As for the last fortnight, the weather in the square at the bottom of the city has been peculiar. A tiny cold patch sits above the fountain. Snow falls onto it from time to time. Filinia, the engineer who has taken to looking after it, has run out a trough from the broken water pipes beneath it, so that anyone can fetch water without getting too close, but she herself is nowhere to be seen right now. Just a sunbaked day and a snowy fountain.

Dirk says "Guys? I have weird trumps. "

The chilly weather circles the fountain, falling to sleet and even warm rain as the sun bakes down. Dirk's pronouncement has little effect on that, at least.

A familiar laugh comes from a small crowd that have set up a place to sit and watch the fountain from, barrels have been setup as chairs with a small table of a platform set upon another barrel. Several glasses of gin have been set out and Mortimer is sitting to the side of the table, a sip of the gin then looking to the others that appear to come by either for a quick drink or a word of what has happened with the fountain. Mortimer stands up, pressing the fabric of a new long coat down to smooth it out. A series of panels in a mix of silver and black, runs from shoulder to waist then flaring out to separated panels running down over his legs. A quick fuss with his hair, the weird weather has been causing extra fritz with some ends standing out in a fluffiness that while might look cute, has Mortimer constantly trying to sort out how to keep the hairs in line. He doesn't say anything immediately, though does raise a had to wave to Dick.

Danielle comes walking along to give her daily inspection and greeting to the fountain. yes, she actually says "Hello" to the fountain. she is interesterested in the fountain for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its realative stability given the stability /instability of the city has been a topic of interest since before this incident and so she looks for changephysical or magical

The fountain gives little or no indication that Danielle has been heard, although once she looks in, she can see the sigils have changed again; the 'writing' within alters every so often, but gets no easier for her to translate.

Amy has occasionally been staring at the fountain as she walks by. She always acknowledges those she recognizes as she does so. Like now, as she arrives, coming from the hospital. "Mortimer, Danielle, good day," she calls lightly. "And Dirk, how are you?" She flashes a smile as she pauses, stopping to look at the fountain once more. "You are the strangest little ice patch," she notes lazily.

Someone who has been watching the fountain a lot - Mortimer for example - will have noticed a thing. Although the fountain has been continually exposed to the cold weather, and although the pipes themselves have frozen and cracked, the water in the bowl itself has not frozen over.

Dorian comes walking up from the market. He carries a canvas sack draped over his shoulder. He notices familiar faces near the fountain. He notices familiar faces, and GIN near the fountain, and begins to make his way towards the gathering. He gives gestures, and nods of greeting to the individuals, "Good Day, is everyone well? Hey Mortimer, what does a fellow have to do to get a drink around here?"

Dirk says, "I have weird trumps. Each time I try to use them they don't quite work but the picture changes when they get cold."

Bits of ice float in the bowl, congregating mostly around one edge, but the thing itself does not... freeze. Odd, given how much is frozen.

Mortimer smiles as he sees Amethyst, Danielle, and Dorian. His wave to Dirk appears to go unnoticed and he heads over to him. "Dirk? What's up with these trumps?"

Amy looks to Dirk, and blinks. "The picture changes how?" she asks, curiously. "that seems really strange." Then a glance over at the fountain. "This is very confusing." That's her pronouncement, but then she turns to Mortimer and Dorian. "Did I hear gin?" she asks, looking hopeful. At least for a moment. The petite blonde is looking relaxed and her hair is mostly contained. The blonde curls are generally somewhat unruly, after all. "I might have an empty canteen even." She stops there, as the conversation goes to the trumps and she studies the fountain as she listens.

Danielle hms "The image reacts to cold? Any cold or just the fountain cold. It appears to be a bit of its own magic buble of sorts? Where'd the trump's come from. Found nearby?" She turns to offer greetings to others from where she copies the latest message in her journal

The ruffling of the cold wind on the surface of the manmade pond does not change.

Dirk walks over towards Mortimer. "A while back the fog gave them to me. I think they are "Not Amber" trumps. " He puts air quotes up. "I don't know how Amber trumps work. I am not a red head. "

Dorian frowns, and makes his way closer to Dirk, "The pictures change?" He glances at the fountain briefly as he closes the distance. "That's most strange. What are they pictures of? Have you rembered anything else about your frost giant, and ice castles of the other day?"

Mortimer reacts to the cold wind by licking his hand and trying to smooth down the few flyaway hairs, this appears to work for a moment and then his whole head is fritzy again. Amy receives a simple "Yes" with a nod to the makeshift table, as he turns to motion without words that a glass be poured for his friends if they wish one. Then turning back to the assembled group, specifically Dirk, "How.. how does being a redhead..?" He looks visibly confused though still crosses a little closer to the fountain, "Anyone else notice that the water over there is frozen but not in the fountain itself," he trails off a little looking over to Dorian, "Wait... Frost giants? Did I... Did I miss something?"

