Diary Page 1   Page 2

Words of warning:

Talesin is an irreverent son of a b!tch, especially in his diary entries. He doesn't really keep a diary in game, but if he did and he were absolutely positive that no one could read it, this is what it would be. For those of you who are playing, you may not want to read this for two reasons. One, it talks about some stuff you wouldn't know in game. Two, he can be a bit insulting when other characters do... less than smart... things. If your character does this a lot, he will give you a name, which you may feel insulted about. In no way do I feel this way about you out of character, but it can be hard to distinguish play from real life when emotions are involved.

Anyway, the first entry is Talesin's background story and is done primarily in 3rd person. It may be interesting, but is not as entertaining as his diary entries. The diary entries are set up to be first person and anecdotal. I haven't taken the time to make sure all the grammar works out, so he tends to write as if he's bragging or having a conversation. Note that Talesin is a good liar, just like the rest of the family, so not all of it is true. Usually it's just misleading, but occasionally he will cover up something embarrassing. He's a bard, adventurer, and a scoundrel in the best sense, so believe only what you like. And he's a guy's guy, so if you have problems with sexuality or anything else you find in this, you may do better to skip ahead or read something else.

Some insight on Talesin: Talesin is smart and witty, even though I'm not... (witty). He has a brain, but doesn't always think more than a few days ahead. Life is more fun that way, and he has always gotten himself out of trouble. Talesin is ~1000 years or so old. He has no sexual or dietary constraints, and likes to have fun. This can make him reckless, but he's reasonably able to get out of whatever he gets into either through shape shifting or Trumps. He has little or no interest in politics, sorcery, or most of the Pattern or Logrus advanced abilities. He tends to be the stereotypical liberal arts student, only he's been doing it for a millennia, so he's f*cking GOOD at it. Science, however, holds little to no interest for him aside for the end products that make his life easier. He has a high enough Strength and Warfare to get himself into trouble in most shadows, but this is nothing compared with the power players in the courts and Amber.

Finally, Donald, our Storyteller, doesn't seem to be using Amber exactly as written, and I know (at the fourth entry) that we've moved away from what happened after the first 4 1/2 books. If you have a problem with it not being the 'real' Amber, too bad. I'm not trying to change stuff, it's just happening that way.

This is the beginning of the Talesin character concept et al. For background, I am going off my extremely limited knowledge of Celts /? Ireland.

Looking Back:

As far back as Talesin can remember, he lived in Ireland (Earth). It was a small magical island with many feuding kingdoms. Men and women were seen as equals, and though life was hard, adventure was plentiful.

Talesin's parents owned and operated a pub in one of the medium sized coastal towns. Most of Talesin's childhood was spent waiting on customers, helping his father cook, and listening to stories of travel and adventure late at night by the common room fire. With four older brothers and three younger sisters, one would have expected him to be brutally picked on. This was not the case, however; for Talesin had a knack of staying on the edge of any conflict. To his brothers, he was always two steps away and could dodge anything they threw at him. To his sisters, he was always just out of reach when they most wanted to smack him. Still, his parents could occasionally catch him while he was still little, and so were able to instill in him the values of love, kindness and playfulness that they held themselves. From his interactions with the pub patrons, Talesin came to apreciate the value of money, with all its advantages and limitations.

As a teenager, and as the youngest boy of the family, Talesin's prospects of inheriting the pub were nil, and he had little aspiration to do so. Still, he needed a profession, and he abhorred the thought of the drudgery of farming. He was able to convince the town copper smith to take him on as an apprentice, since the copper smith's son was a no good lout who couldn't shape metal to save his life. This apprenticeship lasted for 7 years, from which Talesin learned the trade of 'mining' and shaping early age metals.

Still, Talesin stayed on with the copper smith, while his parents grew old and died, and his second oldest brother took over the pub and began raising a family of his own. Talesin had many romantic relationships with the girls and women of the town, but none of them seemed to be 'right'. And as his brothers began to age, and their kids grew to adulthood, and the copper smith he worked with grew old and less capable, a disturbing fact emerged. Talesin was not aging, something that the whole town had subconsciously noticed. This was presented to him, quite rudely, by the son of the copper smith, who was still a lout and now drunk, and jealous that Talesin had had such good fortune and now appeared to be immortal.

