Terisa’s Diary part 16: The Return of the King

In The Doom that Came to Amber

4^th Snake 3658

I thought it was going to be my normal weekly chat with Mother but when I opened the mirror to contact her she wasn’t there and the room had been completely trashed. Not only that, it was being searched by two really ugly creatures who were definitely not Rebman. I broke the contact as one of them saw me and started moving towards the mirror.

I quickly checked my rooms but they were untouched. In the Courtyard the usual soldiers were standing on guard, apparently tolerating these strange creatures. It was most peculiar. The guards clearly did not like the creatures but made no moves to attack. It was like an uneasy truce. One of the creatures in the square saw me and started moving towards the mirror so I again broke contact quickly. I think it may have been trying some magic against me but fortunately I broke the contact before it had time to effect any spell.

By now very worried, I tried Lady Sybella’s rooms (my closest friend in Rebma). She was not there but one of the servants was. Rather rashly I brought the poor girl through the mirror (together with a not insignificant amount of water!) and nearly scared her to death. I was so anxious to find out what was going on, and where Mother was, that I just didn’t think of the servant’s perspective at all. She was terrified and I had to slap her to stop her screaming. At least she could breath air!

She was carrying a note to Sybella from Lady Marina, another Rebman noble. I did not read the note. Once the girl had calmed down I tried to ask her about the strange creatures and the rooms being trashed. She referred to them as the “Deep Ones” and was very scared of them. In fact she was a lot more scared of them than she was of me. (In her terror I don’t think she recognised me).

I sent her back through the mirror to Sybella’s room. I somewhat belatedly remembered the Trump Mother had given me and tried contacting her through that, it is somewhat different to my mirrors but I was successful at the first attempt.

She was in a large room with lots of people, I recognised Gerard, Flora, Julian and Random, so it was obviously a family gathering. There were, however, a number of people I didn’t recognise, 3 men and a woman. It was obviously breakfast and the table was laid with food. (Trust Mother to be eating while I am worried sick about her!)

Having established that she was OK and aware of the situation in Rebma (Thanks for the warning, Mother!) she brought me through to the room and introduced me to the others. I don’t think the rest of the family knew I even existed. The people I did not recognise were Aylwin, Bathsheba, Peter and Asmark, and it appeared that the breakfast meeting was effectively a council-of-war.

Mother explained that the Deep Ones were worshippers and servants of one of the Mythos entities and she believed that Martin may have made some form of alliance with them. They were searching for the Pearl of Wisdom (the Rebman equivalent of the Jewel of Judgement) and that was why her rooms had been ransacked.

Whilst that was going on in Rebma, Amber had its own troubles as the city was under attack and effectively cut off from its supply routes. I listened to the military tactics being discussed and how the key to it all was keeping the population calm with sufficient supplies of food and water. Whilst (half) listening I looked round the room memorising the features so I could bring it into a mirror if necessary.

I offered to bring grain in from Teran using mirrors (they don’t seem to know a lot about how mirrors work), which could help in the short term but I would not be able to supply sufficient quantities for Amber in total.

Aylwin explained how they had come into possession of a set of Tarot cards, which have some significance I am not clear about. Alaric has them at the moment, which appears to cause a great deal of concern. Alaric seems to be a bit of a ‘loose cannon’ and no-one knows where he is at the moment. I think they would very much like to find him.

Random dismissed everyone apart from me, Mother, and Gerard and asked me to explain a bit about my mirrors. It’s strange trying to explain something that’s so natural to me but I suppose it’s like their Trumps are to me. In broad terms, by setting up a mirror in Teran under the chute from a grain silo and focussing it on the top of a grain chute in Amber, I could open the mirror and send the grain straight through to Amber. Perhaps they will understand better when they see it in practice.

Mother then took me off to see Flora to organise rooms in the Palace and to sort out the logistics of the grain. (Flora is the Steward of the Household). I made a point of examining all the corridors we went along on route in case I needed to focus a mirror on them in the future.

It took a while to sort out the mirror for the grain as I had to go and see where it was to be ‘delivered to’ before I could go back to Teran and set it up there.

