Ariana's log, Chapter 125

"100 years in Chaos added to my character, and it didn't do a thing for me."

Wednesday, November 8, 2994

Ariana has her kids stay home, just in case the mending of the Chasm is as catastrophic as its creation. Lucien leaves for Middlecourt on business. There's a low frequency earthquake, then Ariana begins feeling nauseous, like her head is expanding to twice its normal size. Vincent collapses. Ariana tries to get to him and collapses as well. She wakes up in bed, with the children, Whimsy and her servants around her. Vincent is in another bed. Whimsy tries to Trump Fiona and briefly collapses. When she wakes up, she says she's going to find Fiona. She looks unsteady on her feet, so Ariana sends a servant with her. Ariana's head is pounding and her nose is bleeding. Vincent's nose is gushing. Ariana manages to make her way over to him and discovers that he has a raging fever. She has her servants bring cold compresses and gives Vincent something for the fever. She contacts Lucien through her ring and tells him what's going on. He says the same thing is happening in Middlecourt and he's on his way back. Ariana sends the other children out of the room and lies down next to Vincent. A little while later, Vincent begins having seizures. Ariana instructs the servants in what to do for him and holds his hand, not having the faculty to do anything else. Vincent goes a full ten minutes before the seizures stop. Ariana's attempts to help him cause her to lose consciousness again.

Thursday, November 9, 2994

Ariana wakes up in the morning. Lucien tells her that the Trump energy on both sides of the Chasm merged when the Chasm mended, and Trump has become a major power. Hence her headache, as her mind tries to adjust to the increased power level. All Trump artists were affected. He tells her that she really needs to rest and stop fighting it. How is Vincent doing? Worse than her. Ariana manages to sit up enough to see Vincent. His breathing is shallow, he's pale, and he's sweating. Nothing Lucien has tried has had any effect. He says all they can do is wait and see if Vincent recovers or succumbs. And Grayson? Worse than her, better than Vincent. Fiona was hit hard. How are the children taking this? They're a little nervous. He told them that she and Vincent are sick. He repeats that she should rest. She asks him to stay with her, and move her closer to Vincent. Lucien picks Vincent up and places him next to her. Ariana quickly falls asleep.

Ariana sleeps until the afternoon, when she hears a visitor announced. When Lucien goes out to see who it is, Ariana hears him drop the book he was holding. This arouses her curiosity, since it's very unlike him. Then she hears a female voice call him "husband," which gets her full attention. Ariana hears the woman say that she brought their daughter with her. Lucien says he'd prefer to deal with this later, after his current wife has recovered. Oh, he means his mistress? All right, she'll be in town. She also tells him that she's submitted papers to Eric before she leaves.

Ariana waits, but Lucien doesn't return. She threatens to get out of bed and come out to him, which gets him to reluctantly join her. She asks which wife he was speaking to. The one right before her. Her name is Angelique. How long has she been dead? 1,300 years in Chaos, 500 years in Amber. They discuss the situation. Can Angelique make her claim for being Lucien's wife stick, despite having been dead for so long? Lucien isn't sure what the current rules in Chaos are. Eric could decide Angelique has the valid claim, though, which would remove Lucien's right to be in Amber. Ariana asks how Angelique came to be killed. Lucien says she doesn't want to know, then says he was a different man back then. She says she knows and asks why he tried to kill her. He grew tired of her. Why? She started out beautiful, honest, with a big heart, and then she became just like him. And his daughter? He didn't know she existed. Ariana can see why Angelique might be bitter. Lucien suggests she rest. When is he going to visit Anne-Marie? In the afternoon. Ariana has her servants begin packing the children's things, just in case they have to leave suddenly.

Whimsy stops by to see how Ariana is doing and they chat. How's Vincent? No better. Whimsy mentions that Fiona isn't doing well, either. Has Suhuy been told? He no longer exists. He's become the Avatar of the Logrus. Ariana says that she's sorry. Whimsy says she doesn't need to be. Whimsy barely knew him, anyway.

Ariana receives a message from Maddy, who's concerned that Ishmael is sick. Ariana tells her that he'll recover, but she should keep him in bed for a few days. Nicholas' army leaves, with the understanding that Ishmael will catch up when he's able. Benedict, Laughter, Driscoll, Foster, Gavin, Haris, Iseult and Paxon are among the family members accompanying the army to Chaos.

Lucien leaves to visit Anne-Marie in the late afternoon. When he returns, he tells Ariana that she and the children are moving to Middlecourt. Ariana says they're already packed. He moves them that evening.

