- Johnny is searching Chaos. - Count Cagliostro is finishing up the Ifrit-pumping process. - Carolan is picking babyfat and twinkie out of his hair and clothing. He goes into the smoking hole. In the hole, smeared all over, are bits and pieces of mushroom, little bits and pieces of flying girl, and eleven heads of dog. At the base of all of this is Caelin, who looks up at Carolan and says: "Wow. That tickled." Carolan brings the news to Natasha, who is surprised. Natasha overshares again, but still only mildly. Carolan theorizes that Caelin blew himself out trying to stop up the leak. Natasha believes that Ferethyn would know, and that one of the people with Cagliostro. - Carolan trumps Cagliostro from the hole. Carolan informs Cagliostro that the "bibliomancy bomb" only accomplished some of the desired effect. Carolan gives Cagliostro a look around, and Cagliostro gets a Trump-eye view of Caelin at the bottom of the pit, waving. Carolan wants to talk to Ferethyn, who is still pressent in the crowd assembled at the fleshy nodule shadow. Cagliostro pulls Carolan through, and Natasha stays behind to keep an eye on Caelin and act as a Trump destination. Cagliostro introduces Carolan to Ferethyn, and bails. Ferethyn wonders why Carolan isn't talking to Princess Chandra, but Carolan says that she told him "You're his apprentice, work it out yourself." Carolan starts: "You're aware of Caelin's power-based incontinence issues?" Ferethyn admits to being somewhat aware of Caelin's propensity for leaking. Carolan asks Ferethyn about a potential backfire - Ferethyn says that at one point, Caelin was holding three times the amount of magic potential of everything between Amber and Chaos. He currently has less than that, so Ferethyn doubts the problem was Caelin's magic backing up. Carolan asks Ferethyn to view the problem in person - Ferethyn looks at Cagliostro, and decides to go through personally instead of bringing Caelin here. Even trying to avoid the situation, Cagliostro is aware of an averted debacle. Carolan trumps Natasha and passes Ferethyn through. This is an odd sensation - Carolan feels like his entire brain tingles for a moment. Carolan then goes through the Trump to Natasha. - Ferethyn sits down. "Are you well?" "Shields," Ferethyn says weakly. Carolan sets up shields. A pearlescent glow develops around Ferethyn. Ferethyn says that whatever Caelin has done has made him leak -more-. Ferethyn announces his intention to do something stupid. Carolan wants details, but Ferethyn is disinclined to comply. Carolan presses in a very Dragearan fashion, which amuses Ferethyn. Ferethyn declares Carolan truly to be Caelin's apprentice, for having the gumption to consider interfering (even suicidally) in a Realms Lords duty. Carolan shares the blame with his other teachers, and Ferethyn is familiar with those 'kids' but only seems to respect Sethra. Ferethyn explains magical resonances to Carolan - not in the sense of tracing who did what, but in the sense of having resonances to and from particular powers. Ferethyn demonstrates by mucking with Carolan's resonances while he talks. Ferethyn declares his intention to alter Caelin's resonances, which could have messy (but not dangerous) consequences. The result could be embarassment, since as a Realms Lord Ferethyn is supposed to know what he's doing. Resonancally speaking, there is a rumble of tympanis, and a crash of cimbals. Elsewhere, Cagliostro notes that magic has stopped working. Carolan's wards stop. Carolan reaches out to catch the Orb, which keeps rotating. Caelin doesn't notice anything. Carolan tries to re-establish his wards from a different resonance - he can feel that there is power, but he can't connect it to anything. Ferethyn asks Carolan to sense what he can through his connection to his master - there is interference, which gets worse the more Carolan pushes. Ferethyn puts a hand on Carolan's shoulder to take a look. There is an "Oof!" from the pit. Ferethyn says he used the link to take a look, and that's not Caelin. "What is it, then?" "Just Caelin's magic." "Okay..." "That means I need a tool." Ferethyn asks Carolan to contact Cagliostro, and Carolan trumps Cagliostro. - Johnny notes that the needles