From tbutler@birch.net Tue Aug 21 02:03:32 2001
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 22:22:51 -0500
From: Travis Butler <tbutler@birch.net>
To: Chris Bremner <chrisb@thekeep.org>, Philip J. Moyer <pmoyer@jurai.net>
Subject: [Amber/UnS] Who's kidnapped *now*?!?

Beowulf trumps Moriya or Motoko, whoever answers first. :)

Beowulf OOCly tries to remember everything he was going to go over with
them. o.o

Loewen says, "OOC We'll say you called Moriya first, given he's in
alphabetical order. :)"

Moriya picks up the trump call. Looks like he's just finished washing
his face, from the look of the towel draped over his shoulder. "Good
morning, Uncle."

Beowulf says, "Good morning, Moriya. It's been... an interesting day."

Moriya asks, "Do tell. What's happened?"

Beowulf says, "We've almost completely explored Annadil's stronghold,
only things left are the gardens devoted to the OUtsider goddess of
fertility, and the basement filled with trump traps and the trump font.
Some other things there I'll probably want to go over with you, but a
more important item came up."

Moriya nods solemnly. "Go on."

Beowulf asks, "You mentioned that the Serpent's Horn had captured
Merehallow, right?"

Moriya scowls. "They did, yes."

Beowulf says, "I don't know if this has gotten to you yet, but they also
apparently have Saionji and Michelle, and nearly got Thoric; Thoric
managed to escape, and Aeris found him hellriding back to Amber."

Moriya pales slightly. "We knew they'd gotten Saionji, but not Michelle.
Michelle? Why her? She wasn't directly involved...unless this is a way
to get at Saionji and Thoric."

Beowulf says, "Either that, or they were trying for Thoric and got
Michelle instead because she was there and protecting him."

Moriya closes his eyes briefly. "We are going to have to do something
about these...this pestilence. Damn them all."

Beowulf says, "I found out more-or-less by accident when I tried to
trump Saionji about the plans for the giant underwater battleship I
found here, and got an avatar of the Serpent, who Anno thought is the
one who had guarded Merehallow."

Moriya sighs. "We haven't got enough time. We're stuck in Chaos until
Uncle Miki finishes his diplomatic mission."

Beowulf says, "I heard that from Yumi and Miki, yes. I was going to see
what I could do as soon as we try to seal off the trump font in the
basement here, and was hoping you could fill me in on what you've picked
up from your side."

Moriya says, "There's plenty you could do to help. Plenty for the entire
family to do, in fact. The most immediate thing would be to stop the
Serpent's Horn somehow, but that would be difficult. So we'll have to
settle for trying to regain this shadow Serpent's eye somehow."

Beowulf says, "Oh, while I'm thinking about it, I'd like to talk to
Davros when we're finished; we found a couple of possible ways to free
the Harad sisters from Hel's control, but we'd need someone with strong
Abyss skills, and we were wondering if Davros might be familiar with any
of the Abyss monks."

Moriya nods. "He can get in touch with them, certainly. Sounds like a
good idea."

Beowulf says, "Yes. And you're right about that Serpent's eye; that's
where we were going to try to go first, with Thoric."

Moriya says, "Good luck. Leng is a nasty place."

Moriya asks, "Who will you have with you?"

Beowulf nods. "Indeed. Very nasty and ugly. Hopefully, Thoric, Lily and
Touga should be able to handle him on the sorcerous end, while I try to
take him out with Morkeleb."

Moriya blinks. "Morkeleb? A new weapon of yours?"

Beowulf says, "Oh, that's what I named the dragon staff."

Moriya chuckles. "Very nice. I hope it serves you well. Quite a powerful
piece of work."

Beowulf says, "Mother cleaned out all the Outsider influences."

Beowulf says, "Anyhow, we should have Thoric, Lily, Touga and Naru going
with is."

Moriya says, "Hopefully that will be enough. I'd love to go with you,
but...." Another sigh, both of irritation and resignation.

