian just showed up there too? Why do I have a bad feeling?"
Martin shoots him a mildly quelling look, even though he knows it's too late.
This would be about the time Brennan mutters, "Daeon, with a sympathy wound?" to Jovian.
Jovian forgets for a moment to school his expression and appears a complex blend of different varieties of stricken. At Aisling's name he nods and then winces, his stricken look gaining a level of complexity. He shakes his head, rubs his eyes and mutters, "What has that asshole done this time?" For all that, his tone is not entirely without affection and concern for the asshole in question.
When his hand drops, his face is the mask of the efficient and cool commander again. Closing the remaining distance to Brennan, he rethinks the situation in the span of a heartbeat or two.
"On second thought, Brennan...I've got to take the dragons the long way, they can't go by Trump, and we've got some distance to fly yet." He squints at the sky through the great Tree's branches, considering the passage of Time.... "If you need a body to replace me, there's someone named Ossian back in Amber that you haven't placed yet; he ought to do. Ask Martin for details."
The dragonrider bows from the neck, rather a different thing from nodding, to Bleys and Corwin. "My lords, if you'll excuse me. With luck and a tailwind, I'll see you in Arden not long after the last of the army goes through. Clear skies, Brennan, gentlemen." A nodding half- salute of general application later, he is striding out of Ygg's shadow and gesturing to his wingleaders to follow.
"Time to get moving again," Jovian calls to the riders, assembling as their leaders approach. "We're in more stable shadow from here on; Amber shouldn't be more than a day's straight flight away. We'll speed up a bit, but we may still hit some disruption along the way, so stay as focused on me as you were on J'lin for the outbound flight, and DON'T risk going between yet."
He crosses to Canareth and mounts up, which the others rightly take as their signal to do the same. When all are ready, they vault into the air, circle Ygg once to gain altitude and strike eastward, shortly vanishing from that sky as Jovian seeks out a subtropical climate with a river running through it.
Benedict has the animal carved for roasting by the time Lilly returns with the firewood and he cooks a simple camp meal while she tells the story of the story.
It is not until the fire is prepared that she addresses her father's other request.
"Your questions. If I remember correctly, the first was whether I believed the unease was related to the stone creatures. I believe I have covered my thoughts on that.
"The second pertained to my assessment of the stone creatures. That was more or less covered in my response to the first I believe. Further I do not think they should be trusted nor do I think they should be engaged in warfare. Fighting them with our minds, outwitting, manipulating, that sort of thing, should prove to be far more successful I believe.
"Third you asked if there was some property of shadow or magic which may have caused me to cut Daeon deeper then I wished. Without wishing to place blame or sound as if I am unwilling to take responsibility for my actions, I do believe that is a very good possibility. A simple flesh wound in a man's side is not something I should have difficulty doing. Obviously I did not want him dead. If I had he would not still be breathing."
There is a pause as Lilly gathers her thoughts a bit better. "It was almost as if the wound itself wished to be larger, greater. Like there was nothing I could do to keep it from happening. There was no way to stop it, no way to draw back. It was odd. Very odd. Perhaps it was the godlings own will that affected it. He is a bit of a strange one."
Lilly shrugs slightly. There really was no explanation for what had gone wrong. Her best defense currently ran along the lines of "he asked me to do it" and "if I wanted him dead he would be". These two things even sounded bad to her ears. Unfortunately she could not change what had been done. She would simply have to accept any consequences and then move on.
Remembering that there was still a question to be addressed, Lilly continued on. "The last question I believe had to do with Hob's initial story. Why did I believe he spoke of you? At the beginning of the tale he described Arthur as being a 'scholar of violence' who studied the art of war.
"The story continued with a Princess of a distant land. She too studied the art of war. Her people sent her to the Prince to observe him, learn his ways, and act as a shield for her people should he think to attack them. Eventually they hoped she could cause his down fall.
"This woman, Guinevere, began to test Arthur. She would change things to make the battles harder, or simply tactically different. Each time the Prince prevailed.
"This frustrated the Princess. So she arranged a battle so evenly balanced that it could only be decided by the skill of the commander. She was commanding the opposing forces.