are converging. They reach a section of Chaos that looks... damaged. - Cagliostro accepts the call. Ferethyn asks Cagliostro to contact Ilk. Cagliostro has to ask around, and asks Princess Chandra for a "floating black box". Princess Chandra asks out loud for Ilk, and the bodiless presence maintaining the viewscreen answers. She tells Ilk that Ferethyn's looking for a black box, and says that he can use Cagliostro's Trump connection. Ilk checks to confirm that the Trump isn't Pattern, and throws some tendrils through. Ilk waves the Toram-sucker around - it sucks in bits. The bits don't come from Caelin, they come from the environment. Ilk explains that he's found bits, and will have to check the Shadow. Ferethyn informs Ilk, one Realms Lord to another, that magic seems to be *off*. *Everywhere*. Carolan wants more information about the bits, so Ferethyn clarifies that the bits are of something that is not named. Carolan accepts this. Ilk tries to decontaminate the promontory - anywhere there is a mushroom, there is a little bit. Carolan briefs Ilk on the until-recent inhabitants of this promontory. Ilk looks around - many things look Faeriesh, but none of them are actually Faerie. - Ilk checks - there is still magic around, and there is the remnants of Caelin-level magic in the pit. However, the magic can't be manipulated - even with Logrus. Ilk, Carolan, and Ferethyn spend some time discussing the situation. The Spiral is discussed - Jean is there, so Ilk can get there without taking a swim. Ilk checks the Spiral - magic is off there. The locals haven't noticed it yet, they're having an orgy and are otherwise occupied. Ilk takes a look at Caelin - Caelin has slightly less magic than the average pre-Caelin Chaosian. He's down for a nap in House Moonlight. Ilk uses the voice of God (tm) to wake him up: "CAELIN." Caelin wakes up. Ilk: "What the fuck have you done to magic this time?" Caelin: "What do you mean, what have I done to magic? What has magic done to me?" "Take a look at magic. Don't do anything, just take a look." Caelin brings up his magic sight (with an effort) and casts a light spell. Ilk explains that magic is off, Caelin disagrees. Caelin enters lemme splain mode, and Ilk brings up a viewscreen in front of Ferethyn, Natasha, and Carolan. Caelin says that he tried to gate someplace private to work on tying off his magic without interference, and ran into the place where magic started creating things. He reached out for the Egg Place, couldn't find it, and this place was the next closest thing. Ilk wants to know distance - Caelin admits to not exerting himself even for long-distance gates. Caelin continues explaining, mentioning the assassin and that he looked back and saw himself. Caelin blames a weird shadow, some kind of sabotage, possibly sunspots. Ferethyn speculates that sabotage would explain the problem. Ilk searches both Shadow and Chaos for the mushroooms, and this is the only place they're found. Caelin shares his suspicious - the Dancer's Guild and the Beastmaster's Guild, based on Caelin's nasty comments on him having informers in his house. Ilk tries the Toram vacuum cleaner around Caelin and House Moonlight, but no hits. Caelin recalls the true names stuck in his head - Ilk says that he thought Caelin was empty. Ilk checks Caelin for hooks - there's a new hook. It's the same basic concept, but a different hook than the ones Caelin was immunized against. This hook is Pattern-laced. Ilk uses Logrus tendrils to vibrate Natasha, Carolan, and Ferethyn - he informs them that Caelin is compromised again. Ferethyn explains that this gives someone a way in. Carolan asks for a suspect, Ilk names Llewella. - They discuss tracing the hook - the closest pattern-weenie is Roland, who is guarding Cemen. Ilk declines to compromise Cemen's defenses, but does try to check the guild for Toram-bits. The Assassin's Guild wards stop Ilk, hard. Ilk talks to Gil, who suggests talking to Calla. Calla admits to being able to recognize Pattern signatures, and Ilk speculates as to how to give Calla those perceptrons without driving her insane. Calla is up for a change of pace, since pumping out Ifrit is not the most exciting thing to do. Ilk Logrus-pulls Calla