Dashing Blades of Amber History

Return to earlier times, when good King Oberon ruled over the growing trading port of Amber, and His Majesty's handpicked guard, the Royal Blades, kept the peace.

The premise of this setting was that Amber was a swashbuckling place back in the days before Corwin was born.  I am intentionally not worrying about continuity with the Amber books; think of this as a sort of historical fiction in the Amberverse, playing freely with the established history to tell a swashbuckling story.

This is a log of what has happened in the games so far.
Dashing Blades of Amber (ACUS 2006, Slot 2)
Return to earlier times, when good King Oberon ruled over the growing trading port of Amber, and His Majesty's handpicked guard, the Royal Blades, kept the peace.  Shadowy enemies of Amber may be behind a rash of mysterious kidnappings.  Now is the time for the King's men, paragons of honor and swashbuckling elan, to prove their loyalty, track down the architects of the crime, and bring them to justice.

Cast:
Hotspur
Fiorenza "Red" Korallion
Jean Richard Michel
Elizabeth "Bits" Tealey-Smart
Tyrel

During their evening patrol on Midsummer's Eve, Hotspur, Bits, and Tyrel hear the sound of swords clashing in a nearby alleyway.  Investigating, they find Lancer Victoria defending a group of young boys from four thugs, while a mysterious dandy watches on, juggling five daggers. Announcing their presence, our heroes wade in help her, evening the odds nicely.

Now that the brawl is louder, Red and Jean hear and wander in from their patrol.  The juggler suddenly moves into action, throwing a dagger at Jean who easily sidesteps it.  The thugs have all gone down by now, and the juggler, sensing he is in trouble, does an amazing run and jumps over the wall at the end of the alley.  Jean's whip catches him around the ankle as he goes over, and for a moment he's hanging there over the wall, and then he cuts the whip, falls, and hits the ground running.

Red gives chase, using an acrobatic stunt of her own to get over the wall.  However, before she can catch up, some sort of smoke bomb is tossed from an alleyway at the juggler's feet, and he disappears in the resulting cloud of smoke.

Questioning Victoria and the young boys, it turns out that the boys were on their way to the church for River of Souls night, when these thugs (and the juggler) cornered them in the alley; the juggler, clearly the leader, said something to the effect of "Might as well start with these."  Victoria stumbled across them, saw something was up, and rushed to the children's defense, holding her own against the four thugs until the noise attracted our heroes.

Bits explains that River of Souls is a rite of passage for five-year-old boys in the Church of Anglesey, and all of the 5-year-old males in the Church will be at the Great Cathedral in an hour or so.  She, Hotspur, and Victoria go ahead and take the boys to the Cathedral, while Tyrel, Red, and Jean round up horses and a bloodhound named Toby to track the juggler.

At the Cathedral, Father Gilletti briefs Bits.  Early today someone came looking for information about a girl who immigrated from Anglesey five-and-a-half years ago, single and pregnant.  He didn't give any information out, but he remembers her all right, as she is a member of Anglesey's royal family, in hiding.  Bits puts two and two together -- there is someone after five-year-old Anglesey boys, and someone else looking for Marguerite des Cour and her son Davide, who is now five.  She gets Marguerite's current location from the Father, and heads to pay her a visit, to see if she can intercept them on their way to the Cathedral, taking Hotspur with her.  Victoria is left to guard the Cathedral.

On the way to Marguerite's, Hotspur is intercepted by Alan Noble, one of the city's best duelists for hire.  He has been hired by one Elaine Wright, whose husband cheated on her with Hotspur.  Hotspur duels him, and though outclassed with a blade, manages to use his wits to keep the fight even, and unleashes a scathing critique of Alan's clothing.

Meanwhile, the bloodhound Toby has led our other group of heroes to a fairly obscure back door of the Cathedral.  Entering, they quickly realize there is some sort of gas in the air.  Toby passes out. Tyrel and Jean do their best to open as many doors and windows as they can, while Red rushes to the sanctuary where the River of Souls ceremony is supposed to be taking place.

