In time (read: once I stop working and between various baby related things), I plan on getting the Wiki more up to date, though it has been having bits and pieces added regularly by a couple of the players, with my eternal thanks. Eventually, I'd like to get all of the public logs up there... and some of the news articles.

I think my players are enjoying the game, so there's a good chance you would too. :) Let me know if you want to check it out.

I think the two week break was something I needed. I'm coming back into both my characters and Seasons of Mist feeling refreshed and full of ideas. I may not always have a firm grasp on what they're going to do next, but for the most part, I feel comfortable in them, like putting on an old, favorite pair of jeans.

Which means, now that I'm feeling comfortable about characters again, I can start working on one of my other problem spots - descriptions.

I left a little early to go get my laptop so I could continue to take quotes and, before I could head back out to where we were originally supposed to game, was interrupted by Paul and Rich, who told me we'd instead be in Michael and Ginger's room.

Dinner itself was a strange affair. Gabe sat down by Frederick, making small talk (though the words, "I'm Sir Gareth of Avalon" made him sit up because it seems as though Avalonians are popping out of the woodwork!) As the night got later and the moon rose, Random finally told us what was going on - namely, that Tir was back, he started up it last night and was met on the way down by Donovan with the body of Random's daughter, Jack. And around this time was when DOnovan entered and the number of visible sharp pointing things in the room about doubled.

Donovan caught everyone up to date about the Silverwood and the Greenwood and a little bit about Rhi (IIRC). And Random charged everyone with finding out what was changed about Tir.

There were actually three contingents going up. One was looking for Rhiannon, and that included Sebestian and Gabriel. One was looking for Del and that included Cadmus and Martin (was Merlin part of that contingent? I can't remember). And the final was actually doing what Random requested - that, I believe, was everyone else.

Once they got to the top of Tir, things did look different to everyone that had been here before. And now was the time for Gabe to try to Trump Rhiannon. She, of course, had no idea what a Trump Call was and started batting it around in her head like a cat with a shiny object. (Gabe was starting to get one hell of a headache.) Finally, when he called her name, she stopped long enough for him to get through a little and he managed to pull her through to join the rest of them. And boy, was she DIFFERENT! He still is having a hard time wrapping his head around Relatively-Grown-Up-Rhiannon-with-a-Two-Year-Old-Mind. He's just not sure how to deal with her.

In the meantime, the other groups started to move off toward their own goals when said groups found these silvery paths through the woods. Cadmus did SOMETHING that drew Rhi's attention to it (I think Gabe was still busy trying to wrap his mind around this and didn't quite catch it) and she went barreling through the woods to push Frederick away from her paths.

Again, this is the part where things got fuzzy for me, but I do remember Rhiannon leading Sebestian and Gabe to her "home" and something happening to agitate her (that something being Martin and Merlin walking the Pattern together) and her tearing back through the woods, inadvertantly leaving Sebestian and Gabe behind until Gabe started to Trump her, effectively poking her with a stick so she remembered them and they could follow.

When they got to the Paths, a very pissed Rhi started following them to get them off of it because they weren't doing it right (ie, they weren't skipping like Del had and Del was the only one Rhi had seen walking the Paths.) It was getting close to dawn by this point, and everyone needed to get back (they were told by Random that they were all required to be at Court that morning) so just before Martin and Merlin finished their Walk, Sebestian handed Gabe through to the Castle Courtyard and, instead of following through, closed the Trump Contact, which brought forth a string of invectives from Gabe and the decision that he'd avoid Julian like the plague (there was no way that he was going to tell him "Yeah, I left behind two of your children up there.") A few minutes later, Martin and Merlin arrived in the same place and Gabe helped get them back to them back to their own rooms (at least, I hope I actually vocalized that rather than just thought it at the time.)

I don't know exactly what happened with the Tir contingent, other than knowing that Tir had changed. And I do know that Cadmus found Persephone (at some point before Rhi started skipping off for Home) and the two of them headed back to Amber for a "reunion".

I've got a few new plans for Gabe now, the main one being going back up and trying to find Rhi and Sebestian. Moonrise is going to be far too long away.

As the game was ending, Glen came in to say good-bye and I got a wonderful Glen-hug (and much needed, actually). Olaf, Brenda, Tara, Liz and Karen also showed up about then and, not long after, Bridgette left so she could get home and relax a little before starting her job as Mommy once more.

I also decided to leave for my room at about this time for the two-fold reason of being tired and being a bit... peopled out? I've found that I'm really uncomfortable in large groups and, by the time everyone was in Michael and Ginger's room that would be staying for the social time, I was already getting uncomfortable with the thought of it. So I made my good-byes with the full intention of getting a little rest, recentering myself on Amber, and fortifying myself for a larger group (though I knew that they were going to break off into smaller groups at a later time, which I knew would help.)

But, best laid plans of rodents and human beings, or so they say. After a couple hours, I decided I could handle dealing with people again and, upon trying to rise from the couch, managed to twist my ankle and go down. Attempts at walking around the room were painful - I wasn't about to try to make it over to Deb's room. So I called Rich and asked him if he could come get me some ice (and bring me a soda) and, as much as I hated to, asked him if he could cut the night a little shorter so I didn't have to spend all afternoon and evening completely alone. He promised he'd only spend a couple more hours and be back soon.

I did make the most of my time alone, however, by finally watching the first race I had a chance to of the season (Sonoma - and Tony won!) and catching up on a couple episodes of Charmed. Something was better than nothing. Rich came back at around 9, and I was already in bed and kind of asleep, thinking he wouldn't come back. So when I woke up, we played a little Myst IV (the other thing that kept me occupied) and, when board with that, put on our Doctor Who playlist to fall asleep to. I barely heard Olaf and Paul come in - I think they went to sleep within very few moments of getting back to the room.

