Trumps

Shar-Li

Logan calls the tiger, and holds a blank card before it's face. The tiger vanishes.

"Thank you for your assist....saving our asses..." You say. (clearing throat) "I am Gaelen, and this fellow here is no friend, but we do need him alive for the information he may have. Beyond that, my cousin will have to fill both of us in a little more clearly."

Logan gives you an odd look. "Gaelen, this is Shar-Li, Shar-Li, this is my cousin Gaelen... and yes we're both of Amber. But this fellow..." he thumbs towards the guy in the chair, "...is why we're here."

The girl grins and nods. "Bring him. We need to get off the street before the scum wakes up."

You follow her out of the alley and back onto the main streets of Chinatown. A couple blocks down there is a two-way fork in the street and a corner-shaped building in the center. A couple floors up glows a neon sign with Chinese characters on it.

You go to a side entrance and she unlocks the door, looking up and down the street.There are people walking, but none are paying attention your menagerie.

A long flight of stairs causes Logan to grumble. You follow Shar-Li up the stairs while the drags the limb body in the chair up. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The chair makes an awful racket.

"Jesus, Logan!" The girl shouts. "There are people sleeping downstairs!"

"Yeah," Logan replies. "I'm sure your yelling isn't gonna wake them up."

You enter into a small room with couches on either side. The green light of the neon sign in the window fills the room with an unearthly glow. You smell strange spices and can hear the whine of electrical fans.  Shar-Li opens a door leading further into the apartment. Logan wheels the guy into the room past you. You follow.

This room is filled with scientific equipment. Microscopes, lasers, refrigerators and all manner of lab equipment are placed on the wall desks that surround the room. There's a sink in the corner.

Shar-Li opens another door and enters. "Let me get some restraints." She says.    Logan grabs the guy's face and moves it around looking at it. "He reminds me of someone." Logan muses.

Shar-Li returns wheeling a chair with metal restraints on the arms, legs and head of the chair. A light extends out from the top. It looks like something you'd see in a torture film.

She places the chair in the center of the room and presses a button on the back.  A loud hiss emits from it and chair seemingly bolts itself to the ground.  Shar-Li takes of her jacket and heads over to the sink.

Logan asks for your help and the two of you pick up the man and put him in the restraint chair. After bolting him, you too seem to recognize something.

"Ok..." Shar-Li says. "What do you want to know?"

The Witch

The plastic hubcap impacts the magic user's head before she's able to realize what's happening. You grin as Argentum, now a staff in your hands, vibrates with power and you use it to vault yourself toward the group at behind you.

The other ruffians, realizing their artillery is already out of the fight charge you. They're not yet firing their weapons, perhaps realizing that it would bring unwanted attention. You do see the glint of sharp weapons in the moonlight however.

Logan throws several trumps at the group you were headed at, while simultaneously diving for the ground.

The punks you're facing slow as they see the flashes of light and hear the loud bestial roar that erupt near the other group. You grin as you hear them scream.

You hunch into a defensive stance, the ambush slowed by the punk's sudden indecision.

Just then the dim street lamps providing their limited light in the alley explode and shatter glass over the groups. Blue lightning flows along the ground and licks at the punk's feet.

Before you can attack them they're writhing on the ground from apparent shock. The cobalt tendrils of electricity seemingly flow from every where and illuminate them. The lightning slows and doesn't touch you.

You watch for a few moments as a lone, lithe figure steps into the alley way in front of you.

You sense Logan standing next to you, and another presence at your other side. You glance for a moment and find a massive snow tiger stretching its legs.

"Logan... Haman... Khan..." the figure says as it slowly moves its way through the moaning figures on the ground. "I hear you're looking for me."

You see the figure, now clearly a small Asian girl, apparently no more than twenty. She's dressed in denim skirt and a black jacket.

"Uh, yeah... um... Hi." Logan says. You hear something in his voice... fear?

"I saved your ass again. Who's your funny looking friends?" The girl asks. "More buddies from that place you'd never take me?"

In trouble with the law since...

"Told you, that you should teach me that word..."

Logan coughs.

"We are fine, officer, thank you." then, whispered, "Logan, now would be a good time, Logan..."

"The word doesn't work here." Logan seems intently looking at each building.

