Thanks to Jeremy Z for his recap of the day's second battle. Much of what is found in here is his.

Characters in Attendance:
Lord Aaron [Andy]
Dalen [Kath]
Ambassador Lentaro [Jeremy Z.]
Maladin [Jeremy F.]
Rhyss [Joanna]

When last we saw our intrepid adventurers ...

Everyone is on the station orbiting around one of the planets in the Tellurian system. Sensors are still down from the last "heathen" invasion -- werewolves, energy bolts and shadowy wraiths. Everyone had collapsed from unknown causes, but seem to be fine now. Station personnel were in a small frenzy over the recent attack and our dropping like stones. For safety and security's sake, the station is now Trump shielded.

Maladin wished to return to Helmwind. Aaron is going with. Dalen writes a letter to the staff at the White Rose letting them know that Desra and Merik will be on "holiday" for a bit, and to run things as per the usual in their absence. Rhyss also decides to head out, and is returning to Amber. Lentaro and Dalen are staying on the Station. Maladin drops Aaron and Rhyss off in Amber, then waverides to Helmwind.

Llewella Trumps Maladin to ask where he's been -- "You never call, you never write." (Llewella, the queen of cynical flirtation). She informs him that a sizable bounty has been placed on his oh-so-handsome head. A very large sum, indeed. They don't know who has placed the bounty, though indications show that it's from one of the Great Houses.

Rhyss receives a Trump from Vialle. The Queen wants to meet with her, get to know her better. They set up an appointment for a little later in the day. Rhyss returns to the Rose to change and rest for a few.

Aaron heads to his rooms to relax. He writes his "report" to Random.

Random Trumps Maladin. There is an informant who wishes to give information to the King re the Bright Pattern contingent. Maladin is asked by Random to secure the information, and gives him a map showing the location of the meeting place. It's in Arden, and the time is set for the next morning. Random tells Maladin that he wants to keep this quiet, and if it's ever brought up, the King will deny knowing about it.

Up in the station, Dalen and Lentaro practice hand to hand combat, and run the training course. Dalen becomes somewhat enamored of beam weaponry.

Rhyss pays her visit to Vialle. They have tea, chat politely, then Vialle asks Rhyss to tell about herself. Vialle confesses that she's feeling like Random isn't telling her enough about the current "situations," and how can she, as Queen, help her husband if she doesn't have the information? She asks abut the treaty with the Tellurians; What is Amber getting out of the agreement? Is it enough to explain Random's sudden volte-face in regard to trading with them? She asks about the "group", about the troubles in Helmwind, about the contact with the Waveriders, about the portal to "not-hell" that's in the storage room. Rhyss spends the time hedging the Queen's questions, and refers her to people who "know more about these things."

Evening comes, dinner is consumed. Aaron drops off his report to Random. He then Trumps Maladin regarding the setting up of their proposed "Pattern sieve." Maladin agrees, but first Trumps Random, making Aaron tell the King what is going on. Random is okay with it, but first wants the theory tested on one person rather than an entire shadow. Maladin volunteers. They start preparations only to realize that they haven't a suitable way to power the sieve so it stays constant through the force of the waves.

Rhyss Trumps Maladin about getting a ride back to Telluria. She's willing to trade a lift back for her help with the sieve project. When she gets there though, they realize that what's needed is beyond her conjuration abilities.

The thought is voiced that Random "might" let them borrow the Jewel of Judgement ... and quickly discarded. Llewella has one of the Pattern swords though, and Maladin goes to pay her a visit. Sex for swords seems to be the going rate, and Maladin is successful in his endeavor. After business agreements have been fulfilled , Llewella returns with Maladin to the shadow where he had left Rhyss and Aaron. Llewella plants the sword in the ground and they build the "battery" for the Pattern sieve around it. Maladin tests the barrier, by waveriding towards it, and is summarily bumped out. The shock of it sets off a resonation through several adjoining Shadows, and a weird twisting of Vitae is revealed. It's a construct of some sort, definitely man-made, and is rather seashell-shaped. While it's definitely here, no one knows what purpose it serves.