Days later, the town was a-buzz with rumors about Talesin's amazing youth and vigor. Many stories were passed around, but the one most agreed upon was that Talesin had made a deal with the farie folk. Talesin had always been considered one of the cleverest people in town, so the specifics of the deal ranged from performing some service for them, to tricking them, to owing them some debt to be specified later. And of course Talesin had no idea why he wasn't aging and said so on numerous occasions, but Talesin was clever, and so the town folk expected this and continued to speculate on the nature of the powers he and the farie folk possessed.

All this would have been fine if confined to the town, but word traveled fast. The ruler of a neighboring kingdom happened to be looking for an excuse to invade. There had been skirmishes before, but this was war. Both kingdoms were well off, but Talesin's rulers were smarter and had better alliances. That didn't stop them from drafting all the men of fighting age to defend their land though. Talesin, as a skilled metal smith was set to make weapons, the wares he had made before were used as raw materials. Though his kingdom won the year long war, it was a brutal thing that killed most of the male side of his now, quite extended family. Though Talesin had been a man in body and mind, this was the first time his spirit had had to struggle with such things.

At the end of the war, the reasons, or pretexts, for the war were brought home to the town by those returning from the kingdom's defense. Having not actually fought, and having so many of his friends and family killed, Talesin felt a great sense of guilt, which manifested in his seeing the town being resentful of his roll or lack there of in the war. Not wishing to push the subject, Talesin succumbed to instinct and avoided the conflict that he thought would erupt. He fled, leaving the smithy to the grand children of the copper smith.

By this time, Talesin was by no means poor. He had quite a stash to draw upon and he did so. (The remainder was 'found' several decades later, by Talesin's decendents, which rekindled rumors of Talesin and his immortality.) Talesin began to wander the land, disguised sometimes as a merchant, other times as a dilettante, and other times as a lost soul. Though he heard fantastic tales from abroad, this island was his home and he had little interest at this time in his life for adventure. When he heard rumors of a 'wizard', however; his interest was peaked. Talesin had never thought of himself as a warrior, but a wizard... A great wizard would be able to protect his people from happenings like the war against his home kingdom.

It took Talesin less than a year to track down the 'wizard'. She was old and decrepit, and he was young and amazingly intelligent for his age, so she taught him everything she could in the time she had left. Which wasn't much. A few tricks was all she knew of real magic, but her ability to shape shift, now that was extraordinary! Talesin stayed with her until her death a few years later, learning the shapes of various animals and plants. And on her death bed, when she knew she was dying and had little time left, she gave him a small slat of wood with a scenic picture carved into it and a leather pouch to carry it in. "Travel the world and master all the shapes of man, plant, and beast. When you are done, ponder on this and a true master of the art will help you on your way. Keep this in its pouch until then, for the master will not be impressed should you draw his attention unprepared."

Wow! It was a quest, just like the ones the heroes in the tales from his youth went on. How could he not attempt this impossible task?

Having recently traveled his home island of Ireland, he decided to save it for last, and made arrangements to travel abroad. Talesin traveled first to the neighboring island of Britain during the end of the Roman invasion. These peoples had fantastic machines and skills of war, and great ingenuity with building, but were a backwards people when it came to culture, and treated their women with little respect. The surprising thing for him was, the women didn't seem offended. It was beyond his comprehension, and he was incredibly turned off by their lack of self, but he was on a quest, and there were very few new animal or plant shapes to learn here. So he followed the rumors of great forests of astonishing plants and beasts to Africa.

In the tropics of Africa there were just too many plants and animals to learn. After decades of effort, he took a break to think about the problem. There were more animals and plants in the jungle than he could possibly learn in a lifetime, at least the lifetime of one of his human companions. After several days of pondering, he began to take a different approach. After only a few years, he had mastered the ability to change to any creature he saw, big or small. Now all that lay before him was to explore the world and to seek out all the life that it might hide. This quest actually appeared doable!

The mystery was solved with the tracking down of the origin of one of the new plants to a remote island he had not yet visited. During this task, he found many additional forms to take in many places he had overlooked on his first passing. Thus, he vowed to begin his quest again, and to search out every nook he could find.

Finally he was able to return home, to master the few forms he had left himself there. In the process, he became nostalgic for the life he had lived as a child, and the culture that seemed lost to all those who now lived on his island home. He resolved that before he left, he would spread the tales of the ages and of far off lands in the hope of rekindling his dying culture. A decade later, with his reputation growing, and his personal symbol, a shiny black crow on a mat black background, known by all in Ireland, he admitted that he could not single-handedly retie the knot work of a culture so rich that time had undone... at least not yet. But he had finished his quest and delayed its fruits for too long, and he was impatient to full fill the destiny laid out for him by that old woman so long ago. Thus, he pondered that carving she had given him, seemingly just as untouched by age as he was. And disappeared from the world he knew.