"The battle was legendary, Hob said. It was well fought on both sides. Soldiers battled to the death and eventually only the two commander remained.
"Their duel went on for a fortnight. It was then that Guinevere began to realize she might not be superior. It was also then that she realized that she might not be able to kill him when the time came.
"She told him as much. And he admitted the same. On that battle field they declared their love for one another. They knew they were star-crossed and that their families would never truly approve but they could not deny themselves or each other.
"Hob stated that this was the seed of the current conflict.
"As to how much of this is true, I do not know. But if nothing else I feel Hob wanted me to hear this version of this tale. You do have to admit is certainly sounds like he was referring to you and your chaosian lover." There is no judgment in Lilly's voice. Just as she could not change past actions, Benedict could not alter the things he had done. Inwardly she hoped for the true story though she knew better then to expect it.
"The tale is allegorical and thus beyond questions of 'truth' or 'falsehood'. That this is the story that 'Hob' told tells me something of him." Benedict offers Lilly some roasted Pig-Cat. It smells delicious.
Lilly ate in silence. contemplating her fahter's assesment of Hob's story. An allegory. Yes, she realized that. Or she realized that he, Hob, had intended for it to seem like that. Benedict's admittance that it was indeed an allegory answered at least one of her questions. After all allegories were based upon truth.
After she had her fill of the roasted meat, Lilly met her father's eyes. "I apologize for any difficulties this episode with rock creatures has caused. From the moment we left Tecys I have tried to... to do right by you and bring honor to the family."
There was something very vulnerable about Lilly at that moment, something even her father would recognize. Daeon's story had more of an effect on her then she cared to admit.
Benedict looks at Lilly, letting her statement sit between them, a thing in and of itself, for a moment before answering.
"You are a credit to our family, perhaps more than this family deserves. I have always believed that a child raised properly from a very young age would make right choices when she was an adult. I consider your behavior in this matter as evidence of my theory's validity."
Lilly has no idea what to say and settles on a simple nod. There is a smile upon her lips though which will not be denied. It is a smile that arises from releif and contenement not arrogance.
[The GM says 'this conversation should be happening as they ride, so it does']
"Now that we have allowed your cousins and uncles to meet you, we must consider your education...and your future."
"I welcome any thoughts you have on that subject father. There is still much I need to learn."
"There are many reasons I have stayed away from my father's realm of Amber, not least of which involved you. But most of those objections were personal and many of them have resolved. I understand that there are even more cousins of yours in Amber and the start of a new generation, which is a situation that I find gravely disturbing.
"As always, my duties take me many places. You have learned all the military matters that you will in Tecys. Now might be a good time for me to have an agent in Amber. And I know you, daughter. Anywhere you go, you will be learning.
"King Random has made you a knight of Amber. You should go to him and offer him your knightly service. I feel he will need this help."
"Of course father." Lilly does not take her father's request lightly. King Random shall have at least one dutiful knight in Amber even if it kills him.
He rides for a distance, effortlessly changing the world around you as you ride. You notice the little things he changes in a way that you did not always notice when he took you on campaign in the past. This thing your father does you now know to be a gift that your aunts and uncles and even cousins and perhaps half-grand-nieces have. You now know you are watching him exercise power over shadow.
After a measureless interval which could be hours or days, Benedict reins in near a great tree next to a cool stream. You dismount and tend your horses and leave them drinking at the tree's roots.
"Do you need to rest? This place is somewhat stable and somewhat safe."
"No more then the horses." There is a warm smile on Lilly's face as she says this.
Turning back to seriousness, she looks to her father. "I am curious father. This control over shadow I have seen many within the family exercise, is this something that is learned or is it an inborn ability?"
"It is both, and you can do it, although you do not yet have control. In the far places, places closer to Chaos, it is very dangerous to be untrained.
"There is a shortcut, a method of initiation, which teaches one not just how to change the world, but to change it make a specific effect. Several of my brothers have explained the process to me and my experience is still different. It is not particularly teachable.
"After...Bide...." He says, with that familiar unfocusing of his eyes.
"Who calls?"
To those in Arden, what happens is that Caine brings Julian and his great grey horse, Morgenstern, through the contact. Once they have arrived, Julian whispers briefly in Morgenstern's ears, and the horse trots away through the camp, undoubtedly bringing word of his master's return.