Friday, November 10, 2994

Lucien goes to Amber in the morning. While he is gone, Ariana is informed that Angelique Sawall-Vetch wishes to see her. Ariana agrees to meet with her in a sitting room. Ariana's still in pain, and uses a cane to reach the sitting room, although she manages to enter the room walking on her own. Angelique says she thought they should meet and discuss the situation. All right. Ariana asks why Angelique still wants Lucien, when she knows that he tried to kill her. She's heard he's changed. She wants him to see his daughter, and she him. Angelique calls Ariana "Loryn," but Ariana pretends ignorance. Angelique says they need Lucien to lead House Vetch. Ariana doesn't want him to be an assassin again. Angelique argues that one doesn't abandon the training of 1,000 years. Why not change the house's profession? They can't without Lucien. They are mostly females, and Chaos is still primarily a patriarchy. Angelique suggests that they could emulate Persephone and have Lucien divide his time between them, spending half the year in Amber, and half the year in Chaos. Ariana won't give up Lucien for that length of time, nor have him separated from her children. But she understands that he should spend time with Anne-Marie, as well. She asks why Angelique thinks she wouldn't be willing to go to Chaos. Because she'd been told that Ariana opposes her father's reign. Ariana pales. Angelique says she thought Ariana knew that Zane is her father. Yeah, right. Angelique claims it's common knowledge in Chaos. They eventually propose that Lucien split his time between Amber and Chaos, accompanied by Ariana and her children. If he does this and takes over the house again, then Angelique will back off her claim. Ariana says she'll see if Lucien is willing to agree to this. Angelique claims that Lucien moved Ariana and her family to Middlecourt because he misinterpreted something she said. She tried to assure him that she would never move against Ariana or her children, unless he moved against her or Anne-Marie, and he thought that was a threat. Ariana doesn't comment. Angelique tells Ariana to keep following her heart and then departs.

Lucien returns from Middlecourt. Ariana tells him of her meeting with Angelique. He's inclined to go along with the idea, for now, with the Amber phase done first. He confesses that he can't read Angelique, and that scares the hell out of him. He also tells of the veiled threat that Angelique made. Ariana tells him what she learned about her father, and asks if he knew. Not that he can remember. She's definitely rather stressed by this and comments that she'll probably be going insane any day now, given that both of her parents are crazy. He tells her that who her father is doesn't make any difference to him. Unfortunately, it does to her.

Saturday, November 11, 2994 - Friday, December 8, 2994

Ariana, Bleys, Caine, Fiona, Grayson, Ishmael, Random and Vincent were all affected by the merging of Trump energy, although Whimsy apparently was not. Much to Eric's dismay, none of them remain in Amber, thanks to the efforts of their friends and immediate family. Ishmael recovers quickly and leaves with the rest of his army to join Nicholas. Bleys is brought to Middlecourt by Viktoria. Grayson eventually winds up there as well. Both Bleys and Grayson recover in a little under a month. Random is brought to Rebma by Llewella and Vialle. Whimsy and Alexandra bring Fiona to Avalon, then spirit Caine away to Rebma.

Eric makes his move on the throne, with the support of Houses Bayle, Bolsena, Chantris, Feldane, Herse and Orsola. Bart and members of House Tullia rally against him and are arrested. Elspeth and Isaac escape to Foil. Beauty and Corbin are placed under house arrest. Julian closes Arden down, and Llewella does the same with Rebma. Gérard leaves his family in Amber but spends most of his time at sea. Mirelle doesn't notice that anything's wrong (of course). Meander is set upon by Eric's weir, and runs around the Golden Circle being pursued by them. Shard disappears, and rumor has it that Eric is trying to kill him.

Ariana takes two weeks to fully recover, in part because her concern for Vincent makes her a bad patient, and she doesn't rest as much as she should. Vincent continues to be comatose and feverish, with Ariana practically glued to his bedside, trying everything she can think of to help him, all to no avail. Lucien visits with Anne-Marie in Amber about once a week and doesn't appear to be worried about Vincent at all, a fact that eventually causes a rather stressed Ariana to accuse him of being unfeeling. He argues that he doesn't want to add to her already considerable burden, so he's keeping his own feelings bottled up. Ariana tells him that isn't healthy, but he won't promise to share his feelings while she and Vincent are sick. As time passes with no change in Vincent's status, Ariana begins having nightmares and losing weight due the stress.

Saturday, December 9, 2994

Vincent's fever finally breaks after almost a month, much to the relief of both Ariana and Lucien. When Vincent regains consciousness around noon, he discovers that he cannot speak, a fact that understandably scares him half to death. Lucien examines him and determines that there's a small bit of brain damage to the speech centers, but he should recover, in time. Lucien is of the opinion that it will heal better on its own, without his interference. Ariana gives Vincent some broth, then she and Lucien leave him to rest.