Dirk says "Before this situation, Bleys, Brand, and Fiona were the Trump artists and magic users of the royal family. They are all red heads."

Dorian nods at Mortimer, and then points to the fountain, "That thing seems to have become some type of perverse messenger of sorts. At least it's become the point of some rather strange sendings. Something or someone sent the message they are tired of fighting. It loosened some memories in M'lord Dirk's head. I still haven't figured out what is going on with that thing. Except that everything centers around cold with who, or whatever is messing with that thing." He looks back towards the table. "I need a drink."

Danielle hms "Dirk seems to have had a memory of an ice castle and resident giant" She answers Mortimer. I hadn't noticed the water" she looks sheepish moving over to examine the water even stick a finger within mostly to focus her magic sense on the water in particular

Amy shakes her head, as she listens, now examining the water even more closely. "Filinia is pretty ingenious. At least I assume it was her who got the water to where people can drink it, without going quite near the fountain." She then looks at the water where the ice is, and where it's not. She irreverently and promptly sits on the edge of the fountain.

The fountain fails to wash Amethyst away.

Dirk walks over to the fountain and puts a hand in it.

Danielle physically jerks as her senses are directed toward dirk She spins "What are you doing right now? Thinking right now. Trying to use the trumps? The pattern? What?

As Dirk reaches towards the fountain, it cracks over suddenly, iced on the instant. Amethyst's clothes freeze to the snowy lip of it. It becomes suddenly far colder in the entire area.

It is not too late for Dirk to stop trying to touch the ice - if he wants to stop...

Dirk stops right before he touches the water. He tries to concentrate on something to see if it works.

To everyone not already consumed by watching Dirk, talking to Dirk, or being Dirk, it is clear that the circle of ice is now expanding fast. The cold effect is freezing its way across the square.

Mortimer takes a step backwards from the fountain heading back towards his popup stand he mutters lightly to himself.

Mortimer mutters, "... the fountain is ... to freeze ... yet the water inside ... ... fountain is solid and something inside of ... fountain ... ... then ... ... all ... this really ... Just. ... line up ... drinks already, ... ... ... drink we can ... better ... ..."

Acquiring his drink, Dorian makes his way back towards the fountain. He frowns as he hears Danielle. The frown deepens as he notices Dirk's action. The frown blooms into a look of alarm as the water freezes. "Merde! You can't leave the kids unsupervised for a minute. What now?" Drink forgotten he goes to assist Mortimer, "What is that? What ails you man?"

Even the contents of the pop-up stand are chilling rapidly. Dorian has the chance to see things ice over, whcih is odd, because while it is COLD it is not deadly cold - seeing ice form like that should mean he is a few minutes away from death by hypothermia, and becoming a rather impressive if somewhat temporary statue. Yet he lives. To Mortimer, the effect is much the same, all the more so because he knows how warm it was back by the stand a few moments before.

Danielle tries again "You can feel that right?" She looks to dirk "Your absolutely radiating magic milord." What are you doing?"

Dirk says, "Trying to bring up the pattern up in my mind?"

Dirk puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out four cards. He takes the first one our to stare at it. "Frack!"

Frost forms one Dirk's hand as he touches the cards, although they slide apart well enough - they are not demp enough to get frozen together, or something else preserves them.

*forms on

Amy suddenly finds her clothing stuck to the fountain, which she discovers only by trying to stand up. "Hey," she protests, as she looks back, managing to not rip the clothing enough to moon the world, but only just barely. Note the key word is NOT. Thankyou. "What is going on?" She instinctively calls up an image of the fountain, and since she's learned by travelling through the Fog, she calls on her will as well, a stubbornly mutinous look crossing her face. "Please stop this and talk to us."

Mortimer shakes his head looking to Dorian, "What? me? no. just making sure you get a drink." He then turns to look back to the fountain and the direction that Dorian is swearing towards, "Oh, fer..." Pointing at the fountain, "Dorian, not me. Them!"

Amethyst rolls with advantage 0 at difficulty 20, using no talents or gifts and spending will.
The result is a failure.

Dirk is focusing on the top card that is getting cold.

Danielle blinks "Ask them to stop. It's draining energy? Are we being attacked"

Dorian nods at Mortimer, "I see it. Definitely not your fault, Milord." He downs the gin in one quick gulp, and focuses his attention on the happenings around Dirk. "No telling what is about to happen here. Be on your gaurd if you will, this phenomena is spreading." He begins to head towards Dirk at a rapid pace.