Talesin soon found that his new master on this new world would not be teaching him the great sorceries of his fantasies. This kind of magic was all together different. His new master presented him with an ordeal and taught him to use what he learned from it to protect himself from others. His master also taught him to draw gates or "Trumps" on paper. Many years passed, and though his master was pleased with Talesin's progress, he feigned dissatisfaction to drive his pupil all the better. Still, the master was wise, and could recognize a restless spirit when he saw one, and so sent him off again.

"You have learned much, yet you have learned little as yet. And still I sense a restlessness in you. This world is mine and mine alone, and I will not have you traveling in it. Still, there are others of power who travel between and through the worlds, and these you may accompany. When you have settled your restlessness for a time, return to me and I may teach you more. You have the power now to travel to places and people you have seen if you take the time to prepare properly. This is a great power and may be traded for transport to new places and people, should you choose to do so."

"But what of my world? How shall I return to it?" asked Talesin.

"I have not been to your world, and do not wish to. Perhaps, with enough experience, you will remember your world well enough to draw a Trump to it. You have a Trump to return here. Take this one as well and may your adventures be... adventurous." he said with a smile.

Talesin looked at the new Trump only a moment, but his master's world was gone, and he was somewhere new.

Talesin hitched rides with other wizards, usually of different power than his master. Taking his master's advice, he would draw Trumps for these wizards as payment, and would sometimes entertain them with songs or tales or shapes. Sometimes, he was able to get his companions out of trouble, and he became known as a good luck charm among the apprentices of Chaos. And the women! Now these were women! Strong, powerful, self aware. His biggest problem was choosing which one... or two... or three... but then they wouldn't put up with him having another at his side... It was all so VERY interesting!

And then his luck, as with all things, ran low.

While traveling with a particularly adventurous young woman, they were set upon by a man. Talesin never saw the man's face since he had his back to him when he called her name, but she became furious and tried to loose some spell and there was this massive EXPLOSION and...

He woke up at what appeared to be the beginning of a labyrinth, and a door being closed behind him. The labyrinth wasn't hard, it was the spell on it that constantly made him change shape. He kept trying different shapes, again and again and again, and each time he felt the spell begin to change him once more and he had to choose a new shape or succumb to oblivion. A race to the end, the never ending labyrinth or the oblivion the old crone had warned him of. But the labyrinth lost, and he collapsed into sleep, not caring where he was or who saw him. His last shape: a jet black crow.

Entry 1

So I just woke up in the loony bin. No I'm not kidding. I've got myself into a shadow that not only knows about other shadows, but seems to think they are the 'source', or grand 'pattern' that all the other shadows are built on. Uh-huh.

I got done with the whole walking / struggling through this fiery crackling mosaic on the floor of some cave I got dropped / locked in. Kinda like in the cathedrals those religious nuts were putting up about the time I left home. The thing kept making me shape shift, wouldn't let me take off. Pain in the @ss. Really took a beating. So I basically keeled over when I got to the end.

I wake up in this infirmary in some ancient looking hospital, well I guess you could call it a hospital bed. I was still in a crow form and some dumb @ss had taped a feeding tube on my beak. Five people looming over me like I'm the strangest thing they've seen in their lives, like I could maybe be the harvenger of destruction or something. I ask them not to hurt me, they ask me what the hell is going on, I ask them the same thing, and they feed me. They don't seem to know sh!t about shadow, cause they act like my being able to make Trumps or shape shift is something I shouldn't be able to do.

Then the big guy, we'll call him Muscle cause he's large and in charge like that... Ok, there's five of them: Muscle, Miss. Green, I am Goth, Queue Ball, and I don't want to be here. Muscle tells me I'm some long lost relative and that the family is at war with someone or another, not real clear on that. Anyway, they've gathered all the chillen home so they don't get hurt, and oddly enough, my walking that mosaic on the floor means I must be one of them. Well, if they don't know anything about drawing Trumps, guess they're probably wrong about that too. My parents died a long time ago and they weren't from here for sure. No way. Then they go into the whole 'we are the pattern of all the other shadows', and I figure it out. Like I said, loony bin. So I play along, then ask for my Trumps back. My, they've 'mysteriously vanished'. Muscle had another set, but done by someone else. Very nice quality. Maybe they just won't settle for any but the best, and drove off all the second rate artists. *shrug*

Like I said, they give me stuff to eat. It's ok. I've had better, but not in a hospital. Looking back on it, it could have been a lot better, but beggars can't be choosers. So, the green chick, oh did I not mention that, yeah she's green. Green hair, green eyes, green skin, green. Seems to have sense enough not to dress in all green though. Yick. Anyway, she takes me for a short tour of one of the floors of what I discover is this enormous castle I'm in. Gives me my choice of 3 or 4 different suites. I chose the one with a balcony. Note, a suite to these people has FOUR ROOMS.

