It was not like hellriding.
Merlin was literally pulling us through shadow with tenticles of Logrus power. It was very impressive. I fully expect that Logrus is a much greater power than Pattern. What of Merlin then? He presumably knew Pattern, Logrus, Magic, Conjuring, maybe even Summoning and Alchemy. Was he more powerful than Bleys?

The shadows twisted around us in the same sickening fashion as they had when I chased Korvan. This time at least I knew what was going on. It made it a lot easier to take. Had I not been so focussed on catching Korvan I probably would have been disoriented and gotten lost, wandering God-only-knows what shadow of Chaos. This time was different too because Merlin seemed was pulling his way through shadow in such a way to allow Connie and me easy passage.

After some time I suggested we stop for drinks. I had seen several small towns along the way which were sure to contain pubs. We stopped at a bar called The Wild West. We also bought some horses in town. I hoped this would make it easier on Merlin. He was starting to look strained by our travels. Never-the-less we pressed on 'til darkness and made camp in a small grove of reed trees. I took first watch, leaving Connie for second watch, and letting Merlin get a full night's sleep.

The next day we continued following the black trail. At some point Merlin looked around nervously and told us to take cover. I had barely reached a small outcropping of rock when I saw a huge flying skeletal creature swoop down and attack Merlin. Was this how it was in Chaos? All the creatures of your nightmares roaming around to terrorize you? We sure could use Locke and Jessica now, but I could not Trump them, since I had only the standard deck. Besides, this was our fight. I knew magic worked better in Chaos than anywhere else, so I threw my powers into the fight.

First I tried locking my mind to the creature's and flooding it with the full power of the pain of Ygg's suffering. Who knows, maybe I could even amplify the pain enough to cripple it. Alas, nothing happened. There was a mind guiding the beast, but it was totally void of emotion. Time to try a new trick. Merlin was fighting a defensive battle. The skeletal monster was much larger than him and it wasn't giving him an openning to cast spells. He needed help. I cast A Total an Unexplained Disappearance and tested it out. I rushed onto the battlefield and the demon took no notice of me. It was no trouble at all to extend the illusion to include Merlin. The monster was confused. It thrashed around in a pitiful attempt to locate Merlin, but Merlin had wisely dived away. I watched as Merlin summoned up the Logrus and ground the animated bones of the creature to dust in a very theatrical display. He wiped his hands and took a bow.

We went off in search of him. I found him nearby, finishing off a battle with 3 creatures about half our size. Merlin arrived and I told him how Connie had fought off twenty of the little buggers. Merlin figured they were scavengers. Since no one else wanted it I took their bag of loot and tossed in the haul for the card game at The Wild West.

We were back on our way and it wasn't long before we could see the great tower of Chaos City, Thelbane. Merlin told us that this was as far as we should go. Choas city was not to be taken lightly. He suggested we return to Amber and with that changed into a large flying demon. Where there no end to Merlin's powers?

Connie made a quick sketch of Thelbane before we Trumped back to Castle Amber.