Dark’s Circus

The synopsis of an Amber adventure from The Doom that Came to Amber

Six cousins: Alaric, Aylwin, Bathsheba, Michael, Nathan and Quentin, are summoned to Amber by Anya at the command of Queen Vialle. They find the castle bereft of Elders, including the King.

Vialle and Paulette, the King’s mother, are distraught. Queen Moiré of Rebma has fallen ill, liken to die. It is vital that her heir, Random’s son, Martin, attend on her deathbed but he is away in shadow and, as usual, refuses to respond to his trump. Random himself therefore took it upon himself to travel to Martin’s shadow, Cyprani, to fetch him. But the King has now been gone a full week and suddenly all his brothers and sisters are strangely absent and unresponsive to their trumps.

Vialle and Paulette fear Amber is in the middle of a putsch. They do not know who to trust among the Elders so have decided to ask the youngest generation to investigate Cyprani and search for Random and Martin. As Paulette says, “If you go as a team, you may be better equipped to deal with any threats and it will be more difficult for one of you to betray the others.”

The cousins leave by diverse routes to allay suspicion and prevent interception but each is contacted by a different Elder depending on the route taken: Gerard by sea, Julian in Arden, Corwin over the western route over Kolvir, Fiona on the South Shore. Caine also trumps Quentin. Each is cryptic and suspicious, clearly trying to uncover what they are up to.

The subsequent scenario was based on Ray Bradbury’s novel ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’. In Cyprani, Green Town proves to be very similar to a 1930s mid-west small American town. Soon after they arrive, a week before Halloween, a Circus arrives by train (which itself is odd since Green Town has no rail link). The cousins quickly discover that the Circus is deeply sinister, run by a pair of shady characters called Cougar and Dark. Of the two, Dark is more sinister and clearly has command of Trump.

The cousins find Random, Martin and Deirdre (who had been thought lost in the Abyss) have been captured by Dark and release them. However Random has suffered some sort of brainwashing. During the escape Cougar is killed but Dark escapes and he appears later.

Overall the cousins gain a lot of kudos for rescuing the King, save for Quentin who managed to fracture Random’s skull while subduing him. Quentin is exiled and is never seen again.