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Post by Hammett on May 13, 2020 10:10:44 GMT
((OCC: How about the scars? Should he still wear a half-mask to avoid frightening the kids or is just an eye-patch good enough now?))
With the headaches and dizziness gone Hammett decided to try and contact Martin. He doesn't have much hope in the success, but he had to try. He draws Martin's card from his deck and focuses on it, trying to establish contact.
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Post by Admin on May 14, 2020 5:08:49 GMT
[OOC: still scars. They may last a while.]
There is no contact with Martin.
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Post by Hammett on May 14, 2020 6:32:25 GMT
Hammett taps the card lightly against his desk, in contemplation. he hadn't expected it to work, but he had hoped. Martin might already know what has been going on and trying to hide.
He slips the card back in his deck and puts his feet up deep in thought. Where would Martin go? He knew him and they were friendly, but they mainly talked family gossip and music, never getting too personal. Hammett knew Martin played in bands across shadow, but everyone knew that, so it was unlikely he'd go to ground at any of those places. In fact if he was worried about being found he wouldn't lay-low anywhere. Staying anywhere was a recipe for capture by anyone with Pattern or shadow seeking. No, he would have to keep moving, never staying long in any one shadow to prevent being discovered. At least until he found someone strong enough to protect him. Who would that be? Not Random, that was for sure. Hammett didn't get the feeling Martin trusted any of the elders, really. Apart from his dad and maybe Corwin? Corwin and Random were good friends. Would Martin try and find Corwin and maybe safety in Corwin's pattern or shadows? Hammett didn't really know much about any of that. Just the stories and history he had learned or heard over the time he spent on his return to Amber after the war. So maybe Corwin, but Hammett didn't have a trump of Corwin. Had never met him. Who else? Merlin? Martin and Merlin seemed friendly from the way Martin described him. Merlin had the power to protect him, that was for sure. Hammett had met Merlin briefly on two occasions at royal diners at the castle in Amber. But both were brief, an introduction once, and a greeting another time. Both were not nearly enough to make a psychic impression strong enough for Hammett to try and make a workable trump.
Two fingers of scotch later and Hammett still hadn't figured out a quick or easy plan for locating Martin. A couple of complicated ones, sure. But not quick or easy.
Hammett dropped his feet from his desk. Right, might as well try one of the more time consuming options based on a guess.
He went to his painting desk and began work on another Trump card. The Begma Ambassador. Hammett works well into the night and then through most of the next day to create the trump.
When done he begins to focus on the trump, but not enough to make contact. He wanted to try something he had witnessed his trump instructor do, but that he had never tried himself. The ambassador was a shadow person and a drunken buffoon to boot so maybe it would be easier...
Hammett concentrates and puts his full psyche into the effort and tries to sense the ambassador through the card. Maybe pick up a stray thought or image. A sense of location. Someone with the first initial of "M" had left a note for Hammett and taken the ambassador to safety. And Hammett felt certain it must have been Martin.
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Post by Admin on May 14, 2020 7:33:01 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/9T7z5vz/images-q-tbn-ANd9-Gc-Tj36-D-JXSS9x4-Xi-IUSj-L-V58-uj0d-Dcf-OFe-R6ut-Mk8ne-Fycs-BI~jpg The attempted contact works and Hammett gets images of wine cellars and thoughts of a piquant Eregnorian merlot.
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Post by Hammett on May 14, 2020 7:47:02 GMT
Happy with the outcome, Hammett continues his surveillance a bit longer hoping for more details or information.
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Post by Admin on May 14, 2020 8:40:13 GMT
Little else is learned after an hour of peeping in on the man. He finds the bottle he was looking for, drinks most of it quickly in his drawing-room. The place is well furnished, his wife is a handsome woman of middle-years, foul weather seen outside the window.
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Post by Hammett on May 14, 2020 17:53:02 GMT
"Hmmm..." Seems like he made it home safe and sound. Hammett breaks the connection for now.
If it had been Martin that rescued the man, then he must have already dropped him off and moved on. Still, it might be worth interrogating the man to see if he knew anything else.
Welp, might be time to get on the road for a bit. For the rest of the day Hammett gave some detailed orders to some of his local Naguals to continue work on the project, and sent one out on a special research mission. The rest of the time was spent getting his travel gear together and deciding on what style and type of eye-patch to wear. Once that was done he got some sleep, had a good breakfast the next morning and then adjusted the time flow in Carcosa back to its normal 1=1 with Amber.
Then he pulled out his trump for the Ceridin offices and went through.
Back in Ceridin he let his crew know that he was back, but need a few minutes before talking with them.
He then pulled out his newly created trump card of Renault and focused on it, trying to open a connection.
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Post by Admin on May 16, 2020 5:23:56 GMT
There is a near immediate connection to Renault. Hammett sees the man dirty, covered in dried blood, contained in a jailcell of some sort. The man begins to speak but before instead of words a dark blue cloud comes out of his mouth, travels through the trump connection and into Hammett's face. Avoiding the damaged eye, the haze enters his other eye, into his nose and mouth. Hammett feels the cloud invading his mind, trying to take control of him!
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Post by Hammett on May 16, 2020 6:50:02 GMT
Hammett reacts instinctively, pushing back with all of his Psyche. Trying to force the invading entity out of him and resisting its influence. He is ready to put up his mental barrier in an instant if needed, but he holds back that impulse right now, hoping to learn something about this being during their struggle. It might have been powerful enough to influence a shadow, but Hammett was a prince of amber.
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Post by Admin on May 16, 2020 8:11:44 GMT
#s://i~ibb~co/L8jQXPk/vizier-kromulus~png Hammett mentally pushes against his foe but the other's will is unrelenting in its pressure. "It is as the Lady said, your sentimental mind would reach out to your lost allies. All I had to do was wait."Hammett gets a mental image of a bearded man dressed in robes and wearing a turban. If a person's thoughts can laugh then this one's do and increases his pressure on Hammett's mind.
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Post by Hammett on May 16, 2020 9:35:01 GMT
"You could have just stopped by the bar for a drink..." Hammett keeps resisting as much and as long as possible, he knows he can't holdout long and is ready to put up his shield, but he tries to glean a little bit more information, not of his attacker, his power was obviously more then Hammett's and would obviously be protecting his own identity and information, so Hammett tries and pick up a stray image or any information about the "lady" his foe mentioned. If the attempt is unsuccessful or he feels he is about to be fully dominated he raises his barrier with a "Guess you'll have to keep waiting."
((OCC: Has the "haze" crossed through the trump and is now in the office here in Ceridin?))
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Post by Admin on May 16, 2020 9:53:50 GMT
[OOC: What's this 'barrier' of which you speak?
The haze is merely the psychic impression of the psyche attack through the trump connection.]
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Post by Hammett on May 16, 2020 9:58:03 GMT
OOC: I messaged you.
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Post by Admin on May 16, 2020 10:12:53 GMT
"But why would I leave my palace when I knew that you'd come to me? Come to us Hammett, come and be on the winning side while you can; with Gerard and Random lost there are too few of you left to defend Amber. Come with us and fulfil your destiny."
Hammett gets an impression of the 'Lady' a demon of smoke, pain, and domination.
The pressure from the man's mind increases and Hammett can't help but feel the rightness in going to the man and pledging loyalty to his Lady.
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Post by Hammett on May 16, 2020 10:17:16 GMT
Hammett had enough self-awareness to know he was losing control of himself quickly, he struggled to get out one last quip, "Let me get back to you about that."
Then raised his psychic barrier and (hopefully) broke the connection.
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