Bree and Isabelle go to Erewhon to talk to Cersei about accessing the body of Cabana Brand. Cersei is a little weird about it, but she tells them to wait here and she'll be back. After a while Cersei comes back… with Cabana Brand following her. Like, not dead. Bree and CB talk a bit and he agrees to let her make psychic connection to look around. He's clearly been pieced back together in a very complicated effort. Bree explains to Cersei a procedure she'd like to do to access specific memories, taking measures to protect him from any pain.
Isabelle checks in on her ranch and everything is good.
Silas is in an Ascendency World on the Great Stair, where they give him pamphlets about becoming a member. (Very Dulac vibe.) He politely accepts them and heads for the exit door. He receives an Icon call from Jericho and brings him through. They discuss going through the door of doom (supposedly). It's a dark, depressing, overcast world with a gothic castle on the horizon. Undershadow exists with a hellscape of creatures. As the two retreat, they see glowing eyes watching them. Jericho, ever vigilant, shapeshifts himself some night vision eyes and bulked-out legs. He races close enough to see that there are hellraiser versions of of both of them. They leave to take care of other things, but they will return! Silas dresses himself as a 30s private eye. Jericho just assumes a generic altered appearance, nothing in particular.
Brigid and Natasha are in Amber.
Gerhardt is approached by a guard in charge of counter intelligence. He gives him a debrief of the situation. Gerhardt scans the area with Eidolon and notices a lot of magic-related equipment.
Natasha plans to reach out to Dworkin.
Did anyone try to access the stairs during the incursion? Brigid investigates for clues. She and Gerhardt work together on the effort.
Silas and Jericho travel on the stair to the nearby door guarded by the Ascendency, from the world where they made the cure. It is still guarded. Silas fires a shot that has a knockout gas (after making sure Jericho would be immune), while Jericho rushes them. Jericho tries to knock them out but not kill them. Silas errs on the side of ensuring none of them get to the door, even at the risk of them overdosing (or leaving a residue). The guards are quickly overcome and they find a small side bivuoac. They move the bodies into this area. Silas finds the captain's notes detailing Silas' appearance and that he is a dangerous Amberite. It seems they have no key, and never go through the door, they are relieved in shifts (3 days) from elsewhere. Unable to open the door (it is Locked), they contact Finnegan on his icon. Finnegan says yes, he can open the door, but not knowing what is on the other side, strongly advises against it. After some debate, they agree. They still have one of the guards prisoner, however.
Silas uses his contraband Icon to contact Caine. This Icon was given to him by Isabelle, but Caine had asked that it not be given out, which causes some annoyance to him. Caine has recently recovered enough to be able to talk and is getting quite irritated. Where did he get the Icon? Who is this prisoner? Who authorized this??? Just great. Silas answers that he did it on his judgement. Cane takes the prisoner and tosses him and his tablet icon through a trump to some isolated interrogation place that won't let any signals get in or out. They figure Bastiano will eventually learn of much of this. The tablet logs are updated hourly, so he's sending it off to a secure location so it can't be pinged. Someone would like to have a meeting between Oberon and Bastiano.
Cersei would prefer to monitor Bree's procedure, and Bree acquiesces. A fairly accurate collection of pleasant memories is retrieved. The bad ones are missing… bully for him. Bree adds those memories into a new directory to her internal storage. Dark, negative and toxic memories are isolated from emotional impact. They have a lovely time bonding, ending with a tender embrace. He can't make trumps anymore, so she gives him one so they can stay in touch.
Isabelle travels to the her new secret place since nobody seems to need her right now.
A sentient flame guards the tree. A council commanded it to guard this tree. After the wave of thousands, some talkative explorers came. They mostly left on their own. They had a flame inside them just like Isabelle, it says, though hers is pretty strong. She keeps asking questions like a toddler, and as she wraps up her pestering she asks its name. It says it's a name she can't say, but it can immolate her and imbue it in her, but it would be very painful. She'd probably survive, but she just doesn't have enough control of her power yet to be sure. Isabelle decides to leave for now to develop her power and return later.
Natasha goes to Dworkin for help. Gerhardt calls Natasha and asks if he may speak to Dworkin. Upon receiving approval, Natasha brings Gerhardt through to him. He shares that the virus was intended to make the family vulnerable to psychic influence. "How did you get the cure?" Dworkin asks. Gerhardt shares the unfortunate news of Bastiano's involvement. Someone broke in somewhere and stole something very specific.
People want to update the agreement to legitimize Amberite actions on the stairs. They're coming to get Oberon to sign off. Invitations go out to everyone to attend the event. The wording is a strong suggestion but not a command. Jericho opts to keep going to wherever he's going, but he gets Isabelle to come through and make a trump of where he is so he can come back and continue.
The prisoner (the one Jericho and Silas captured) is interrogated to the point of breaking. The farmer's son was recruited to the army and worked through the ranks. This was his first field command. Apparently 3-4 weeks ago the door did open and the cases of medicine came through — about a week before they were requested.
Bastiano and Lucian are in attendance. The former is exceptionally welcoming, offering Jericho to come visit and chatting quite cheerily to Brigid. They agree to have tea and discuss her joining is retinue, in fact. Bastiano started out happy, and at the end of this he feels even better. If he knows about the attack on his guards on the stair he shows no signs of it. What did he accomplish? What is he getting out of this? Seems like he pushed for the ability to independently make agreements and own lands in other lands. So now he can control parts of Shadow and Chaos. Great. Non-aggression between Amber and Gossamer is pretty much the only limitation.
Brigid circulates around the party and checks in on people. She tells Jericho about her conversation with Bastiano and offers to try and get information out of him.
Bree tries to find opportunities to be helpful and ingratiate herself. She notices that Bastiano looked like he had already won just by being here. Dale seems the most curious about Bree, so Bree approaches her. Dale opens with strange comments and asks if Bree is related to the family. "You have weird, shifting potentialities," she notes. Bree offers a trump card to Dale, who deconstructs it with her eyes. Very troubling. Dale offers Bree a gem, "Here's an icon."
Silas hung out with Dale at the event, chatting with her about various things and inquiring of her future plans. Unlike the others Lords and Lardy of Gossamer Worlds, she does not have a home world but is always moving to new places. She plans to move on to some kind of nightmare world she just heard of. Silas asks if he can accompany her. She shrugs and says he can do what he wants but she doesn't object. He packs a few things and sets off with her after the event is over.