Ariana asks Lucien what's been going on while she's been looking after Vincent. He catches her up on recent events in Amber, and confesses that between his business in Middlecourt and Amber, the war in Chaos, her and Vincent's illness, and dealing with Angelique and Anne-Marie, he's hardly had time to think, much less figure out what he's going to do. He's obviously very tense, so Ariana tries to massage some of the tension out of him, with some degree of success. Angelique is obviously the source of much of his tension. He says he's still disturbed by the fact that he can't read her. It frightens Ariana too. She insists that she won't share him with Angelique, however. Lucien says he has no intention of sleeping with Angelique, unless she tricks him by copying Ariana's form. Neither of them like this thought very much. Ariana asks if he can differentiate between her Serpent ring and Angelique's. Yes. Would he notice if Angelique took hers? Not unless he was monitoring it at the time. Can Angelique duplicate her soul? Yes, as can he, actually. He reassures her that only really good shapeshifters can do it, but Ariana is still very disturbed by this. Can Angelique duplicate her memories too? Possibly. A good enough shapeshifter can become another person, memories and all. He was the only one in the Courts who could do it, before everything went haywire. Now, he doesn't know. So, if Angelique can imitate her form, her memories and her soul, what's left? Her personality. Angelique would have to act her way through that, since it's dangerous to go so deeply into a shift that you assume the person's personality too. Ariana suggests that he give her a second Serpent ring to misdirect Angelique with, since it's unlikely that she'll look for more than one. Ariana also plans to cast a stone binding spell on both rings, to be triggered if they are removed. Lucien likes both of these ideas. Ariana asks how he thinks Angelique learned that she has Loryn's soul. He's not sure, but they might be able to use that to their advantage. His marriage to Loryn predates the one to Angelique, and she is, in small part, Loryn. Of course, no one's ever actually tried that argument before...

Lucien asks if Ariana still wants to have another baby, given everything that's happened. She's not sure. She still wants a baby, but she's worried about what Angelique might do once she learns that she's pregnant. On the other hand, the situation with Angelique might take years to be resolved, if it ever is. He says it's up to her. She opts to put off the decision until Nicholas returns, since they planned to wait that long anyway. How have the children been doing? Fine. They're enjoying a bit of a holiday actually, since he hasn't had time to find them new tutors in Middlecourt. He did hire a new governess from Middlecourt, to take some of the load off of Anne. Her name is Mellisante. Ariana asks after Grayson, and learns that he's recovering from his Trump illness in Middlecourt. Ariana is happy to have him so close.

Sunday, December 10, 2994 - Sunday, February 11, 2995

Ariana mothers Vincent quite a bit for the first couple of days, until he recovers enough to tell her to stop. It takes him a couple of weeks to recover physically from his ordeal. Ariana teaches him sign language as a means of communicating while he's learning how to talk again. Morgan laughs at Vincent one day while he's trying to get a word out, and gets decked by Vincent. Ariana makes Morgan apologize, much to his dismay. In a later incident, when Morgan picks on Vincent again, Vincent knocks him senseless using Trump. Morgan is OK, but everyone is rather stunned by this. Ariana asks Vincent how he learned to do that. He claims he doesn't know, it just happened. Ariana tells him not to do it again. She offers to teach the other children sign language, but Vincent doesn't want them to learn. He seems uncomfortable with the extra attention it would bring on him. Ariana asks him if he's had any more nightmares. He says that he hasn't, and appears to resent the question. Is Sand still talking to him? He claims she isn't. Ariana tries to determine if he's telling the truth and realizes that she can no longer read him. Ariana relays this to Lucien, who finds that he can't read Vincent anymore either. He has no idea what this means, but doesn't think there's any reason to investigate the matter. He's much more concerned with dealing with Angelique, right now, and figures he'll deal with it if it becomes a problem. Ariana asks Bleys for advice, but he's not sure what would cause the change in Vincent. He tells her that unless Vincent is bleeding out the ears, it's probably nothing to worry about. Does he know anything about ghosts? No, that's one of Fiona's specialties. Ariana attempts to do research on the subject, but can't find anything in the libraries in Middlecourt or Amber. She is denied access to Mandor's library, and Lucien's collection consists of entertaining books, not useful ones. She asks Lucien if he knows where she might find some books on ghosts. He thinks Fiona might have some, a fact that would be much more useful if they knew where Fiona was.

Lucien continues to be both stressed and busy, although Ariana is able to help alleviate the former somewhat. She plants a garden and secretly takes cooking lessons from one of Mandor's chefs, intending to surprise Lucien with this at an appropriate time. She finds new tutors for the children and resumes her conjuration lessons with Grayson. She asks him about Angelique, but Grayson's never heard of her. What about House Vetch? It's led by an unknown Head who gives orders through Lucien's daughters. There was a rumor that Zane himself was the unknown head. Other than this, Grayson still avoids talking about his past or asking Ariana about hers. Basically, the past pains him and the future scares him, so he tries not to think of them and lives entirely in the present. He's not real fond of Middlecourt, having a distaste for things Chaosian, and intends to return to Amber as soon as Nicholas returns and things settle down. Ariana invites him to dinner with the family a few times, and he seems to enjoy himself, although he doesn't talk much to the children unless they ask him something. Grayson and Bleys are eventually introduced and really hit it off. They spend a lot of time hanging out together, and often unite to distract Ariana, with varying degrees of success.

