On their quest for vampires, the group heads to the Dead Griffin pub. Silas assumes what he thinks is the local attire — lederhosen and a top hat. Strangely enough this is a good choice as normal clothing/people would be out of place. Inside they hear a voice, "Go home, Mr. Rabbit. You're drunk". The group enters the pub to find an inebriated white rabbit at the bar.
Jericho sits beside Mr. Rabbit and strikes up a conversation. He learns that this is the land of the Red King. The rabbit warns we should swear fealty or run. The rabbit works for the Heart Queen. His wife is kept at the castle to force him continue to work.
Jericho orders a bottle of whiskey from the robotic bartender. "That will be 3 gold," he says. Jericho looks surprised at the idea of paying for something. He summons logrus and slips 3 gold to pay for it. As luck would have it, the victim of this theft is in the same room!
A gorilla-man in a helmet bumps into Jericho as he sniffs around, looking for his money pouch. "Hey, watch it!" Jericho says. The gorilla asks about the money. Getting no satisfactory answers, the creature exits the pub.
Elodie noticed that Erewhon zeppelins seem to cover an unusual amount of distance for their apparent speed, so she tails one as she continues researching Osric. She lands near Cirso's castle, which the people of Erewhon believe to be part of Erewhon, but which she senses to be in an adjacent Shadow. She is reluctant to engage Cirso on his home turf alone if he turns out to really be Osric and up to no good, so she Trumps Gerhardt and shares her suspicions. Finnegan asks if she'd like to come through, but she politely declines. Gerhardt asks her to wait and Trumps Benedict, who approves of Elodie's involvement in their plans. Gerhardt Trumps her back, revealing that he and Benedict had known for some time that Cirso was Osric and responsible for the clones of family members that have been popping up. Confident that Benedict has the situation under control, Elodie abandons her research and joins Gerhardt and Finnegan in their search for Lucien.
Isabelle agrees to Jericho's request to go into a vampire's mind. She finds it difficult to get into the its head… It's not psychically strong but just difficult to… do the mapping? She learns that he is an agent for the Colorless Queen, Nyvyan. (Distinct impression she lives underwater.) She wants to hire people here and set up a trap where she can poison some humans and put them in the path of the Red King. She learns more about the vampires.
They ambush the ambush, keeping one vampire alive for questioning. Jericho is not satisfied with his answers, so Isabelle spreads the monster's mind wide open for Jericho to peruse. Now he gets all the answers he could dream of, mostly pertaining to the infiltration of the castle. Unfortunately, the connections between rooms are constantly changing, so he can't give specific directions on where to find Mrs. Rabbit. Also the Red King is learning about them as he can see through their captives eyes. He's sending something to deal with them.
Gerhardt, Finnegan, and Elodie track Lucien through Shadow. Gerhardt defuses a minor shadow storm along the route. They find Lucien conducting research into the nature of Shadow. He alleges that Shadow was created using broken bits of Gossamer Worlds, which Elodie finds doubtful. He asks if the Unicorn and the Serpent are actual beings. Elodie squeals excitedly, then bashfully says yes. Gerhardt explains that the Unicorn is an ancestor of the Amberites. Finnegan takes Lucien off to see Vala.
Silas trumps Isabelle and begs to come through as he needs to escape the creepy children/mother creature. She and Jericho want to escape where they are, so he jumps through with some demon kids and they jump through with Natasha helping them with the box. Silas finds himself confronted with the Jabberwocky. When the Mother/Children follow Jericho the Jabberwocky runs.
Gerhardt tells Elodie of an Door to the Grand Stair in Rebma and they travel there. They persuade Moire to let them use her Key to the Door in exchange for reporting what they find. The initial hallway beyond the door is mundane, simple gothic stonework with scattered candelabras in sconces. They head down. Elodie uses her Pattern senses and is badly shaken to discover that the Stair is as real as Amber and vastly older. They reach an opalescent bridge that branches out 6 ways, then see Taltos running toward them, unshaven, dressed differently, and pursued by enemies. Peering behind the man, Gerhardt sees a troll or titan monster thundering towards him. A greenish elf with tattoo-like markings on her face is on one side. Another paler male elf has a bow and arrow fixed on Taltos. Gerhardt intercedes and saves Taltos. A fire breathing dragon attempts to follow them, but is unable to pass a narrow portion of the Stair.
Gerhardt, Elodie, and Taltos continue up the stair. Taltos asks Gerhardt to tell Finnegan that he wants to talk to him, then takes a side passage only visible from certain angles. Gerhardt and Elodie choose a Door and enter a chrome, glass, neon, and steel cyberpunk-style land. Elodie finds that the world has a similar overall level of reality to Earth, but that the fabric of its reality is much more even. She tries to Shadow Walk and finds that she can't. She tries to Shadow Shift and finds the world is pliable, but elastic, tending to revert on its own over time. She Trumps Flora to see how well Trumps work on the Gossamer Worlds and finds greatly increased resistance. Flora gives Elodie a sweater that she knitted for her. Gerhardt invites Elodie to try to sense another Door and she succeeds. They head toward it. They encounter a robot who wants to know who they are and Elodie shifts Shadow to make it ignore them. She is welcomed by the Sen-Zaibatsu syndicate to their corporate tower.
In the box is a pea-sized sphere that weighs more than a car. It is emitting theta waves; is something asleep in there?? Isabelle makes psychic contact with the consciousness within. It is single-minded: time to eat — everything. "Let me out. It is time," whispers the voice. After determining that there is nothing to be done to quell its hunger, Isabelle puts it back to sleep.
Silas, chased by [[The Children]], leads them to the vampire's castle in an attempt to get them to eat the vampires but they do not seem interested. He Trumps to his ship and starts for Ygg. They appear on the ship and begin to kill the crew. Silas manages to trump away most of them but some are devoured. He abandons the ship using his hang glider and heads for the Red King's castle. After being wounded by some of the guards he is successful in getting The Mother to enter the castle… but the expected demolition of the castle does not happen. He is contacted by Jericho and they both proceed to the Red King's castle to investigate. Despite being larger than the entrance of the castle, the Mother somehow entered the castle but there is no sign of her. They enter the castle and find her, mouth wide, devouring everything being shoved into her massive maw. The Red King is up to something.
Hundreds of vampires begin swarming down the walls like insects. They are moving in a coordinated effort. Silas and Jericho debate unleashing the sphere either on the mother or the red king. Neither seems to be a good idea, so they consider the unthinkable — retreat. After some hasty debate they both trump out.
Finnegan contacts Elodie and is deeply concerned that she and Gerhardt are in what he calls Megacity Neo Neo. He says that a sentient computer named Yuki controls much of the city and is studying the Doors as travelers use them in hopes of extending her influence onto the Stair. He warns them not to go to the Corporate plaza or use the Door in Yuki's tower. He pulls them through and they join him at the Pub at the Beginning and End. There is a great view of colliding galaxies outside the window. Elodie wants to see if she can make working Trumps of places on the Stair, so Gerhardt shifts shadow to find art supplies in Finnegan's bag. Jericho trumps Gerhardt to consult him about the box of hunger and pulls him through. Elodie remains behind with Finnegan and begins working on a Trump of the pub.
(arguing about what to do with the hungry sentience inside the sphere)
Now to pursue a cure for Eric. Llewella was supposed to be looking into it.
J: 3, G: 3, I: 4, S: 3, E:R, N:6