Khitan’s Diary
part 13: Julian Drops The Knife
In The Doom that Came to
Amber
1st
Snake 3658
Today started badly. I was still disturbed
by the encounter with N~ and the prospect of facing him and his hounds again.
Believing that I was to return to
My prime concern had been to secure a
reliable escape route in case of utter defeat. Normally, of course, this would
be unthinkable, but when faced with questions of sanity it is best not to take
any risks. One's comrades may be the greatest fighters known throughout the
thousand realms, but what good is that if their brains are reduced to nothing
more than withered husks.
I had one magical marker
left on my rack-crystal and I supposed that I would use that at Lyon Abbey, but
I needed another marker to flee to when all else failed. I wanted the marker to
be cast without raising a profile because it would be vital that the marker not
be tampered with during our mission. A damaged marker would mean that we would
have to flee to the shadow near the Ophidian Archipelago which I knew N~ had
some minor access to. I wanted to avoid this as I feared that he could follow
us there in some way.
So I decided that I would cast the marker
in my chambers at the inn. The chambers were quite spacious and would provide a
secure point of arrival. I planned to book the chambers for a few days and
requested that they remained un-entered for the duration.
Nervously I started to cast the marker
spell, but soon I fell into my usual spell casting trance and I was pleased to
note that my spell-casting had improved to the point that I enjoyed observing
the skill with which I worked.
After casting the spell I also meditated on
my Shield of the Elder Sign and strengthened the enchantment in a couple of
places. Whilst doing this I realised that the powers of Nyarlathotep were
limited. He had corrupted Lyon Abbey but not, apparently, the surrounding
region yet. His powers were perhaps limited to within a certain range of the
portals and he had not chosen to summon hordes of Mythos
creatures to expand his region of control. Perhaps he was reliant on humans to
do this for him.
Yet I still feared the day to come and I
fell into a troubled sleep.
At breakfast I did not feel as tired as I
thought I would, perhaps I already had a buzz of anticipation of the prospect
of challenging Nyarlathotep. Aylwin seemed very fresh,
though he still had a bad limp. I should try to heal him I thought but I feared
his reaction to 'dark sorcery' and I had been suffering strange side-effects
recently that I had not quite analysed through. I did not want to accidentally
replace Aylwin's leg with a tentacle!
I was somewhat surprised to find his
holiness the Prophet at breakfast, looking like he had had a long ride. I was
glad to hear that he had come to instruct us not to confront N~ without further
preparation. He had also gained some understanding of the threat posed and the
nature of the inbetween dimensions. He proposed that
we should go to the contaminated shadow near Amethyst and clear that up before
confronting N~ at Lyon Abbey. This would give us a chance to improve our
techniques before attempting the big one. Probably a wise
move.
I regret to say that as I listened to the
Prophet I failed to observe what he had for breakfast. Truly I have veered from
the true path! I was also slightly annoyed that my preparations had apparently
been in vain. Still it was better to be annoyed than to have to confront N~.
I then resolved to pass the strange deck I
had to Alaric. Surely if anyone could fathom its true powers and purpose then
Alaric could. He was easily the most advanced student of magical art that I had
observed in action.
I retired to my apartment and contacted him
by Trump. He seemed to have been in some difficulties with his confessor Paulo
(for such I took Paulo to be). Believing that our contact should be discreet I
had tried to keep our conversation quiet and quick, but Paulo’s distress caused
some delays and unnecessary noise.
I passed the cards to Alaric without
telling him that I had found them as a result of a tip-off from N~.
The next thing I knew was that Aylwin was knocking at my door. I told him to go away but
he just casually kicked my door in (with his one good leg). Truly they do not
have good manners these Amberites!
He had a quick conversation with Alaric, as
friendly as you like. Then I heard the Prophet coming up the stairs! Now I was
concerned because I had reason to believe that the Prophet did not like Alaric.
I asked the Prophet not to enter my chambers, but he just barged straight past
as if I wasn’t there. Clearly I will have to develop some security spells!
We were then informed that all members of
the royal family were requested at Castle Amber by the Regent Julian. Aylwin sent his apologies as he had no way of getting there
and then returning rapidly to his current mission.
The Prophet then made a quick exit to
Unicorn knows where, and Aylwin and myself prepared
ourselves to depart for the shadow near Amethyst, which I shall call Feldspar.
Unfortunately (as mentioned earlier) I had
cast my marker spell in the room at the inn and I was loath to use the one on
my rack which I kept for emergencies so we decided to lead the horses up the
stairs and into my chamber.
Whilst
Aylwin and a servant brought the horses up the stairs
I started to cast the portal spell. As I worked on the spell and worked myself
into the usual trance I became painfully aware that the spell was leaking a
strong sulphurous stench. I dreaded to think what could be on the other side.
The
horses had become highly restless on the staircase of the inn as they were
badly affected by the stench.
I
finished the spell with just two minutes allowed for transference through the
portal. This was a safety measure in case there was something vile on the other
side which we would then only have to hold off for two minutes.
I
heard a terrible neigh of panic from the stairway and I rushed to the doorway
to see my horse rearing on the staircase, having broken free of its attendant.
In a moment it fell back and with a sickening crack I heard it break a leg.
I
knew there was no time to waste and so I urged Aylwin
on through the portal with his horse and rushed to get my equipment from my
horse.
With
more time I would have tried to heal the horse, but I knew that I could not
wait. The portal would shortly close and Aylwin faced
whatever was causing the stench (or so I thought) alone. I put the horse out of
its misery and left some gold to compensate for the trouble caused.
Rushing
through the portal, sword in hand, I was surprised to find that the environment
was seemingly natural heath land with a few trees and only a faint hint of
contamination.
I
immediately thought that my spell must have been contaminated to cause the
stench, which caused me some anxiety. It was only later that I realised that
the marking spell had not caused any stench and that the contamination had
probably arisen from the teleportation aspect of the spell, was I somehow
invoking Y~ S~ when I used teleportation powers?
After
Aylwin and I had checked out the local situation we
decided to split the work into two parts. I would cleanse the site of Mythos contamination and Aylwin
would close the ‘gap’ left by N~.
As
Aylwin rested, I extended my magical sight into the
Ophidian Archipelago and observed many sources of power. I picked the purest
one and was shocked at just how fine and pure it was. Clearly I would have to
investigate the source at some later date. Carefully I channelled the power
source back to Feldspar and started to ‘hose’ it around, cleaning up the
contamination. To my surprise this was quite easy with such a fine source of
power. Two strange bird-like creatures that had been hiding in a nearby tree
fell out – dead!
Eventually
after several hours I had completed my task. I sat back, well exercised, and
watched Aylwin close the ‘portal’ or ‘gap’. I also
caught a few short naps. Interestingly he was unable to completely close the
gap; quite possibly he needed something of ‘Pattern’ or maybe of whatever made
the ‘Pattern’…
It
was clear to us however that the portal was so small now that it was naturally
closing of its own accord and would shortly be completely closed.
We
contemplated our next move. To recruit reinforcements for the
closing of Lyon Abbey.
Relaxing in the grass after Aylwin
had closed the portal, we were discussing our options
for leaving Feldspar when I noticed that the grass seemed to be dying.
Turning our attentions back to examining Feldspar
we noticed that all life in the pocket shadow seemed to be dying. The shadow
seemed to be like a tuck in the nature of the Universe where the ‘in between’
and the stuff of shadow could meet without the existence of an actual portal.
We decided that perhaps the tuck was coming undone
and Feldspar would soon cease to exist. Anxious to avoid this unravelling
spreading Aylwin cast a teleport spell to take us
back to