The party re-board the Heringburn, taking on additional crew from the Amber fleet. They sail east and then north, landing about 30 miles north east of the City of Amber. Cordelia heads directly inland using Kolvir's peak as a guide. After about three hours walking, they come to a fortified manor house belonging to Lord Assingbury. Using her Amber signet ring and paying in gems, Cordelia acquires 5 horses with riding tack. After they've grabbed a quick bite to eat and some rations they set out to the north west, skirting the southern edge of Arden, a reaching the base of the north face of Kolvir at sunset.

Shortly after sunrise the following morning, Cordelia rouses them all and they set off up the goat trail that scales the north face. All ride except Ion, whose horse refuses to be ridden not trusting the lack of confidence in the rider. By sunset they've climbed 6,000 feet, and make a cold camp. With the sunrise they're up again and climbing, reaching the Northern cleft at 9,500 feet by 1 o'clock. Unsaddling and hobbling the horses, Cordelia leads them on the hour hike to the Eastern ridge. There, 1,000 feet below them lies castle Amber. As the sun dips behind the mountains, Cordelia begins the descent.

As midnight passes, with no apparent thirteenth hour, they enter what once was Florimel's ornamental garden. Crossing the garden to where a fortified gate once stood, they identify and swiftly remove the three guards lurking beyond. As Cordelia leads them through the castle to the central staircase, they are forced two deal with another dozen or so guards. The 600 foot descent passes without incident, although there is a brief skirmish, with the half dozen guards at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently taking an exit at random, Cordelia leads the way once more. They pass several tunnels, left and right, before Cordelia takes a right hand tunnel, stopping after about 200 yards. They creep forward for 20 yards, before Cordelia and Daida, disappear and reappear amidst the guards. Both find their swords have limited affect on the guards armoured hides, although with surprise they each manage to dispatch one guard. Cordelia is now forced to make a fighting retreat, whilst Daida can just hold his own against the pair he's facing. Once Ion joins the fight, its all over in 40 or so seconds. Cordelia salvages 2 powder rifles and 60 rounds of ammunition. Then unlocks and pushes open the door to the pattern room. She's shocked at the amount of damage the pattern has suffered. Nearly one quarter of it is black, and there are black splotches in spray patterns radiating from the center over the rest of it.

Locking the door behind them, the party retrace their steps. As they approach the main tunnel, they encounter another squad of guards. Another fight ensues, with both Ion and Daida taking injuries, Ion taking the more serious slashing wound which puts a large hole in his mithril mail.
After disposing of the guards, they backtrack towards the stairs, until Cordelia takes a right hand passage which begins a helical rise. As she crests the rise, Cordelia shoots the single guard, and they part now find themselves in the guard room of a cell block. Collecting the keys and a lantern she makes her way to the end cell on the left, the one her father was kept in. With every one squashed into the cell, she places her hand into the right-hand half of the area that has been carefully chipped out of the wall. After about 30 seconds of concentration lines begin to appear, a minute later solidifying into a sketch of a study. Cordelia steps back and forms a different focus, a trump gate appearing before her. She ushers the rest of the party through before following them.

The study has been thoroughly ransacked. The party search Dworkin's tower but can find no trace of him, although all the signs point to Brand's handy work. They return to the study and begin a more thorough search. Sorcha using Logrus sight determines that the door way, that leads to the latrine, is actually a trump gate, although it appears to be missing the key. Like all keys, Cordelia retrieves it from under the mat. The key appears to be some kind of trump, on the back of which is Dworkin's mark - a Dragon Rampant. Concentrating on it she determines its a multi-layer image, like a flip book, and mentally thumbs through it until she finds the image she's looking for.

Ion suggests that before they go any where, they get something to eat and stock up on provisions. The others agree, returning to the study, whilst Ion takes a bath. With nothing else to do, Taala begins putting books back on shelves, and notices one of the smaller book cases has been moved away from the wall. Examining it more closely she finds the corner of a piece of parchment stuck to the back of it and the mark where a larger piece once was. When Ion reappears, they enter Dworkin's cave, and at the groups request, Cordelia cancels the gate back to the study.

The striking thing about the cave, apart from its size, is the smell, and the stained floor. The whole place is completely unkempt and filthy. Apart from the rooms off the cave, which have no other exits, there is only one way out, a heavily bound wooden door. A cursory search of the cave reveals a writing desk style unit, that has been moved to allow access to its rear. Just lef of center, close to the floor, a panel has been removed, revealing a hollow about 6 inches by 4 and 1 and a half deep. There is no dust in the hollow section, as if something once resided there.

Leaving by the door the party find themselves in a pitch black cave. After about 20 yards, the corridor begins to brighten, and the they find themselves passing a skeleton of about 70 feet in length from nose to tail. Exiting the cave they find themselves in a caldera about 800 yards in diameter, in the center of which, casting a blue illumination of the entire area is a pattern. Lying in the center of the pattern is a body. Pinned to the caldera wall opposite is another body. Cordelia identifies them as Random and Bleys respectively.