Julian looks around, sees that everyone except Caine who is nearby is engaged in a Trump contact of some sort or probably not a family member, and says to Caine, "Where is my son?"
Caine says, "This way," and they walk towards the secondary tent. He adds, "I see your Rangers are militarized these days."
"The Rangers are currently in the King's gift, as are the Admiralcies," Julian replies, unfazed. "When His Majesty has confirmed me in my office, I'll have to look into the matter." Julian is a tall man, and his stride is long. It's a bit longer now, and Caine seems to have to hustle a little to keep pace with him.
There's a young Ranger standing sentry duty at the front of the tied-up tent. He appears almost startled by the arrival of the two princes, but perhaps he's distracted by the sounds emerging from the tent. There's little doubt that some activity is occurring inside.
"Sticks?" Caine asks. "I thought you were sailing on the _Lady Rilga_."
Sticks looks a bit overawed by Prince Caine. "Yes, sir, I mean no, sir, Your Highness, Sir. Since the Sundering and the Troubles came, there hasn't been enough sailing, so I joined the Rangers." He's speaking pretty loudly. "I could untie the tent for Your Highness, sir," he says, still very loud.
Julian hasn't said a word through all this, and Sticks doesn't seem to have recognized him.
"Never mind that," says Caine, and produces a thin stiletto from his sleeve, with which he cuts the ties holding the front flap of the tent together, and flip the flap open. Sticks turns away, radiating heat and embarrassment.
[There has been plenty of noise outside the tent. Paige and Adonis have had plenty of time to get in a quickie, and plenty of warning to disengage. What do Caine and Julian see?]
Adonis, contrary to popular rumour, is not an exhibitionist getting his kicks from display, merely untroubled by presence or lack of observation either way, but he is aware that Paige would be embarrassed to be discovered in flagrante and he also knows his own father is somewhat prudish [well more prudish than Adonis, anyway] and he has no desire to cause more embarrassment than need be...to anyone.
However, in the few moments available, I can't see there's near enough time for Paige to slide out of bed and into her discarded clothes [at least a bodice IIRC]. It would be impossible and ridiculous to deny their recent congress to two Elders as these.
So intent had been her partners affections that the actions of the afternoon had erased her concerns on limiting the length of his "physical therapy". She's not an exhibitionist either and recognizes the same factors as Adonis. Her attentions firmly focused on his pleasure, she doesn't catch the activity until the last moment, and more than likely keeps Adonis rather distracted, too.
Paige looks up from atop Adonis's prone form, freezing in mid-action, recognizing them in the brief moments as her movements cease and her eyes open. She slides down off Daeon's side, still in his embrace, pulling a sheet over them modestly. Adonis greets both men warmly, radiating joi de vivre.
"Pater! I'm so glad you're back! And you too, uncle. May I introduce my nurse, Paige, daughter of...Bleys, was it? nods Yes, Uncle Bleys." In response to Julian's look of concern. "Worry not, Pater. I was hurt but nothing serious; well on the mend thanks to Paige's ministrations. Do you have news of Jovian?"
Paige lets Adonis take the lead as he's more familiar with these particular family members, not out of any embaressment. In fact, if one were to try and discern her current mood, it would seem more amused than anything.
Satisfied and amused.
Caine looks amused too. In fact, he looks like he's stifling laughter.
Julian, who has more aplomb in his pinky than Adonis and Paige have in their entire bodies, says, calmly, as if all of them were at formal tea in Castle Amber: "I see you have recovered nicely from your wounds, Adonis. Jovian is en route with his riders, and doing well."
Having given Paige a moment to recover her dignity, he says, "I am pleased to meet you, niece. I believe this belongs to you." And he picks up and hands Paige her bodice, smiling.
Paige has the feeling that she has been caught out by the headmaster and this is going in her permanent record. Adonis, Pater is disappointed. Again.
Paige offers a smile back, impressed with her uncle's composure, but not surprised. It is legendary after all. Taking her bodice in hand she begins straightening the laces without moving to don it, yet.
Adonis smiles lovingly at his father, sometimes all you can do is admire him. He makes no attempt to explain himself; one day his father will understand and until then Pater will be disappointed and Daeon will be patient.