She finds all the children and church staff asleep, with five adults who are obviously behind the situation.  One is the notorious ex-apothecary Robert Holt, sentenced to death three years ago for poisoning a number of young children, rescued by forces unknown from the hangman, and not seen since.  Another she guesses is "The Ghost", a mysterious albino who never appears during the day, and seems to know the secret ins-and-outs of every building in Amber.

They are pretty clearly just hired help, however; they are now shaving the backs of the sleeping boys' heads.  (As is explained in the end, apparently the Anglesey royal birthmark is on the back of the head.) Keeping watch over this scene is the juggler from before, back to juggling again, and a beautiful Tambudze warrior; and supervising the entire operation is a large, rather ugly man who is clearly in command.

Back at Marguerite's, Bits discovers that Marguerite and Davide have been captured by a mysterious woman.  Bits confronts her, and a pitched battle breaks out; she is Bits' superior with a blade, but Bits has her in strength, and their confrontation is quite impressive.  From down the road a bit, Hotspur hears the sounds of the fight, and he excuses himself from the fight with the duelist, vowing to contact his principal later to resolve matters.  Rushing to the house, he manages to free Marguerite and Davide, taking them to safety, leaving Bits to fight the mysterious woman.  Both are badly injured; finally the woman, realizing there is no further point to fighting here and now, performs an impressive escape and disappears into the night.

Back at the Cathedral, Red confronts the Tambudze warrior woman, the latter wielding a strange weapon Red has not seen before, giving her an edge over Red's flashing blades; Red, on the other hand, is better at positioning herself, and is more acrobatic, though her opponent is no slouch. Another big fight ensues, ranging over a good porition of the sanctuary and using a hanging chandelier and a bit of Swash.  When the dust clears, Red is unhurt; her opponent is dead.

Tyrel, meanwhile, has matched up with the juggler, and Jean with the villains' leader.  Finally, we see two Blades outmatch their opponents in swordplay.  Tyrel ends up killing his man quickly, and goes on to subdue the Holt the poisoner.  The leader is much tougher, and puts up a good fight for Jean, actually smashing one of Jean's blades with an impressive feat of strength.  Finally he is captured; he tries to kill himself with a poison capsule, but Tyrel and Jean force Holt to provide an antidote to counteract it.

Red chases The Ghost out of the Cathedral, finally running him down in the streets outside.  He too is captured.  Hotspur takes Marguerite and Davide to the Blades' barracks for safe-keeping; rejoining the others at the Cathedral, he finds Victoria inside, knocked out by the sleeping gas, and wakes her up.  Bits also returns to the Cathedral, and waking Toby, uses him to track the woman she fought with.  The trail goes cold on the docks.

In the end, the leader and the poisoner are hung, successfully this time.  The Ghost rots in a prison cell, in a newly built wing of the prison, so he does not know its secret ways.  Marguerite and Davide are hidden again; this time the few Blades who are let in on the secret keep an eye on them.

And the mysterious woman who fought Bits?  All that is known is that she is Cheng Ho, and a bit older, possibly in her 40s.  And apparently she was not in league with the others; their bungling was the only thing that stopped her from successfully capturing Davide.


The Masterless Men (ACUS 2006, Slot 6)
A Dashing Blades of Amber Adventure
Queen Cymnea must see that open war does not break out between two of Amber's best trading partners, and the swashbuckling Royal Blades must make sure she gets the chance to do so, despite those that wish to see her fail. Pirates from the Queen's homeland, the island kingdom Dun Mordha, have staged massive raids on the fishing fleets of a neighboring kingdom -- raids that many claim are actually under the control of Cymnea's sister, Dun Mordha's High Queen Minerva. Now the Blades must help Cymnea get to the bottom of the situation and resolve the tension.

Cast:
Hotspur
Lark du Seabright
Renardo
Ricardo "Rico" de la Valle
Tyrel

His Majesty's Royal Blades were given the great honor of escorting Her Majesty Queen Cymnea to her homeland, the island kingdom of Dun Mordha, to hold a discourse with Her sister, the High Queen Minerva.  En route, the vessel was attacked by pirates. While his companions in arms repelled the pirates and brought them to the justice of the blade, Hotspur defended His Majesty and Her Ladies in Waiting, keeping them safe and calm despite the battle above, through his gift of song and dance.