Neither Rich nor I slept overly well that night and got up before our alarm went off at 6. Most of our things were already packed and the rest got packed after our shower. Both Paul and Olaf were up before we left (Olaf, briefly, and then he went back to bed; Paul because of a killer cramp in his leg) so we got a chance to say good-bye. Paul acutally joined us for breakfast and the three of us chatted over breakfast, primarily about an article was saw in the paper about the test that can reveal a babies gender early in a woman's pregnancy. Interesting article, interesting discussion.

The Zebra shuttle was a little early this time, so it was a quick good-bye to Paul and then off to brave the trials of rush hour traffic. But we still made it to the airport with more than enough time, upgraded ourselves again, and had a much bumpier flight home than our flight in had been. Then, once we got home, I collapsed for a long, long sleep.

So that was the adventures of TBR. It was great seeing everyone there, and meeting Brian, Carolyn and Meera for the first time. I'm already looking forward to next year's Con.

But Monsters! made up for it all.

At this point, a lot of things are melding together in my mind - whether it be from the late hour of the game itself, or the fact that I've been spending most of my morning writing my reviews of all of my games, I'm not sure. But I'll see how much I can put together.

It all started with a baby-sized coffin being delivered to my bar, The Laughing Unicorn - something I had no knowledge of. And while this was happening, so was a dead body being found behind my bar, one of my girls going missing and about sixteen million other things. It took awhile to investigate this coffin.

While all of this was happening at and around the Laughing Unicorn, Lady Tabitha was having a hellacious morning herself - first with her visit to Lady Helm and trying to pull information from her, and then her visit with Flora (who is, by far, the scariest Flora I've ever seen in her total meta-spiritual ways!) Tabitha needed a lot of drinks and, therefore, made her way to the Laughing Unicorn for it.

In the meantime, we'd found out that a) the body behind my bar was bloodless, b) the body of one of my girls was found in her bed much the same way, c) the girl that I'd sent to fetch the dead girl (not knowing she was dead at the time, of course) was missing and d) the coffin had two bottles in it. Also, there had been another, more adult sized coffin that showed up, this time with three people in it - people that were almost better classified as bodies. This, of course, sent the Admiral to the Laughing Unicorn, all because of the smaller coffin. I decided to hide the bottles of wine under my bed (safest place, by my thinking.) Also in here, the Dean of the University was doing something we all considered weird - forensics. He was a truly odd duck who liked to lecture.

While talking with Tabitha, we traded some information, including the fact that the stuff in the coffin was EVIL. Of course, that immediately made me move it.

This is where things get fuzzt for me again, but I know in this time frame we found zombies, a necromancer, a frankenstein's monster type creature, Tabitha found the missing girl, I smelled the wine in the bottles and was REALLY intrigued (only the thought of "Tabitha said it's evil" kept me from drinking it), a zombie bonfire, the answer to the question of how to keep a vampire in it's jail cell was answered, and a plot was hatched in which we'd take down the frankenstein's monster thing and I got to use my double damage shot gun.

The plot didn't go exactly as planned - we thought we were in a warded circle where the creature wouldn't be able to go, but apparently that doesn't apply when it's been blown out of the sky by a double damage shotgun. It landed on me and the smell of it's blood made me want to drink more. It was because of this that Tabitha shoved me into a rain barrel and I ended up walking into my bar wearing the Dean's tweed coat (since the white shirt I was wearing showed a little more than I preferred to my customers!) Someone else - the Admiral, I think - ended up with his nostrils burnt out for a month thanks to the Dean's quick thinking. Then Tabitha realized we needed to drown the bottles, and that would also take care of the necromancer, so all of us, except for the Captain of the Guard (who was engaged in the glorious tradition of CYA), went out to sea where we took care of the problem once and for all. The zombie burning that had been started at Amber U. actually became a yearly tradition, though (from what we'd heard).

After Monsters!, I left to join Paul and Rich at the Swan game and game in just in time to hear the word "Zombie" mentioned. I felt right at home! I only got to see the last few minutes of the game, but they seemed to have had as much fun in that game as we had in ours. The group broke up not long after I showed up and then Paul, Rich, Olaf and I headed back to our room for more chatting, sharing and, eventually, sleep.

The three of them started out in the Castle, at the very beginnings of Gerard's regency. It wasn't until the second day that things started to get weird in the form of sapphire scaled demons showing up in the castle. As they followed them, they found themselves headed toward the dungeons and, eventually, toward what had once been Corwin's cell. (Not that they really knew it as such. It just seemed to make the most sense.) Near the crude drawing of a study - which only Clio recognized as Dworkin's, the demons seemed to be popping out of thin air once every five minutes. They finally made it to Dworkin's study to find Gerard fighting off a stream of the same creatures, only these were popping up every minute and a half. He was also guarding an old man, sitting in a half lotus position.

They got a little more information from Gerard here - Gerard had been given the task of protecting Dworkin while Oberon fixed the Pattern. When the demons started appearing, Dworkin muttered something about how he should have destroyed it, sat down and sent himself through a silver archway, shimmering with rainbow energy. The PCs were charged with following him and making sure he got back safely.

In doing so, they entered Castle Arcania. I don't remember the order of the rooms they went into, but I do remember that, upon entering, K'van got shot at with crossbow bolts from the walls because of having Logrus and, to escape it, shapeshifted into a wolf (surprised his cousins a bit there). I also remember them going into the Dragon's Crypt, where K'van and Robert got mentally sucked into the crystal ball and saw four glowing ribbons of color phrases. K'van was able to read more of them (as they were written in both Thari and ancient Choasian) than Robert was (he made out "Sword" and "Martyr"). K'van, of course, had to try the spells and, as they are want to do, they had both good and bad results. He did, however, give the sword to Robert in the end.

They also had a talk with Dworkin, where they found out the whys of Castle Arcania (basically that it was built by him as a place to experiment with logrus and pattern) and that they needed to secure the one cornerstone that hadn't been secured, and try to regain the previously taken cornerstones. And that they needed to seek out the witch.