"I believe we should confer with our brothers at Ygg, Caine. Paige, you'll join us as soon as you can make yourself ready. Adonis, if you are capable of participating in the transport, you will also join us. Good afternoon."
Paige nods her agreement, "Thank you, uncle. I'll be with you presently."
"I am ready now, Pater." Adonis slides gracefully out from under the sheet without uncovering Paige, a parting squeeze of her hand his only farewell.
As he starts to stand up, Adonis finds that although he had no trouble accepting Paige's TLC while he was flat on his back, he's not yet ready to stand up. Wine and the severe loss of blood keep him from gaining his feet.
Paige catches Adonis, unmindful of her appearance, her charge being more important. She lays him back on the bed, shaking her head gently.
Adonis shakes off her hand irritably - she gets the distinct impression that he has neither experience of nor, patience with, ill-health.
Julian arches an eyebrow. "You are not so recovered as you think, Adonis. You will rest now -- and I mean rest -- and I will look in on you again when we have completed the transport. Good afternoon."
Adonis makes to speak but then it occurs to him that it would be a mistake to address Pater again after the second dismissal and settles for a heartfelt sigh. The last thing he wanted to do was upset his father while he was so worried about...so many things.
Julian's steps are crunchy on the ground as he turns and exits the tent, Caine, still sparkling-eyed with mirth, in step with him.
Paige and Adonis hear Caine say to Sticks, "Sticks, have this tent repaired.'
Sticks says, "Yes, sir, Your Highness, sir."
Paige kisses Adonis, deeply, before attending to her clothes.
When Adonis' head has stopped spinning, he smiles ruefully at her. "Pater is not as angry with me as he thinks he is; it is just that he has so many things on his mind and his children worry him so. He is the best of fathers; sometimes I wish I could be a better son." He pauses for a minute in reflection [plenty of time for Paige to comment].
"I'm sure you're a wonderful son, else he wouldn't worry so much," Paige offers reassuringly. "As father's go, well... I'm not that much of an expert on the topic."
Adonis raises an eyebrow and Paige is sure something about she and her father has been filed away for future rumination.
"As your nurse, I agree with your Father's orders," slipping the bodice back on and tucking in her shirt, she continues, "And I'd take them as orders, cousin. Perhaps another time we'll have the time to put our whole attentions to this."
Adonis nods agreement. "If Pater and Caine are back, your father cannot be far behind and he will want to see you; you had best go - but we shall...talk...again, and soon." [Paige gets the feeling this is not the usual male promise to phone the next day, Adonis really will be looking in on her soon.]
Paige smiles at what's said and unsaid. "For the time being, let's not mention this to my father, alright? He might not be as inclined to amusement as Uncle Caine was and I don't want to cause waves for you." She seems not embarressed, nor ashamed, but honestly worried for Adonis's sake. "Perhaps it's better to not speak of it with others at all. Uncle Gerard was kinda touchy on the subject of relations between relations, if you take my meaning."
Adonis nods archly, he knows her meaning only too well.
Paige's clothes are once again assembled and quickly arranged, as if she had a century of experience in such circumstances. "Heal well, and you can take that as a promise.
"Perhaps, when things are less busy, you could ask someone to send wine and vittles to fill the hollow places?"
"I'll have food and more 'drink' sent, and if she's available, I'll try to have Folly come sing for you," Paige finishes as she grabs her satchel and heads for the tent's exit.
Paige notes Adonis' eyebrow works just likes Julian's. "I think it would be Folly indeed if Pater was to find another woman with me on his return." he chuckles, "Perhaps she should sing from...without?"
"Perhaps," Paige's smile is mixed with amusement at what Folly's take might be on her daring Adonis. Another soft kiss, and she's gone.
On her way out, Sticks gets a kiss on the cheek, with no explanation, as she heads toward the assembled family. She produces her Trumps from the satchel as she walks.
I wanted to say 'Sticks' head explodes.', but that would be taken the wrong way. The man is embarrassed beyond the capability for rational thought. Some therapist somewhere will, in later years, thank you for the Mercedes he just bought...
We're going to go into abbreviated summary mode to handle the troop transport, and the rest of the planning.
