Session 1

The Devil King. Session 01 6/9/07

Characters in Attendance:

• Mike - Sakura, daughter of Julian (not widely known)
• Keith - Solomon, son of Caine
• Ghen-Ki - Aife, daughter of Lucien
• Leslie - Gizette, daughter of Oberon
• Chris - Durus Valens, son of Gerard
• Andi - Thomas, son of Eric

GM's Note: Because of the nature of the campaign, all characters receive 20 points to be able to spend at any time. Author's Note: I've probably missed some things, and I've made marks where I've outright missed parts of the action. Please review, embellish and correct.

“Where are you, and what are you doing?” Ben asked, the last moment of peace we would ever know.

We open with finding General Valens in conference with Caine, discussing the recent rogue pirate king that has come to the seas of the Golden Circle – which is Caine’s own son, Solomon. Durus receives a trump call from Fiona, Benedict’s psychic mouthpiece for the throne. She informs Durus to meet Benedict at the castle and to tell Caine a message from Benedict himself, quote: “Take that fucking pirate out and deal with your son.”

Gizette is bandaging the leg of a dinosaur in the second Jurassic biodome somewhere in the realm of the Courts of Chaos when she receives a troublesome trump call from Gerard, “There is serious business at work in Amber, Benedict is on a rampage. Get a hold of the people you care for and make sure they are safe.”

Thomas is distributing food ration cards to a local golden circle realm when he gets a call from Fiona to come back to Amber. He decides to come through immediately, leaving the troops to take care of the situation.

Sakura is in the middle of a trump divination with her father’s deck in Arden, trying to see who is Benedict’s worst enemy. She throws the cards over and over again, never coming to a conclusive answer. Her intuition tells her that it must be Julian, since it’s his deck.

Aife is around the Courts practice sparring with Bleys, when he receives a trump call from Gizette. She informs him of Benedict’s actions taking place and to take precautions. Bleys tells Aife the news and informs her to stay safe. They speak for a while longer about Benedict and Amber, and eventually Aife heads off to try to convince Deirdre to come with her to the shadows near Amber to watch the epic battles that are undoubtedly going to be amazing. There’s also mention of showing up at some of the battlefields, so that “they could be seen.”

Solomon is out at one of the golden circle realms “negotiating” an agreement of “protection” for the local populous. He has negotiators come to one of his ships, where he is surprised to find that Caine is one of the delegates. Caine informs Solomon that he is here to stop him and discuss over other matters *Solomon please feel free to fill in, I missed some of this.* During the conversation, Solomon is trumped by Julian, and he talks with him about joining forces to try to take down Benedict from the throne. Solomon is dubious, but Julian assures him he’s amassed an epic army to stop him. Eventually Solomon asks for Julian to show him the army, and leads him through shadow to show him his troops…

Durus and Thomas meet with Benedict in the throne room. Benedict has been informed by Fiona that one of his family is raising an army against him. He orders the duo to find out who it is. They first meet with Fiona to see what she knows, all she bluntly states is that she had performed a trump reading and that “someone” was going to make an attack. Otherwise, Fiona didn’t seem too interested to help. They decide that they will contact others via trump and see what rumors are going around.

Gizette trumps Julian, and warns him as well of the oncoming troubles with Benedict. He asks Gizette if he could take his daughter Sakura to Chaos where she will hopefully be safe. Julian goes to trump Sakura and finds… his trump deck is missing. He heads into Arden and finds Sakura, and Gizette is introduced to her. Gizette indicates that she needs to make several Trump calls on the way to Chaos, so Sakura changes into a horse and asks Gizette to ride her, which she does. Sakura seems very curious about the family and Gizette's feelings toward them. Gizette is happy to elaborate, but when Sakura asks if Gizette has any children, Gizette says no, and prevaricates about why not. They talk a while about the Courts and Sakura seems to easily slip into Gizette’s mind to see how she is feeling. Gizette doesn't seem to mind but asks that Sakura be discrete during her actual Trump calls. They begin to head to Chaos.

… Solomon is led through shadows and shadows full of strange shadowy like demons of all shapes and sizes filling up the shadows they are inhabiting. It seems that Julian has completely surrounded the golden circle realms, and he mentions that getting ready for this battle is all he’s been doing for years and years. During the tour, Julian receives a call from Durus, asking him if he knew anything about a possible attack on Amber. Julian says he will let Durus know if anything comes to the surface.