Beowulf smiles sympathetically. "I know, I know. Ghu knows I'd love to
have you all." He hmms. "Do you think Mitsune could get away to help us?
I also want to get Makoto to come along, and we can run some practical
jokes on them; I suspect the Outsider cultists don't have much of a
sense of humor, and it would probably really mess them up."

Moriya looks away for a moment. "I'm rather reluctant to give Mitsune up
to you, but you're free to ask her, I guess."

Beowulf nods, looking sober. "I know, she means a lot to you. I wouldn't
ask, except this seems like the ideal kind of situation for her skills;
she's the perfect person to get them chasing their tails. Both
metaphorically and literally." He smiles slightly at that.

Moriya sighs. "She is mine, but she is also her own woman. Go ahead and
ask her."

Beowulf nods again, quietly. "Thank you, Moriya."

Beowulf says, "After we get the eye back... what do you know about the
Serpent's Horn people? Anno gave me a partial rundown on them --
Kenshin, Aoshi, Davros, and Eowyn -- and said there was a fifth person
he can't remember."

Moriya says, "Maktos was the fifth. Kodachi slew him during their attack
on House Alars. As for the others...." He quickly fills Beowulf in on
what he knows about them, since he knows such stuff better than his
player.

Beowulf OOCly nods, and presumes John will fill him in.

Loewen says, "OOC Yep."

Beowulf asks, "Once we get the eye back, I can probably reach... Dafyd?
was his name, I think great-grandfather said -- by trumping either
Saionji or Michelle, and have the Eye in hand to show him. Would Davros
or Motoko have any better advice for dealing with him?"

Moriya says, "Daffyl. Actually, we don't know how we should approach
Daffyl, as he's quite mad, and so are his followers. Trumping Michelle
and Saionji, who are their prisoners, would be a very poor way to try."

Moriya says, "As they might not have Daffyl try to intercept the call
again, but just some very nasty deathtrap instead."

Beowulf nods. "A very good point."

Moriya says, "If you have some trump masters on hand to help cut off a
bad connection, it might be worth a try, but still, it's quite a risk.
I'd try to find another way."

Beowulf says, "Hmmm. Well, we'll need to contact Daffyl somehow, to
offer him his eye back. Motoko mentioned it to me in passing when we
were discussing Hel's land."

Beowulf says, "Actually, Aeris has helped me cut him off twice, when I
tried trumping Saionji and Michelle, so that's probably not too much of
a problem; you're right about it not being the best way to approach him,
though. Hmmm."

Moriya says, "Especially now that you've managed to attempt and then
escape it twice."

Beowulf says, "I was hoping Motoko, as Bride of the Serpent, might have
some suggestions."

Moriya says, "You could certainly ask her. She spent the night at House
Alars...a sleepover, of sorts, I guess. She may have some further
insight."

Beowulf nods slowly. "Hmmm. How late did she say she was going to be
there? I don't want to disturb her."

Moriya tilts his head. "Well, I imagine she'll be awake by now. It's
morning, and she should be coming back soon, as we'll be heading to
House Vanir in just and hour or so."

Beowulf nods. "Right, then. Hm, if she's at Alars... Have you talked
with her about her past as a priestess at the Keep? I found a fair
amount of information about that here, and it appears the five
priestesses visited here about 30 years ago and left with several books
and some items from Annadil's workshop."

Beowulf says, "I'd like to ask her about what they took, but I don't
want to set off anything if the situation is still touchy."

Moriya nods quietly. "I have. She says that she has left that life
behind, and I am inclined to believe her, at this point. Many things
point to her being clean of any Outsider influence now, and she appeared
genuinely ashamed and repentant of her servitude to them."

Beowulf nods slowly in return.

Moriya says, "And thirty years ago was about the time that Lord Alars
found her and cleansed her of their influence, according to her."

Beowulf says, "I'm glad to hear that. She seemed like a good person when
we met her that one time."

Beowulf asks, "Do you think she would be willing to talk about that
aspect of what happened, especially if it helps mitigate the effects of
that servitude?"