Anyway, it's furnished, which is nice because all I've got is the pouch I had my Trumps in and the cloths on my back. Oh, did I mention that that fiery mosaic burnt up my cloths? Those cost me a bundle and whoosh, second step on that thing and I change and then my cloths go up in smoke behind me. *sigh* Well they gave me a new set. They're functional anyway.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I get the quick tour, then I get my rooms. Green chick is kinda cute. Anyway, I decide to go exploring, so I take a walk around the castle. Like I said, f*cking huge! Five floors I could get to, plus the roof and some stuff there. Some of it was off limits, and I didn't like the looks the guards gave me when I tried going down into the basement. Figured, hey that mosaic thing was in a cave, maybe it's down those stairs. Maybe go by later as something else.

They wouldn't let me out the front door though, so I went to my balcony and hopped a thermal. Nice area. The castle is built into the side of a mountain with a town below. Nice forest south, sea or ocean to the east, plains to the west and a battle ground with that odd black road coming up to the mountain in the north. Well, at least I know I can leave. So, I decide to take a wing down to the forest. Big mistake.

I see this nice silver hawk floating on the currents and decide to copy it, being in crow form and not wanting to get dive bombed. Next thing I know, there's a whole flock of them, no, like a hundred or so, eyeing me like they would lunch. And they're smart bastards, staying well above me. So I dive for the forest and turn Swift. Some of them try to follow me but I loose them as I head back for the castle. Yeah, they're nuts, but they weren't trying to eat me... not yet. Then I hear these horns, and the sound of hounds. I figure it's a coincidence, but they decide to follow me out of the forest. Let me tell you, they big, and DAMN fast. I'm in swift form and they are almost keeping up with my going flat out, and they gotta go up the mountain! I'm going flat out cause those hawks had gone back up on thermals, and are coming after me again, in mass. Did I mention the hounds are big and fast?

I make it to the castle and there's some commotion going on and two of the nuts are motioning me to the roof. Next thing I know, Muscle... yeah, I know his name is Gerard, Regent Gerard, it's my diary, so Muscle... is giving me a dressing down, kind as you please, how they worry for us kids and wish we wouldn't go off on our own like I'd just done. Well if you'd told me about the killer birds and it's being a forest of DOOM, I probably wouldn't have! No I don't say that. I'm nice and meek cause he could break me like a twig. He could break a _whale_ like a twig!

I get a quick bite after the parenting and Miss. Green wants to know what kind of cloths I like, or want to wear or something. I try to feel her out as to what she means, and it seems like formal dress, so I draw out the specs of what I had on when I got nuked. We'll see how that works out. She seemed to know what the hell I wrote better than I did, though she seemed to think she could get them by tomorrow somehow. Wonder if there's a brain in there somewhere... guess I'll find out soon enough. And so I go to sleep.

And wake up to a banging on my door, like they're coming for me. But no, I forgot to blow out the candle I was reading by. Gotten too used to that electricity stuff but my flashlight is gone too, so I had to get by. Seems it burned down and set a book on fire. I sweep it into the fire place and make up an excuse about the damper not being open enough. Hopefully I can get back to sleep...

Wonder if I should give Muscle a sketch of me so he can keep tabs on me. And it might give him the idea I think sketches are Trumps. No, I'm not all that talented... Do I want him to be calling me every five minutes? Maybe better than having those guard people eyeing me like I'm under house arrest. Maybe I could do an exchange... nah. He'd get pissed if I called him in the middle of something. Something to think on anyway.

Well, I got the important stuff done anyway. Found the kitchen, and the way out if I gotta go in a hurry. Might stick around a bit though. I need my Trumps back, or at least the one. And they're friggin rich as hell. Maybe I could use this whole 'family' thing...

Oh, almost forgot, Miss. Green wanted to know 'how I wanted my suite decorated.' Not really into all that. Guess I've been on the road too long to care. It was late so I was tempted to ask for a doggie bed, but that might have gotten me a kennel. But what the hell am I gonna do with all this space? She saw my look, and said I could get back to her.

