Asmark’s Diary part 3: Hell Hounds at Lyon Abbey

In The Doom that Came to Amber

Shortly after the arrival of the werewolf troops, a number of other Amber lords arrived to assist with the diplomacy. Alaric returned on his horse, and none too pleased with being closely accompanied by the werewolves. Aylwin and Morwaith arrived by trump from Mirabeau.

Bathsheba organised the arrangements for quartering the troops. The courtyard was divided in four with separation corridors between the encampments to be patrolled by the werewolves. Viewed from the gate, Sapphire was allocated the far left corner, Begma the far right corner, Kashfa the near left and the werewolves the near right. It was a deliberate policy to place Begma and Kashfa at opposite corners as these two were seen as the most mutually hostile pairing.

The first contingent to arrive was from Sapphire. They were very smart body of troops escorting Lady Greeneyes and Lord Razor. They were ceremoniously met by Lady Bathsheba and the Abbot and invited inside.

Asmark embarked on trump sketching the soldiers. While he was doing so, he was approached by Lord Razor. He warned Asmark that some of his soldiers were superstitious about images capturing someone’s soul. He also hinted that Sapphire might be willing to accept Kashfa’s Golden Circle membership if Sapphire received other concessions, but made it clear that this information was to be unattributable. As Lady Greeneyes seemed to be in charge of the negotiations, it was not clear what if any significance to draw from this but Asmark passed it on Bathsheba. Lord Razor also made some snide references to Lady Bathsheba’s diplomatic ability that Asmark passed off as politely as he could.

Nathan was found by Alaric rather the worse for wear, and was brought in to receive medical assistance. This included making a trump call to Gerard, who was engaged in naval exercises in some high-tech shadow. [Subsequent reference to the Golden Circle files suggests that these were exercises off Zircon to forestall the Zirconian sable-rattling.]

The second contingent to arrive was from Begma. The troops were again very well kitted-out. The delegation was headed by Prime Minister Orkuz and his daughter, Nayda.

Finally the Kashfan delegation arrived, headed by King Jaston himself. They were again well turned-out troops, and Asmark noticed that the quality of the art decorating their armour was noticeably finer than that of Begma.

Each of the three parties had talks with Bathsheba, each confirming their respective anticipated positions.

The diplomacy started over dinner. Top table consisted of the Abbot; Bathsheba, Alaric, Aylwin & Morwaith, representing Amber; Razor & Greeneyes, representing Sapphire; Orkuz & Nayda, representing Begma; Jaston & Count Rainan representing Kashfa.

As Lord Nathan took his dinner in his room on account of his injuries, Asmark headed the second table where the second rank of nobility were seated. Asmark enquired about the son of King Flashheart who bears him a very marked resemblance. He learnt that there are doubts about the boy’s paternity, making the boy’s value as a clue to Asmark’s paternity more tenuous.

After dinner there was an informal gathering in the cloisters. All attended the start of this. However, Alaric had asked Nayda to sit for him. They agreed to meet in the Chapter House and Asmark was invited along as Alaric’s chaperone. Nayda was chaperoned by her maid. Meanwhile, in the cloisters Aylwin was entertaining the assembled company with his music.

A dispute flared up between Count Rainan and a Begman noble. In spite of Bathsheba’s diplomatic (and Aylwin’s magical) attempts to calm things down, a challenge was made and a duel accepted to take place at dawn.

The more psychically aware noticed that there was a disturbance in the shadow, and investigated. Morwaith became convinced that it was the work of Nathan and that this had been the cause of the excessive antagonism. Nathan, found on the battlements, was confronted on the subject but refused to say what he was doing or at whose behest.

Accordingly, a party trumped back to Amber (the castle gardens) to imprison Nathan. They were refused access to the castle. Attempts to obtain instructions from the Queen failed. Contact with Benedict indicated that the official position seemed to be that Nathan was ‘part of the team’, that he was not be imprisoned and was to be allowed to continue what he was doing. Concluding that the rest of the team were on a mission that was intended to fail, everyone returned to Lyon abbey to finish the mission.

Asmark, worried that there might be some other troops preparing to attack, decided to do an extended reconnaissance sweep in the form of an owl. This meant he missed most of the excitement which, given how nasty it got, was probably no bad thing.

Alaric had returned to the Chapter House to continue Nayda’s sitting but she soon retired, feeling unwell. There was clearly excitement in both the Begman and Kashfan camps at the prospect of the morning’s duel. Concerned about the rise in tension, Sapphire stationed a number of archers on the walls.

There was a scream from the Begman quarters. On investigating, it was discovered that the Begman duellist had been attacked and killed by some form of doglike creature. However, this creature seem have appeared out of the corner of the room and been able to walk on the ceiling. While Aylwin and Morwaith were investigating this, two of these creatures appeared and attacked!

The creatures only seemed to be significantly vulnerable to Pattern weapons. Alaric and Aylwin, lacking any effective weapons, were forced into a desperate retreat. Aylwin suffered a badly chewed ankle. Alaric proceeded to drag Nayda and Aylwin out of a first floor window. One of the creatures was dispatched by Bathsheba, using her Pattern dagger, the other by Benedict, who answered Alaric’s trump call.

Alaric, certain that Nayda was the victim of some sort of possession, took her to the church of the Unicorn, which he considered to be the safest place. Alaric had an argument with Orkuz over how she should best be cared for, Orkuz refusing to believe in the possession.

There were further problems in the courtyard. One of Begma’s soldiers took a shot at King Jaston, seriously wounding him. Meanwhile there was an attack by a shapechanger that killed two of the werewolves before itself escaping in the form of a wolf.

Around this time Asmark returned to find the tower he had left from was now occupied by soldiers who seemed to have removed his clothes. Not wishing to rely on the good intentions of the soldiers, he decided to use one of the windows that had been destroyed earlier to make a return closer to his living quarters. Having done so, he reported to Bathsheba to provide what help he could in calming things down.

King Jaston died. The Kashfan delegation announced its intention of leaving as war was now inevitable. They requested (and it was agreed) that the Begman contingent would be not be allow to leave for a day to prevent a clash on the way home. The Begman assassin was tried, found guilty and executed. The conference had accordingly failed to prevent the war.

Bathsheba decided to march her werewolf troops home to Wolfmorland. She sent Asmark back to Amber to look after the Golden Circle office, by persuading Princess Florimel to trump him through. She didn’t seem very enthusiastic about this, but nevertheless did so. Asmark returned to put both his own and the affairs of the Office of the Golden Circle in order. He is to be Bathsheba’s assistant as Overseer of the Circle.