Lilja trumps Mandor to speak with him regarding Marco, coming to visit him at Sawellways. 

She came to speak with him regarding Marco, and got confirmation that Mandor was Marco’s kidnapper. When asking which of Mandor’s brothers was Marco’s father, he simply said he is sworn to secrecy and unfortunately he cannot say more than that. Lilja still tries to find out who his biological father was even accepting that legally Marco is a Sawell regardless of biology. She at least gets confirmation that Marco is not a Hesse. 

Neferuher gets in contact with Dante and confirms that they do have some rooms where ghosts can stay in, and that it would be relatively simple to have one made or enchanted. Dantaylion requests that the room they already set up to hold Crow be enchanted if that would be possible so that way they’re not using the Anwp “Ghost Room” all the time. After that, he asks if house Anwp only marries inside their house or if they marry outsiders, and basically proposes what he spoke to Lilja about: that the King’s trump artist is looking for a marriage candidate and Dantaylion feels this family is a very nice one. He states he might have someone of interest and will ask around, and Dantaylion passes along a trump of Lilja to Neferuher so that he can contact her directly. 

Tekhetsio speaks with Abraxis, asking about the Sea of Gunk and the world it seems to be in. It is the source of the decay - it originally existed in its own place, but during the Shadow Storm it ended up where the Dragons were and infected them. Abraxis thinks that Greer found the Sea of Decay first, and from there Abraxis. He thinks that the original denizens of that realm were children of the Bat that went on to become house Keres. He explains that the waves the dragons ride seem to bounce back and forth between Chaos and “some other realm” (Amber probably) and this is why it was so wild that dragons showed up in Chaos to snatch Tek as it’s very difficult for them to get to. 

Abraxis explains that the dragon who tried to kidnapped him was named Brynnys, and that Abraxis themself made the decision to have a child with Greer and it was not one that was necessarily popular, so that makes some enemies as they’re not one unified front. Other dragons have had children with House Keres. Abraxis assumes that Brynnys was intending to kill Tekhetsio but also brings up that given that Brynnys didn’t do so immediately and instead Tekhetsio had time to escape, that might be incorrect. 

Tekhetsio asks Abraxis if his birth was only an experiment, and Abraxis is at a loss for an answer other than “Well, yeah”. But they do tell Tekhetsio that he is their child and they value him when asked if all this is a further experiment

Tekhetsio request to lean the dragon wave riding and Abraxis agrees to teach him, as well as showing him how to use the ring of Greer’s which is basically a CB radio - it can be used to speak to others with the ring, but the conversation is not private, so usually people with them use ciphers. 

Bleys calls up Rook, and invites Rook out to see some entertainment. Rook agrees, but writes a note so that people know they did not wander off into the Abyss. Going to where Bleys is, he takes another trump out apologizing that it was long for one jump. 

There’s a lot of brass, a lot of pneumatics, and a lighter than air vehicle that he is leading Rook onto.  Sort of Victorian, sort of Bavarian. (It’s Steampunk). Also a surprising number of wolves just wandering around, four legged, but still in little vests and hats. It’s Weirmonken!

Bleys has made a reservation under the name John Willoughby for the both of them in a dirigible that tours the city. Rook is curious and asks many questions about the city, which Bleys answers happily, explaining that they used to be at war with Weirmonken but now it is one of Amber’s Golden Circle and that the current level of technology was a bet between his brothers Eric and Corwin, with Eric winning. Ergo, there’s a lot of statues of him around. Rook is impressed and entertained. 

He asks how Chaos is doing and how Caine is, saying that he was being urged to talk to him but hasn’t gotten up the courage yet. Rook offers to basically arrange it and be a go-between so they can talk, and Bleys accepts. Rook notices that Bleys does a lot of small things that could be considered flirtatious - or just be weird. Resting his hand on the table next to Rook’s, brushing their hair out of their eyes, that kind of thing. It seems nice, but Rook is also not sure if it’s something they should ask or not. 

It’s a multi-course meal which is mostly meat and potatoes. After the dinner, he takes Rook on a walking tour of the city. Bleys hooks his arm through Rook’s. 

As they’re walking, someone with a female voice from behind Bleys cocks a gun and says “Hello, Brother.”

Bleys asks “Mirelle?” 

There is a little miscommunication as Mirelle assumes Bleys is here on Random’s behalf, while Bleys assures her he is here for personal reasons. He introduces Rook with their full titles as well as Mirelle with hers. Mirelle thinks that’s bullshit since she does not believe the Courts of Chaos are real although Rook offers to prove it. Bleys points out quietly to Rook that Mirelle is a necromancer, so Rook says HEY we’ve been having some problems with the Deadlands… and Mirelle lowers the gun finally so that they can go and talk now in a secluded pub. 

Rook gives Mirelle a trump card for future contact as she said she is willing to look into the whole deadlands conduit they have. Mirelle has to get the whole ‘Dworkin did not invent trumps’ thing and also that Rook is related to Dworkin. 

