Journal of Chaos

by the hand of Geryon Swayvill


These past few turnings have been wrought with interesting occurrences, many of which are disturbing.

My evening started with a bit of intrigue, as I discovered, in all four of my snake pits, a new breed of serpent, blind, sonar-using, with vicious clawed arms. The breed seemed extremely aggressive against anything living except itself.

I left my lab to have a fine dinner with the lovely Cwell Vissult. The visit ended with her giving me a Trump of herself.

Meanwhile, The Dude do'Amber had been milling about the Jezby ways. He first spent some time researching the history of the family, only to find that the years from 620-580 years ago had been actively hidden (i.e., someone had gone through the books and ripped the pages out). He then had some interactions with the aged Robelone Jezby, who performed some impressive, though not terribly useful, magic tricks.

Having settled down for a nap, The Dude was accosted by four commoners in hoods indicative of Hydranism. When he regained consciousness, he was on the back of one of several distinctly non-herbivorous elephants being ridden (driven?) by the Hydrans.

The Dude made an unsuccessful attempt at escape, and was soundly thumped. At this point, The Dude attempted to Trump contact me by grasping my Trump and concentrating quite alot. He managed to do so, and explained to me what was going on. I attempted to pull him through, but was thwarted when his captors brought him into a Trump-shielded area.

Having gotten a glimpse of the surrounding area, I recognized the landscape from a time I was unwittingly dragged along a Hendrake hunting trip. I contacted one of the few Hendrakes I know (and respect), Liirecesandre. She was displeased, and eager to remedy the situation.

In order to do anything, however, she needed to navigate the Hendrake beauracracy. The Count of the lands I described was actually none other than Saklas Hendrake, a long-lost-just-walked-in-from-the-Shadow-and-is-now-very-high-in-line-for-succession type. Poor guy.

So, we got in touch with the new guy, and he and I and Liira and her beau Merlin (been meaning to chat with him about Corwin's Pattern -- but, then again, so has everybody) showed up at the cave I had described. We proceeded in, and passed through a way into some fellow's mansion. This is where the interesting part began.

Travelling down a hallway, we came to two doorways. After much groping around with Logrus tendrils, we decided to enter the room with the random guy who was trying to mask his psychic signature. We barged in, and there was Completelyoutofnames. I pity him, knowing his name, and how cruel children can be. I remember their taunts well, chanting "Geryon carries on!" in their little voices. That was long ago. Then I walked the Logrus. Things have changed...

But, I digress. Completelyoutofnames was uncooperative with us, largely unwilling to answer questions, and finally attacked me. This proved rather unfortunate for the boy, as my demons plucked out his eyes and one of the Hendrakes (Saklas, if I recall correctly), relieved him of those bothersome entrails.

Back across the hall we found a cook preparing a meal for the do'Hendrake that owned the estate. We scared her quite a bit and she left without much fuss. From there we traveled down to the basement, and then the subbasement of the manor, where we found the do'Hendrake beating The Dude and asking him rather silly questions ("Tell us the secret military plans! When will Amber attack? Where will Amber attack?"). We got in there and tried to make nice with the folks. Things got out of hand. The do'Hendrake almost went primal. Wackiness ensued.

When the dust had settled, The Dude was ok (though he had noticed and disposed of a scrying construct in the corner of the torture chamber), the do'Hendrake was dead, and the other two commoners were more than willing to tell us anything we wanted to hear. More Hendrakes showed up. More Swayvills showed up (gotta love family...). Robelone Jezby showed up (I'm not sure either). I did the social thing, then left.

That aside, I returned to my snake pits to find another new breed of snake, also blind, also quite vicious. The two new breeds didn't seem to mind eachother, just anything else that moved. In addition, they were extremely charged with a tainted Logrus energy. I consulted with Bishop Tern, who appeared concerned. Upon closer examination of the snake pits, it was apparent that there was a rapidly increasing mass of tainted Logrus energy in each one. I told the bishop I'd investigate, and promptly turned in for the evening.

Saklas, that new Hendrake, had his chance to walk the Logrus. Strangely enough, he doesn't remember a thing, though he appears to have made an incredibly rapid recovery (which pleased the priests, and greatly displeased those who are right behind him in line for the throne). I trust he will be a bit more tolerable now that he has a bit of perspective on life (Hendrakes who think they have a sense of humor can be so irritating).

Geryon Swayvill


The Beginning || Tainted Waters