Somewhere in here, they also had to solve the riddle of the well of Frost. Honestly, I, as the Ice Queen, should not have been trying to help them but I knew that if I hadn't, it would take them forever to figure it out. It still took them awhile, but finally, they figured it out. Will told me later that there was one breaking of the rule that neither Rich nor I consistantly caught. Ah well, at least they still got it.

Things got the most interesting when K'van found out that the main villainess was his mother and spent a good deal of time trying to get away from the rest of the group to talk to her. Finally (after he and Robert were side-swiped by a 24-foot obsidian golum), he was able to convince Robert to go back to Clio without him while he took five minutes to find his mother. There, he made a pact with her to help her control Castle Arcania.

In the meantime, Clio was finding and securing the fourth cornerstone. Right before they left, they pulled K'van back and right before he left, he pulled his mother in. They managed to find their way to one of the remaining cornerstones (K'van's mother was in the only other one unaccounted for), after defeating the obsidian golum and there Clio got a surprise by finding that the other main villian was her biological father. They also found Merlin as a battery for Pattern/Logrus energy in the room (anyone who's seen the Doctor Who episode Bad Wolf, Merlin looked like the Controller). While Robert fought Clio's father, Clio was trying to free Merlin and K'van was trying to prevent her from doing so. Then it became a fight to the death between Clio and K'van, Robert and Clio's father, ending with everyone dead. I, of course, sat there in slight shock because this is the first game I've ever played (aside from Paranoia, and that doesn't really count because of the clones) in which everyone ended up dead.

It seemed as though everyone had a good time, though, and that was the most important part. It also got me a little more experience in actual GMing - answering questions as a GM should for K'van and becoming more comfortable with it all. By next year's TBR, I may feel comfortable enough to actually helm a game, as long as I have some kind of back-up in case I get over my head.

After we were finished, we split all headed out to our own games. Luckily, I was in Paul's More Than You Think You Are Amber/Nobilis cross-over, so I just got to go back to my room.

For MTYT, I'd brought back Maya, my favorite recurring character (particularly when it comes to Paul's games, because she and Hadrian have a relationship that helps add much angst.) She ended up getting played a lot harder than usual, for which I blame the headache.

It all started with an invitation to a picnic with Aunt Flora. Maya really didn't want to go. She was still holding a bit of a grudge for Aunt Flora for things done during Status Quo Ante Bellus (Paul's game back at ACUS 2004) so Aunt Flora wasn't among the people she most wanted to see. Hadrian, however, talked her into going. The rest of the cast seemed fairly ok with going - particularly Raven because she hadn't gotten an invitation and showed up anyway.

Flora wasn't around when we all first arrived, so Hadrian and Leila played around in the water while Maya watched, Verrain ate cucumber sandwiches (a LOT of cucumber sandwiches) and Raven sat with her gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. Clio, if I remember correctly, was busy setting up her team as guards and I'll be damned if I can remember what Davis was doing. When Flora did show up, she told us that dinner would be ready in a couple hours. The one highlight I remember from this was Leila walking into the woods and finding that a) she hit a barrier and b) when she tried to Shadow-shift, it was a lot harder than it should have been. Of course, at the moment, she told no one.

Dinner was an outdoor, picnic affair. Flora started to talk to us and, timed with someone swearing (Raven, I think) a large crack of thunder rang through the air, Flora looked concerned and left, disappearing halfway to the lodge. This was when several things happened on the players end: 1) Maya started to follow her and, when she reached the place where Flora disappeared, found nothing but an odd feeling spot; 2) Raven took off for the house, which resulted in Maya following her when she blew by her; 3) Leila and Verrain took on their hither-to-unknown demonforms, which resulted in Davis being very wary of the potato salad, since that was the last thing he saw either of them eat.

Inside the house, Raven was going to lay a trap for Flora, turning on all the burner without lighting them. Then she decided to search Flora's study, while Maya decided to search the rest of the house. In Flora's study, she found a poor dopleganger-of-the-opposite-sex (which is one of the reasons it was a poor dopleganger) that immediately tried to take her out. Luckily, Raven thought fast enough to save most of her skin and, eventually, lead the whatever-the-hell (later, we found out it was a mimic) through the house and right into Leila and Verrain's blades. (They had followed the other two into the house, hearing the sounds of gunfire and, later, sword play.) Upon being killed, but before turning to black ichor, the being looked at Leila and said "I wasn't for you", which confused the party somewhat (and became the anti-valentine quote).

While this was going on, Maya found her own dopleganger in the basement. This one, however, matched her in sex. It was a fairly close fight, though it took the help of Raven, who arrived at the same time as Clio's tear gas started to water her eyes (and I don't even remember WHY Clio thought sending tear gas in would be a good idea), to take this one down. Maya asked the creature who she was and only got "X-cri..." before it, too, turned into black ichor.

When the group was finally all back together, Raven wanted to Trump out while everyone else (other than Maya) wanted to Hellride out. Maya joined Raven and (I think) this is where Flora was Trumped, and she seemed to be in a not-Random version of the Throne Room. It was then that Raven and Maya went to Amber Castle to confront her.

I know that, somehow, this was about the time that the rest showed up but at the moment, I'll be damned if I can remember how (a lot of the game has become fuzzy in my mind, and I'd greatly appreciate anyone who can come in and help clarify the details). We were in the Pattern room, but with no Pattern and around 47 dead bodies lying around Flora. And this is when we started finding out about what was going on - the higher power, the Imperators, the more-real-than-Amber place we were in, and all the rest. Of course, neither Maya nor Raven wanted her talking - Raven was trying to shoot her and Maya was trying to get close enough to stab her. Eventually, between the two of them, it worked out that Maya was able to get her sword through Flora - not that it did her much good.

Finally, once all was explained, Flora offered them each their spheres of influence, which they were going to have whether they wanted them or not. I can't remember all of them, but I know Davis had defense, Clio had rage and justice, Raven had guns and destruction, Maya had honor and swordsmanship, Verrain had knowledge... the others have blanked. Everyone took it willingly (though Maya really needed to be convinced) except for Raven. The ironic thing was that, while she didn't take it willingly, she seemed to have the most fun with it.

