Meanwhile... Arwen kept tabs on Chetwin, Dylana, and the Niallites, who were searching for something in a large field.
Morning came, and the lady of the house decided to talk to her visitors. The lady's name was Aphrodite, and she was Llewella's kidnapped daughter.
Meanwhile... Arwen was still monitoring. She called Flora, also, and got beginning lessons in ettiquette.
After some discussion with Aphrodite on the subject of why she had yet to return to Amber, Chet and Dy decided to take her with them to Martin's Shadow (mainly so they could find out who her father was). While they were getting ready, Isbel called and informed Chet that Julian wanted Arwen to have a "real" horse (as opposed to the two ponies she's already ridden and lost various places in Shadow and Chaos). Then Chet and Dy called Random to let him know they'd found Aphrodite; he, in turn, informed them that Morgenstern was missing.
Meanwhile... Arwen finished her ettiquette lesson with Flora and went back to monitoring Chet, Dy, and the Niallites.
By this time, Chet, Dy, and Aphrodite have made it to the stables and are saddling their Hellmares. Alice calls, with the (somehow unsurprising) news that Julian is pissed off. She comes through to the stables. Then Chet calls Martin, and the session stopped in mid-conversation about Aphrodite.
After some time trying (and failing) to get Aphrodite interested in who her father was, the party sent her off to talk with Martin. Meanwhile, Alice was in the middle of a series of Trump call, arguing with unspecified people. Arwen tried (and also failed) to talk Chetwin into an endurance duel, then Chetwin decided to lay hands on some of Aphrodite's DNA. That took a while.
Finally, they all noticed that Alice was no longer arguing over Trump, but was instead pacing restlessly on the other side of the room. Being nosy, they asked her what the problem was; she didn't know, so they retired to a nearby restaurant to consider the problem (and eat).
Meanwhile, elsewhere... Arwen got herself a duplicate of her amulet and a Trump of Amber (borrowed from Martin). She then walked the Pattern, and asked it to send her to Heaven. She examined the holy war ongoing in Heaven, then messed with Chetwin's computer, attempting to get a reading on who had taken Morgenstern and where. Next, she decided to try and reach Delwin's Shadow again, but failed miserably. Then she went to sleep.
Meanwhile, at another elsewhere... Chetwin and Dylana realized that Arwen still had her amulet. Chet became enraged and decided to teach Arwen some obedience. Dylana followed.
Amber, Arwen's room... The unsuspecting (and sleeping) Arwen was rudely awakened by Chetwin breaking down her door and throwing her against the wall. A brief semi-fight ensues between Chet and Arwen, with Dylana on the side trying to break it up. It ended up with Arwen passing out from fatigue (where she stayed for a large portion of the rest of the session).
Chet and Dy had a brief conversation with Kaylana, who was passing and noticed the broken door. Dylana then Trumped Aurana and spent some time in Shadow with her, learning Trump Artistry. Chetwin went to the library to write some notes, then discovered he'd been left a note from House Niall.
Dylana, meanwhile, made a Trump to a cave that she then filled with pawns. She also received a letter from House Niall.
Arwen finally woke up, ate large amounts of food, did some exercises, talked Jessica into getting her a Trump deck, and discovered a letter from House Niall, which she showed to Dylana, who showed both Ar's and Dy's letters to Chet. Chet took all three letters to Random and got permission to try and trap members of House Niall.
Finally, the whole party got together in Heaven and hauled Chet's computer back to Averick. Along the way, they met up with Niobe, who also was suffering from vague premonitions of doom and was checking on Alice and Caitlin. After Niobe departed and Dylana yelled at the Shadow people a bit for still keeping up their holy war, the session ended.
Chetwin left and proceeded to track Carnie to the Hellmare Shadow. He found Sand in the Shadow bordering the place, talking to her own Hellmare and trying to figure out how and why the Hellmares had locked everyone (including her) out of their Shadow. After a brief discussion, Sand called out one of the original horses.
Meanwhile, back in Averick... Dylana and Arwen, still arguing, Trump to Dylana's room, then back to the Tower. Dy Trumps Random and Julian and gives them both copies of her Trump of Arwen. Arwen was allowed to Trump Chetwin, eventually, but he had to go because the horse Sand had called was sniffing him.
