Journal of Chaos

by the hand of Geryon Swayvill


This eve marked certain social events of note. I was (for reasons of propriety rather than desire, I am sure) invited to a party in the Vissult Ways. Although not unusual in itself, this party had, in attendance, The Dude of Amber, whose acquaintance I was overjoyed to make.

A Patternwielder of some note, The Dude and I conversed at length about the nature of the Pattern and the Logrus. This culminated in a visit to the Pattern of Corwin, which was adventuresome in itself. I performed an experiment which involved the application of my (Chaosian, Logrus-charged) blood to the Pattern, resulting in an impressive display of fire, and the loss of a large portion of my right hand (which is, interestingly, still somewhat bathed in Pattern energies - I took extensive notes for inclusion in a future publication). Blasther, one of my attendant demons, was also injured, though he (it?) seems to be recovering without trouble.

After that, The Dude and I relaxed a bit in my guest Shadow before returning to the Vissult party, accompanied by two attractive young common girls. The party had become more interesting, as some of the more conservative crowd had left and dancing had begun. I danced and chatted with Cwell Vissult, a coppery-haired spy/assassin who has managed to catch my eye for the moment. Then my friend and colleague Drath Savall arrived and we discussed more substantive things, like gossip.

Specifically, we discussed Robelone Jezby, an elder member of his house, who has largely been out of the public eye for centuries, and who happened to show up at the party. The Dude had met him earlier in the day. I made his acquaintance and was, I dare say, thoroughly examined by the man. He seems a fascinating, and extremely politic man.

Having returned to The Dude, Drath, and Cwell, we discussed the various subtleties of Shadow powers and sorceries through the energies of Logrus and Pattern. Eventually the conversation turned to Drath's machinated automata, and we retired to his laboratory to examine some of his more revolutionary toys (which were, sad to say, little more impressive than the progress I've made with my snakes).

From there, I took the three to a private, experimental shadow, where I perform some of my snake evolution experiments. For those of you who are unfamiliar with my work, I have essentially put a large number of snakes in a controlled environment, where they are exposed to higher-than-normal chaos energies, resulting in faster mutation and evolution. At least in theory. After that excursion, we retired to my guest Shadow, where we had a delightful conversation ranging across myriad topics (ranging from methods of assassination to sleepwalking), all the while attended by my servants. I handed Trumps of myself to Cwell and The Dude, and we parted ways for the evening.



In the realm of other interesting happenings, gossip is that there was a young man, in a shadow somewhere, who was walking along, when his friend's girlfriend tripped over the dead body of a man whose throat had been slit and whose heart had been cut out.

Needless to say, they informed their local authorities, who were quite concerned. Later, the young man learned that the police officers in charge of the investigation had been killed in a manner similar to the original dead guy. Worried, he sought refuge in his aunt's house. While there, a "big bad guy" broke in through a bedroom window and attacked the young man and his aunt, stabbing but not killing her. The young man managed to escape and again inform the authorities.

The police were unwilling to let the lad leave town, as they were concerned with the surfacing and capture of the murderer. Unable (due to his youth) to purchase a blast-powder weapon, the young man invested in a sword for his own protection, and the police placed him in a protected environment of some sort. While practicing with this blade, the same "big bad guy" from before appeared, splashing in the pool.

The young man ran to the house to get the policemen, flinging open the door to find the corpse of one of his protectors, killed in the same ritualistic manner as the others. The bad guy grabbed the lad, and, in the ensuing struggle, they both ended up in the pool.

With the big bad guy holding him underwater, the young man did two things. First, he swang wildly with his sword, hoping to injure or kill the guy (which he eventually managed). Second, he sprouted gills.

When he managed to hurt the guy enough that he was dropped, the young man found himself in water. Lots of water. First, he tried to find the surface, but stopped when he realized that the "sun" was close enough to blind and sunburn him, but he hadn't reached air. So he swam to the bottom, and followed the sloping ground downward.

He was approaching a source of light in the distance, when he was accosted by a large, blind, eel-like creature, with big, nasty weapons and disposition. After a brief combat (which he won), he was approached by two smaller, friendlier eel-like creatures, who gave him food.

I assume we shall hear more about this young man in the future.
Geryon Swayvill


Nothing Prior || Hydran Difficulties