When they got back to the real Castle Amber, some people tried to tell others about it (and were barely believed), Hadrian and Maya were spending some "quality time" together, and Verrain's use of knowledge found out some Very Bad Things, in terms of what they were and were not allowed to do. His first stop was Hadrian's room because, of course, his knowledge included their relationship and that was number one on the list of no-nos. All of a sudden, Maya really didn't like this added responsibility after all. The information of the rules was passed around to the rest and that was pretty much the end of the night.

Paul admitted that he didn't get to delve into as much Nobilis as he'd originally had planned but I think Paul is finding more and more of his games aren't going entirely as planned, yet is having just as much of a good time for it. I, myself, was pretty glad that the game was coming to an end - not for the game itself but because the migraine was pretty much coming to it's height. So when everyone else left (including Paul, who went to socialize), I grabbed my blinders, took my last two Tylenol (since I can't take my Imitrex because of the baby) and settled into a much needed sleep.

The way life has been beating Deb and Bridgette around, they weren't able to really get much put together for this slot. So much of the working of things out was done while they were in the grocery store. Once everyone finally arrived, they had us pick Elder's names out of a bowl (or Deb's hand, can't remember which) and, if we were truly unhappy with it, we could switch.

We were required to come up with three "knacks" and an item. My first one came fairly easily to me. I decided that Fiona was able to blame Random for anything without getting caught herself. Will unknowingly played right into my hand by having one of Random's knacks be that he could play any practical joke. My other two were an instant recall of anything she reads (which didn't help overly much because what she read was magic) and she was good at finding hiding places (which did come in useful, even if one of the hiding places was the laundry chute.) Her item were a pair of earrings that she could eavesdrop with.

And once everyone was ready (Jeff finally being given Caine's last knack of being able to take a nap at the most convient times), play started. It started with Deb pretty much reading from the game book and then things changed.

Early on, Random and Fiona split off from the others (forming a very unexpected Random/Fiona Cabal). Fiona was only along so she could blame Random, but then everything fast became Brand's fault. They ended up meeting Cymnea and telling her that Oberon had other wives ("Very Interesting" became a recurring comment), trying to Trump people and getting their mirrors in this universe (and they thought getting Eric to bring them home by telling him he'd be leaving Corwin behind would be a GOOD idea!), and finally deciding to try walking the Pattern, which of course involved first trying to dress up Random to look like Oberon and, when we knew that wouldn't work, dressing up a coat rack to look like Oberon while Random did ventriliquism. We never found out if it worked because that's when the guards tried to catch us and we went down the laundry chute.

So the next brilliant idea called for looking for Cymnea's rooms and The Book to see if there were any spells that would help us. Individually, we read the spell that would make us invisible and allow us to cancel it whenever we wanted, which, of course, meant that we couldn't see each other. Fiona reached out (high) to grab ahold of Random's shirt so the two of them wouldn't be separated come hell or high water. Then, it was back to the Pattern room.

Their timing couldn't have been better because it was at that point that Arwen (Osric, Finndo and Benedict's sister) was trumping the rest of the family in. We managed to sneak by them and started walking the pattern together (Which reminds me, Deb... knowing what happened similarly in ACD, what kind of consequences WERE there for Random and Fiona with this - if any?) Apparently, right before she brought the rest of the family in, Arwen had told them that no one would set foot near the Pattern. So when she saw a flare and Random and Fiona just appear on the Pattern, her sword came out. Brand tried to lock her in the Trump Contact (since he was on the other end of the Trump) but it only worked somewhat well - the contact held, but her hand kept moving and he got stabbed through the Trump Contact. Oops. It would have been Caine, if not for his ability to nap. So this is how Brand found out you can stab someone through a Trump Contact.

Meanwhile, Fiona and Random found out that it really WAS hard and, when Fi wanted to stop it, Random pulled out one of his fliched Trumps (he stole a Trump deck from the library when they first arrived in this universe) and, as Fiona gently pushed him around the Pattern, he contacted Cymnea to get them out. She did so, but brought Oberon in. Once again (because every time they met someone, they needed to do it) they explained how they got here, blaming it all on Brand. ("Brand made me read the book!") Oberon put them to sleep in a locked room, but thanks to Random's hidden alarm clock, they managed to wake up and then trumped Finndo. (They aren't the most intelligent of children!) Coming through to Finndo, they once again saw Flora, who changed to their side, and were finally Trumped back to Oberon in the Pattern Room, where Benedict was now walking the Trump under Oberon's direction (he wanted to see if he'd end up with Crispy-Fried Benedict, since he wasn't of the same exact blood). Once he was successful, Cymnea sent them all back - this time, however, sending Arwen with them. They still weren't quite home, though. Again, they saw Finndo's daughter Illisandra (who had been in the library the first time they arrived and had taken to following Random and Fiona around the castle because they were interesting), only this time, she took one look at Benedict, screamed and ran, crying "The traitor has returned!" or something of the like.

And now we're ready for next year.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to find out too much of what happened with the other group because Will and I were having way too much fun running Random and Fiona in their own little world. But I look forward to hearing what they were trying to do while we kept messing with everything else!

So now, on with the weekend.

Our flight in was fairly uneventful, other than the fact that AirTran offers fairly cheap upgrades to business class and as such, we got a few extra goodies. I spent the whole flight listening to the free XM Radio, particularly one of the country stations. There was a good interview with Charlie Daniels on Bill Anderson's show which, sadly, I didn't get to listen to en toto because we landed. From there, the only problem was the Zebra shuttle taking forever to show up. But even with it's arriving half an hour late, we made it to the hotel right about on time. Olaf had already arrived, so he was checked in. He'd left a note for us on the door, telling us where he was so after dropping off our bags, we went down to the pool to join everyone. (At which time, I realized I'd forgotten my suit - ah well, I wouldn't have been able to join them in the hot tub anyway.) There was a lot of chat about a variety of things (including alternate names for Pack-n-plays, which now immediately come to mind as Pack-n-stores!) Everyone split briefly to change and then a bunch of us met in Deb's room for more chatting.

At around 1030 or 11, we split back up because of the large number of tired people in the suite. Olaf, Rich and I went back to our room and were still chatting when Paul finally showed up, safe and sound from his own flight from Minnesota. It wasn't too much longer before we called it a night.

Friday

Breakfast was the usual lot of chattering as tables filled up. Deb offered to take people out with her to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's before finally ending up at Hanneford's for anything we couldn't get at the other two. So before game books/game sheets were out, 7 of us left for the wilds of shopping. It was my first time going to either Whole Foods or TJs, and I've found that these are place I simply must shop at more often. Rich and I didn't pick up a lot at either of these stores, nor did Paul. (Though the rest that were with us - Deb, Bridgette, Ginger & Michael - did.) But what we did get... I definitely need to plan my next grocery shopping trip with the car and head over to TJs.

We made a brief stop at the hotel after TJs to drop off what we picked up there and then headed to Hanneford's for the rest. Here, we picked up a lot more. And, while we walked over, Rich, Paul and I took up Deb's generous offer for a drive back.

Lunch was fairly brief, the four occupants of our room enjoying chicken sandwiches, before it was time for the first slot.

(The next entry will be Trading Spaces... I'm finding these reviews fairly long!)

Will Wagner – Random
Rich DiTullio – Brand
Brenda McCartney – Flora
Paul Weimer – Benedict
Jeff McDonald – Caine
J.P. Brannan – Corwin
Amber DiTullio – Fiona

Paul: And my item is… duh… a sword
J.P.: Your sword is named Duh?
Deb: That’s why Corwin’s sword had the foofy name. Because Benedict already took Duh?

(While trying to figure out at third knack for Caine)
J.P.: Either that or be able to fake your own nap time.

Bridgette: And she shuts the book firmly.
Fiona: Are we still here?

Random: That would be an interesting meeting. They would both pull their pointy “Duh”s.

Deb: Hey Bridgette – If Arwen trumps Benedict or does she get Benedict?

Fiona: But we’re blaming it on Brand so it will all be ok.

Caine: What did he say?
Fiona: Who are you? Click.
Corwin: He called you a click?

Deb: Because he fucked Fialle, had Eric…

Deb: There’s a Roger in the kitchen
Amber: There’s a rogering in the kitchen?
?: *That’s* where Oberon is.

Arwen: Do I need to do anything about the ones that went down the laundry chute?

Bridgette: It’s like Bambi on Ice.

Fiona: But we did go. She didn’t say not to come back.

Deb: Shove the entrails back in. We don’t need to read those today.

Deb: For the three people who can act right now, because two are walking the pattern and one is on her knees. NOT the way you’re thinking, no matter how much Corwin would like it to be.

At various points, by various people:
This is how Brand learned to trap a room.
This is how Brand learned not to bleed on a pattern.
This is how Brand learned that you can stab through a trump contact.
And this is where Brand discovers megalomania.

Deb: Brand is gutted to save his siblings.
Rich: What kind of Bizarro World…

Corwin: At this point, we should either leave or tattle.

Deb: Would Oberon know how to get them off?

Deb: But she (Cymnea) can’t come through.
J.P.: But she knows she can stab through a trump contact.

Deb: And Oberon’s coming through
Brand: And suddenly lying on the floor bleeding isn’t so bad.

Re: Random and Fiona walking the Pattern
Brenda: He’s their Father. He can sign the permission slip.

Deb: New knack. They have five minutes of Pattern Imprint.
Fiona: Yes! We’ve got more than our siblings.
Caine: They can walk through Shadow but not get anywhere?

Dworkin: That doesn’t answer the question.
Benedict: No, it doesn’t.
Rich: That’s so Benedict.

Random: We came from Amber but we assumed it was another one because it’s not this one.

J.P.: So Fiona is sleeping with Random?

Arwen: I meant no ill to your brother. He simply got in the way of my blade.

Jeff: Noble sacrifices don’t usually include “Sacrifice them”.
Amber: Yes, but you’re nobles!

Bridgette: We had huh (pointing to Deb), duh (pointing to Benedict) and now Finndo has oy vey.

Random: It’s better to appear honest so then when you’re dishonest later…
Fiona: So THAT’S how you get away with it all.

Fiona: And it’s all Brand’s fault.
Flora: He made us do it.
Random: We’re corrupting her!

Random: Nice deck by the way. Mine’s a lot bigger.
Bridgette: Are you saying that to Illisandra or her father?

Oberon (to Finndo): I believe you have my not-children with you?

More Than You Think You Are – Quotes

Bridgette Ruggles – Raven, daughter of Flora
Carolyn LaChance - Leila, daughter of Caine
Rich DiTullio – Verrain, son of Julian
Amber DiTullio – Maya, daughter of Gerard
Lou Evans – Davis, son of Random
J.P. Brannan – Clio, daughter of Fiona (unknown though)

J.P.: Actually, I come to AmberCons to get away from those.
Paul: What, cucumber sandwiches?

Paul: And the odd duck…
Lou: I didn’t know Clio was a duck
J.P.: She’s in disguise.

Rich: Flora would rip off her own fingers before using finger quotes.
Lou (as Flora): I have someone for that. (claps. Uses finger quotes.)

(After a large blast of thunder, following Raven swearing)
Davis: Maybe swearing isn’t allowed in this Shadow.

Leila: My what a lovely form you’re wearing.
Verrain: Thank you. I made it myself.
Davis: Then it’s not the potato salad?

Davis (to Clio): I don’t suppose you have an extra gun? I’m feeling underdressed.

Leila: Watch out for someone in tasteful capris carrying a broadsword.
Davis: My, what tasteful capris.

Leila: “I wasn’t yours”. What does that mean?
J.P.: The anti-Valentine.

Re: Talking about Maya’s dopleganger’s last word
J.P.: I think she was trying to say “X-Crimental”.

Leila: Only we’re allowed to kill family!

