Home from the Hill
A
new Amber campaign starting at the close of the final book of the Corwin saga,
The Courts of Chaos.
Phase I of Home from the Hill is over as, with the
Funeral over and a new High King on the throne, our heroes take their leave of
the Courts of Chaos, feeling relief in some cases, something more bittersweet
in others. But it’s a long way to Tipperary…
The
characters: (If anyone is interested and can make it to Stoke-on-Trent 3-4 times a
year, I am willing to consider another character.)
Alitta (played by Sarah McPherson): daughter of House Ascaris of the Courts, a witch (now an NPC as Sarah has her
very own character in Nerine);
Constance (played by Penny
Feltham): daughter of Julian and a ranger, known to be half-fae;
Darig (played by John
Ball): a son of Eric raised in Faerie and a protégé of Benedict – Benedict gave
command of the entire right flank to him, ahead of his uncles; Darig leaves
Chaos accompanied by a son, Rhodri, and a daughter, Elektra, both born to House
Petrus;
Havelock
(played by Jim McStravick, now retired): son of Bleys and a Trump artist, accompanied by Poliziano whose
head Havelock branded with the Pattern from the inside (don’t ask);
Margrath (played by John
Davies): son of Sand and a sorcerer of Corillaine, accompanied by his son, Ibemo of House Sumi;
Nerine (played by Sarah
McPherson): daughter of Llewella of Rebma and a sorceress;
Sorashi (played by Sally
Ball): daughter of Deirdre and a were-tigress, accompanied by her adopted
daughter, Tajal of House Minobee;
William (played by John
Scott): a soldier and the long lost son of Finndo who
escorted Queen Cymnea back to the Courts of Chaos
after Oberon divorced her; he is accompanied by his wife, Rachael of House
Seraph, and his long-term valet and friend, DeLambre,
once Kaiser Lucanus of House Diptera.
With the Amber Expeditionary Force about to leave
Ygg, it’s time to introduce Time so read this comparison of calendars in Amber, Rebma
and the Courts of Chaos, complete with all the important festivals.
The story is in three phases:
Phase I: A Funeral
in Chaos
“Enemy
citadel, conquered nation, trap, ancestral home… We shall see. There is a faint
flickering from battlement and balcony. We may even be in time for a funeral.” Corwin at the end of The Courts of Chaos
Here is the full list of trumps painted by
Havelock handed to all PCs (including Dirk) before departing the Courts. And
here is Elektra’s sitting for Havelock to
paint her trump, which is a sort of prequel to one of the plot threads of the
Odyssey.
Phase II: The Odyssey
“How close was I to my destination? Was it
just beyond the next mountain range, or an enormous distance farther?... I had visions of arriving too late, to serve only as
gravedigger… Bones and soliloquies, Chaos…” Corwin
in The Courts of Chaos
“The journey is the thing.” Homer, The Odyssey
The Fool on the Hill “The
Fool on the Hill sees the sun going down and the eyes in his head see the World
spinning round” – The Beatles: our heroes take formal and informal farewells before setting out on the
long march home… Here are their diaries (session 16, if anyone’s counting): Constance; Darig; Sorashi; William.
Darkness
on the Edge of Town “Everybody's got a secret, Sonny, something
that they just can't face” – Bruce Springsteen: there’s a big battle with Chaos but Hector’s
sorcery gets our heroes considerably closer to Ygg, where they meet an
unkindness after a nasty scrap with a giant: Constance;
Darig; Sorashi; William and here is a dream
Margrath had regarding the events of the day.
Yggery-Pokery “Start from
Amber; go in any direction for long enough, far enough, eventually you will reach
Ygg. Go back to Amber and set out again in different direction; if you go far
enough for long enough, eventually you will reach Ygg. The Ygg you reach will
look very different from the one before; nonetheless they are the same tree.” –
Dworkin: The Odyssey continues – the
forward scouting party, consisting of Constance, Havelock, Margrath, Hector and
DeLambre, reach Ygg, which proves to be to all trees what Morgenstern is to all
horses; William is recalled to the army, which is dealing with the aftermath of
the battle – perhaps the worst of which that two thirds of the remaining food
has mysteriously gone rotten and many of the survivors’ wounds are infected,
far more than would normally be the case; Sorashi and Dirk return to the
Alhambra and the Thelbane to repatriate prisoners,
who suffer the ire of High King Melvyn: Constance;
Darig; Sorashi; William.
Here is what happened when Havelock experiments with Necromantic Trump – and also an OOC discussion regarding religion and the afterlife in Amber – I thoroughly recommend you all read
both as these issues are very germane to forthcoming plot.