For Random they can do little, as Cordelia advises against walking the pattern. Bleys they take down and build a cairn for. As he places the body for burial Ion searches it and recovers a trump deck and signet ring.

Having interned the body Cordelia leads the way out of the caldera. Shortly after reaching the top she appears to go into a trance and the speed of travel halves. Its just over three hours later that Taala works out that they've walked in a large circle, although the terrain features have altered considerably. Another 3 hours and another circuit and Kolvir now appears as a mountain peak. Another three hours and another circuit, and they can now hear horses ahead. As they crest a bend, the horses they left 36 hours earlier hove into view.

The Abyss, The Courts, and Amber

Meanwhile, Charity ponders over what to do. Cautiously exiting the Abyss she finds nothing about to knock seven bells out of her and settles down for more observation and thought.
After a while she flips through the trump deck and pulls the four cards with the Manticore symbol on the back that feel cold to the touch. Concentrating briefly on each one, but insufficiently to fully activate it, she manipulates the cards for several minutes, before shuffling them quickly, cutting them, and then activating the card on top, and diving through the portal that forms.

She arrives in front of a set of stairs on a mountain side, and barely has chance to take in her surroundings, before the six heavy set, ridge spiked demons, that she surprised with her entrance react. The first throws its javelin/lance, which lands by her feet. As she retrieves it and begins to alter her skin structure, the javelin from the second demon pierces her leg, causing her to fall, which save her from the third javelin, which passes though the air where she had just been standing. As the first one leaps at her, she uses the javelin to deflect its attack, wounding it, but leaving herself open to the leap of the second. It all goes black.

It's nearly dark when she awakes. The remnants of six bodies lie scattered about. Her left arm dangles useless, and her right leg is in not much better condition. Her right arm is damp from the blood, now trickling from the gash in her forearm, as is he lower abdomen and back from the puncture wound through her right side. She feels like she's been put into a blender and spat out. None of her shape shifting abilities work. Exhausted, she slumps back into a fitful sleep.

The first rays of the sun wake her. She is now covered in fur, as the remnants of her clothing fail to cover her modesty let alone keep her warm. Her leg has healed enough to walk on, although her left arm is still unusable. About a mile distant to the East is a castle, two miles to the south a burning city and the sea, and 150 yards away the Black Road. She decides to head North, away from the road, and castle to put the mountain between her and any enemies.

It is late afternoon before she hears the horses, and approaches cautiously. In a cleft in the mountain side 5 horse have been left hobbled. Hidden around the edges of the cleft 5 sets of riding gear have been left. One path leads north from the cleft, another east towrds the castle. She follows the east path until she reaches the ledge above the castle. Deciding a descent into the castle is a fools errand she returns to watch the cleft, replacing the fur with a fine set of scales.

Reunion

Cordelia staggers into the cleft, extracting what's left of her food and wine from her pack. "We stay here tonight. You lot are on watch. I'm going to sleep." She strips off her armour, huddles down in her blankets, and within 30 minutes is fast asleep.
The others sit and talk for a while before Ion and Taala retire, as they're taking second watch. Out in the shadows Charity sits and watches, waiting.

It's shortly after 11:45 when she makes her way noisily towards the camp. It takes a minute or two for Sorcha to recognize Charity, and slightly longer for Daida, although Sorcha doesn't lower the rifle she has pointed at Charity, and Daida doesn't lower his sword. Sorcha tries to elicit from Charity what's happened to her and where she's been, but Charity is not very forth coming. When Daida distracts her with his own set of questions, Sorcha brings up the Logrus. Charity is not best pleased and asks her to desist which she does. As Sorcha attempts to ascertain why, She hears the telltale chime of the thirteenth hour. As the world goes gray Charity becomes frozen. Sorcha now brings up the Logrus and examines Charity's aura noting the significant changes since last she did this. After discussing this with Daida, they decide to wake Ion and Taala.

For some unknown reason, Ion doesn't behead the Charity statue there and then. A discussion follows. As the thirteenth hour ends Charity is surprised to find that she is now surrounded by four awake and armed relatives. At a loss as to what to do next Sorcha wakes Cordelia, finding herself hurled across the camp for her troubles. Using pattern sight, Cordelia examines the Charity. All she can say is that she doesn't think Charity is possessed. Faced with the weight of doubt and hostility, Charity is a little more forthcoming, giving rise to the postulation that her change in aura and reaction to the thirteenth hour is due to Abyssal taint.

As far as Cordelia can see Charity is of no immediate threat, may prove useful later, and in no real position to do anything against them. She returns to her bed, leaving the others to argue over what to do about Charity's return.