Moriya says, "I think it is best something to be left buried for now. If
what she says is true, there is no purpose in stirring up old pains. If
she is lying, then too much prying may set something off."

Beowulf asks, "Hm. Well, I think it might be important to know what they
took from there -- especially since two of her sister priestesses are
working with Tremere and Darios and might be unrehabilitated -- but if
now would be a bad time, I might wait a bit. Is there anything we could
do for her that might make her happier to help?"

Moriya shakes his head. "I don't know. I've been more focused on other
problems as of late, and haven't given much thought to Kodachi-dono
otherwise."

Beowulf nods. "Right. Well, I still owe her that return to have tea that
I promised when we were there last time, and I'll try to see what she
might want. At least we'll be going after the people who attacked her
House."

Moriya looks thoughtful. "On the other hand, if you really think there's
something going on with the other former priestesses...that may be
important enough to bring up with her, regardless of her feelings on the
matter. Such a thing is dangerous."

Moriya says, "But she does not seem to remember much specific of her
time under the control of the Outsiders."

Beowulf says, "Yes. I'm particularly worried about Darios, since I found
the plans for that underwater battleship that was made but hasn't turned
up yet; it seems like an ideal thing for them to wreak havoc with,
especially with the hints we've had that they're involved with Bloq
Rebmaquois."

Beowulf says, "The major things I'd want to know are what happened with
those items; hopefully that was close enough to when she was purged of
the Outsider influence for her to remember."

Moriya nods. "Well, if you must bring them up, try to be delicate about
it."

Beowulf says, "Yes. Hurting her feelings is the last thing I want to
do."

Beowulf says, "Is there anything else going on down there that's
important? Great-grandfather took a look at the Hel prophecy I found in
the library here and said it was out of the Red Book, so you probably
have it already."

Moriya shakes his head. "Not that we know about. Of course, that may
change very quickly."

Beowulf says, "I found a stanza in there that could relate to one of the
shadows that could also be connected to one of the herald/construct
pairs mentioned in the Black Heart prophecy -- the bit about the Great
Mutator. I was going to check that out after Mobius, except that the
kidnappings came up."

Moriya chuckles softly. "So many things to do. Of course. Hopefully we
can get these damnable nuisances out of the way and resume finishing off
the Outsiders again."

Beowulf smiles. "Indeed. I still owe Mobius for that zeppelin attack on
me, way back when this whole mess started."

Moriya says, "Good luck, Uncle."

Beowulf says, "I'll let you know how things work out after we go after
the Eye. Could you check with Davros on the Abyss monks, and suggestions
for approaching Daffyl?" He hands Moriya a list. "This is a list of
contacts Annadil had for Abyss monks and Abyss pirates; I suspect the
monks would know more about the kind of rites we'd need to rescue the
Harad sisters' souls from Hel, but they're also supposed to be pretty
crazed. And the monks and pirates hate each other."

Beowulf says, "Thank you again for all your help; I'll try calling
Motoko, since she suggested going after the Eye earlier."

Moriya takes the list and looks over it briefly. "Mmmm. I see. Yes, I
remember hearing about the feuds between the monks and the pirates." He
nods. "Thank you for telling us about Michelle, Uncle. I'll inform Miki
about these developments straight away."

Beowulf says, "Thank you. I already talked to Miki, actually, to see if
he could help me seal this trump font in the basement; he hoped he could
come here shortly."

Moriya pauses. "And I'll ask Mitsune if she wants to go with you."

Moriya says, "Ah."

Beowulf nods again, sympathy in his eyes. "Thank you, Moriya."

Beowulf says, "Take care, Moriya."

Moriya says, "I will talk to you again later."

Beowulf nods. "Later on."

Moriya OOCly says, "Okky."

Beowulf OOCly says, "Thanks for staying up for this. Hope you get enough
sleep. :)"

Moriya OOCly nods.

Travis Butler
tbutler@birch.net

...Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe.