March 14 2015

Much of this occurred at the same time the events of the March 7 2015 were taking place.

Silas

Silas was determined to find a way to combat the clone menace. After considering possible sources of information including Bleys and Count Cirso, he decided to seek a source of information in shadow using pattern so he could learn about this.

He journeyed long until he found a shadow containing an isolated research station in a wasteland. After some espionage he was able to craft a faux identity of Simon McCaine, junior researcher of the Space Pattern Empire, and reported for duty. Almost immediately he recognized the Insignia used by this empire, which matched that of the Pattern-powered spaceships encountered by Jericho (see session from November 1 2014 the one where among other things they had standing orders to kill anyone from Amber.

He spent roughly a month getting familiarized with the place while they had him working on a plasma beam of some kind while he knew there was clone or "replicant" research going on elsewhere in the facility. He also befriended two women who were identical twins which he thought might be clones. During this time several people told "Simon" that he resembled the Emperor or someone from the Imperial Family. The Emperor was named "Emperor Oberon II", though it appeared that they may have viewed "Oberon" as a title.

After a month he was finally transferred to the Replicant division where among other things he encountered what appeared to be a duplicate of Caine with no brain (apart from the minimum needed to maintain life). He also was shown a device which was capable of analyzing cellular decay, this device read zero on non replicants but resulted in higher readings on replicants. Silas seized the clone detector device from the storage locker it was kept in and trumped back to his ship. He then started to head back to Amber on his ship The Envoy.

He trumped Gerhardt to inform him of these developments but mid conversation the trump was cut off as if the shadow was not resistant to trump. Also his attempts to navigate away from the shadow in the ship kept resulting in him returning to shadow. Communication via the comm rings was still working so he informed Gerhardt of this. He then took the Envoy into the undershadow which he was able to do (this broke the communication via the rings). He remained in the undershadow for about an hour while he moved several (under) shadows away before emerging in a different shadow. Once there, he trumped Gerhardt again, who was walking on the Grand Staircase. Before the conversation was over the crew on the Envoy detected an incoming object moving fast towards the ship, apparently a missile. He immediately dove into the undershadow again as the missile detonated approximately where his ship had been, an explosion which wiped out most of a solar system in that shadow, and even had shockwaves reflected in undershadow. Based on this Silas stayed in the undershadow a long time, running silent to not attract the attention of any denizens of that place. While there however he opened a small portal to regular shadow, wide enough to briefly re-establish the trump with Gerhardt and inform him of this, and hand him the clone detector.

He was able to move to a low tech shadow where things like missiles would not function and returned to normal shadow there, and sailed on normal seas to return to Amber. At the Harbor, he met Lowen, and they exchanged information on new developments. Silas then informed Random of much of this (the shadow, the clone of Caine etc) though he did omit a few details. Random indicated that he had Benedict working on some plans for how to deal with this shadow.

Gerhardt

Gerhardt had just returned to Erewhon after traveling to Fairy to research tonal magic as part of his on-going quest to accidentally destroy the Universe. At any rate, that's the impression you'd get from his last conversation with Dworkin. Back at Stroheim, he was informed that Natasha and Lowen were there, and Lowen was recovering in - at his request - one of the more secure labs.

In a moment of excitement, one of Gerhardt's more sparky assistants had subjected Lowen to a treatment not safe for use on humans… Fortunately, Lowen wasn't human and the treatment was very helpful in accelerating his healing. Intrigued, Gerhardt began examining Lowen and, well, got a little carried away. He eventually got around to putting Lowen back together; and later they discussed some of the necromantic principles behind his transformation into a Sorcerer-King, and how those concepts might be used in ensouling Eric's cloned body.

After Lowen left, Gerhardt returned to his exploration of the Grand Staircase, finding a Door inside one of his father's old rooms. Attuning the Door's Key, he was able to enter onto the Stair. The first several Doors opened onto a random assortment of landscapes, but nothing that grabbed his attention. Eventually he got lucky and had his first encounter.

The Door opened onto a frozen tundra, where he was met by a Lagomorph, a 3' tall white-furred anthropomorphic rabbit-like being. He was invited to the Lagos' home where they shared stories and large bowls of a reddish hot chocolate, which had the amusing property of making it look like they have blood around their mouths when they were done. They were familiar with the Grand Stair, though not particularly knowledgeable; apparently in his host's father's day there had been fairly regular traffic between this Door and another in their world. They liked to trade and value gold and books in addition to some variety in their diet. They have a kind of energized stones used to power artifacts as well as hot chocolate in trade. Gerhardt purchased a sample of the stone, made some preliminary trade arrangements, and returned to the stair with a thermos of hot chocolate.

Further along, he had his first encounter with another traveler on the Stair, a gentleman by the name of Finnegan. Gerhardt explained that he'd just recently discovered the Staircase and was trying to learn more about it. Finnegan informed him a bit of the rules of the Staircase, and warned him of the Dwimmerlaik, a hostile race of horned humanoids who also travel the Grand Staircase. Some who travel the Staircase use something similar to Trumps called Icons. Finnegan had a device that resembled a tablet computer that could pull up many Icons. He was fascinated by a trump that Gerhardt showed him which was painted by Isabelle, thinking it beautiful. Finnegan took Gerhardt to his original destination, an kind of Crossworlds Inn frequented by travelers from throughout shadow. Gerhardt shared a few drinks with Finnegan, who was steeling himself for an unpleasant business meeting. After Finn left for his meeting, Gerhardt continued to carouse at the bar, making a few new contacts… or at least drinking buddies. Most of his gold spent and with 4 Fate Points to his name, he contemplated returning to Erewhon to study the device Silas had given him.

Lowen, Natasha

Lowen decided to visit the Dark Pattern (what we are now calling the pattern of death beneath the tree). He saw that Random had posted guards, so he used the power of the Abyss to extend tendrils to the location of the Pattern, and he then walked it, a very exhausting process for him.

Natasha had been looking after Lowen while he recuperated from his injuries. When he left abruptly, she figured out what he was doing and used a trump of an Old Hunting Lodge she once frequented in her youth that happened to be near the place of the Dark Pattern to get there quickly. The Guards let her in and she arrived at the Pattern in time to see Lowen walking it. Lowen finished walking it, gaining the power of the Dark Pattern.

Natasha returned with Lowen to Amber and helped him come to terms with Random that didn't involve imprisonment or death. She was successful, though down to her Refresh by the time she was done.

Lowen saw The Envoy in the harbor and went down there as Silas arrived, the two updated each other on new developments. After the audience with Random, Lowen returned to the Envoy and his room there, where he had left a Mysterious Orb. He rolled it up to the deck and then off the ship, intent on securely hiding it somewhere in shadow. He was concerned with the amount of danger the Envoy routinely encountered and decided he could not risk leaving the Orb there any longer. However, he failed to notice a small tracking device Silas had placed on the orb. Lowen continued off into some unknown destination (which will occupy him until Chris returns from college).

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