Locke, Connie, Bleys, and I were joined shortly by Jessica who Trumped me. Does everyone have a Trump card of me? We all stood before a gigantic gnarled and diseased tree. I could not place our location at this point. The sky was pink, so we certainly weren't in the isles. Bleys spoke up. I thought to ask Bleys what this had to do with the attack on Sussex, but the moment passed. Bleys told us that the tree was planted thousands of years ago by his father (Oberon) on his travels to mark the border between Amber and Chaos. Even thousands of years seemed to short to produce such a collosal tree. Then again what could I, with my mere quarter century of experience, measure such a span against?

Locke tripped over an armor clad skeleton in the grass. This drew everyone's interest except for Connie's. I overheard only part of his conversation with Bleys, Bleys telling him "Bad taste is ubiquitous." I told Locke that I might be able to gain some information from the skull using magic. While I was casting Visions from the Posterior of the Mind Locke stumbled over more bodies. He was flustered by his stumblings. It was damaging the indestructable warrior aura around him. The spell provided me with a feeling that this man had come here with a purpose - a mission of great importance. I couldn't make out his end, but I felt the violence with which he was crushed. It was not unlike my recent experience with Logrus, so I guessed he had been attack by a Logrus mage (Later this proved incorrect. The warrior had been crushed by Ygg itself). I wondered why the spell had been so vague. Either this man had been dead for a very long time or my magic had not worked well.

By this time Connie had finished talking to Bleys and had found something.

Jessica stode towards him, but was stopped by an invisible barrier. On her second attempt to pass through the barrier she was flung back several feet. Locke and I went over to make sure she was OK, and she did appear to be. While Locke and I were looking for a way around the barrier we found that Locke could not pass through it, but I could. Bleys found this confounding. I just thought. This told me something about my mother. Bleys seemed more surprised than me. Did this explain the masks? Could I have been born without my father's knowledge? The question left alll sorts of strange possiblities.

Connie yanked on my arm and showed me what he had called us over to see. The tree had a face and a very sour expression. Suddenly, it occured to me to treat Ygg as I would a person. I cast A Conduit of the Emotions which flooded me with a feeling of great discomfort. Another vague spell result. I was ceratin something was hampering my magics. I tried The Watery Removal of the Sensations. It worked somewhat. It got Ygg's attention. It opened one eye.

Bleys had formulated a plan of action and had sent Locke and Jessica off to follow a 'shadow trail'. He showed us how to view the trails. And suggested that Connie and I follow a black trail which lead off into Chaos. It would be dangerous, however, so he called Merlin to guide us. Why had he split us up? Locke and Jessica could have Trumped over to myself or Connie. They were the warriors, best equipt for danger. It least we would have Merlin with us.

When Merlin arrived he created a sword for Connie and was about to conjur one for me. I told him that I would be fine unarmed. I didn't want to alarm the people we met. He said that the citizens of Chaos assumed an unarmed man was a fool. That might not be such a bad idea. I could use such an underestimation to my advantage, but Merlin persisted, so I told him to never mind the magic. Creating Connie's sword seemed to have drained him. I figured I could find something passable in amongst the many bodies Locke had been tripping over. First I found an axe then a knife, either of which would have been fine, but Connie let me in on a little secret. If I used the Pattern I could influence probability and find just what I was looking for. It seemed doubious, but I tried it. Sure enough, I rummaged around for a bit and found a high quality longsword. It was no Caliburn, but it would do nicely.

We left on our journey into Chaos.