to House Moonlight, and then puts out the fire. "Okay, when I said excitement, I didn't mean light me on fire! It hurts!" Ilk apologizes, admitting he'd forgotten to warn people and anyway, Neville got used to it. Ilk suggests that Calla look at Caelin. Calla agrees, but asks if she can pull up the sheet first. Ilk passes along some perceptons to Calla, and the limited set of perceptrons is somewhat batty-making. Ilk tries to point out the hook to Calla. Calla does see things, but doesn't see what Ilk is looking for. Calla suggests that Ilk show her everything that isn't Caelin. Ilk attempts this. Calla is able to confirm that what Ilk is talking about looks very much like her aunt - the one lying down in the fleshy nodule shadow. Calla is surprised at how many tubes there are in Chandroids. "Tubes? Vines?" Ilk suggests "Tendrils." Calla confuses tendrils and tentacles. Calla tries to look through the hook to see if there are Pattern-signatures. Calla disappears. - In Caelin's head, Calla says "Hello? I'm pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen." Caelin wakes up and is pissy about having head people. Calla complains about Caelin's bad head-housekeeping. Half-eaten food, etc. Caelin asks Calla to clean up, but Calla is not a maid. Caelin begs, particularly because he potentially has stowaways. Calla draws steel, and goes hunting in Caelin's head. - Ilk tries to look through the hook - it's Patterny. Too much static. Ilk tries to put his own hook into Caelin, but generating a hook requires a spell, and magic is off. Ilk checks for the second soul, and doesn't see Calla. This suggests to Ilk that someone -is- in there, and is hiding. At least one someone. In Fort Twinkie, plans are noised about. Carolan advocates the plan of repeatedly ripping out and replacing Caelin's soul. He is confident Princess Chandra will understand. Ilk decides to check with Princess Chandra first, and talks to Ferethyn about head people. Ferethyn suggests Jean, Corwin, and Norton as those who have the most insight into head people. Jean talks to Ilk in the tree. Jean doesn't feel compromised. Ilk debates the wisdom of telling Jean anything about hooks, and decides to skip Jean and talk to Princess Chandra. Princess Chandra believes that Serpent power is required to hide from Ilk's soul-checking. So Ilk could hide (but wouldn't), and the Black Council could also hide. There is some discussion as to whether they would qualify as "enemies of my family", given the timing of both Caelin's blood curse and their enmitude. There is some further discussion as to whether to reinforce Calla, if she is fighting the Black Council. There is a question as to what would be an appropriate reinforcement for Caelin's head. Princess Chandra suggests waiting for Calla to return with intelligence. Princess Chandra suggests that Caelin tell Calla to be careful. Ilk passes that along, explicitly telling Caelin that he may have Black Council members in his head. Caelin starts thinking about how he got rid of the names, and Caelin hits a memory hole. Caelin tries to tell Calla what she's up against, but keeps forgetting what he's talking about. Caelin considers his options, but Princess Chandra passes along that if he takes the coward's way out, she'll be disappointed. Caelin asks to be relocated to another promontory. Ilk and Princess Chandra discuss where they should go. Carolan suggests stuffing a kraken, or at least kraken power, into Caelin's head. They decide to evacuate Calla first, and discuss how to contact Calla. - Ilk anchors himself, then anchors Carolan. Carolan trumps Calla, using a family deck. Calla answers through clenched teeth "Not now, I'm hunting!" Ilk tells her that her opponent is a member of the Black Council. "Not now, I'm hiding!" Carolan asks Calla if she wants out, and she agrees - as long as nothing else comes out with her. Carolan pulls, Ilk anchors. Carolan is holding Calla's hand, which turns out to still be attached to her. Calla has one soul, no hooks, and is shivering. Caelin has one hook, one soul, as far as Ilk can tell. Ilk gives Calla a fire extinguisher, and pulls her back to the fleshy nodule place. Calla prefers the foam to the water. Calla takes some