Davis: Well, I know that Raven is paranoid, but I don’t think that means we don’t need to be worried.

Clio: Does she look disturbed by this?
Paul: Yes
Clio: Does she look distressed by this?
Paul: Yes
Davis: Does she look like she’s dying?
Paul: No

What kind of benefits package do you have?
Rich: Do you have dental?

Flora: You would have responsibilities that they would not.
Clio: The responsibility to guns and demolition?

Flora (to Davis): You are defense.
Clio: You are a fence?
Davis: Yeah, you have a watch you want to sell?

Re: Flora’s stabbing skill
Leila: Auntie-seudo Flora’s really good.

When Lou’s phone rings
Lou (as Davis): Excuse me. I told dad to call me if he stops existing.

Davis: Are we under any compulsion to aid I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Flora’s agenda?

Flora: What’s it going to be, yes or no?
Clio: Keep in mind your answer doesn’t matter.

Flora: My portfolio is knowledge, not dissemination.

Clio: We all go up the stairs.
Leila: I will follow your stair-climbing plan.

Re: Maya & Hadrian’s relationship
Paul: You can penetrate if they push hard enough.

Davis: Do I have any connection to them? Since we’re siblings in all this Timothy Leary drug fantasy?

Leila: I’m not sure I can really explain it.
Davis: I hope you can, since I already told someone that you could.

Davis: Are you busy right now?
Paul: You hear EXPLOSIONS.
Davis: Yeah, but we were at a picnic and I heard explosions…

Verrain: Unfortunately, I must refer you to rule five.
Lou: “Don’t Kill the Bitch.”

Maya: Everything we do happens in the privacy of Hadrian’s own bedroom
Clio: Now online at www.handriansroom.com

Leila: I want to pull the family in this room onto Radio Free Nobilis.

The Back Door – Quotes

Jeff McDonald – Robert, son of Eric
Will Wagner – K’van, son of Caine
J.P. Brannan – Clio, daughter of Fiona (unknown daughter)

Robert: We’ll let the food and drink through
Amber: But who’s going to carry it?
K’van: Gerard!

Rich: There are these sapphire-scaled demons that just kind of appear.
Robert: We are supposed to challenge those.

Rich: It’s not that he’s blocking…
Clio: Gerard blocking. (laughs)

Rich: There’s just nothing there.
Clio: So it’s like a normal trump of Gerard.

Robert: So we’re still in the basement.
Clio: I continue to let him think that.

Robert: But I don’t want to live in castle full of nasty little blue demons.
K’van: It’s ok. You get used to it after awhile.
Robert: O-k

Re: Going through Dworkin’s Trump gate
Clio: Shall we taste the rainbow?

Clio: We’re checking for traps.
Rich: How will you do that?
Robert: By walking down the hall.

Rich: The tapestries are embedded with crossbow bolts.
Clio: I make a note to shed a tear at a later date.

Will: He pulls a lit torch out of his ass.
Amber: Damn those hemorrhoids!

Rich: You pick out the word “sword”.
Robert: That’s good.
Rich: You also pick out the word “martyr”.
Robert: That’s not so good.

Rich: You actually see him reach his hand into the crystal…
Robert: Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. He said not to do that!
K’van: Sorry, Toto, we’re not in Amber any more.

K’van (to Robert): They said Azazel commands our death?
Robert: Don’t ask me. Ask him. All I heard was (long string of guttural nonsense sounds)

K’van: I only have two hands and there are three spells in there…
Robert: Go for the third one with your teeth

K’van: What is your name?
Rich (as cold ephemeral): Unimportant. Where is my price?
K’van points at Robert.

(simultaneously)
K’van: I was offering it the sword.
Robert: I am NOT a price.

K’van (to Robert): Pull. It. Out.
Clio: What is this? Amberite prison?

Robert: How many cornerstones are there?
K’van: Four obviously
Amber: You’re talking to DWORKIN. Not necessarily!
Robert: 63 1/4

Robert: The chamber of the copper throne is somewhere completely different.
Amber: The chamber of the copper throne is the chamber pot.

K’van: So either temptation or greed would require us to touch that. So let’s not!
Robert: He’s learning!

Robert: So you want to try to find your way back to the gem and then come back here? ‘Cause you know that’s not gonna work.
K’van: No. No, you’re right.
Robert: Good, ‘cause that’s not gonna work.

Robert: But the pounding and the chuckle don’t come from the same place?
Amber: Actually, you see this giant (high pitched voice) that speaks in a little girl voice.

(After Robert and K’van meet the 24 foot guardian)
Clio: Is the guardian something we can use to protect this cornerstone?
Robert (after a moments thought): I don’t think he’ll be cooperative.

Re: How Clio found the fourth cornerstone.
K’van: How did you get here anyway?
Clio: Door
Clio: One of us gets on it’s head and tries to chip open it’s head or whatever.

K’van: Is there anything in the suit of armor?
Robert: Even if there wasn’t, it stepped out from behind something so shooting it would be a good idea.

Rich: All three of you feel good in this room.
Robert: That’s never happened.
Clio: I’ve never felt good before.

Azazel (to Clio): I would have thought you kept better company, daughter.
Clio: Who is this guy?

Rich: What you see is just wrong. It’s a super-imposition of the logrus over the pattern and it’s centered on this being.
K’van: EWWWWW!

Robert: You don’t think to ask “Is there some blasphemous mix of pattern and logrus here? Just thought I’d ask.”

Re: Clio & K’van’s stats
Rich: They’re close on so many levels
Amber: That’s why they were in the closet together.

Note from J.P. to the GMs, regarding Clio’s actions in trying to take out K’van
“All Out Kill. I don’t care how much he hurts me. Kill Kill Kill.”

And everybody dies!

Clio: What happens to Merlin?
Rich: He goes down.

Jeff: The dead dad’s club. Who wants to join? So your father isn’t dead. We can find a way.

