...And Tom and The Dude appeared in the room through Random's Trump, and were quickly filled in on the situation. They spent a few moments, in turn, telling the Amberites what had happened in Chaos these last few days, and a disrepency was quickly noted. Chaos, ordinarily twice the time flow of Amber (ie, for every one day in Amber, two pass in Chaos), seemed to be flowing at roughly one seventh Amber's speed now. A worrisome development.
Meanwhile, Random, through his Attunement to the Jewel, determined that it was in the Primal Pattern Room. Caine, by now looking extremely pale and worn, created another Trump gate that led there. Several of the more gung-ho Amberites charged through, and were quickly followed. Caine and Bleys went last.
Which turned out to be unfortunate for them, as, as soon as Geffemo (our first glimpse of him. He appeared a large, strongly built man with red hair) saw the onroaching hordes, he fired a ball of sorcerous energy towards them. The Amberites, fond of self preservation as they are, dodged out of the way, and the ball went through the Trump gate. An instant later, the gate disappeared, with Bleys and Caine still on the other side. (Presumably).
With Geffemo was Tiequero, an unconscious Flora in the corner, and two presumably normal Raksasha. It could also now be seen that Geffemo carried the Jewel of Judgement in one hand, a smooth, slightly glowing, yellow-orange stone in the other, and had Weirwindle strapped at his side. The whole group of baddies was across the Primal Pattern from the Amberites, and everyone besides Geffemo (well, okay, besides Flora, too, but she doesn't count) circled around its edges to engage the Amberites.
There was a brief fight, and, when the Amberites seemed to be coming out on the winning end, Geffemo called Tiequero back to him, pulled out a Trump, and teleported away.
Adria, recovering from an energy blast across the Primal Pattern, recognized the Trump back as her own sigil, which meant that they were headed to Shadow Earth (as that was the only Trump of Adria's that Geffemo would have). As such, the talented members of the cousins started working on Trump sketches of that area while everyone trouped back to Castle Amber to find what had happened to Bleys and Caine.
Upon determining that those two elders were alive but not likely to be contributing much to the effort in the near future, a large number of (mostly male) Amberites appeared in the women's bathroom of a bistro in San Francisco. The Raksasha had already vacated the immediate area, but Random declared that they were close.
A bit of Shadowwalking brought the Amberites to a somewhat seedier city and an abandoned apartment building. Splitting up, they came up the two stairwells until they got to the third floor, where they were showered in crossbow fire.
Utilizing the fact that they were Tons Better than their opponents, our heroes quickly advanced on the door to the centre room, where Pattern Lenses showed Geffemo, Tiequero, and more crossbow wielding goons to be.
Unfortunately, here, the Amberites dithered a bit, trying to communicate a plan of attack between themselves, and Tiequero stole a march on them. He burst through the wall and attacked the group of Amberites which included Gavin, Janna, Adria, and the Dude.
The suprise attack was unfortunately succesful, paralyzing that group and sending the others running to their aid, except for Random, who ducked into the main room to attack Geffemo himself.
Tiequero proceeded to tear through the younger generation, but was forced to leave off killing them when Geffemo got into trouble. Turning from his prey, he ran to Geffemo, and the two of them teleported out.
While most of the Amberites had picked up some nicks and scratches, they were largely okay, with one notable exception. Gwenyth was suffering from a cracked skull from when Tiequero had picked her up by her face and slammed her head against the wall. The others judged her too seriously wounded to go along, and was Trumped back to Vialle.
Picking up Geffemo's trail once again, the Amberites resolved to be somewhat better prepared this next time, and gathered some high-powered ordinance along the way, ranging from revolver carbines to sniper rifles. When they again found themselves in the same Shadow as their quarry, it was before a huge factory filled with industrial machinery of incomprehensible purpose.
The insides of the Machine were complex, and, again, the Amberites were forced to split up. Most of them crept through the bowels of the machine while Tom stood outside and swept the area with his Pattern Lens.
Each of the Amberites had brushing encounters with Tiequero or Geffemo, and at one point, Gavin got a clear shot in at Geffemo. Unfortunately for the latter, the former had an assault rifle and sufficient strength to hold it steady against the recoil, and Geffemo was filled with about fifty rounds of lead. Unfortunately for Gavin, Geffemo laughed off the wounds, which healed instantaneously, then did something with the Jewel of Judgement, and all guns ceased to work in the Factory.
Meanwhile, Gwenyth (who was at the useful end of the extreme time differentials sweeping through Shadow), had awoken, and decided to rejoin the group, head wound or no. Fighting off dizziness, she Trumped herself (via a sketch) to Shadow Earth, then started tracking down her cousins. On her way, she was met by an odd, hunchbacked old man who called himself 'Old Ralph,' and had an unnerving ability to track her through Shadow. Then, soon after, she met a taller, younger man who introduced himself as 'Carl,' and told her that there was a shortcut through an alley. Blaming the increasingly dreamlike quality of her surroundings on her concussion, Gwenyth led the two men towards the Factory.
Tom, by this point, had abandoned his magical scouting, and was inside the Machine proper. He, the Dude, Adria, Gavin, and Janna found Geffemo on a largish platform in the dead center of the Machine. They fought Geffemo and found that, though they were more skillful than he, all of his wounds were healing instantly as they damaged him. Tom got closer in an attempt to tear the Jewel of Judgement from his neck, and they grappeled. The Dude managed to tear Geffemo's orange bobble from his neck just as Tiequero sprang into the fray, wounded from previous battles, but still deadly as hell.
The Dude ran with the bobble, until he felt a familiar presence in his mind. Fiona, to be specific. When he made flesh contact with Geffemo's bobble, he was able to contact her, to discover that she, Benedict, and Julian were trapped inside the orange stone. An evil grin upon his face, he returned to the melee.
The shock of the others was great to see the Dude return to the fray, sword in hand, prepared to kick ass. And kick ass he did, driving Tiequero back in a stunning display of ferocity and skill. (It's much easier to do that when Benedict is possessing you). As the Dude/Benedict held off Tiequero with their skill, Jamie was able to kill him with her greater strength and speed. However, Geffemo remained a problem, and he seemed to grow stronger the more he was attacked. He was on the brink of overpowering Tom and Adria when...
...Gwenyth wandered into the area, a dazed expression on her face and Dworkin and Corwin following her. (No, she hadn't ever seen either of them before in her life). Dworkin and Corwin rushed into the fray and immobilized Geffemo. Dworkin explained that Geffemo had become a living being of Weirwindle, and could not be destroyed for so long as the sword was tainted with his blood. The Dude and Tom, seeing the parallels immediately, informed the others that a trip to the Logrus was in order.
Dworkin handed the Daysword to Adria and informed all and sundry that it was her birthright, much to the suprise of most, and the weary Amberites prepared to head towards Chaos.
Note: Apologies for the abbreviated descriptions of the battles, which left out many particularly cool things achieved by the PC's, but it was necessary for space conservation.