Good. Only that I suddenly realised Ossian will try some things.
There are enough trumps running around that you can get people configured to do a lot of pass-throughs: Army->Ygg and Ygg->Heather Vale. (While there is a handoff at Ygg, there is not a rest stop.) Exactly who is where is a logic problem that the players can work out if they want to, but I'm not interested in the details.
Trump troop transport is long, nasty, unpleasant, tiring work, as the Chaos people can tell the Ambersiders. The only consolation is that this is the last time you will have to do it.
At some point Ossian will take up Trump duty, I guess. The Trump signal from him feels very clear and stable, but still delicate. A bit like that lonely flute that plays when the rest of the orchestra is silent. He is cheerful, and greets the person he is Trumping to/Trumped by. [Feel free to take it up...]
[ Well, thinking about it, when I eventually do get to the point that I'm at Ygg passing people around, I'm going to have to be on the sending side since no one has a trump of me, and all the Arden-recievers are taken already except Ossian. So he's mine! All mine! Muahahaha! ]
"Ossian?"
"Yes?" Ossian answers even before the contact is fully stable "Ah, Aisling... Seems I am lucky today. I will enjoy looking at you for the next few hours." Ossian seems to be genuinely relieved that it is Aisling at the other end. Who he feared it was is not clear.
"Purple and all?" Aisling asks, a bit kidding, looking Ossian over thoroughly as the contact solidifies... She was kind of inundated with new people when she met him.
Ossian is slightly over 170 cm tall, with auburn somewhat unruly hair and sincere,sad, blue eyes, that meets Aislings eyes a bit longer than is entirely comfortable. His body is lean and not overly muscular; the body of a dancer. There are paint stains on Ossian's hands. The choice of clothes is perhaps a bit impractical; he is wearing black trousers, a plain light blue jacket and a slightly rumpled white shirt, the overmost button unbuttoned. There are some stains on his clothes, but not so much that he appears unclean. Indeed the stains seems to be exactly what is needed to make Ossian fit aesthetically in the camp.
What strikes Aisling is the evaluation of his surroundings that seems to be going on all the time. It is not the watchfullness of a warrior.
"I enjoy variation. Purple is good, although a bit hard to combine with other colours." Ossian apparently likes to discuss this kind of things. "All chaosites are not purple, are they?"
[OOC:The player is slightly colour-blind, and tries to discuss colours in a foreign language.]
"Indeed, no; few Chaosites look much like each other."
"That sounds really interesting, such potential."
"I assume it ends up in a riot of colour when several chaosites meet then?" Ossian makes a wry face.
"Oh, yes," Aisling makes a wry face in return. "Color, form, texture, sound, scent... There is much variety of appearances in Chaos."
"I'd like to go there and have a look some day, I think. For inspiration."
"It is not a pleasant place for those tainted with Order," Aisling says, and it is clear she doesn't want to talk about it more.
Ossian does not press the subject further, although he still seems curious.
Aisling's signal, after the long time to grasp the impression, might feel strong and warm like a wall in the sun. She does respond to the "lone flute" feeling, though.
And she's kinda wondering whether any of the guys she's handling will knife her. So she's not terribly at ease during this, though the emotion she's projecting is "sharing relief at the homecoming, pleased to be able to help you individually, and you, and you,..."
"Nervous?" Ossian asks after a few minutes.
Not acting at all caught out, Aisling replies, "I tend to avoid being in close quarters with armed people. I wonder, how many of these men have lost brothers and friends to Chaosites..." She glances over at the other lines. "To them, I may not seem indispensable."
"That would be a tragic story indeed", Ossian says. He pauses for a moment or two, evaluating something. "Try to avoid it for the moment being. I think we have enough tragedy for the next few years." he adds with a slight grin.
Aisling merely nods in answer.
A quarter of an hour or so later Ossian is bored: "This is boring. There must be a faster way of doing this. Or at least a funnier way."
[OOC: This is pretty much dependent on how I have perceived this. We are moving soldiers one-by one, aren't we? And one more thing. This is the first time I as a player see Trumps used in a more complicated manner. Please abide with me, and tell me if you think I'm being tedious, or having bad ideas...]