Amy at least manages to stand up and turn, glaring at the fountain. She growls a bit, which may be odd, and then her eyes widen. "Whoa," she says. "It feels like there is something there we can push against, with Will. But I literally can't push it - I mean, I failed to push it. Maybe it needs all of us?" She then tilts her head. "Only then there was a vision of - whipcord, but striating in blue and white - kind of like - like - " There is a definite pause, and then she says, "I think sort of like the Pattern."

Mortimer nods to the table and grabs a couple of the drinks poured out, two for himself are downed quickly then he takes three more in his hand balancing them carefully as he crosses the now even colder square with determination, hair fritzing be damned. "Amy." Mortimer casually hands the three drinks over to her with a small smirk. "Drink up, it will keep you warm." He then looks over to Dirk and Danielle, "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

Dirk is pushing against the Trump.

Danielle goes to puut her hand on dirk's shoulder to feel/communicate with the trump "Cease for a moment"

Dirk blinks and stops. "I saw a fro,en old bartender."

A few things happen at once. The fountain, now a mirror of new, fresh ice, shows anyone who is looking into it a dim view of a luxurious room, with a ceiling where stars sparkle, and a set of frozen clientele, gathered around the remains of a fire. Danielle touches Dirk, and can see what he sees, sense what he senses - a clearer view of the room, from a different angle. There is a mirror that shows the ceiling, and has its own distortions like something just fell into it, and in front of the mirror, the frozen, dead bartender. But that interrupts Dirk's concentration. The image in the fountain begins to fade. The trump starts to cloud over with rime. The glasses of gin pop and explode, which means the scant water in them has finally overcome the alcohol, and even those have frozen. Pop. Pop. POW! Dorian is showered with bits of glass and ice, indistinguishable from each other.

Dirk holds out his hand with the signet ring. "This came with thectrumps."

Three glasses? Perfect! Amy promptly downs one, feeling the gin burn its way down her throat. "Thanks, Mortimer," she says with a smile. "That's lovely." She may indeed be Random's daughter, as she then downs the second, so she's suddenly only holding one. Which she keeps in hand, turning to stare at Dirk, as she tries to reach for the Pattern. She sees the vision, but gets really distracted when the glass she has with gin in it suddenly explodes. "Son of a - " she starts, and then she stares at her hand. "There goes Dirk's drink." Glum.

Danielle blinks 'Unicorn's blood. They've frozen to death"

Dorian crouches down amidst the falling debris. "Mon Dieu! Merde! Damn! Chingao! Bloody Night! Never should have gotten out of bed this morning." He stops his swearing and looks around surveying the unfolding chaos. "Errr, ladies and gents, we might want to leave the area."

Bits of glass cling to Amy's hand, frozen there. That's going to be fun, getting rid of those...

Dirk says "Magic people focus on helping Amy. Wish she was her old fire breathing purple dragon self."

There is no snow any more. The air around the fountain has had all the moisture fall from it. Dorian gets to see something that very few humans see, for he can see the edges of the cold effect, where others are looking at each other, at their glasses, and visions. Where the warm air comes into the cold, steam ... anti-steam?... condensation. Condensation comes downwards, and freezes. The thinnest snow possible drifts down, and shows Dorian a beautiful rainbow, an impossibly delicate pale spectrum that comes and goes on the edges of vision, framing the noise and the chaos.

Mortimer appears to be more interested in the exploding glass than the vision that he gets a glimpse of. The frozen scene with bartender... then the noticeable sound of glass nearby shattering. "Wh.. wait..." He looks to Amethyst and the glass bits, A glance back to Dirk, "Purple dragon?" Another spin and his head might just twist itself off, "Amy? We should leave the cold, get you warmed up before that glass tries to do something else."

Amy flexes her fingers, eyes wide. She stands otherwise stock still, staring. She hears Dirk's words, but like they're from a distance, as she finds herself suddenly in her own head. A vision? A something... There's a roar echoing in her head, a purple dragon with delicately sparkling wings that aren't as delicate as they should be. She can see it in the mirror of ice, for a split second, the dragon's roar loud and defiant in her head - not giving in to the cold. There's a sense of familiarity, a sense of home. But it flashes, and then there's a sense of Amy flying, her wings catching a thermal and soaring up in the air, before diving down to steal up a sheep. A breath, and then the image of breathing fire, the feel of the power whooshing through her, as the fire blasts out to ... no, not fire - it's blue-white ice that blasts out, startlingly. "Wait, what?" she says, as she staggers.

Meanwhile, the denizens of the market square are only just beginning to notice something is happening. The market stalls that spring up from time to time draw people who are doing more than just passing through. Their brave attempts at gaiety - coloured tops and bright paint - make the place into something more than a slumped over-baked square with a single fountain. They also serve to provide a sudden audience, as here and there, people at the stalls start to stare.

