Here is Clare's journal from the one-off weekend game. Currently, it is only part-done.
Given how extraordinary events were about to become, it was a routine start. I was out walking shadows, when I saw a storm gathering behind me. I shifted shadows in an attempt to lose the storm, but was unable to do so. I left Nathaniel at home, and returned to a nearby shadow, driving off in a conveniently-placed sports car. I drove between shadows until I found a wayside inn where I could stay. Leaving the car outside, I went to my room, and called the Pattern to mind. Using this, I examined the storm: it was strangely real, but didn't seem to be of Pattern, Logrus or Trump. A white bird of my desire flew in through the open window, and I sent it to fly through the storm and then return to me. On returning, it had changed slightly (the odd bent feather changed, that sort of thing) but was otherwise unharmed. I decided to wait for the storm to arise, and was alarmed by the red colour of its lightning.
The rain drummed on the roof of the conservatory of the inn, and the glass shimmered as its nature was subtley altered by the rain. Lightning struck an outhouse, and it was changed - the door was on a different side! I walked out into the rain, and it did me no harm. Reassured, I spent the night. In the morning, the storm had blown away, and I assertained that the shadow's inhabitents recalled the changed outhouse of having always had its "new" form. I went home to Rebma, and sought audience with the lady Llewella. She was concerned by my tale, and bade me remain in Rebma until she could consult with the king.
Five days later, I was summoned to the throne room in Castle Amber to meet the King. Also present were Coenna, Michael and Paulus whom I had met before, as well as Dannor with whom I was not aquainted. Finally, Martin was there, along with someone called Tamash. Random told us that he wanted us to search for Corwin, since he thought his disappearance might be connected to events at the end of the Patternfall wall. He introduced Tamash to us as a chaosite who had been recommended by Martin.
The first thing we tried as a group was reaching Corwin by Trump. Being suspicious of Tamash (chaosites are rarely to be trusted), I called the Pattern to mind and examined him more closely whilst the others tried in vain to make a Trump contact. As the attempted contact was broken, I felt the brush of a spell against my pattern-defence. Suspecting Tamash, I took him aside. He told me a little about himself, and I told him that I didn't trust him. Nevertheless, this acknowledged mutual distrust seemed a fair basis for a working relationship, so we acknowledged a desire to work with each other, and returned to join the others.
At this point, we all went to my home shadow to discuss strategy. I drew trumps of the companions whose trumps I did not already had, and entrusted Michael with a spare trump of myself. Whilst I was doing this, the rest of the party shadow-walked to shadow Earth to try to speak with Merlin. I caught them up via Trump just as they were reaching the University in which Merlin was working. Even with his assistance, we were unable to reach Corwin. Merlin claimed to not have been in contact with Corwin for years, and said that the last person to see Corwin was Dara, in the Courts.
We then decided on a four-pronged approach to trying to find Corwin: Tamash would go to the Courts to enquire of Dara what she knew of his whereabouts. I would walk the Pattern and teleport to Corwin's Pattern. The others devided themselves into two groups, one of which would go to Avalon (a shadow where Corwin was known to have spent a long time), and the other of which would attempt to shadow-walk to Corwin's Pattern.
The Pattern is never trivial to walk. Nevertheless, it is sufficient to say that I asseyed it without problem. I teleported from the center of the Rebma pattern to the center of the Amber pattern, and attempted from there to teleport to the center of Corwyn's pattern. The Pattern was unable to take me there, however, which was most unusual. By this point, Paulus and Coenna had arrived at what they thought was Corwyn's pattern (although they could not actually see the pattern itself). I made trump contact with Tamash (which required me to use the Pattern's power to boost the power of my trump, and gave Tamash a terrible headache) who related that Dara had argued with Corwin who had then left the Courts.
I then asked the Pattern to teleport me to adjacent to Paulus. To my great suprise, I found myself stood next to Corwin's Pattern, able to see it perfectly, but only able to make out Paulus and Coenna as ghostly shapes! We could not touch each other, but could just about communicate by shouting. Stranger still, I was unable to shift shadow. Clearly, this place was significant, so I sat down, and began to draw a trump of the place, to facilitate returning there. This process took about two days (as is usual), so my erstwhile companions got up to various things whilst I was busy; they can relate those events themselves, however. As I drew, I considered the possibility of walking Corwyn's pattern. I am obviously related to Corwyn, yet I suspected that I might be too distantly related to be able to draw a pattern that he had inscribed. I eventually resolved not to attempt to walk the pattern unless events forced my hand.
Whilst I was finishing off the trump, my remaining companions eventually arrived. Dannor added a new dial to his strange "Adumbratometer" which enabled him to differentiate the place where I was to the place they were; these were clearly very different locations despite their apparant geographic proximity to each other. His Adumbratometer was then able to indicate a place where the two universes met, and so he and Tamash went off to investigate this. Some time later, they contacted me by trump from this place, although I had to work against siginificant resistance (which seemed to fluctuate wildly) to hold the contact open. I brought them through the trump contact, and after a brief discussion it was decided that they would try exploring the area (since Tamash was able to shape-shift into a form that could shadow-walk even in this world) and I would remain at Corwin's pattern, to pull them out of trouble if necessary.