of the foam and gives Llewella a foam moustache and beard. Ilk checks Llewella - only one soul, no hooks. (Same as last time.) Ilk looks around the "Caelin debacle place" (the grassy bowl with a pit) for extra souls floating around. Caelin has the distinct impression that Ilk tried to kill him. Caelin confronts Ilk about this. Ilk denies ever -trying- to kill anyone. Caelin admits that his personal reality has come unglued, and he's not sure what's real. Caelin says "I can't even Yeti", then tries to become a Yeti and succeeds. Ilk checks - no hooks in the Yeti form. Caelin asks for directions to the Sea of Chance. - Ilk talks to Princess Chandra, who asks Ilk to bring the yeti here. Ilk does so. Caelin realizes he's not in the Sea, and takes a look at the surroundings, including Llewella. - Princess Chandra talks to Caelin Yeti about Llewella (not dead because there's no trial), the Reality Engine (not evil, and possibly necessary), and his head people. Princess Chandra says that it's good that he's pressing that, but she's very clear that Caelin shouldn't press the people in his head destructively. - Princess Chandra asks Ilk to bring Caelin to a kraken as a demonstration for his head people, and does so. She feels that they'll stay in line - for now. Caelin has theorized he must have a hook, and wants it out. Dammit. - Princess Chandra suggests that Caelin reconnect with his magic again. Ilk wants to wait until he's sorted through the souls, but Princess Chandra says reconnect first, sort later, just prevent the souls from coming in. She also recommends not pulling out the hook in the presence of its owner, so that she doesn't realize it's possible to remove them. - Ilk pulls Caelin through to his magic, to prevent him ranting about hooks (albeit in Yeti) in a large public area. Natasha and Carolan greet Caelin in their own ways, and Ilk pulls out the hook. It burns up, but Ilk has more Logrus than the hook has Pattern. Caelin looks at himself in the hole. He raises magic sight - it's all concentrated in the Caelin. Ilk gathers souls. Carolan shoves Caelin into the hole. Caelin notices that the ground has shifted, and slides into himself at the bottom of the hole. There is dislocation, then honey, then a greasy magic tingle, and then magic sight is very easy once again. - Carolan's new wards activate. Carolan is leaning forward over the hole, and the wards were designed for standing straight. Carolan is now falling down the hole. Carolan levitates himself out of the hole. - Elsewhere, magic is now available. - Ilk realizes the souls are of minor shadow things - barely worth keeping, and not worth Serpenting. They're hanging around, which is bad. They should go where Shadow souls go, but they aren't. Not that Ilk knows where Shadow souls go. Ilk threatens that which is within Caelin outside of Caelin's perceptions. Nothing happens. - Ilk compares notes with Princess Chandra. Ilk is fresh out of Serpent-powered minions. She assigns Ilk to investigate, and suggests that Caelin stay around (since the situation may be tied to him somehow). Ilk asks Caelin to help investigate. They talk, and Caelin notices a spell going off inside his head. Carolan notices that the spell redirects where Caelin wanted to go - and when Carolan pulls out the signature, it's recognizably Toram's. They examine the spell - it's not new. Ilk wonders how the spell could have targeted these coordinates - perhaps this shadow was one stored on Kintani, or perhaps the spell was detailed enough to recreate the shadow. Carolan checks the conditions - it's designed to trigger when Caelin is thinking of a safe haven to practice magic. - Ilk checks around - there are elements of this shadow that remind him of Cataan. The elements that seem similar are probably only detectable with Serpent power. - Cagliostro has finished with the Ifrit. He starts work on his healing queue of Al-Nazir and Jayne. - Caelin creates a spell-monitoring device internally and externally. The external device triggers a flash of power, and generates cherubs, etc. Carolan speculates that the place resonated at Caelin's frequency. Ilk waves the cuisinart around, and sucks in the new Toram mushroom bits. Ilk wants to see