Grímnismál 34 “More
serpents there are, beneath the ash, than an unwise ape would think”:
High King Melvyn mobilises his forces to feed and transport the Amber army to
Ygg, where the forward medical station encounters a race of Serpent Men
worshipping Yig [sic] – this episode sees the first
appearance of Alitta, a demon bound by House Ascaris to the service of Dirk: diaries are available for Alitta, Constance; Darig; Sorashi;
William – alas Slim couldn’t make it this time
round so nothing from Margrath and Jim has decided to leave the game so Havelock
is now an NPC.
Root & Branch “The World is changing: I feel
it in the water; I feel it in the earth and I feel it in the air.” Treebeard in The Two
Towers, by J R R Tolkien: the other half of the Amber army is transported to Ygg
by Melvyn’s Rimlords, where they find the Yig-worshipping Serpent Men are mobilising – then Llewella
is told by a Rebman cousin that Amber collapsed into the sea a few years ago – Margrath and Llewella separately
learn Yig is a threat so Benedict orders an advance
while a crack hit-squad, including the entirety of the Order of the Lugubrious
Vendetta, take out the Temple of Yig in Yanyoga, killing the Priest-King and Yig
itself: diaries are available for Alitta,
Darig; Sorashi and William. Penny was ill with Covid!!!
(It got better.) So no diary for Constance but here’s a brief conversation with Julian before she left on
patrol. [This makes 20 sessions, by the way.]
Rebma or Bust “Rebma is the ghost city,” he told me. “It is the reflection
of Amber within the sea. In it, everything in Amber is duplicated, as in a
mirror. Llewella’s people live there and dwell as though
in Amber.” Random to Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber: Constance, Margrath,
Sorashi (with Tajal) and
William (with Rachael) accompany Llewella and Fiona to Rebma,
where they meet Llewella’s daughter, Nerine (a new
character), while the others remain with the army as it departs Ygg: diaries
are available for Alitta,
Constance, Darig, Nerine, Sorashi and William. And here is Gerard’s story in his own words regarding what happened in Amber.
Dinner &
Desert “Can a fish drown?” Leucothea to William regarding his mother, Ophelia,
over dinner: Constance, Margrath,
Sorashi (with Tajal) and
William (with Rachael) attend a formal banquet in Rebma,
while Moiré ponders Fiona’s request to walk Rebma’s
Pattern; meanwhile Ambassador Hector parts the veils for another forward scouting
team, consisting of Alitta, DeLambre,
Ibemo, Surpanakha and the
Faerie Ambassador, all led by Darig, to try to reach Amber via the Golden
Circle: diaries are available for Alitta,
Alvis, Constance, Darig, DeLambre, Nerine, Sorashi
and William.
Faiella-Bionin & So this is Nippon “Do not anger it!” Rachael
to William regarding the Pattern: Fiona assays the Rebman
Pattern, falling at the centre; William saves Fiona (visiting a shadow of Faiella-Bionin on the way), then everyone climbs the stair
to the real Faiella-Bionin; meanwhile Alitta, DeLambre, Ibemo, Surpanakha and Alvis Lord Torc, led by Darig, learn more
about Nippon and that their choice of ship is blockaded by the local Yakuza:
diaries are available for Alitta, Alvis, Constance, Darig, DeLambre, Nerine, Sorashi and William.
A Slow Boat to
Argent & Conflict with the Yakuza “…Argent
is an unknown quantity.” Julian to Constance, discussing threats to
Amber: while Fiona recovers in Rebma,
the surface team explores the country beyond the black cliffs by the new Faiella-Bionin, discovering the land of Argent; meanwhile
the Nippon team cross swords (and laser-carbines and blaster pistols) with the
Yakuza – Darig faces a weapon he’s never seen before
and apparently he has no counter to: diaries are available for Alitta, Alvis, Constance, Darig, DeLambre, Nerine, Sorashi, Surpanakha, Tajal, Lord
Torc and William.
In Argent… & Facing Qwan “Since
the same human mire remains beneath, does not all civilisation reduce itself to
the superiority of smelling nice and living well?” ― L'Argent: in Rebma, Fiona is still unconscious but Llewella believes she’s healing; meanwhile, the surface
team investigates the city of Argent and has their fortunes told by Tarot; the
Nippon team defeats and captures Qwan Khan and sails
for Zircon on the Paloma: diaries are available for Alitta,
Alvis, Constance, Darig, DeLambre,
Nerine, Sorashi, Surpanakha,
Tajal and William – and here are the tarot readings
for William, Constance, Tajal and Nerine.