Durus trumps Caine next, and Caine appears to be in unusual clothing (the disguise he wore to look like one of the negotiators to get on Solomon’s ship) and on a ship not of the fleet (one of Solomon’s pirate fleet). Durus informs Caine that someone is on the move and to inform Benedict or himself if he comes across any information. Caine assures him he will forward any information he comes across.

Gizette next trumps Brand – it’s a short conversation where he tells her that he’s not involved nor does he have any care to be involved and that they better just leave him the hell alone. He slams the “call” shut and leaves Gizette rattled and with a mild headache.

Thomas checks with his intelligence network and sees if they’ve heard anything going on in the further shadows. Events seem to be fine in the immediate golden circle realms, but any further out seems to be cut off, as if all of those operatives were dead. Eventually he gets a hold of one of his operatives, Joseph in Rensalir. He speaks of some horrible creatures that are out in the shadows, numbering in the hundreds that are wreaking havoc on the realms, black hideous creatures destroying everything in sight.

Gizette and Sakura attempt to contact Flora and Llewella but get no answer. Gizette trumps Solomon, and speaks to him about the alert being raised through the family about Benedict. “If you need an out, think of me.” Suddenly Solomon hangs up, detecting a large psychic presence coming in on the conversation through Gizette. Gizette admonishes Sakura indicating that that is not being discrete. Sakura apologizes but says she is particularly interested in Solomon.

Julian speaks with Solomon more about the attack that is to happen today with his huge army and asks if he wishes to join. Some sort of agreement is reached, and he is given Julian’s lieutenant Grathnar to help him lead part of the demon navy. Julian trumps Gizette and bring Solomon to Chaos to discuss matters and eventually they also get together with Bleys, Sakura, and Aife. Julian impresses on the group to join him in the attack against Benedict… Bleys outright refuses to help, not wanting trouble with Benedict, but does offer to set up an infirmary in Chaos for those of the family that are wounded. Gizette begrudgingly agrees to help deliver messages. Aife wants to at least see the size of the army before making a decision. Sakura pledges to help her father in any way that he asks her, but does voice her concern that he will not live through the attack. Julian does take Aife on the tour of his army, and there is some discussion of battle. Aife agrees to help, but it’s inferred that she’ll help on her terms.

Durus gets back in touch with Gerard to update him on what he had found out (which isn’t much) and they he and Thomas plan to trek out to the golden circle realms where the army has been spotted and see what information they can gather. The two of them trump to Remulus and then shadow walk to Rensalir. The shadow is chock full of demons doing what demons do when they’re not killing something – they’re fighting and killing each other. When the army notices the two of them, they leave, seeing if they will follow them through shadow, which it seems the demons don’t care enough to follow them through shadow boundaries. After a call from Thomas to Benedict informing them of the magnitude of the army, Benedict simply informs him to “Find the head,” and that Benedict will worry about the army. They head back and capture one of the demons. It seems to be a rather simple creature (“Can I eat that? I want to eat you! Oh, you’re big, I’ll obey you! … but can I still eat your friend?”) which they hand off to Fiona for further dissection and investigation.

Gizette, in a moment of shock, realizes she had not trumped Ellison to warn her. She trumps her, and is answers with a horrible scream then quickly cut off. Gizette races off to find Ellison and hellrides through shadow to seek her out – to come right to Amber Castle. After a few panicked moments, she shifts to a cat and heads into the castle through the roof. She heads straight to Ellison’s accommodations in the castle, and smashes through the door. She finds the room empty of any sign that anyone has been there in quite a long time. After a moment of searching, she receives a trump call from Aife, and pulls her through.

Durus and Thomas are called by Fiona to return to Amber, there has been an intruder that has entered the castle. They arrive on the scene and begin methodically searching. Thomas quickly finds Gizette, talking to someone unknown in a closed room. Durus joins him. They prepare to enter the room when Aife, from the inside, kicks the door down onto Durus, who throws it back in. There is a very brief engagement with an invisible entity and Gizette makes haste for the window to get the hell out of there. Durus smashes the floor with his fists and throws rocks at the supposed location of the individual with little success. Gizette makes it out the window while the invisible entity (Aife) heads further into the castle. Thomas and Durus follow Gizette out the window. There’s some discussion about what her intentions are in Amber, and Thomas quickly leaves realizing there is still a second person running through the castle. Durus and Gizette, now on a castle roof, discuss things. Gizette is convinced that Elison is here because of the screaming trump and the Shadow walk led her here, and she believes something very bad is going on. Durus decides to follow up on Gizette’s thoughts on the matter and heads to the castle dungeons. Gizette heads off to Fiona’s rooms.