"Hey, that guy is bleedin'!" The cop says.

"We're taking him to the doctors." You reply.

"I'm gonna need to see some I.D., right now!"

Logan turns to the officer and begins to reach into his jacket.

"Un uh!" The cop says as begins to draw his pistol.

"Officer." Logan says, "I'm going to show you my I.D."

"Slowly!"

You step back as Logan pulls what appears to be a blank trump from an inner pocket and hands it to the policeman. "Here you go officer."

As he hands the trump to the officer who reaches out and grasps it. The officer stares at it for a moment. "What the fu.." The policeman starts to say.

Logan, still holding the trump, speaks a word and the policeman vanishes.

"Remind me before this is over to retrieve the constable." Logan says as he places the trump back into his jacket. "Now where the hell is she?"

Logan starts down the sidewalk, the pink-orange lights mix with the neon to cast strange shadows. You push Avery's wheelchair, the big man doesn't move but groans slightly.

"You seem to be keeping me in the dark quite a bit here. What's going on?" You ask.

"Oh?" Logan says. "Sorry, didn't realize I'd not filled you in." He says dispassionately. "I figured your trauma would subside enough that you'd remember everything." He stops and looks at you. "What do you remember?"

"All I remember was that you asked me to accompany you on some adventure, the next thing I know I'm waking up in cat-hospital."

"Yeah... about that."

"What the hell is going on?"

"This guy and his ilk," Logan jabs his thumb at the immobilized man in the wheel chair. "Have been systematically killing our kind."

You raise your eyebrows. You recall fighting this fellow, and the wound he received, any normal denizen of shadow would have been dispatched by you much quicker. "How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure exactly. That's why I asked for your help. We ended up in Marseilles, the shadow we were just in, when you got yourself shot. We were ambushed by a large force, seemingly out of nowhere." Logan stops to look into what looks like a apothecary shop.

"Where'd the come from?" You ask.

"Shadow Earth, I presume. I'm not sure how, but some Earthers have gained the ability to trump... to use advanced magic and even... walk shadow."

You stop walking. "Walk shadow?"

"Yes," Logan turns and motions you to continue. "Which is why we need this bastard, alive if possible."

"Why don't we go to a..." you start to ask.

"A regular hospital? He has bullet graze wounds and a thick-bladed-sword wound to his abdomen that would match that blade at your side. Which by the way..."

You quickly reach for it and it forms the ring on your finger.

"Thanks... an educated nurse or doctor would be able to put two-and-two together and we'd have more of our constable friend's talking to us. Besides, I'm not sure the technology here would save this guy. We need magic, even the healers here are going to have a tough time."

"So we need to find this..."

"Shar'Li." Logan finishes your statement as you stop outside a narrow doorway. Above the door is a placard written in Chinese. "Stay here." Logan says.

You wait as he vanishes into the doorway.

Moments pass and you hear a heated conversation erupt from inside the doorway.

Logan steps back out of the door. "She's not here... " A long string of what could only be Chinese epithets follow him. "... anymore. Damn I should have made a trump!"

"Why didn't you?", You ask. "Looks like you've drawn everyone and everywhere else!"

"Yeah, well... every time I tried to make a trump of her, it came out wrong, it wouldn't work. The one time I got one that worked, she destroyed it, something about her "soul" trapped in my images." He continues down the sidewalk with you pushing the wheelchair behind.

"Sound's like something I heard about photographs..."

Logan nods. "And I know a camera that can do just that."

You remind yourself to ask Logan about that some other time. For now you continue down the road. Your grumbling stomach reminds you that an Amberite needs food, badly, but the smells of this street are of heavenly food, and death mixed. You're not sure eating here would be a good idea.
You cross the street quickly as a car flies past you honking. People are closing up their shops and getting out of town.

You notice several young people, seemingly trailing you. Every time you turn to look at them they turn and act non-chalant. As if that ever made someone less supicious, you note.

Logan stops inside a restaurant for a moment, again you wait outside. When he returns he's grinning and he says, "Hurry!"

You head further down the street and into an alley. It's begun to rain softly. As you move down the alley, three figures appear at the end of the alley. You hear several others behind you. Ambush.

Logan chuckles.