Monsters! Quotes

Jack Gulick – Karysen Styrm, Admiral of the Fleet
Bridgette Ruggles – Madam Tabitha, Fortune Teller
Amber DiTullio – Danielle “Danny” Lager, Tavern Keeper
Brian Dewhirst - Griswold Hardison, Dean of University
Carolyn LaChance - Victor Brass, Captain of City Guard

Meera: You know when you go over here that they like to get spanked with flippers.
Brian: Rebma?
Meera: That would be Rebma.

Jack: Hoods and eye slits are always signs of superior entertainment.

Tabitha: And this would teach the nobles what it would be like to be a slave?
Meera (as Lady Helm): But it would wear off.
Tabitha: The added perspective could help them.

Meera: There’s only one stamp on it. It came from Kashfa.
Karysen: Hmmm. Kashfa doesn’t usually ship us people. At least not cheaper than coach.

Re: the body that has dropped into the bay
Victor: Once it washes up, let me know. It’s not my problem until it makes landfall.

Re: Griswold putting larvae into bottles
Meera (as Guard): Excuse me? Are you going to eat those?

Re: the small coffin now at the Laughing Unicorn and why it’s here
Meera: Maybe it wanted to stop and see the sights

Re: his horse
Griswold: It’s the SUV of horses

Re: sending the body to Griswold
Victor: … sending it to Professor what’s-his-nuts

Re: Flora talking about the power of herbs in clothing
Jack: Poly-blends are bad for your aura

Meera (as Flora): But I want oxidants? I want oxygen, right.

Meera (as Flora): Does an exterminator take care of ectoplasm? Because I think I have an ectoplasm problem.

Meera (as Flora): … men don’t see the blue of passion.
Jack and Amber simultaneously mouth: Blue of passion?

Meera (as Flora): I could date a demon with sixteen arms if that’s what made me feel good.

Meera (as Flora): So what if I scream a little when I get tickled.

Meera: If you’re in love and he happens to be a stiffy….

Tabitha: I need a drink. A little lunch. ‘Cause Flora’s cucumber sandwiches don’t do it for me.
Amber: Because they are just good for puffiness.

Danny (upon seeing all of the gems around Tabitha’s neck): So, who did you rob?
Tabitha: I was mugged by a princess.

Tabitha: They’re evil. You might want to be careful where you put them.
Danny: Then I might want to get them out from underneath my bed.

Victor: I hope they haven’t pushed him (the necromancer) down the stairs yet.
Jack: You want to do it yourself?
Victor: I need him!

Victor: What, bodies?
Karysen (thinking for a moment): Maybe by now.

Griswold: Why did you send me a zombie to autopsy?
Karysen: I sent you a zombie?

Meera (as the necromancer): Do you know how hard it is to find blood? Its in everybody, but they don’t want to share it.

Griswold (showing the shimmery reflection of the necromancer to Victor): Look at this. Isn’t it novel? I think it’s broken.

Victor: How do you keep a vampire in a jail cell?
Griswold: Wood chipper

Meera (as Meredith): Sasha was calling me. But she was dead.
Tabitha: Sometimes they do that, honey.

Meera: Of course, in the right light, Caine thinks he looks a little bit like Zorro.

Meera: It just scooted by its own lips.

Meera: They won’t realize what this sound (the gunshot) is.
Amber: They’ll think it’s a car backfiring.

Tabitha (to Danny): You get manhandled into a rain barrel by the fortune teller.
Meera: Because rain collected is cleansing.
Jack: If only she’d been wearing the right blends

Meera: The cat that had been there just hisses.
Tabitha (looking at the cat): Thank you. We know that NOW!

Re: The crazy vampire doctor
Tabitha: Would that be Doctor Mallory?
Griswold: I don’t know if I’d bestow a doctorate on that crazy f…

Victor (drinking in the Laughing Unicorn while everyone else is throwing the bottles overboard): This is the sweet taste of covering my ass.

ACD Quotes

Bridgette Ruggles – Rhiannon
Paul Weimer – Cadmus
Brian Dewhirst – Frederick
Kris Kunkel – Sebestian
Amber DiTullio – Gabriel
Rich DiTullio – Corwin
Ginger Stampley – Martin
Michael Croft – Gareth

Martin: I’m not that dumb. I actually sleep with my issues.

Corwin: Merlin actually having the initiative to get up and go somewhere has me concerned.

Martin (to Corwin): Do you have a case of spire envy?

Frederick: Do I have your leave to pass through the forest?
Sebestian: You look more than capable of handling any issues.
Frederick: Its always better to ask.
Deb: Before you become one of the issues.

Deb: The only person who’s stayed dead in this game is Eric.
Rich: Now we know we need to work on that.

Deb (to Martin): You are not the only person to have banged people on that desk!

Deb: The sheer amount of paperwork…
Amber: … prevents the banging.

Michael: Amber has to be a trading Shadow. It can’t provide enough booze.

Cadmus: He’s distracting himself from his issues.
Michael: I heard that will make you go blind.

Re: Finding a way to have Merlin walk Brand’s pattern
Frederick: Find Taggart, suck him down.

Kris: I’m laying here staring at Martin’s package…

Gabe: Alright. I’ll catch up with you later. And Gabe leaves.
Deb (incredulous): Did you just leave your own room?
Gabe: Yep. That’s how badly he doesn’t want to be with Corwin.

Deb: Everybody loves Corwin. The new hit sitcom.
Michael: Everybody loves Corwin, starring Ray Romano.

Merlin: I have learned something.
Kris: Have you ever seen a prehensile penis?

Re: Meeting and falling for Dara
Corwin: We were fencing. It was love at first sight.
Ginger: It was love at first prick.

Merlin is asking Corwin for his mother’s trump back and Corwin just holds the card.
Amber: Are you going to piss off the only son who likes you?

Corwin: How did you learn of this?
Merlin: Martin told me. She asked him not to speak of it.
Corwin: And that was enough to get him to speak?

Keep in mind that Gabe was at the other end of the table from Gareth when he introduced himself, having a different conversation all together.
Gareth (to Cadmus, I believe): Sir Gareth, of Avalon.
Gabe: AVALON?!!