Julian contacts Solomon, and commences the attack towards Amber, sending a massive battle cry across the hordes of shadow demons. Solomon with the assistance of Grathnar begins the attack, and Solomon proceeds to psychically investigate these shadow demon things, as well as Grathnar himself to see exactly how these demon things think and exist. (*this part probably needs more work, please feel free to add*)

Aife and Thomas have an amazing cat and mouse chase through the entire castle. They eventually figure out who each other is in name only as the people of the castle make comments on their incredible running battle. Eventually there is an agreement to stop and talk (and an unusual attack made on the throne, to weaken it somehow…), since the chase isn’t doing much good, except for being an entertaining time to test each other’s skill. Introductions are made and discussions are had on the nature of their involvement, and Aife asks Thomas if he’s interested in going out with her to watch the battle. Thomas agrees to disengage Aife long enough for her to leave the castle peacefully and she trumps out.

Sakura takes time to make some blood creatures, a pair of red and white wolves, and they head off to fulfill their mistress’ wishes. She then joins Julian to witness the destruction of Romulus. It’s a horrifying event as literal waves of demons pour out from shadow and race across Romulus, destroying everything in their path. The local army tries to defend itself, but the numbers are simply massive and Romulus is reduced to practically nothing in moments. Julian asks for Sakura to stay close to him, since he’s concerned Benedict will try to hinder him by using a psychic attack from Fiona.

Gizette walks into Fiona’s rooms and at the same time receives a trump call from Solomon. Fiona warns Gizette (as she’s trying to maintain a trump conversation) that she needs to leave right now, or else she’ll be forced to take action. Gizette panics and rushes Fiona, tackling her as she makes a flying dash out the window. There’s a massive lash pf psychic power from Fiona, who begins beating on the psyche of Gizette and Solomon with little grace and a lot of force. The two of them combined hold off Fiona just long enough for Gizette to dive into the sea, since Fiona has neglected her body to put full force into her attacks. Fiona passes out from the lack of air and Gizette rushes her back to Chaos through a trump to Bleys for medical attention.

Durus arrives in the dungeons, and after some mental convincing he is able to find Ellison’s cell. She has been chained to a wall and is suffering from a concussion, an apparently recent blow to her head. Keeping a hand around her throat in case she wakes and tries to harm him, Durus unchains her and tends to her wounds.

(*missed part of this as well*) Sakura is observing the battle, when some of Benedict’s troops show up to engage Julian’s forces. They clash, and Sakura looks to see if she can take advantage of an opening to psychically touch a general to get some insight on the king or any of the other elders who may be involved.

While in Chaos, Gizette heads to the “demon pens” and trumps Solomon, who hands through some of the shadow demons for investigation. Afterwards, she gets a trump call from Durus. He explains that Ellison is imprisoned, but that he will not release her until he has had a chance to interview her and find out what crime she had committed against the crown. Durus did offer that Gizette wished to join her she could, but she respectfully declines.

Thomas gets a trump call from Benedict, ordering him to find Aife and inform her that she is to come to Amber. Benedict holds Aife’s mother captive and it would be in her best interests if Aife attended. Thomas heads into the golden circle realms, looking in places Aife may be observing the battle and is eventually informed by his network where she is. He informs her of the situation, and she informs Thomas that she will come to Amber, but it will be fighting. Aife heads back to Chaos and Thomas returns to Amber.

Meanwhile, the battle rages on. It seems that the demons are making some progress, but are now being slowed by several of Benedict’s armies coming out of shadow and flanking many of the demons from behind. Solomon deals with these events on the seas, as massive demon ships eat others ships in the water. Sakura witnesses Benedict come onto the battlefield where Julian is, and she reaches out to her father to sense his feelings. Julian seems confident he can win and that Benedict won’t kill him. She brings up alternative plans, but it seems that Julian is set to his plan. Julian and Benedict meet on the field; on the third swing from Benedict sword he kills Morgenstern, driving his blade clean through the poor beast’s spine. Benedict knocks Julian out with the butt of his sword and leaves with Julian.