Dantaylion and Lilja speak - Lilja lets Dantaylion know of what she learned about Marco, and Marco tells her that Bleys and Rook will be officially courting, as well as House Anwp would be amenable to a possible match. Along with suggesting Lilja as a shapeshifting teacher for Bleys, Lilja also mentions being able to shapeshift others and might be able to assist in that. No excuse not to now, Bleys. 

After the talk, Dantaylion calls Marco to speak to him about what he learned from Lilja. Marco is running and looking flustered so Dantaylion pulls him through. Marco was to meet a friend at Vinny’s and got maybe chased by muggers? Maybe local flora? Dantaylion tells him what he knows of Marco’s parents and offers to go with Marco if he wants to speak to his father about it again. Because Dantaylion is so intimidating. He also says that he thinks the truth can’t be hidden from Marco forever so it’s just a matter of how long he can wait for it to come to light. Things get tense as Marco gets closer and so does Dante. Eventually they arrange to meet up later, after Marco meets with his friends. Dantaylion makes a comment about not making out in a gazebo when his sibling could walk in at any moment. Marco didn’t know that was an option. 

Marco gets flustered and drops his cards when trying to call his friend. That’s about when Rook comes home after all, who decides to just sit on the steps and munches on the big soft pretzel. After recovering the cards and Rook asking if they need help, Marco tries to call his friend but gets no response. Rook agrees to walk Marco and Dantaylion to Daggerways to make sure his friend is okay. 

Tekhetsio gets his contact arranged, with Karolos Keres, to meet in Vinny’s. Karolos specifies his abilities are more about navigating the Deadlands rather than the Necromancy that Anwp has. Karolos is a bit alarmed about the Ferocious Death Sage and the possibility of them getting ahold of a conduit they could exploit. 

All of a sudden there’s a tearing sound and sparks flying past their table. 

Rook just steps through with Marco and Dantaylion as though walking through a Ways connection in the middle of the room where there clearly is no Ways connection. They find Phillip, he’s blacked out, so they were worried for nothing. Rook is not willing to leave the drunken nobles there, so Dantaylion takes out a trump of the Goldenways and makes a Gate through the door and shoves the nobles through it. Marco has a trump of his friend, Phillip’s home ways and gets him home. Rook tries to pretend he doesn’t notice Tek having a clandestine meeting in the corner but Tek insists on waving, so Dantaylion loudly yells “HELLO TEKHETSIO! ARE YOU MEETING A FRIEND THERE? WHO IS IT? WHAT’S THEIR NAME?” 

So yeah. Once that’s all dealt with, Rook, Dantaylion, and Marco decide to walk back home rather than do another flashy trump or shadow walk. 

Karolos asks Tek if that’s the scary Logrus Master, Rook, and Tek says yes that’s them. Karolos mostly goes over what Dantaylion learned from house Anwp. That a soul can be removed from the deadlands in that they can be bound, so that’s one way of getting it away from the Ferocious Death Sage, though he’s not sure how that would help the conduit issue. Unfortunately it’s a whole lot of “???” as far as the situation as much of it is theory rather than tried. Karolos is willing to look at the conduit too when Tekhetsio asks. 

Back at Hesse ways most all the necromancers show up at the same time, with Rook and Dantaylion taking Caine and Mirelle along with the house Anwp necromancers to the cell they had pre-setup to hold Crow, Tek takes the house Keres people. Lilja asks if someone should make sure they know what Tek is doing and Dantaylion and Rook more or less say “If you think he’ll talk to you, go for it.” 

They’re all trying to get their plan done at the same time and the Necromancers say another group is trying the same thing at the same time. Lilja calls Dantaylion and Rook and they state they have a room already created to hold Crow so they’re welcome to bring Keres down to add to that if it’ll help. She proposes this to Tekhetsio who is reluctant as he feels he’s been cut out of everything. He and Dantaylion argue, with Lilja asking everyone to be quiet. Dantaylion quiets but Tekhetsio doesn’t, so Lilja shapeshifts his mouth shut. Tekhetsio pulls back and they shut off the trump call to have a heart to heart about what’s been going on with Lilja ultimately telling Tek to call Rook if he wants them all to work together. 

While Lilja and Tekhetsio are talking, the house Anwp necromancers continue on. 

Tekhetso calls Rook and eventually brings in Dantaylion and they agree to work together for the moment. 

With the necromancers all working together, they secure the room in such a way that Crow will not be able to escape, and using trumps and the Jewel of Destiny they pull Crow out of the deadlands and into the cell, with Dantaylion warning first that we’re playing nice because it’ll work better if they need Crow to work with them. He separately tells Lilja he’s sorry and that basically they’re playing politics for now - they can’t un-obliviate Crow. They need to make sure they get everything they need from him first. 

So Crow now has his little cell in Rook’s personal ways, with Dante bringing him books and the like so he will be entertained. Knock on wood.