Very little time had elapsed before an agitated Tamash contacted me by trump. Dannor had been attacked through a trump contact by a strange creature that had apparantly already tried to take over Paulus' mind by the same method. Tamash had knocked Dannor out, but was worried that the attack had succeeded. I went through the trump contact, and we hurriedly decided on our best course of action. To this day, I am suprised we didn't decide to kill Dannor there and then, although with hindsight that would have been a mistake. Instead, we took away his weapons and equipment and tied him up, to prevent him from doing us any harm if his mind had indeed been taken over.
Unsuprisingly, Dannor was somewhat non-plussed when he came to. I tried to convince him that we were taking the only option available to us, but he remained skeptical. Tamash used his Logrus sight to examine the shadow we found ourselves in, but came across a region where his Logrus tentacles were being eaten! We elected to travel by Logrus to the nearest "safe" locality to this region. I blocked a couple of incoming trump contacts, since I was unsure of their origin and feared the worst. A little after that, Dannor stiffened, obviously receiving a trump contact, so I had to knock him unconscious again, for his own safety (and, I must concede, with my own in mind too). As we finally arrived at the furthest we could go without Tamash's Logrus tentacles being eaten, Dannor again received a Trump contact. I tried to help him when it became apparant that the contact had got through, but was unsuccessful, so Tamash was forced to knock Dannor out again. At this point, we decided that Dannor might well react badly towards us should we free him; accordingly, I examined his mind for signs of the strange black tentacles. Finding nothing, I altered his memories, so he would remember nothing between the initial attack, and waking up with us now. That done, I loosed his bonds.
The Lady Llewella then Trumped me. I was suprised to hear that she had been trying to get in touch with me for some time, but had been unable to contact me. She told me that the others were in Amber, and asked me to get in touch with them as soon as I could. Having reached the very closest we could safely get to the location of the thing that was eating Tamash's Logrus, I called the others on Trump, and brought them through to where we were. Dannor seemed confused (presumably as the result of being knocked unconscious so many times), so asked Coenna to have a look inside his mind to find out what was going on. Strangely, after this process, he seemed convinced that she had tampered with his memories, and demanded that Paulus have a look inside as well (his logic still escapes me, even now, writing this journal up in the quiet stillness of my library). This process seemed to have no appreciable benefit, but he was at least persuaded to put the quarrel aside for now. He produced his strange "adumbratometer" again, and told us that we were now very close indeed to where Corwin was. Accordingly, we all tried to combine our powers to make a Trump contact with him. Somewhat to my amazement, we succeeded, and Coenna and I held the contact open whilst the others went through and tried to free the entrapped Corwin. Tamash returned to help us maintain the contact, as it began to waver without the help of the others. Eventually, Corwin's chains we broken, and he was pulled through the Trump contact. We then contacted Random, and brought Corwin back to the throne room in Amber.
With Corwin back in Amber, one might have expected that a celebration of sorts would be in order. Instead, a row broke out. Paulus and Coenna insisting that Dannor walk the Pattern, and Dannor refusing to do so. This struck me as uncharacteristic, as Dannor had seemed fairly keen on the idea previously. I continued to be amazed at the strange behaviour of my companions when it was agreed that Dannor would spend the night under guard, and then walk the Pattern in the morning. He also insisted that I give Michael my trump of himself.
Michael and I were on guard duty first. Dannor declared that he wished to change before retiring, so I was forced to leave the room. Nevertheless, I was highly suspicious of his motives, so began bringing the pattern to mind as soon as I left his chamber, in order to discover what was going on inside. I was shocked to discover that Michael had turned his back on Dannor, allowing him to escape! Fearing that Michael might somehow be in league with Dannor, who was presumably up to some vile mischief under the influence of the strange black tendrils(why else would he have been so keen to avoid walking the Pattern?), I used a Trump contact to induce him to return my Trump of Dannor to me, and then to go and summon the others. I called Tamash from my home shadow, and we Trumped to Rebma (hoping to be undisturbed there). Once there, I pulled out Dannor's Trump, and attempted to contact him. He was resisting the contact, so Tamash and I combined our powers to force the contact through. When we did so there was a flash of light, and Tamash withdrew, shouting that he'd been attacked. Taking this as further indication of Dannor's hostility, I attacked him myself through the now-open Trump contact. A moment or two later, Coenna and Paulus were next to me, and they added their power to mine in an attempt to control Dannor (who, I was shocked to discover, was in the pattern chamber of Tir-na Nog'th). Just as I achieved control of Dannor's mind, he stepped on the Pattern! At that point, Coenna and Paulus vanished, leaving me in control of Dannor, as he started walking the Pattern. The fact that any false move would inevitably lead to the death of Dannor (and possibly myself) was not lost on me. I searched through his mind, and discovered that Paulus had (insanely) left a compulsion not to walk the Amber Pattern in Dannor's mind. Suddenly, the motivations for his escape became clear - he wanted to clear his mind by walking the Pattern, but could not do so in Amber, where we were going to make him walk the Pattern in the morning! Convinced of Dannor's innocence in this mess, I had to then try and give him control of his mind back, without him faltering on the Pattern.