Rhyss lets Maladin know that she needs to get to Telluria sooner rather than later, and can we all go now please? Once there, she lets everyone know of her meeting with Vialle. The problem is that it wasn't really the Queen, but a large, grey "alien" wearing bad shoes. Everyone in the Castle was treating it like it was Vialle, so they must have "seen" Vialle, but Rhyss could clearly see the alien. The group figures the real Queen is probably sipping tea with Bleys in a cage right about now.

Aaron grills Dalen on her backup plans -- most of which she seems to be lacking at the present time. She lets him know that she's wanting to take on the Bright Pattern contingent as soon as the retro-virus is completed and has been set to work.

Rhyss and Len have a talk as well.

Suddenly claxons sound! Galen and four other waveriders have come into the station to bring warning that Sh'shari is leading a group to the station, and they'll be arriving in about 20 minutes. He also lets us know that there's an informant for Sh'shari somewhere within the Amber ranks, as she knows that there is a high level traitor within her own party (though Galen isn't sure that she knows its him). Lentaro, with brilliantly quick thinking, orders that all the retro-virus information/work to be sent to a remote site, and saves it. Maladin is contacted, then Llewella is called for her assistance (and her sword). She arrives and working against the clock, they quickly they set up the buffer. And not a minute too soon! Just as it is activated, Sh'shari and her group arrive. The buffer works as anticipated and catches roughly half of the waverider group as they're entering the station -- bumping them into the cold void if space. Sensors indicate that there are approximately forty intruders left. Station security takes care of about half of those remaining, while two groups of 10 and 9 are making their way for the central lab area, where the good guys are waiting, each taking a different door.

There are sounds of battle from beyond both doors. Rhyss, Lentaro and Dalen cover one door, while Maladin, Llewella and Galen man the other. Aaron takes cover. Monitors show where the battles are going on, and it appears that the Station security forces are having a difficult time penetrating the white armor of the Moonriders. Aaron imbues the group's laser weapons with Pattern, in the hopes that they'll be able to cut through the armor more effectively. A crossbow bolt comes shooting out of an air vent, and makes straight for Dalen. She tries to dodge it, but if follows her movements. She blocks it with her laser gun, which unfortunately ruins the her gun. Another bolt comes searching for her, and she manages to break it with her sword. Len has Alan Smithy run the Gate generator out in the corridor, hoping to use it's razor-sharp edges to slice and dice the attackers beyond.

Again, an attack is sent through the air vent; this time it is in the form of a sand storm. Gritty sand, whipped by fierce winds scours through the room, wreaking havoc on the machinery as well as flesh. Llewella manages to control the area in front of her so the sand spins itself into a vortex which doesn't reach her. The rest of the group hunkers down behind equipment, and hopes it will go away.

Maladin "blinks" to the corridor outside, and manages to disrupt Sh'shari so that the spell dissipates. He's drilled by a couple of bolts from her goons though, and blinks back inside the room. A bluish glow soon envelops the door, slowly eating through it. Galen informs the group that it is Sh'shari's disrupter spell. The door totally disappears and the spell begins to advance into the room. Galen(?) dispels it, and when Sh'shari sees that it is her second in command who is the traitor, several harsh words are exchanged. Lentaro gives Dalen his laser pistol, as hers is now trashed, and Trumps the now unconscious Alan Smithy to a safe place on the surface of Telluria (he was pretty beat up by the sandstorm). Sh'shari advances into the room, her sword drawn. Dalen levels her laser and takes aim at the Moonrider commander. One of Sh'shari's people blocks the beams and takes the hit. Sh'shari moves out of range. Aaron tries something here (the writer can't remember what, unfortunately) and Sh'shari begins another spell in retaliation ... Shadowstorm.