Arriving at Dun Mordha, the Royal Blades escorted her Majesty to audience with Her sister. In her great wisdom, Her Majesty offered Her sister the grand gift of services of the Royal Blades who would end the raids of the pirates.

The Royal Blades traveled the woods of Dun Mordha. With great cunning, they determined the location of the hidden pirate fortress and its secrets. With speed and skill unsurpassed, they claimed the fortress as their own. When the pirate ship returned, the cutthroats found themselves facing the justice of the Royal Blades. Being men of low morals, they were not worthy of the challenge and fell to the swords of the Royal Blades.

Their task accomplished, the Royal Blades took word of their victory back to Her Majesty. The threat ended and peace restored, Her Majesty bade Her sister farewell and returned to Amber under the protection of the Royal Blades.   [Summary by Kit Kindred]

ACUS 2007, "Slot 0"
A Dashing Blades of Amber Adventure
Cast:
Ricardo "Rico" de la Valle
Sebastian
Vincent Valentine "Vigilant"

Our three heroes are assigned to provide additional security for a party at Lord Osric's castle, located in a port town south of Amber.  Osric and the naval officers at the party are called away -- several ships in the harbor are on fire.  Vincent, as always present as the masked Vigilant, dances with Veronica, his star-crossed love.  A pretty blonde flirts with Sebastian.  

Rico checks out Osric's locked office, suspicious the fire is too convenient, and through the keyhole, sees a strange man rifling the desk. Breaking down the door, he confronts the man, who claims he is acting under duress because his family is being held hostage nearby and will be killed if he appears to be helping the Blades.  After a quick discussion, Rico runs him through, knocks him out, and ties him to the chair.  Rico notices what appears to be a secret door open in one corner of the room.

Meanwhile, troops led by a stunning redheaded woman storm up from the lower levels.  She takes twelve into the ballroom; the other twelve head for the conservatory.  Sebastian recruits six gentlemen there to help him out; the flirting blonde turns out to be an enemy agent who is Sebastian's equal in combat.  Rico challenges four of the troops to help the gentlemen out, easily keeping them at bay.

In the ballroom, Vincent swoops down from the balcony, draping a tapestry over most of the troops.  He takes out a few, and Frank, Veronica's suitor, joins the fight.  The redhead goes for Lady Anming, Osric's wife.  Vincent dives to her rescue, swooping her up to the balcony.  Frank falls in battle, and the remaining enemy head for the conservatory while Vincent secures Anming in her quarters.

In the conservatory, Sebastian defeats the blonde, while Rico and the surviving gentlemen finish off that batch of troops, just as the next batch reaches the room.  Rico faces the eight troops, while Sebastian faces the redhead.  Sebastian reaches across and slashes the chain on a chandelier, taking out four of the troops, thereby "evening" the dds for Rico -- he handles the four remaining with aplomb.  The fight is over quickly.

The man in Osric's office turns out to be telling the truth; his family is quickly rescued.  He goes by "Digger"; apparently for years he has been doing grunt construction work on fancy buildings by day in various guises,then ripping off one or two a year using his knowledge of their secret passages.  As he seems to be a loyal (if criminal) citizen of Amber, the team decides to try to put him to use for the crown.

The women were agents of the Foundation, and are locked away in Amber's most secure dungeon.


The Hard and the Easy (ACUS 2007, Slot 2)
A Dashing Blades of Amber Adventure
An invading army threatens an idyllic small town vital to the defense of Amber. Their only hope is a small group of the swashbuckling Royal Blades.

Cast:
Hotspur
Micheline
Jock "o' the Winds"
Volopone

Shortly before the events of the previous episode, captured Foundation agents revealed that there was some sort of operation planned against Renler, a small town several days' sail away.  (The Foundation is the current best name the Blades have for the shadowy group of foreign operatives who have been working against Amber -- the River of Souls kidnapping incident appears to have been their first major operation in Amber.)  Renler brass is a key element in Amber's shipbuilding operations, making the ship's hulls stronger.  Four Blades are dispatched on a small ship to investigate the situation.

