Charity's Diary

Moonlight, mountains and monsters

I approached Amber the easy way, from Nancheng, the "Chinese" Golden Shadow that follows the eastern road. Having ascertained from the local residents in the farmlands through which I rode, that the story there was no different from anywhere else, I rested my horse a while in a pleasant Inn 11 miles from Amber. It was too quiet for my liking.

I had expected hoards of chaos demons to be roaming the country, killing and cruelty everywhere. But there, even a few miles from the Castle itself, little other than tales of unrest were heard. It had been a week I suppose since the first invasion and occupying forces do tend to establish their power bases before imposing their rule.

But who intends to rule? Brand seems the obvious choice - but why should he bother laying the foundations of an empire if he intends to release Tar-Rodian and destroy it? I needed more evidence.

So, after four hours rest I proceeded west to the Castle, up to the barred gate to the tunnel that passes between the bluff adjacent to the coast, and Kolvir. Up high I spied Tir-Na-Nog'th glistening in the brilliant moonlight, and was momentarily tempted to fly up and repeat my experiences, but a combination of the distance and likelihood of revealing myself to the enemy persuaded me otherwise. Likewise, I changed my mind about the tunnel, and after retreating out of sight for the 13th hour business (as usual, mercifully brief), tethered up my horse and crept up the Eastern stair.

Patrols regularly guarded the path, but these were evaded using the traditional art of "skulking". A slightly trickier evasion of the gatehouse guards led me over the wall into the southern courtyard gardens. Of to the northeast was a small patrol guarding the main castle entrance and opposite me, on the second story, about twenty feet up, was a small hole in which I could crawl. However, it would be risky, and I was supposed to be checking the place out, rather than doing the deed. Share the risk I thought. A plan began to develop; myself and Sorcha would remove one pair of ascending demons and take their place. Carry on up, and either walk straight past the other pair, or if some password was required, despatch the other two. We would then carry on up towards the gatehouse. A number of options then present themselves. Either;

1. Alfred and Allaghan follow slightly behind us, distract the guards who we then surprise and kill. We hide the guards' bodies and walk in, hoping that in the 10 minutes or so that pass, we can get done what we need to. Hmm, unlikely to work due to time limitations

2. OK, after killing the first pair, we carry their unconscious bodies over our shoulders, and pretend to be taking them to the dungeons. This plan rests on us fooling the other two guards coming down the stairs and those at the gatehouse. Risky, but gives us more time.

I had thought that Allaghan would stay on the stairs and kill anything that comes along, but that would quickly draw attention to him and I doubt he'd survive. So I think subterfuge is the only real way in.

Having got as much information as I thought safe together I returned to Nancheng (after a short reconnoitre along the sea front).

While I was gone it seems Alfred got hurt (again) and Sorcha easily dealt with a couple of Children of Rodian. Allaghan was still off in Shadow sword hunting. I gave them a run-down of what I found out, and then had an idea and went "scrying" with the Pattern in my mind. I tried looking into the Castle, to no avail, so went down into the City. It seemed very quiet and subdued. Not surprising, I suppose. I then turned my attention to the Lighthouse at Cabra, when I noticed a red haze out at sea. Someone else was skulking! How dare they?

Zooming in, to get a better look, turned out to be a big mistake, as whoever was there threw the pattern at me, and broke my concentration (and gave me a headache as well). A seriously powerful Amberite was trying to do the same thing as us. Time will tell who it is.
So, having agreed (sort of) a plan with Sorcha and Alfred, we plan to leave this shadow for a brief time (to try and evade the monsters which seem to be homing in on them) and wait for Allaghan. We'll probably have to re-agree the plan (which I've already tweaked slightly) before we head off to Amber.

Oh, and I had a thought that I might be able to survive the effects of the 13th hour if I keep hold of one of the others. Why I should actually want to fight them, I'm not sure, but it may come in useful when we're inside the castle, or travelling through Shadow.
Anyhow, it's time to sleep.