Fiona returns to Amber in the middle of January, bringing Random with her. She spends some quality time with Eric over the next month. Shortly after Fiona returns, the weir chasing Meander are called off.

Ariana gets regular reports on the progress of the hospital renovations. By February, the outside structure is done, and work is just beginning on the inside.

Vincent makes some improvement in recovering his ability to speak, but stops working on it in early February and resists Ariana's efforts to get him to continue. When she asks him why, he explains that he wants to do it by himself, without witnesses. Ariana realizes that he's embarrassed to have so much trouble speaking in front of her. She says he can work on his own, as long as he does keep practicing. He tends to use either sign language or Trump to communicate with others when he has to, although he seems content not to communicate all that much.

Monday, February 12, 0

At the end of three months, rumor has it that the armies are coming back. When they come into sight, Nicholas' standard flies above them and Nicholas himself is at their head. He's carrying a red, opaque stone that he's placed on the end of a mace. Benedict rides at Nicholas' right, and Miranda rides next to Benedict. The army receives a warm welcome. Nicholas announces that the war was successful and he is now the Emperor of both realms, with Despil as his Steward King in Chaos. He holds the red stone up, identifies it as the Orb, and says it is the symbol of his office. He also says that it can only be utilized by a descendant of the Serpent and the Unicorn. Then he takes Eric aside for a little chat.

Ariana asks Lucien if he's ever heard of the Orb. Nope. Ariana goes looking for Ishmael, who's in one of the castle sitting rooms with Maddy. While she's waiting for him to emerge, she hears him yell, "Yes!" Then, when they come out, he says, "Baby!" Ariana congratulates them and offers to be Maddy's midwife, is she needs one. She also asks to speak with Ishmael when he and Maddy are done getting reacquainted. He nods, says, "Ten years!" and departs.

Tuesday, February 13, 0

Ishmael Trumps Ariana the following morning. She pulls him through to Middlecourt and asks what happened in Chaos. Well, they fought their way to Chaos and Zane got cacked. How? He touched the Orb. This was before they knew what would happen, but Ishmael kind of suspected it anyway, since the Orb is all of the eyes of the Serpent and Unicorn merged together. Helgram had been disbanded by Zane, but reformed to support Nicholas. Sawall and Jesby also supported Nicholas, while Vetch and Toryt withdrew, and Hendrake, Bances and Hondl threw in at the end. Eireg, Borge and Dhur remained allied with Zane and were decimated. Nicholas finally challenged Zane, they fought, the eyes came together to form the Orb, Zane touched it, and that was it. They fought some upstart Unseelie faeries in the six months afterwards, and that took care of things. Ariana asks about Miranda and learns that she's Benedict's daughter, and Ariadne's fraternal twin. She was the one who taught Ishmael about Takaran blades. She turned on Zane at the end, and she and Benedict have reconciled. Ishmael tells Ariana that it was well known in Chaos that she was Zane's daughter. Has he spoken to Whimsy? Yeah, she's going to be cranky for a while. Why? Edwin is still alive. So Whimsy killed the wrong man? Looks like. Ariana asks what happened to Hector. He's dead. And Fenar? Deposed by Lucretia. Ariana is happy to hear this. She tells Ishmael how Vincent is doing. Ishmael visits with Vincent and agrees that it sucks not to be able to talk.

Quotables:

"You find some very loyal troops. They're not human, but they're very loyal." -- GM to Ishmael
"You're going to be fighting in Chaos, humanity is overrated." -- Kris

"I don't even know how to use this!" -- Whimsy, after putting on Fiona's Spikard

"I'm going to use (Fiona's) ring while she's unconscious." -- Whimsy
"Well, that would be safer." -- Alexandra

"Form Super Trump Megazord." -- Matt S. to the group

"Has anyone notified your father?" -- Ariana
"Father no longer exists." -- Whimsy

"100 years in Chaos added to my character, and it didn't do a thing for me." -- Whimsy to Nimue

"Mirelle is not my worst parent!" -- Matt S., speaking for Ariana, after she learns that Zane is her father

"The dahlia's like heat." -- Whimsy
"Then what are they doing in *your* room?" -- Ishmael

"Outrageous Fortune"
Game Logs for Sessions 1-115 | Character Logs for Sessions 116+

Last modified on November 16, 1998 by Kris Fazzari.