Dorian stands and points toward the market. Trying to put some authority in his voice he states, "Everyone! Out of here now! Head that way! We have to get out of this area or we are courting certian death. Mortimer, get Amy out of there. Let's move!"

Amy's frozen breath hits the fountain, falls as a cloud of ice.

Dorian rolls with advantage 0 at difficulty 15, using no talents or gifts and spending will.
The result is a success.

Dirk is standing there looking curious. Nothing hurts Dirk even when it does... just ask him.

Perhaps only Mortimer will see this bit - some of Amy's cold, cold breath falls *through* the frozen surface, becoming broken shards of white in the ice.

One effect of Dorian's words is that the people within the market start hurriedly leaving, not panicking, but just... getting away.

Danielle is drawn out of the horrid vision of icy death to follow Dorian "Sorry i just wasn't expecting that"

Mortimer appears to have been frozen himself, or just stuck in some thought. A little tap of his foot upon the ground as if checking just where the frost is reaching to and then nodding to Dorian, as he looks over to Amethyst and quirks his head into a tilt as he watches the shards break in her breath. "Right." This is more under his own breath as he then steadies his foot tapping and slips over beside Amy, ducking his shoulder down to nearly tackle her and then flip her to his shoulder and try to remove both of them from the circle of ever expanding frozen death.

Dorian frowns as he looks around. "I'm at the edge of this at the moment I think. Come on folks, get at least beyond me, away from the Fountain. It might not be a bad idea to keep going. That means you too Dirk. Now! This isn't play here."

Dirk backs away slowly and then sighs as he follows orders. "ok. Ok."

The frost is definitely out beyond Mortimer, still out by Dorian. But the utterly frozen effect does not follow, and Dorian's voice leads people from it. And the snow fails to come down - it is too cold for snow to form.

Amy is lost in that vision, staring at the ice. As Mortimer tacklegrabs her, she seems to wake up a bit. "Oof," she says, but as she does, a couple pieces of ice seem to form in her throat and she coughs them out.

Dirk shivers a little. He heads to Mortimer. "Hugs?"

Danielle is cognizant enough of her of her own need for safety to move as dorian directs her but her brain is still half elsewhere ' Did that magic just bleed from the damn trump

Mortimer gets Amethyst out from the immediate circle of cold, though hasn't yet put her back upon her own feet. Turning slightly as Dirk calls to him.

Dorian stays near the area of effect until he is sure everyone has cleared the danger zone. He moves further away, looking back at if frequently. "Did it Lady Danielle? I admit I wasn't paying any attention to things arcane. You were closer. What do you think happened? This is a strange way to formulate a truce, don't you think?" He turns his attention to the others, "Everyone okay? Amy, you going to make it?"

Amy shivers briefly but then she seems to warm up relatively quickly. She takes a breath, and a hand reaches up. She stops. There's still glass in that hand. "Oh. Ow," she comments. Then she tilts her head to figure out who is carrying her. "Thank you," she says. "I think I am okay to stand again." She is now looking back at the room, as she looks over at Dorian. "I think so," is her answer to him.

Dirk says "I just need a hug. Did I cause that?" He stares back at the land of ice and snow. " Fili is going to kill me "

Danielle hms "if it was a conscious attack the old man sacrificed himself to do it but it was sucking magic into it like a void. I'd call it a warning, perhaps, but i still don't think the individual holding that trump was doing it. perhaps i underestimate the enimity of war or sheer propensity for madness

Mortimer puts Amy down. "If you need some warmth, I can try. I think I can summon a small fire instead of a full blaze... Or I should be able to." He looks over to Dirk with a silly smile, "It's never just a hug with you."

Dirk nods and scoots closer. "Yeah, but you have to start somewhere right?"

Dorian gives the area a once over to make sure everyone has cleared the area. He sighs, and goes to find a place to seat himself. "I don't understand any of this. I really don't."

Amy smiles at Mortimer, and shakes her head. "If you want to practice, by all means, but I think I am okay. I will need to go back to the hospital to get the glass out of my hand though."

Mortimer puts an arm over Dirk's shoulder and pulls him in closer. Then shifts his gaze to Amy, "We can come back to the hospital with you, help remove the glass before you get too much feeling back to the hand to cause more pain in the process."

Dirk purrs when Mortimer pulls him closer. "Yeah we need to work on your hand."

Amethyst rolls with advantage 1 at difficulty 15, using healing, healing nature.
The result is a success.

Mortimer leaves, following Dirk.

Mortimer arrives, following Dirk.

Mortimer leaves, following Dirk.