As they sail, subtle clues indicate to Volopone they have left Amber's world; Renler is in a small world of its own. Arriving there, our heroes find two trading ships from Amber already in port, as well as various small fishing craft.  They introduce themselves to local authorities, who cooperate fully, giving our heroes the run of the town.  Hotspur and Volopone head up to the lookout tower (on the highest point in town) to survey things; Micheline checks out the docks, while Jock tries to get a feel for what is going on off the main streets of town. Jock is successful flirting.  Micheline meets several sailors he knows, and learns that one of the ships had very significant crew turnover before they sailed from Amber.  Hotspur and Volopone observe a large fleet heading to land on the beaches a day's ride north of town -- 30 ships of unknown design and flag, and Volopone estimates about 6,000 troops based on their size, configuration, and how high they ride in the water.  (The ships are outfitted with cannons, but gunpowder does not work here.)

Acquiring horses, the four follow the road north of town, which gradually goes down to sea level, crosses a river, and finally arrives at small cottages on the long beach.  Seeing the apparent invasion force, most of the beach goers are fleeing, though two cabins remain occupied.  Jock ventures forth from their hiding place at the edge of the forest to alert these cabins.  At the first he apparently interrupts an intimate moment; the man who comes to the door wrapped in a towel is startled to learn there is an invasion in process.  At the second, he is greeted by giggling teenaged girls, and he gallantly escorts them and their mother off the beach.

Finally the fleet is close enough to launch the first wave of longboats, about 1500 troops, and our four heroes decide to ride forth to meet them.  A military leader comes forth, with a an older translator / advisor who can speak Thari.  There is a brief discussion which quickly turns into a fight.  Hotspur takes on the leader, Micheline and Jock his guards.  Volopone knocks out the advisor, throws him over his shoulder, grabs the fancy edged helmet off the leader's head and throws it to knock a bunch of soldiers back, giving him a clear path in the direction of the forest. Micheline and Jock cover his flanks, and Hotspur, having killed the leader, single-handedly holds off the rest of the army while the three make for the trees.  Hotspur's fancy footwork and dashing bladework is just barely keeping him alive when the three, now mounted, ride back into the fray, bringing a fourth horse for Hotspur, and the four ride off the field into the sunset, the advisor slumped over the back of Volopone's horse.

Questioning the advisor, they learn (unsurprisingly) that the fleet is from a new world, currently unknown to Amber.  This world was contacted by several people -- presumably Foundation agents -- who outlined the great potential to be found in conquering Renler.  They are supposed to be contacted by agents from the town to give them last minute tactical info on the town's defenses.  Our heroes intercept two spies on the road, near the bridge, and leave them tied up there.  There is some discussion with the advisor on what would convince him that the attack should be called off, and they conclude their best plan of attack is to capture the fleet's flagship -- especially valuable to Amber because it has a Foundation-provided navigator capable of sailing between Renler's world and this new world.

Borrowing a small local sailboat, they sneak their way into the enemy fleet under the cover of darkness.  Jock and Micheline invade the captain's quarters; Hotspur and Volopone take the deck.  Jock takes out the captain, and the sailors are fairly quickly routed.  They secure the navigator and his charts.  The advisor is suitably convinced that the now somewhat beheaded fleet is outclassed, and he convinces the others to retreat.  Our heroes sail the captured ship back to Amber, bringing the advisor with them to act as ambassador to Amber.

[GM's note -- the operation at Osric's castle was intended to distract Osric with the kidnapping of his wife and/or child so that his fleet could not interfere with the Renler operation.  Yet not only was his fleet free to act, but our heroes didn't even bother to contact it, deciding the four of them were all that were needed to save the day!]
Dashing Blades of Amber (ACUS 2007, Slot 6)
Return to earlier times, when good King Oberon ruled over the growing trading port of Amber, and His Majesty's handpicked guard, the Royal Blades, kept the peace. A royal kidnapping threatens to leave the city in chaos. Can the King's men, paragons of honor and swashbuckling elan, work together with Benedict's Lancers to set things right?