It's four frickin HUGE rooms, plus a 'balcony' as big as the biggest! Ok, the bedroom will be the half circle. It has windows to fly from, and lots of doors. May as well put in some carpeting, and the walls look horrid in that red. Probably get that stripped down to the bare rock in all the rooms, see how that looks. Put up some nice tapestries. Make one a sketch? We'll see. Guess I'll need a wardrobe. Clear out the bathroom too. Gotta get some running water in there. Hot running water.

A nice full length mirror would be nice. Or a wall length mirror, to practice shapes. If they want me to stay cooped up here I'm gonna be as nuts as them in no time. And a studio. Probably in the first room... no, the second room in. The first, I suppose, should be a foyer, my being 'royalty' and all. *snicker* Hmmm, so the foyer should have hangings and carpeting and some nicely stuffed comfy chairs around the fire. Some side tables to put stuff on, and a coffee table in the middle. Then room two would have tapestries, with one over the door to the bedroom. Wish the only way to the bathroom wasn't through the bedroom. Ah well.

I'll need a drawing board, and paints, and pens, so no carpet in the studio. Or maybe a small one by a couch that people can pose on if they want. Make that two couches Meh, whatever. Not like I'm going to be here that long. I should get some plants for the balcony though. And make sure the servants stay out of everything except the foyer. I'll give them my sheets if I have to. Laundry hamper, disguised as a chest, by the door. Perfect. Oh, bookshelves in the foyer. Put some odd ball stuff on the shelves instead of books. May as well call it a study, though there's no way I'm sitting at a desk. Better paint the walls in the studio white. Their light sources are crap. I've gotten too used to that electricity stuff. Maybe we can get some imported or something. Better put that wall mirror in the studio. Nice big bath tub to go swimming in in the bathroom. They better figure something out with sewage. The chest idea won't work with a chamber pot. Suppose I could just switch to something small, then sh!t in... no, I don't want to do that when I'm half asleep in the middle of the night. Real plumbing it is. Pipes would give me an alternate escape route too. I love rats.

Maybe ask for some extra hangings and put them up in the bedroom in odd places and configurations to confuse people. That way they'll think I'm crazy too! Heh. I wonder if they use toilet paper. I was flying so hard coming back to the castle, I must have sh!t and not noticed. Well, that's birds for you. Maybe I hit one of those hounds. Whoa, time to go back to sleep. Some reception going on tomorrow for someone new. Better not screw that up and piss off Muscle some more. Narf!

Entry 2

A good night sleep. Ahhh. Felt so nice, I almost didn't mind getting back up again. Bed was way too comfortable. Had a nice breakfast. Cloths were done, looked respectable if not excellent. Not as good as what I lost on the pattern. Still, looks nice enough. Mrs. Green says the good stuff should get in in a few days. Can't complain... about that anyway. Anyway. Anyway. Right. We were supposed to have a reception for some cousin who was coming in that day, all well and good. Reception starts and we do a tea ceremony cause the guy seems Oriental like. There are commotions and other people get in trouble. Dunno when the guy came in, but there was another shape shifter at the party. Apparently another cousin. Dumb as rocks, but we can get back to that. He and I am Goth go have a talk, then come back. We meet the new cousin, then Muscle decides to pull a surprise and demand that we take some stupid oath or something. I don't want to be here of course doesn't want to do it and magic's out. I am goth seems to tried to stop him and Muscle goes NUTS, loosing his temper! Rather scary having someone that big go off in the middle of the room. I mean, I know he'd never catch me, but if he ever did... And a bit of my reptile mind had my sketch out ready to trump before I really knew what was going on. That dumb@ss had a similar reaction, but shrank down to itty bitty person form right there. Apparently the whole thing was too much, cause he went to sleep right there. I controlled myself though. Muscle gets himself back under control before he breaks anything or anyone. The rest of us take this stupid oath: "I, as a decedent of the family of Oberon, swear to defend Amber against her enemies, and not seek to harm the city or kingdom of Amber."

Now, I'm no lawyer, but there's so many holes in that one it's not even funny. For one, I'm am not, no way, a decedent of the family of Oberon. For another, yeah, you can have my word on anything you like. If you force it out of me by threat instead of asking me for it, it's completely worthless, because you've shown yourself to be unworthy. But hey, whatever.