Elsewhere... After the sniffing, Chet and Sand learn that the Hellmares have been attacked by House Niall and are trying to defend themselves. Sand talks them out of keeping Carnegie and Loutra (though one gets the idea they weren't sorry to let the two of them leave), as well as some of the other Hellmares with riders. Chet then proposes a formal alliance between the Hellmares and Amber to Sand.
Meanwhile... Dy and Arwen returned to Amber after Dylana talked to Alice and learned that Corwin and Ellyn were back in Amber (with Falstaff). Ar got to wander off while Dy searched for Falstaff and, once she found him, warned him to stay out of sight as much as possible. Ar runs into Ellyn in the kitchen, and then proceeded to Trump Corwin and talk at him for a few minutes. She then left the kitchen and got called by Dylana...
...Who was in the stables after Chet called to tell her that he had the horses. Dy spent a few minutes figuring out that Arwen called Corwin of her own volition and with her own Trumps and not with Ellyn's Trump of Corwin like she claimed. Chet talked to Random about the Hellmare-Amber alliance idea and an idea to set up an office of Averickians in Amber (which he'd already started recruiting for). Arwen searched out Alice and talked her into giving Shadow-walking lessons. She then returned to Amber.
Chet, meanwhile, finished talking to Random and started looking for the other two. Arwen finally called him, and the two discussed the Jewel of Judgment and the fact that it is in Coral's eyesocket.
Dylana, in the stables, got a weird and creepy Trump call...
Chetwin messed with his computer for a while, then got a call from Niobe, who told him about some members of House Niall who had defected. He picked up Dylana (who had been attempting to figure out how to make her Hellmare "un-drunk"), and they both went out to Chaos to talk with the defectors. They talked to the first of these, Loring.
Arwen, meanwhile, studied a bunch of books on theory, caught up on some history, and then got some ettiquette lessons from Flora. This was followed by a round of fighting lessons with Jessica. She then slept, and had peculiar dreams.
Meanwhile... Dylana got tired of questioning Peregrine and wandered off back to the Shadow of her birth. She picked up Tabby there and then Loutra on the way back to Amber, where all three took a nap.
Elsewhere... Arwen was Trumped by Delwin, who handed her a book and then closed the contact. She then attempted to shift Shadow back to her home Shadow and got stuck on the way, in a Shadow called the Rose Garden. She spent some time there, in the company of Panthea, daughter of Osric, and her pet snakes. Arwen eventually escaped.
Meanwhile... Chet went to the Shadow where the Pattern sent Bastion and found his brother missing. He then used his computer to find Bastion and took a nap. He dreamed about the Hall of Mirrors and learns that Deirdre is alive.
Elsewhere... Dylana questioned Alice and Aidan on the origin of Digit. Learning of his origin down in the Wharf District, she went looking for and found him. She also found a man and a woman who seemed to be in charge of him.
Somewhere else... Chet woke up and started chasing after Bastion. Winged him (if you'll excuse the pun), but didn't actually kill him. However, Chet called in Julian and almost rescued Morgenstern. The pair then headed back to Averick to use the computer to track both Bastion and Morgenstern.
Meanwhile... Dylana got a call from Arwen and had to update her on everything that happened while Ar was stuck in the Rose Garden. She then managed to persuade a lady and gentleman apparently in charge of Digit (and, presumably, his relatives) to let her drag him around through Amber, Chaos, and all points in between. They return to the palace; on the way, Dylana tried to determine whether or not Digit knows anything about Trumps. Digit, as usual, is not forthcoming. Then Chetwin called her and talked her into making the Trump he needed; she did so while Digit took a bath. She then called Chet with the Trump.
Elsewhere... Arwen called Dylana to get updated on things she missed, then went to Martin's Shadow. There she encountered most of the medical professionals in the Shadow, all of whom were on strike. She then tried to confront Aphrodite on the idea that she is involved in a circle of unknown Amberites; Aph was not particularly forthcoming on the subject, but did mention that there were eight members and that the circle had been active for some time. Ar also tried to extract some useful information out of the story of Aphrodite's kidnapping and escape.