Gizette puts in a request to have a complete workup done on these odd demons, and then attempts to trump Aife with no success. She then gets a hold of Gerard, who advises her to check on Bleys. She looks for Bleys, and it seems he’s disappeared, Gizette finding a dead end in his quarters and there seeming to have been some sort of conflict. She is then soon after trumped by Durus, who has been ordered by Benedict to contact her and inform her that Benedict is planning a gathering of the family, he expects Gizette to come, and that "Bleys has already joined us." She quickly steps through and they head down to the dungeons to discover that Bleys is indeed a prisoner.

Aife contacts Lord Borel and asks for assistance to rescue her mother, saying it would be “a great fun time to attack Amber.” Borel doesn’t seem to agree, and turns her down. Aife trumps to Amber.

Durus and Gizette converse, and in a moment of trust Durus and Gizette make psychic contact to confirm her story that Bleys could no way be involved in this mess. Durus believes her and removes the manacles from Bleys, intending on letting Gizette return Bleys back to House Candent until this "family meeting." Benedict arrives in the dungeons soon afterwards with a knocked-out Julian in tow, forestalling that action. Benedict tells Durus to leave Bleys in the cell, places Julian in a separate cell and orders Durus to bring Gizette up to the throne room. Durus and Gizette talk some more and the general’s cell keys are mysteriously “pickpocketed.” Durus tells Gizette that his orders are to bring her to the throne room, and he intends to do that and leave her to her own recognizance.

A red and white wolf show up to both Durus and Thomas, asking if they can make psychic contact to impress a message from their master. These are blood-creatures sent by Sakura. Thomas kills his messenger and Durus accepts his. It’s a psychic impression that Benedict is very ill, and that there needs to be a push to find a way to heal him. The wolf asks Durus to respond if he agrees, and Durus notes his assent. Durus asks the wolf who it's master is, and it says it cannot reveal yet. The wolf leaves to go report to its master.

Solomon is still directing the navy when he gets a call from Caine, telling him to come to Amber for a “family meeting” before Benedict decides to kill him. Solomon agrees, and trumps to Amber. He is quickly joined by Aife, and then Caine along with Benedict. Aife insists that Benedict moves too fast, and draws her blade attempting to get away. Benedict leaves no chance to giver a way out, and Aife finally relents by making a surprise attack on Caine. Aife is disarmed before she has a chance to complete the attack, but does rattle onlookers. They head into the castle and join the other gathering in the throne room.

The entire cast is assembled in the throne room (except Sakura – it was attempted to trump her but she easily held off the calls). Benedict takes a seat in his throne, which crumples from being weakened earlier by Aife during her spar with Thomas. Aife lunges at Benedict, and Thomas intercepts the blow. Gizette lunges for the door, only to be blocked by guards. “Were you expecting that, Benedict?” “NO.” Benedict calls for the prisoners to be brought to the throne room. Eric, Julian, Ellison and Bleys enter as prisoners, along with Brand (who doesn’t seem to be a prisoner, but the role of his presence is unclear) Gerard escorts the group in.

Benedict speaks to the family in attendance about his rulership. His is disappointed and furiously angry at the actions of his brothers, that even though he had been chosen by the unicorn to be king, he is still constantly betrayed by his family, and that he has been shown not one ounce of loyalty or trust. Benedict makes a ‘point’ during his speech by stabbing Ellison through the neck. After Ellison fails to the floor, she looks up at Benedict and says "I love you, brother," before Benedict slices through her throat, killing her. Through the screams of Gizette and the looks of shock from many others, Benedict makes it absolutely clear that unity must be upheld or people will lose their lives. (He implies that if family members do not cooperate, he will kill the other prisoners.) The family’s test is to defeat the army that resides in Chaos, preparing to destroy Amber. Benedict makes it clear he could defeat this army by himself, but that through the family’s actions it will make their loyalty clear. He gives the group one day to decide.

Aife speaks with her mother, being closely observed by Thomas under orders by Benedict. Aife wants her mother to uphold her honor by giving her life rather than letting Aife be blackmailed, but her mother wishes to live. There is discussion between Thomas and Aife over their actions, and Aife draws her sword with lightning speed. Tomas attempts to block her blow but she is simply too fast and Aife kills her mother.

The group is dismissed. Benedict goes with the prisoners to ensure they are put back in their cells. Gizette joins the walk down to the prison. Durus collect Ellison’s body and has it placed in the catacombs beneath the castle. Aife takes the body of her mother and leaves, supposedly to Chaos. Thomas attends to the duties around the castle and Solomon trumps out.