"So, where you going?" A thick accented boy says. He's in front of you. You look to him and see the glint of a knife. A girl stands at his side, glowing blue sparks coming off her fingers.

"Yeah... where you going?" Another boy's voice, this time behind you.

Logan grins at you, "Where's a cop when you need one?"

Strange Medicine

The enemy seemed to be in full retreat when you went back into the monastery. The building will stand but it will need repairs. The fields... that's another story.

As you enter the door one of the guards is there. He salutes and tells you that there were only minor injuries to 'our side', some glancing blows and the like. You nod and salute back.

You're not sure your opponent is going to get the care he needs in this shadow. About the moment you think those words, Logan appears next to you.

"Is this one of them?" He asks.

"Yeah... I think he's going to die." You say.

"We need to get..." Logan starts to say.

"Out of here. Yes." You finish. A moment or two passes as the two of you think. "We need someplace with magic, I don't think standard medicine of this shadow will save him." You state.

Logan nods. "We'll need some technology too. We need to know his identity."

"You and I visited a place once... with a companion of yours... " You say to Logan.

"I know the place." He opens his trump case, a dark navy blue leather affair with and embossed unicorn on it and pulls out a sizable deck, almost twice the number of cards in it as yours.

"You'll have to share some time..."

"My trumps? Hah... fat chance!" Logan grins. "There's girls in here I won't share with..."

"Shaddup..."

"Ah here it is. " He pulls a card from the deck. On the face is just a storefront, the sign outside is in a strange language and another one, readable, states 'Dim Sum All Day'.

"You sure?" You ask.

"Yeah..."

"Wait a second... if you can just trump us somewhere, why didn't you take me somewhere that would provide me with better care?" You stare.

"Uh..." Logan pauses. "There wasn't enough time... I knew we'd need more firepower. Plus you'd make it through fine here. This would be the last place they'd look for you. Of course, I didn't count on you trying to grab your trumps through shadow." Logan grins.

Something about his story doesn't add up. But you're not sure now is the time to press him. You need to get "Commander Avery" talking.

You pull a wheelchair from the closet, an old looking wooden chair, it will have to do.

Logan begins to prep Avery for transport when the nuns begin to fuss. You start to explain to them when Logan says a word you've never heard before. The nuns fall silent seemingly in a trance and leave the room.

"You'll have to teach me that." You say.

"Later." Logan says as he slides the man into the chair, wrappings and sheets with him. The blood, beginning to seep through his bandages is nearly black.

"We don't have much time." You state.

"Let's go."


Logan, holding the card between his teeth, grabs your hand, his other hand on Avery's shoulder. You feel the world spin around you and are quickly accosted by the dank smell of wet garbage and rain. It's the dead of night, cars are moving to and fro as the three of you stand on a street corner across from a restaurant like the one in Logan's card.

"I know a woman..." Logan starts.

"I bet." You reply.

"Stuff it. We need to find her. Shar'Li is her name, she's a healer. We'll get him to her for the night and then decide where to go from there." Logan states. He shuffles again through his trump deck. "Damn, the one girl I didn't draw..."

You look around. Asian people, human looking at least, pass by you and seem not to even take note of your presence. They see you, but they're avoiding you.

"Excuse me." A voice calls to you from behind.

You turn to see a man dressed in a black uniform. An odd octagonal hat sits on his head, a chrome badge on his chest. He's got a sidearm holstered on his hip. "Can I help you?"

Commander Avery

The man stands over 6', blond hair, very muscular build. Your sword has slid right thru his right side. You figure he'll need surgery to survive... His face is white with shock as he tries to back away but you advance, never removing your sword from his gut. His hand moves to grasp the blade, but you twist it slightly to persuade him otherwise.

After a while, he seems resigned to stand still. "Who are you.", you ask.

"Commander Alpha Avery, United States Special Forces, Alpha Niner Bravo Eight Eight.", he grunts.

You hear people headed your way, from behind you. You hope they're on your side, for you're not taking your eyes off this guy. "Where do you come from?"

"Commander Alpha Avery, United States Special Forces, Alpha Niner Bravo Eight Eight."

You dig the blade in deeper, the magic seems to effect him especially. "Where do you come from!?" You yell.