Meanwhile... Dylana went down to the stables with Digit and Tabby in tow (GM's thought of the day: Why is it that, of the three PC's, Dylana is the one that ends up with an entourage?). She checked on Carnie for Chet and met up with Aidan, which led to her borrowing a Hellmare for Digit to ride around on (That's another one for her entourage...). She then went to Martin's Shadow to get armor for Digit.
Everyone was now in Martin's Shadow!!
They all then promptly left the Shadow to go rescue Morgenstern and assault Bastion. After infiltrating the base, they encountered (and killed) a group of plastic beings, thus freeing Morgenstern. Chet then volunteered to scout around, and overheard Bastion talking to Meara. He returned to the others and they planned an ambush. However, they were attacked by a large purple beast first. They killed it, with a great deal of help from Digit (who revealed himself as something of a sharpshooter when it comes to throwing daggers). About that time, Meara revealed that she knew they were there; she escaped, but Julian kept Bastion busy until Chet came and knocked his brother out.
Arwen was the only injury; she returned to Amber to get healed. Dylana collected Digit, Ciaran the Hellmare, Loutra, and Tabby (Her entourage...) and returned to Chetwin's Shadow. Chet also returned to his Shadow, but for entirely different reasons. He stored the unconscious Bastion in a cell he built in the parking garage of his tower and asked Sand to magically protect it.
Dy and Chet called Kaylana back about her all-kids family meeting. About that time, Arwen showed up again, loaded down with weapons for no apparent reason. While they waited for Kaylana to call back and say it was time for the meeting, Chet tried to interest Digit in capitalist practices, Dy drew a Trump of Digit, and Arwen tried a Trump scrying.
Finally, they all were ready to go to Amber.
Chet left after a while and started his quest to commit an act of brain surgery on his brother. First he tried to talk his chief lackey, Falstaff, to be a willing candidate for surgery, but Falstaff was understandably reluctant. After a bit of private melodrama, Chet retired to Shadow and located Dr. Ishmael, a brain surgeon, to take back to Averick.
Meanwhile... Dylana departed the family gathering and went to play with Trumps again. Random caught her playing with one of the Trumps she "borrowed" from Dworkin and took them all away. He then sent her to Kashfa to spy on Dalt a bit. She then went searching for Caitlin in order to have some sort of guide (and at Random's suggestion).
Meanwhile... Arwen left the meeting and started trying to break into Brand's room. She failed at conventional lock-picking, so she decided to walk the Pattern and get it to teleport her into Brand's room. She instead ended up in a cell somewhere within the power of House Niall.
...Who was showing Dr. Ishmael around Averick for research purposes. Chet reluctantly handed over the Trumps from Dworkin's study when Dylana asked for them. After the call, he spent a while collecting Shadows of Bastion and watching Ishy (the affectionate nickname for the good Dr. Ishmael) study both the clones and the Averickians. Then he called Dylana back; they chatted about Arwen for a bit, then got off. Then he and Ishy practiced for the brain transplant.
Meanwhile... Dylana examined the Trumps from Dworkin's study and copied just the pictures on two of them (a blonde man and a blonde woman). She wandered around Amber a bit until Chet called. After the call, she wandered some more, looking for someone (not Random) who could tell her the identities of people on the Trumps. She asked Fiona but Fi didn't know. Chetwin called and wanted through, so she let him through.
Chet proceeded to retrieve the Dworkin Trumps from Dylana; then he headed off to check on the pile of blue goo (from session 16), which wasn't guarded to his satisfaction. While he was inspecting it, it began to pulse at him; he decided further study was in order.
Meanwhile... Dylana, Tabby, and Digit went down into the city to let the panther torment dogs.
Meanwhile, far removed... Arwen (wondering, weren't you?) sat in her cell. She was visited by a member of House Niall, then left to her own devices until the arrival of Mordred and his pet raven Morgana. They chatted for a while (using the bird as a translator) about the fact that the room seemed to be heavily masked in some kind of illusion.