The reality of the room begins to tear apart at the seams, and reports from other parts of the station indicate that there are several hull breaches as well. Aaron tries to find away to contain the storm. A hole has appeared in the floor of the room, and Lentaro swings himself down through it hoping to make it to the armory. Dalen, Rhyss and Galen follow suit, as Dalen wants to get to the infirmary to get her foster-parents before the station is torn apart. Maladin and Llewella waveride out of the station. Sh'shari and her remaining people chase Dalen and company. After checking that the armory is still secure, Lentaro decides that it's best just to leave it as is. If Sh'shari's group hadn't accessed by this point, the likelihood that they would before the Shadowstorm ripped the station apart wasn't too likely. After ducking down a corridor to shake off their pursuers, Rhyss creates a Dalen look-alike, and sends it down another corridor as a decoy. Sh'shari's group follows it.

Many people have gathered in the infirmary, and it's decided to Shadowwalk them to Amber and to relative safety. Len tells them all to drop anything they have that is of a "technical" nature. Dalen finds her foster parents, and then leads the masses through Shadow and out of the station.

Aaron gets caught in the Shadowstorm. Trump movement is disrupted, and Shadowwalking from this locale is impossible. He walks the Pattern of the Mind to his room in Amber to get away from the storm, and brings it with him! He manages to move to the Shadow where he and Maladin were running their tests earlier, and tries to find a place to wait it out.

Maladin Trumps Dalen. She reports that Rhyss, Lentaro, Galen, and Terran are with her ... along with about 200 other people from the infirmary. He says that he and Llewella are out of it ... but where is Aaron? He closes contact, then Trumps Aaron. Once with him, Maladin creates a bubble of energy around him and grabs Aaron, pulling him into it. They tumble, bang and bounce through the tumult, and finally a wave severs the spell and they fall out of it, into another Shadow. Rather worse for wear, they contact Llewella who pulls them back to Rebma.

Lentaro suggests that instead of taking the fairly large group of Tellurians to Amber, they should drop them off in Telluria. He shows Dalen a Trump of where a good place is, and they drop off the majority of travelers. The rest of them make it back to Amber.

Maladin, who is hurting from the crossbow bolts he took earlier, starts up his "bacta-tank". He immerses himself, and sets the timer for the next morning. Llewella moves him into her bedroom closet, then she and Aaron return to Amber.

Dalen's foster parents are given a room a Castle Amber. Rhyss, Lentaro, Galen, Aaron, Llewella and Dalen all descend on Random without much ceremony. He's alone in his study, and agrees to speak with them all.

Rhyss tells Random about Vialle not being herself, then apologizes for being the bearer of bad news and excuses herself, returning to the Rose.

The remaining group tells Random about the events of the day. They get about half way through the narrative when into the room burst several of the Bright Pattern goons (rather high-ranking goons, at that) -- Lady Karma, Derth, who some in the group had seen before, along with someone named Raven. Bamf, who had previously tangled with Raphaella (and regrettably lived to tell the tale) was giving spell support. Waiting outside the door were three pseudo-ladies in waiting who were sporting fangs and had the ability to fly.

The battle opened with Dalen and Lentaro throwing their glasses of wine at various parties. Len's was intercepted by Derth's sword, while Dalen's managed to nail Bamf in the eye. Len followed up by throwing a chair which pushed Bamf back around the corner. Karma and Raven shifted into their Demon forms. From there, Raven advanced on Dalen, trying to impale her on his spiky bits. She retreated as well as she could in an attempt not get impaled on those same spiky bits. It ended with Dalen's sword through Raven's gut, and most of Dalen's throat gone. Both of them collapsed and began shapeshifting desperately to stay alive.

Derth and Llewella were sparring off, and for a while each was giving as good as they got. Lentaro started to take on Karma by nailing her with raw power, but found himself having to deal with the venom-fanged flying chicks who finally came in the room. Len took them out, but got a bite on his arm for the effort. Galen was casting the occasional well-placed spell. Aaron ran out the other door. Random hid under his desk.