As I was walking Dannor along the Pattern, I became aware that Random, King of Amber, was asking me something. Unable to concentrate on what he was saying without risking Dannor's life, I attempted to briefly expound upon the gravity of the situation. Not the way one usually addresses Random... Eventually, I found a long straight section of the Pattern, and left Dannors mind with a compulsion to keep walking forwards. With baited breath, I watched him step forward, waver as his mind took control back again, hesitate, and then press on to finish walking the Pattern. I broke the Trump contact once it was apparant that he was safely on his way, and turned to face the others. Random seemed unimpressed with the conflicting tales offered him, and placed me under arrest in Rebma until the morning; the others he sent back to Amber. The guard lead me to a large cell, and I Trumped Tamash to get him to send me some coffee - one must have one's little comforts, even in prison!
The next morning, I was summoned to the Throne Room in Amber. Random listened to our various accounts of the previous night's events, but offered little opinion of his own. I retired to my home shadow, to recuperate. I visited Michael in person, to offer an explanation for my compelling him to give me Dannor's Trump, which appeared to mollify him. Afterwards, I went to visit Tamash's home shadow (a most peculiar affair, but not unpleasant). Tamash had advised Dannor that attempting to kill me would have unfortunate consequences, and he was willing to trust me, as long as I provided him with a Trump of myself. I did so, as well as preparing another Trump of Tamash, and learning how to fly an un-powered flying machine.
It was now time to try and solve some of the outstanding mysteries. Tamash and I resolved to return to the place wherein Corwin had been imprisoned. Tamash went to the end of the universe where I had Trumped him to Corwin's universe from before. I returned to Rebma, and assayed the Pattern again. At the center, I teleported to beside Corwin's Pattern, and opened a Trump contact with Tamash. Finding Dannor and Coenna with him, I brought them all through the Trump contact. Tamash then shadow-walked us to the last safe place near to where Corwin was imprisoned, and I summoned Michael and Paulus by Trump.
Tamash was unable to move us further towards Corwin's place of inprisonment because of the strange being that destroyed his Logrus tentacles. I hoped that walking the Pattern in my mind would enable me to manipulate shadow in this universe. This is a difficult process at the best of times, and was even harder in a different universe. Accordingly, I was oblivious to the appearance of a large flock of fell black birds. Tamash consulted with Nathaniel, who agreed that moving away from them would be a good idea; he set off at a trot (so as not to disturb my concentration), which is a gallop for normal horses! The birds continued to gain on us. Thankfully, I finished walking the Pattern in my mind before they caught up.
I looked ahead, and a bird of my desire appeared ahead of me. I could now manipulate shadow! As we rode on, the single bird grew into a vast swarm of large black birds, which flew towards our pursuers, and met them in bloody battle. Ignoring the result of this conflict, I decided to head for Corwin's prison. behind the grey rock ahead of me, there was, as I expect, a small pink pebble. I siezed hold of this, and wrenched reality around us as hard as I could. Nathaniel and I galloped through many strange and violent shadows, moving towards our goal at a vast rate. We passed through battles between giants, strange and vile shadows from nightmares, and would have been at our location had not Paulus shouted that it was too much for him. I stopped the Hell-ride, and shifted shadow until it I found somewhere were we could rest safely for the night, and no-one would object to Tamash's demon form. This appeared to be an inn filled of demons like him! Still, they appeared to be friendly, so I went upstairs and gratefully retired to bed. I slept for two whole days, exhausted after so much use of the Pattern.
When I woke up, I was amused to discover Dannor hallucinating, apparantly as the result of over-indulgance in the local beverage. Once he recovered, we resumed our journey (Tamash was able to shift shadow again now), using the adumbratometer as a direction-finder. Our travels were interrupted by having to go back to look for Coenna, who had stayed behind when she had been shot at. Her assailant vanished, so we pressed on. We reached a coastline, so Tamash caused Nathaniel to levitate, with me upon his back. Finally, the island of Corwin's imprisonment was there, floating in the air in front of us. Tamash flew through the vacuum surrounding it, and Trumped us through.
Upon that island, there was little of note beyond a large tower. Using the Pattern lens revealed little about it beyond that it had construction of both Pattern and the Logrus. Michael failed to break through the door by brute strength, and a poison dart foiled Tamash's attempt to shape-shift his way through the lock; accordingly, he froze the door as hard as he could, and then Michael and Paulus combined to punch a hole in the outer sheet of the door. This enabled Dannor to access the lock mechanism, and he was able to unlock it. Tamash went inside, and explored the place. He found a Trump card, and brought it outside. I was shocked to notice him attempting to open a contact using the Trump. Fearing that it might have been a Trump trap that could have caught Corwin in the first place, I attempted to snatch the card from his hand, but alas it tore. At this point, I decided that a Trump sketch of this place would be useful, so sat down to draw one, whilst Tamash examined the tower more thoroughly. This being done, we went to the analog of this place in the other universe, and I sketched that too.