that again, and stares around with Serpent power to see where the soul bits are coming from. Caelin dispels his monitor first, and the dispel triggers the same effect. The bits are apparently being sifted from the Shadow itself - it's not necessarily going to be a full Toram, but it could act as a beacon or create a bunch of similar bits that could heal into Toram. It reminds Ilk of the soul engine, which ate souls and generated ubersouls. Ilk notices that there are fewer shadow-souls than there were a short while ago. Caelin realizes he can't leave the shadow, because his magic will separate. Other people point out that someone else could gate him out - Ilk suggests that Caelin yeti out. Caelin does, there's no blob of Caelin magic, and magic still works. Ilk suggests that Caelin create a gate for testing. Caelin does so, and there is a Caelin and his magic. This duplication seems to be a function of this shadow. Caelin doesn't notice, but everyone else does and points Caelin at his magic. Caelin no longer has the power to close the gate, so Carolan does. Nothing else changes. Ilk realizes that there were no toadstools jumping through - this time. Ilk checks House Moonlight - none around. No ways, the toadstools can't shadow walk. Ilk asks Caelin - Caelin reports that the hangerson were mostly toadstools, destroyed magically. Caelin jumps back into his magic. - Ilk checks some of the local shadows for Toram's true name, and can't find it. Ilk compares notes with Andron and Jenoir, who can't check for true names but speculate that Tate and the Archivist could check, ut are probably also potential targets. - Ilk finds Tate, who is doing pullups in Zorro's lab and talking to a deaf-mute kid, who is by definition ignoring Tate. Ilk asks Tate about true name magic, and shadow magic, and Tate admits to both ("I've been learning some from my son" and "Hey - I'm an Amberite."). Tate agrees to help Ilk, and not to spout out any true names he does happen to see. ("I'm an Amberite - okay, compared to some of my relatives, I'm a bright Amberite!") Ilk warns Ferethyn, Caelin, Natasha, and Carolan that Tate is incoming. Ferethyn pulls out a four-leaf clover on a chain, and wears it around his neck. Tate and Caelin chat, until Ilk puts a stop to it in this place. Tate takes a walk around, shadow walks away, shadow walks back. Ilk keeps the cuisinart in motion. - Tate explains he's going experiment, but it should be harmless. Caelin can see the magic, but nothing else happens. Tate experiments with cards, then with a hat (and a rabbit, and then rabbit stew). Tate tries something bigger, which involves a ring, cloth labeled "the Great Gonzo", and a short-distance gate. Still nothing. Tate opens a gate back to House Moonlight, and nothing else happens. It's clean. Tate says "It's just you, son!" They agree that it means their adversary isn't going after segments of the name. Tate closes the gate. Tate suggests that Caelin do something small, while he watches. Caelin conjures a pelican, and various things start popping. Tate says "Aha! Ha, ha, ha. Ooh. Okay, it is very basic - basic to the shadow. It's why this shadow exists. Other than this, I cannot say." Ilk asks Ferethyn/Andron to check into Tate's head to see if any more information could be gleaned. Ferethyn checks - shadow would have to be ripped apart to see things at that level. Ferethyn suggests a gardener. - Tate says he has one more trick to try - this could get his attention. Tate conjures dinner, including wandering minstrels. Natasha runs up and hugs her future father in law. People begin to eat. Ilk cuisinarts the food one more time. Everything is clear, including the mushroom-based dish. - Caelin decides to shadow walk away - Natasha decides to lead, and asks other people to work with her. Natasha asks Ilk to monitor, but he says that's generally disruptive to people walking. Natasha asks her to pull to them in a few - in a little while. They shadowwalk out, and Ilk checks - nothing else is going on. - Caelin finds shadow walking refreshing, and it's relaxing to let Natasha lead. - Ilk wards the shadow, and puts up Savior of Chaos tape. Ilk asks Ferethyn to put up a ward, and Ferethyn puts up Realms Mage tape.