Karma advanced on Random, lifting up the desk under which he was hiding. However she seemed to have forgotten all about Galen, who calmly tossed a lovely fireball in her direction. Then Random used the Jewel to suspend time around her; in essence freezing her in place. Bamf, from his station outside the door, sent a six-pack of undead werewolves into the melee. Len, who was still trying to get to Karma (revenge was heavy on his mind), found his way to her blocked by the snarling mass of slavering wolves. They mobbed him, and he had to dig himself out. Galen fire-balled some demon-shadow-like things that Bamf had sent in, and kept an eye on the rest of the room.

Meanwhile, Derth managed to take down Llewella. She crumpled to the ground and he turned his attentions to Random. The King was fighting an uphill battle all the way. Lentaro had managed to kill half of the pack of werewolves and stood up. He threw one of the snarling creatures at Derth, knocking him about, but not disabling him. Random was able to press his advantage after that though, and gain some ground. Len received another bite on the arm for his efforts, and grabbed the third werewolf to drain the life from it to heal a bit.

Now it was time to deal with Karma. Lentaro started to whack on her frozen form with his staff, only to find that it clanged off of her. He found he could slowly push his staff through her body though, creating a rather nice-sized hole, perfectly suspended. (Ewwww!)

Dalen and Raven each were still trying not to die, yet push the other into the grave. Galen took a moment to chop off Raven's head, then went after Bamf in the hallway. Bamf took one look at him and teleported out. Random took a long cut on his arm from Derth. Both Galen and Len moved to his side. Derth Trumped out.

Somewhere in there, Aaron, still outside the door, started trumping Benedict. There was no connection until things went quiet. "Hold on," he said. "Let me see if they're dead."

Lentaro began treating Llewella's wounds. Benedict and Gerard came in to deal with everyone else. Len Trumped Fiona to deal with Karma, then he poured himself, and anyone who wanted one, a stiff drink. That out of the way, Len shlepped Dalen up to her room, and tried to ignore how energy-hungry he was, and how tasty Aaron, Dalen and the Pattern blade were. After making sure Dalen was safe, he trumped out to Shadow, pillaged a countryside of bovine-souls, and healed up quickly.

Then everyone slept. (Thank heavens!!) NEXT DAY!

Maladin came out of his magical bacta-tank, in Llewella's bedroom, stark naked. After getting some clothes from the startled servants, he went to the Castle Amber's armory and appropriated a large gun. Once in Arden, he Trumped Julian to let him know about the "meeting", and to see if the Prince could spare some backup, just in case. It turned out there would be a patrol nearby.

Maladin scouted out the area, and concealed himself while waiting for the informant to show. A nicely-dressed woman, garbed for riding, entered the clearing. Maladin came out of hiding and made himself known. She saw him, then charged in zombie fashion. Maladin summarily shot her. Julian's patrol came, looked at the body of the woman and began to arrest Maladin for the murder of Elizabeth Sorr, the wife of the late Lord Fumaris. Maladin hopped a wave out of their fast.

Once in a safe place, Maladin Trumped Random only to find out that Random knew nothing about this meeting, or any informant. Though he did say that Julian had just Trumped him to say that testimony from Elizabeth's handmaiden accused Maladin of killing all the members of Lady Elizabeth's riding party with throwing daggers. The only problem with the handmaiden's story is that Maladin had brought his gun, and had nailed Elizabeth with that. On top of that, why would Maladin have contacted Julian about backup support if he was planning an ambush/murder? Random told Maladin not to worry about the charges, that he'd take care of them.

After that, Maladin and Len met up for a talked. Lentaro was trying to get Mal to "give" on the story of what happened with he and Aaron a few days ago. Maladin swore that he'd take that one to the grave. All he'd say was, "You'll never fear Aaron as much as I do."

Dalen stayed in bed all day to heal. Mal went to see Llewella when he heard about her injuries, and put her in one of his bacta-tanks. Len went to Telluria to checked up on the retro-virus project. Thanks to Lentaro's backing up of the data, the virus will only be delayed by a few days, instead of having to start all over again.

To be continued January 16th, at 2:00 PM ...