Ossian will try at least 1.5 ways: Can he widen the trump contact into some kind of gate that more than one soldier could pass through at a time? Remember that there is an Ossian Trump made by himself at Ygg, with Jerod.
Aisling will be perfectly happy to go along with this experiment and help out, if it is explained to her.
You can chain several troops together, but it's almost more trouble than it's worth. Perhaps if they were trained paratroopers.
As for her own experimentation, can she remove the card from this equation? She wants to tuck her injured hand away and keep the contact open just by concentrating on Ossian... After all, the channel is already there.
[Waiting for GM comment before response]
You try. Contact is broken. You get card back and make contact again.
[Wherein we learn that Aisling isn't secretly Brand in a shapeshifted disguise. Or else is a very clever shapeshifted Brand...]
"Well", Ossian says. "Trumping without a Trump is supposed to be very hard. We should try it over a shorter distance some day."
Aisling shrugs. "I'm not much of one for magic."
"Magic? Trumps are not magic. Trumps are ... eh, Trumps. Hm. A projection of super-reality, I think. Still our idea is good and worth a try under better conditions."
Aisling gives him an odd look at the "super-reality" bit, but then the trouble with the conditions (eg, something like handing a bulky guy across) causes her to lose the thread of the conversation.
One way of doing the above could be having both Ossian and the person on the other side trying to merge a small area of the ground in Arden with that at Ygg. It's probably best if this area is contained by for example a circle drawn on the ground. Soldiers stepping into the Area would see Arden if they look in one direction, and Ygg in the other.
"I do not think it would be wise to merge the fringes of Amber with the fringes of Chaos," Aisling, advising before the idea is attempted.
"I agree that we should not slam such a merging into place, but if we take it slowly and smoothly we should be able to stop if too strange things happen."
"Yes, but once created, could it be destroyed? The current method, while tiresome, seems to be controllable, and will succeed..."
"Still, this is boring." Ossian sulks a little, but does not push the matter more.
Regardless of the results, Ossian says after a while: "Hm. I wonder if we could attempt to make the transport without the landing place at Ygg. If we could send Reid to the army with my Trump, and I get one of him from Brita, we could try to contact each other at the same time. That would mean one link less in the chain."
"Worth an attempt... Pardon me, I shall go speak with Reid."
I'm pretty sure we can set up an attempt, without fiddling with the actual talks, unless Reid etc wants to. If it works, Aisling heads back to Arden.
"Trump Line Busy"
You cannot achieve contact with anyone with the Army from Arden.
"Then we know something new about the universe. How much do you know about Trumps, Aisling?"
"I have observed them in use..."
"Ok. So me and Reid have considerably more experience. Still you can contact me, from about halfway to the army, while I and Reid haven't a chance to contact each other over the whole span. This is not a question of distance; somehow there must be a kind of Trump barrier at Ygg, or somewhere near there. Interesting."
"Yet I am told that Random was able to Trump through to Martin," Aisling states.
"That's true. I didn't think of that." Ossian says. "I'll have to ask him how. Still I think the Trump troubles are not a matter of distance."
"Hm!" Aisling opines, interested, but not knowledgeable enough to ask another question.
"Of course there might have been a short hole in time where things were more open. You know, during the latest five years Trumps didn't work at all in Amber, I couldn't even paint them. Did they work over there?"
"During the battle, no. The first I heard of them returning to working was when I heard that Random had trumped back to Amber; this was, I believe, towards the end of Oberon's funeral, after the battle. ...How did your family adapt to the lack of Trump communication?"
"Many of the cousins didn't use Trumps very much before the Sundering either, I suppose. We who was accustomed to Trumps were more than a little frustrated. Of course we had to adapt. As long as you are in Amber you can use errand boys, but we never found a solution for the people who were travelling in Shadow. That basically meant we had to choose between sending a search party or just ignore it when someone did not come home on time."
"Is there anyone still lost?" Aisling asks with faint concern.
"Well, Julian's daughter Robin disappeared about a week ago, right after Random's return, as far as I can understand. To complicate things, we don't have a Trump of her. Maybe Julian has."
Aisling's eyebrows arch, but she makes no comment.
Last modified: 09 June 2002