After the whole swearing in ceremony, we go into the hall and par-tay. Well, it wasn't much of a party, but it was amusing anyway. I am Goth... ok Goth, has almost no trouble convincing dumb@ss that he should go walk this 'Pattern' thing they have somewhere in the basement. Perfect, so I offer to go along and watch. I want to find out where it is anyway. Loooong way down into the mountain on a spiral staircase later, we walk through a huge @ss cave and lots of smaller tunnel caves to the outside of the door for that labyrinth I'd walked just a few days ago. And they leave the door key just hanging from a peg... on the outside. f*cked up people these. Lock someone... me... in there? Note to self!

Dumb@ss is raring to go and Goth figures nothing bad could come of it, so tells him to step on the 'Pattern' and walk to the middle. "Don't stop", he says. "Don't step off." he says. Dumb@ss starts shifting to all these humanoid forms, some pretty odd too. One of the oddest is this huge teddy bear that is bleeding milk. Anyway, a bit later, he's in the middle and raring to go back. Oh, yeah, I hadn't stepped in the room on account of my not wanting to get locked in again. Anyway, dumb@ss makes to walk back along the pattern to get back out. How else would you get out, right? Goth yells "Stop!" so dumb@ss does, one foot on the pattern and the other in the middle. They go through some yelled conversation about being idiots and can he move back or move forward and none of it works. Then the fiery electricity of the pattern starts forming into waves, like it's trying to push dumb@ss off the pattern. Goth gets really scared, tells some guards to go get Muscle, then calls this Oberon guy we met at the party to try to fix the situation. Lets call Oberon Daddy, cause he's Muscle's Dad, so he's everyone else's grand dad according to the whole family tree I found in the library. Muscle seems pretty taken aback with him. Oh, and he's King. Bow and scrape guys! Sure, I can play along. Just keep feeding me and get me my cloths back and we can call it even.

So daddy starts walking the pattern in the 'correct' direction, these waves of fiery sparks crashing up against and over him. Placid as could be behind him. He gets to dumb@ss and Trumps out. Muscle arrives down there somewhere in the middle of this, and seems all tense. When Daddy trumps out, I hear him mutter "Another Mirelle...", and I think he was crying or something. I think that he's just a big teddy bear inside, but that he doesn't like to show it. I look up Mirelle in the library and find out she was one of his half sisters that "died" on the pattern. =Side note: Added the quotes later. You'll understand them in the next entry. Apparently, no one is dead when people think they're dead. Narf!= We all tromp back up to the castle. On the way, Mrs. Green tells me that you're not supposed to stop on the pattern. Your not supposed to walk back out either, or at least no one she knows of has done it. Apparently, if you stand in the middle of the pattern and wish it to send you somewhere, it does, kinda like a trump card only you don't need to draw it and it doesn't go with you. Very good to know. Another way to get home. Anyway, I came up here and figured I'd do a little sketching, this here room anyway, before going to sleep. Muscle was NOT happy but he's leaving us alone anyway.

You know, I've been wondering what the hell happened that I got here. One minute I was going along, minding my own business. The next, I get caught up in this group, consensual insanity thing. "We ARE the pattern for all the shadows." What the hell! I mean, it certainly hasn't been boring. A little dangerous, mind you, but not yet boring. Ah well. Guess that's where pretty girls lead. She had one _fine_ @ss. Kept complaining about her last boyfriend, now that I think about it. Something about being a control freak or something. Wonder if he put me up to this. Pissed at her getting on with someone else maybe? *shrug* Seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Nothing really new about that. I've always had my adventures, I just usually had an out, or knew a little more about what the hell was going on. Ah well, it's stimulating anyway, and keeps life fresh. Maybe I should go out with good looking people with angst more often. Man, we didn't even get to make out!

The whole loosing his temper thing got me a bit wary of making Muscle any trumps at all. Gonna be thinking on that a bit more before I make a decision. Well, sleepy time. Narf!

Entry 3

Well, he WAS leaving us alone. *CRASH* I wake up to something fragile breaking into very, very small pieces. Look out my door to see a bottle coming for my face from a very drunk looking Muscle. The guards are smart, they had shields. Big shields. Tell me again how you tell the drunk, huge, Regent... that he might want to take it easy with the booze? So I shut my door and went to get dressed. Yup, not a minute later and I hear a pounding on my door. I go to open it and notice that that pounding is causing this door that weighs at least 100 lbs to bounce on its hinges like humming bird wings. Needless to say, I stand to the side of the door before I release the latch and invite his Regency in. He's got "I don't want to be here"... Lets change that to "fuzzy" for short... He's got fuzzy by the shirt collar, knocked out cold, dragging him along like a rag doll, and Mrs. Green in tow, also a bit drunk. So I do the only rational thing, I play the understanding, sympathetic, host in my study.