I also set about bringing some of my own things to my rooms in the Palace especially some mirrors. In my rooms I brought across mirrors showing my rooms in Rebma, Mordant and Teran, although I can change them (with a bit of effort) as needed. I also brought along some of my own mirrors to distribute around the Palace as they are easier to work with. I must ask Mother before I put any of them up so I don’t ‘tread on any toes’.

Around midday I went to find Flora about my rooms, her door was ajar so I went in, knocking gently as I did so. Flora would have been unable to answer in any event, she was engaged in a ‘psyche duel’ which was taking her to the limits of her strength!

Without any real thought, I established contact to help. I saw two men, one with bristly red hair and one with longer brown hair. The red-haired one told me to ‘get out, we won’t hurt her’ but if that were the case why was it two against one? I continued to assist Flora. Flora is far stronger than me, presumably why she had managed to hold out against two of them until I arrived. She took the red-haired one, leaving me to deal with the brown-haired man.

I managed to delve into his mind and ask “Who are you and why are you attacking Flora?” before the contact was broken. He was very confused over who he was, he seemed to be three people in the same body:

1. Paolo Scipbas, a prophet of Mira,

2. Father Paul, a priest from Groombridge, and

3. Wirminbone Dark, the owner of a travelling circus.

They appear to be shadows of each other, but how did they all get to be in one place?

He was clearer over why they attacked Flora; it was Alaric who instigated the attack. No wonder the family want to find him quickly.

I got Flora a whisky. She told me the red-haired man was in fact Alaric. I mentioned Paolo’s three personalities and got her another whisky. Completely forgetting why I had gone to see Flora in the first place, I went back to Teran to start sending the grain across.

That evening I went back to the Palace in Amber and told Mother about Flora. I asked about Alaric. Apparently Alaric and Rupert are leading the Mirans.

She told me about the funeral and Alaric’s ‘special guest’, who I will not mention by name, which happened a week ago. It led to Alaric’s mother having a complete breakdown, falling off a cliff and nearly dying. Alaric has been on the run ever since. We also talked some more about Martin and Rebma. There seem to be so many things going wrong, could they be linked?

Met Aylwin in the Palace library (slightly distracted initially as I memorised the room; I do it without thinking now but you never know when you will need it). He is very interested in finding out about the mirrors. He mentioned that the Palace has a Hall of Mirrors that is never where you expect it to be and generally can’t be found if you are looking for it. I must ask mother about this as it is somewhere I definitely have to get to. It is getting late and I tell Aylwin that I will talk to him about the mirrors tomorrow.

Someone Trumps Aylwin; he mentions the name Paolo, who I know is with Alaric.

I go to find Mother. Is Aylwin in league with Paolo and Alaric? If so can I really trust him? I am undecided now as to what to say about the mirrors, if he cannot use them himself it may not matter but he would know enough to possibly stop me using them myself. Why is nothing in this bloody family ever straight forward!! Hopefully mother will be able to tell me who may be trustworthy and who may not be but I expect that changes hourly!!

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General actions:

Terisa would like to put her own mirrors in the main hall/entrance to the palace, the breakfast room and the library but will ask permission (Flora as she is steward?). She will also conceal two mirrors in her room. They will appear to be pictures but if the painted canvas is ripped away there are mirrors underneath. They cannot be used as mirrors until the canvas is removed but are to guard against the possibility of someone getting into her rooms and breaking the mirrors they can see. She will put a mirror in one of her mother’s rooms (assuming Llewella agrees).

As she moves around the Palace she will ‘memorise’ the rooms and corridors so she can recall sufficient detail to pull the image into a mirror if she needs to. By now this is an automatic action wherever she is and she does it subconsciously. She may appear slightly distracted for a brief period but it does not take too long to ‘absorb’ the details needed.

She wants to try and find the Hall of Mirrors and will explore the Palace at every opportunity to try and find it. This will also mean that she will cover a great deal of the accessible (ie not private rooms) bits of the palace and be able to pull them into an image at will.