Cast:
Hotspur
Lark du Seabright
Jeckie
Kaleda ("Kal")
Borachio

King Oberon, Osric, and Finndo have gone to visit the new world our heroes captured the directions to in the last episode, taking a good portion of the fleet and the majority of the Blades with them.  With young Benedict left in charge, tensions run high in the city, and a dustup between the remaining Blades and a group of Lancers lands our five heroes on dungeon guard duty at the castle.  They find themselves guarding the Foundation prisoners captured in the "Slot 0" episode.

Alarms go off in the castle above, and footsteps can be heard coming down the stairs.  Kal, Jeckie, and Borachio charge up the stairs, meeting a pair of rogues coming down.  Kal stabs the first, who throws his lantern in Kal's face and tackles him, taking them both rolling down the stairs -- Jeckie acrobatically jumps over them and confronts the next villain.  Borachio catches them and smashes Kal's opponent into the wall, knocking him unconscious.  Jeckie quickly disarms her opponent, and our heroes drag both down to the dungeon and stash them in a spare cell.  

They decide to send Jeckie (I think -- S.) up to scout out what is going on upstairs; Kal goes with her to get a change of clothing, as he is drenched in oil.  Jeckie finds most of the staff unconscious or incapacitated -- some sort of severe food poisoning in lunch, it appears.  She turns up the normal cook, tied up in a closet -- apparently he was taken out before he could cook lunch.  She soon pieces together the situation -- Prince Benedict and Queen Cymnea, incapacitated by the food, have been kidnapped, taken off in two Royal carriages toward the city.  She gets the rest of our heroes from the dungeon, and leaving the castle in charge of the cook, they head down to the city.

There they find the city in an uproar.  Apparently someone started planting rumors and inciting the city days ago, and it was brought to a boil as the castle was being poisoned.  Our heroes meet two of Benedict's Lancers fighting their way up out of the city -- Victoria, whom we have already met, and Patricia, the young captain of the Lancers.  Our heroes suggest they secure the castle.  Borachio is confronted by some muscle who want to collect on his gambling debts; Kal contributes a pursefull of money to keep them satisfied until the crisis is over.  Lark checks on her little sister Sparrow, who was sent down to the harbor for fish and has not returned; she is duly rescued and escorted home.  The stolen carriages are tracked to opposite ends of the harbor, where their contents were obviously transferred to two ships from Stang.  The ships immediately sailed off, but their sails are still visible over the horizon.

Determining which of the carriages was carrying the Queen, they take Lark's personal sailboat and set off to rescue her.  As evening arrives and they leave Amber's waters, the two ships they are following are clearly on the same path.  The ship carrying Benedict suddenly loses a mast and slows down drastically.  Catching up to it, they see a beaten Benedict forced to walk the plank, and rescue him from the water. Clearly a bit humbled by his experience, he joins the group in their attempt to rescue the Queen.

Coming quietly alongside the enemy ship in the cover of darkness, a convenient line is found to climb up, and a harpoon gun is used to make a second line.  They head up and over the side, cutting free Lark's sailboat so it is not crushed by the larger vessel.  Hotspur and Benedict work their way towards the Queen.  Borachio brawls with a large batch of sailors towards the stern of the ship.  Lark provides cover for Hotspur; Kal and Jeckie provide cover for Benedict.  Hotspur does a diving, acrobatic move to get down the stairs into the cabin holding the Queen, beating Benedict down but taking a wound from the villain at the bottom to do so.  After sizing up said villain, Hotspur determines Benedict is better suited to fight him, and maneuvers the fight so Benedict can take over.   In short order the villain is dead, Lark has disarmed the ship's captain, Borachio is drinking rum with a batch of the enemy sailors, the deck is subdued, and the Queen is rescued.  Benedict apologizes for sticking our heroes with dungeon duty.

[GM's note -- this is young Benedict, and while his Endurance and Physique are phenomenal, his Wit and Combat stats just put him on a par with the best of the Blades.]