Seems he wants me, well me and the other two he brought along, to go find him some people who can draw Trumps. "Not a problem." I say. "When should we leave?" He thinks for as long as drunks usually take to think, then decides on first thing tomorrow. Excellent. Off to see my master to get some questions answered and to warn him about these crazies. Muscle seems happy, so I guide him back out and go back to bed.

Next morning, Mrs. Green wants to make a detour before we get started. Seems we're going on a little swim, or at least I am. The other two are walking... underwater. No, I can't breath underwater without changing, why? They assure me I can, that there's this extra special spell that lets you breath and walk and not get crushed in the depths. Pay no mind that if you step off the path, us normal human types loose the effects of the spell, and go squish-glug. I nod and smile and switch to octopus. So they head down this stairway that starts at the beach. Yes, I said head _down_ the stair. (These people just love having things go down into other things.) And to give them credit, they seem to be walking and breathing just fine. But then, I'm swimming and breathing just fine myself.

It's a ways down, but there are conveniently spaced lights to guide the way, kinda like street lamps. We come to this big gate and there are guards with tridents. No problem. We'll just call them Green, cause that's what they are. Seems Mrs. Green is a daughter of the queen of the Green. So they like living underwater, with only swim trunks on. Ok, no problem. And, oh, we get to meet her eminence too. Joy, first the Regent, then the King, now the Queen of the loonies. Just Fabulous. Probably best for me to be humanoid though, so I go merman. She seems quite happy with that. We exchange pleasantries and head back up. And while their cloths are wet, mine are dry. It pays to think ahead like this. These people seem to have a clothing fetish or something. Don't seem to want to dress up their animals though, so I can usually get around if I shift.

So we get our horses. I got one that's all black with a red mane that seems to like me but not the other two. That's OK, I like that in a riding companion. I head off for that black road to the north. They don't seem to understand that this is how people get from shadow to shadow. Don't want to ride on it. Just because an army invaded on it doesn't mean it's evil, it just means you need to take it away from them and use it against them. Whatever. They don't seem to want to ride on it. Oh, we're going to some kingdom they know of because fuzzy thinks some people there know how to make Trumps. Sure we are. They get all thoughtful for a while, kind of meditative like, so I grab their reigns and guide them onto the road so we can go somewhere. A few minutes later, this big wave of black builds up behind fuzzy like the road is about to engulf him. Hey, it's the black road. Don't piss it off. It's black for a reason.

Mrs. Green notices the wave and guides fuzzy off the side. Seems one of the road guards wants to have a little talk with fuzzy though. Tries to draw him back on the road with a spell. Doesn't work, he's too smart. Not hard in this case. So they decide to ride along side while I keep going. Fuzzy gets distracted again, and Mrs. Green has to guide his horse. Then the road gets really, really wide, and they decide that's enough, they're taking a different route. "OK," I say, "I'll meet you there." and I head off to see my master.

A few hours later I run into a scout from the Courts. I give him a warning about the crazies up the road and head on. Few hours later, I come across the main contingent. I warn them too. One of the leaders offers to bump me down the road a few days travel. Sounds good, so I go for it. I figure, if I don't take too long, I might be able to go back to the shadow the other two are going to and say I got caught up and had to fight through something or something. So much for that idea. I end up dead center of a skirmish between some humans with guns and some demons. No surprise, the humans are winning. I've got no sides on this one, so I take a gun from a startled human and make a path on down the road. Get about 300 feet and this guy steps onto the road with a large flaming sword, flaming hair, and a smile like he wants to start a fight. Takes me a second to recognize him from one of the Trumps Muscle showed me when I first woke up at the loony bin, so I get cautious and we exchange greetings. Oh, this is the dead guy I referred to in the last entry. Only he's not dead like the rest of the loonies thought. These people don't have a clue. Blaze is his name, which is fitting, what with the sword and hair. Fits him in other ways too, I find out, like how fast he goes through booze and women.