He cries out in pain. "EARTH!"

You lessen your push on the sword. "Why are you here?"

"For you...", he gasps.

"What do you want with me?"

"You... are... of Amber.", His voice comes with his breath. He's bleeding heavily, you realize you're going to have to save him to figure out anything more. Holding the sword steady, you step into his body and clobber him.

He goes down with a thud. The smell of charred fields and gunpowder assault your nostrils. You kick the body a couple times to make sure he's out and withdraw your sword from his gullet.

Logan contacts you and tells you he's pushed the invaders back, and that he needs to return the hardware to its own shadow. You tell him that you captured one of their leaders and he promises to return quickly.

You're soon surrounded by cat farmers, nuns and soldiers, all surprised to see you alive and well. You pick the man up throw him over your shoulder and walk back to the monastery. As you get closer you can see that the monastery's walls are cracked, probably from the first blast. Once inside, there are many of the cat people undergoing treatment.

You drag "Commander Avery" to a room and lay him upon a bed. The nurses are soon around you and cleaning him up.

Take some of the blood that pours from Argentum's handywork and put it into a jar, in case the man doesn't survive... which you're not sure he will.

Battle

You tell the farmers to torch the fields. The wind, at your back fans the flames quickly into an inferno headed toward the seething mass headed your way. The farmers rush back behind the wall just below the monastery.

You hear the report of the riflemen on the rooftop, finding targets... perhaps too early, but who could blame them considering the onslaught headed their way.

It is not long before gunfire begins to echo around you. Still, its pitifully minor considering what will soon be here. You cannot see much through the heavy smoke, the dry fields were perfect tinder for a deadly fire.

You caress the ring on your hand. Almost time to taste blood, you tell the ring.

Minutes pass exceedingly slowly, the flames and smoke obscure the mob but somehow your riflemen are still able to find targets.

You see a few of your opponents, perhaps a first wave, appear through the smoke on the main pathway. You know they're moments from their deaths.

Forced into the pathway below the monastery, the enemy bunches up right at the piled bomb. You nod at the rifleman standing at your side. He quickly raises his rifle, takes aim and fires.

Striking a small canister of fuel next to the mass, the shot ignites the fumes and begins the conflagration. Moments pass, the enemy unknowingly continues up the path before the explosion engulfs them.

You're nearly knocked off your feet by the force of the blast. The rocks lining the pathway turn into bullets ripping through the mass standing nearby. You feel the heat upon your face and feel the sting of the debris as it flies past you. Your ears ring but you recover your balance and grasp your sword suddenly in your hand.

With three short hops you're in the fray. The enemy, in full disarray, is woefully unaware of your presence and dozens fall at your hand before anyone attempts to defend themselves but with no effect. Minutes go by, the men you kill are humans, dressed and armed in what appears to be mid 20th century style. They're certainly not from this shadow. But that is of little importance, as you slice through several more. Because of the closeness of your attack, the enemy is unable to use their firearms on you, they certainly weren't expecting a hand-to-hand battle.

You hear someone shout, "He's mine!" And turn to see a large blond haired man charging toward you armed with a light sword and a pistol.

You parry his first attack and quickly remove the pistol from his grasp. Your riposte is parried and you quickly move to dodge another attack. Moments into the fight and you realize this is no normal human. You try to focus on the man, attempting to ascertain his lineage... he fights well and has intense strength.

You realize that the force around you has continue onto the monastery, and you hope that your men have either retreated, seeing the uselessness of fighting this mass. With your momentary thought your opponent cuts you slightly. You force him back intent on not allowing your focus to drift.

You continue to fight, exchanging blows and parries for some time. No human would have lasted this long against even the least trained son of Amber... but this man fights like Caine. Could he be...?

Your thought is cut off as a screeching, screaming noise surrounds you. Your opponent looks past you for a moment and you take the advantage to dive into him. Argentum digs deeply into your enemy's side and he staggers backwards.

The noise passes over your head as a large, ugly aircraft fires a huge cannon at the mass of men streaming toward you. You glance at it for a moment and feel the presence of Logan. The cavalry has arrived, and in style. Several large planes bomb, shoot and dive upon the enemy and within moments they're in full retreat.

Your opponent backs away, injured...