Frederick (to Gabe): Perhaps we should withhold discussions of our respective bastardry.

Deb: Gerard’s eating and paying attention.
Amber: To the eating.

Deb: Rilgan men just can’t keep their hands off their knives?

Deb: Card will give out cards of card.

Gareth: I understand you are my nephew-cousin. We should talk at some point.
Deb (as Merlin): Parse. Parse. Parse.
Cadmus: You broke the Merlin.

Handing out Trump Cards like Magic Cards
Michael: You have a black border Martin.
Kris: It’s just in less than mint condition.

Talking about finding Del
Paul: Dude, you’re getting a Del

Kris: Stop whining and move on.
Deb: What?
Michael: He said, “I want you to give me the finger, Deb.”
Deb gladly obliges.

Deb (to Rhiannon): There’s this kind of tickling that feels familiar in this happy yet pissed off sort of way.

Frederick (to Donovan): And your father is…?
Martin: BRAND.
Frederick: Noted.

Martin: The only person to talk me out of doing something stupid is Merlin. Who doesn’t talk.

Corwin: If my son goes crisp, there will be problems. This is the one who likes me!

Martin: Sleeping with Merlin is not on MY radar.

What’s the last board, card, or roleplaying game you bought, and what do you think of it?

I'll answer each individually.

The last board game I got was awhile ago - Vanished Planet. I haven't played it often (mostly because it's in the top of the gaming closet and I can't reach there!), but when I have, I've found it truly enjoyable. Rather than be a competitive game, it's cooperative, everyone trying to save the save the universe from the big blackness that engulfed the earth and is moving ever outward. Since cooperative is much more to my tastes, I enjoy this game far more than many others where I have to be in just the right mood to be competative. Another major advantage (in my mind) is that this game can be played with anywhere from 1-6 players. Yes, that 1 is right - you can play it solo.

Now on to the card game. We actually picked up three while we were in Minnesota for Rich's interview, but the last one was Aquarius, a goody that's been around from Looney Labs for awhile. I've only had a chance to play it once, as Rich and I far more often throw ourselves into a good game of Chrononauts (though we still need to get Early American Chrononauts so we can play ÜberChrononauts). But I did enjoy it as I played it. It's a good "all ages" game that I look forward to playing as my own family grows.

Finally, the last RPG I picked up was The Babylon 5 Role-Playing Game Pocket Guide. I mainly bought it because, eventually, I want to pick up the Techno-Mage expansion and I want to run a Techno-Mage game of some sort. I've not had much of a chance to really submerse myself into the rules of play with everything else going on, but what I've read has intrigued me enough to make sure the techno-mage book is next on my list of things to buy and think about running a game after things slow down a bit.

Spence: Come on. Role extreme for me. "You're fine but you've turned into a giant die" or...
GM: You're dead.

Voice in the Woods (Petal): They always want things from the tree. No one comes to just visit. They want this from the tree, I want that from the tree. I want the tree to fix my mom.

What truly brought all of this to mind today, however, is the fact that I'm playing a character that once belonged to someone else and trying, desperately, to stay as true to that character's background as I can. I'm not worrying completely about staying 100% true to their personality - he had major head trauma, and that could change things around a bit, though I will admit I'm trying to stick with the major things. But the background - as much as can be possible, I'm trying to keep the background cannon.

Why? Because I see myself as an actress taking over a part in this case, rather than a creatress making it up as I go along. It's makes it easier for the other people that have dealt with my character before to know what to expect and not have conflicting memories. The character may be mine from this point forward, but his beginnings were someone else's.

It does make it a lot harder for me sometimes - I'm not always good at remembering what I read, particularly if I only read things once, but I am better at remembering, even as an inkling, things that I've "lived through", which is what writing is for me. So, particularly for this game, there's a lot more going back to the GM or trying to wade through someone's previous posts or even checking with other players who've dealt with him to see if I can keep parts of his background steady. But to keep a cohesive story, it's worth it to me.

The first scenario is in honor of the anniversary of Random ascending the throne. Depending on the number of players, it could be anywhere from 10 years to 50 years after the ascension. The players will be historians, creating an encyclopedia of Random's reign, to be given as a gift to the King.

The second scenario is from the dawn of Amber, right after Benedict's birth. This scenario would have the players documenting the early years of Amber - which can include the children of Oberon that didn't survive to the years of the Corwin Saga, among any other events that the players feel like documenting.

For those who don't know what a lexicon game is, here is a good description.

This year at TBR, it could be different. Well, no. This year at TBR it WILL be different. I've joined one game that, as far as I know, there is no one that I know well in. No one to fall back on for interaction. No one to purposefully sit near because at least they are someone I know. And this is probably a good thing.

It's about time I started practicing some of what I preach. I have a good friend that has a difficult time in believing in himself. He sees every mistake as a death blow, worries about every overture he makes. And through it all, I tell him that he's got to have faith in himself, that he's worthy of that faith and there are a lot of us that believe it.

And the issue of not joining games without my "safety net" has long been my own lack-of-faith demon. I know that I haven't been gaming as long as some of these people. I know that I'm still learning. And I'm often afraid that I will seem stupid because I don't know something and that I'll take away from everyone else's gaming experience. That, in my nervousness, I'll revert to type by trying too hard and, rather than gaining friends, I'll convince everyone around me that they really don't want to have anything to do with me.

But really, if I don't take the step to do things on my own, what have I lost, beyond a possible good time for myself? No situation is ever as bad as I fear and if everyone doesn't like me/want to game with me again/whatever... so what? I haven't lost friends/gaming partners/whatever. And I will still probably have a good time. As long as I stay relaxed, I probably won't say anything I regret.

So, I'm having my first go at this challenge. Now, it could change and it could turn out that I've got people that I DO know well in this game. But if it doesn't, that will be ok. I'll still have a good time, and I'll be able to share stories about the game I was in with Rich and Paul when I get back rather than have one or the other of them know because they were in it with me.