Anyway, I tell him I'm on a mission from Muscle to find someone who can make Trumps and he makes a rude comment about Muscle and offers to be the unfortunate subject I gotta bring back. Whatever. Blaze looks like he knows how to use that sword of his. I suppose I could have flown away, but the guy seemed like fun, so I offer him my horse to ride back with me to that shadow the other two were headed to. Takes a little while, but I get to use my rocket dragon form to keep up with him when he tries to practical joke my horse away from me. Who should we come across on the road than fuzzy himself. Better yet, he's asking me to kill him. That's more like it! Though I check first, cause his uncle is Muscle and he might not be too happy with me eating the guy. Of course fuzzy changes his mind, looking at me grinning at him with my big @ss teeth and my dragon breath. Nothing like imminent, grizzly death to get you off a suicide trip, I guess. We head up the culdisack to get to the shadow they were headed for. Gotta fly cause it's up, so I pick up fuzzy and we go meet Mrs. Green. Nice rack, she got. I know cause she's only wearing them swim trunks all them Green were wearing in the water. (Her mom's not bad looking either, by the way. Greener, if that's possible.) She's wielding this net and trident combo like she's been kicking @ss lately too. I express my appreciation of course.

I introduce them to Blaze, tell them I found a Trump artist, and we Trump back to the castle. Blaze is cute too. Much saner than the rest of them. Seems he's just putting up with them. Dunno why, but hey, he thinks they're family. Anyway, Mrs. Green goes off to tell Muscle we found him a Trumper, and I help fuzzy upstairs to his room. Seems he'd misplaced his key though, so he curls up right there and goes to sleep. While I can respect exhaustion, both physical and mental, when I see it, I couldn't miss the chance to try to push him back over the edge. Hey, dragon stomachs are highly suggestive! It was all I could do not to eat him when he changed his mind back there on the road!

So I went and found some cardboard like stuff, built him a box, wrote "Home, Sweet Home" in crayon on the outside, and left it by his door. Seems a servant had let him in his room, so I couldn't put him in the box. Ah well. Blaze saw me place the box though, and invited me out on a date. Must have liked what he saw when we Trumped back. Silly man, says "Ladies First." just so he could watch Mrs. Green's @ss as she went through the Trump gate. "Well," I say, "I can be a lady too!", shift from dragon to woman, and walk through ahead of him too. *snicker*

We have a truly excellent time on the town, then a good breakfast before returning to the castle. Nobody seems to want to mess with Blaze, so he's my new best friend. Seems to like jokes too, so we should get along like two peas in a pod. Best part of it, he seems to get everything for free, and shared the state with me. Heh. This is just too fun. Blaze wanted to know if I wanted to introduce him to his brother. I'm not falling for that one. From all the stories he told of the jokes he had played on his siblings, his dad, and everyone else in the shadow, there's no way I'm gonna play whipping boy between Blaze and Muscle, especially with Muscle in his Regenciness role. Blaze is one person I am NOT drawing trumps for. Too bad he can make his own. Ah well.

One of the conversations I had that night with Blaze got me to thinking. We were talking about good food and bad food. I was drunk and having sex at the time, so I was bragging a bit. Blaze seemed caught up on having his food cooked. Seemed to think raw flesh didn't count or something. Said raw chicken was pretty bad, but live spiders were worse. Anyway, the worst thing I could think of was unflavored tofu. Tastes horrible in any form I'm in. Well, wouldn't say it tastes bad, just that it has NO taste. Usually I can come up with one form or another that likes something, but tofu is just out. So I go off about how raw meat is better tasting, because none of the good stuff has been boiled away. Better yet if it's still warm and bloody. He didn't seem to go for the whole idea, so I didn't go into too much detail. I can remember when I had qualms about raw meat. Barely. Long, long time ago...

Now the best thing I've ever had was in Dragon form. I'm always ravenous in Dragon form. That or unconscious from a food coma. Guess the appetite makes things taste better. Anyway, this demon was really starting to piss me off, so I blasted it with some fire breath. It was nicely charred on the outside but still seemed to be alive. I wasn't even thinking at the time. Just picked it up in my mouth, took a few chews to get through the charring to the juicy innards and to break up the bones, then swallowed it whole. Wriggled all the way down too. Yum! The whole magic thing is a great spice in dragon form.

Don't really have a favorite drink. Humans have some good beer, but blood is just as good in a lot of the animal forms. Guess I'd have to say blood. Don't get me wrong, I'm no vampire. It's gotta be fresh though, or it gets all lumpy, more of a soup than a real drink. Don't really have a worst drink. Tofu doesn't have an analogous in fluids, unless you want to go with an unflavored tofu shake. Never tried one, but I guess if you blender some tofu, it'd taste the same as normal tofu, but with no consistency. Ew. Just thinking about it makes me loose my appetite.

Well, I'm gonna make a few sketches, then get some lunch. If they try to serve me tofu, I'm eating the cook! Narf!

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