07.12g Aftermath of Arrival

[Draylen]

The bear groaned, after being treated by Morgana and Rogbar, shaking his head. He looked at his body, sore and strained, and winced. His head pounded, and everything about him was sore, but he shook it off a little, stumbling away from the party. He waved at Quin, a little, somewhat woozily, as he moved away from the medical tents, heading toward the harbor.

[Joshua]

Quin will head over. "Looks like you had a rough day." He looks over the bear for a moment. "anyhow, you wished to speak?"

[Draylen]

"I need... answers," he says, grumbling a little as he all but collapses on a beach chair. He frowns a little, and lifts his paw up, staring at it. "You know, for all of that, I'm not even the slightest bit tired. And the soreness is starting to go away." He looks over his paw at Quin again, frowning deeper. "What... is Pattern? I mean, really? Because..." he starts, and sighs.

[Joshua]

Quin will pause and start to say something, then catch himself. "I guess you want a real answer." He will sit on the bench next to you. "It's not an easy answer. I only know a little of how Dworkin drew it... er, them."

He will ponder. "It is a representation of primal order. Drawn in opposition to the first source of real power, that of Primal Chaos*. Chaos has a representative and in many ways displays sentience. It used to choose who was able to walk it. The choice was... clear, as was its representative. I suspect Pattern was made in that image. It has some criteria to select those who can walk it. I- honestly don't know why some are chosen."

"As for what it does..." He will think. "The short of it: It gives you dominion over Shadow. The further from Amber, the easier it is to adjust."

"Does that give you a place to start?"
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*: Aibne is perceptive enough to hear the differences in the capitalization.

[Draylen]

The bear frowns a little and shakes his head a little, rubbing his forehead. "Not... exactly," he says, breathing out. "It's made me... stronger. Better. This is already fading, when it should have had me on bed rest for at least a day or two," he says, gesturing to the bruises and abrasions. "That," he says, pausing slightly to gesture at the shadow striders and the injured lizard folk, "should have split my head open. Holding them all, feeling themselves in my head, carrying them through the shadows... should have been nearly impossible. But it wasn't. I... just..."

He pauses, and catches himself, leaning back. "How? How did it work? What did Pattern do to me? And what kind of... mark... did it leave on me, that everybody else seems to see?"

[Joshua]

Quin looks side to side and takes a breath. He draws your trump card... "Well, here..." He says... establishing a mental connection through it.

He takes a breath* and feeds you two psychic impressions**.

The first is you, while you were still with the striders. Familiar... The second is as you are now. The major difference is in intensity. The second impression is more 'real' but still fundamentally the same. The lines and components that make it up are simply stronger, more intense.
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*: He's using some sort of power that you've never seen before.
**: Not like pushing them into you from memory. More like... the mind on the other end of the connection is the impression for a moment each. The mental equivalent of looking in the mirror.

[Draylen]

"Is this really what..." he starts, the bear frowning a little, before he shakes his head. "I didn't ask for this," he says, looking at Quin. "And... things... keep attacking me. trying to get... I don't know. But..." he says, shaking his head a little, breathing out. "I just... I don't... help."

[ShadowOfPreservation]

Jiga had been wanting to speak to Rogbar for some time now but his experience clearly sobered and shook him and so she's remained mostly a shadow since leaving that place, watching and waiting for an appropriate time to engage him. However, by the time Aibne had received proper care and left the medical tent, Jiga still did not feel confident in her ability to engage the cat in conversation and not say the wrong thing. And so, leaving the lizardfolk and injured Striders in the proper care of actual medics, Jiga quietly fell in some distance behind Aibne, thinking to perhaps ask him for advice. The bear seemed troubled as well though and so she kept her distance, the act of shadowing and eavesdropping on a target giving her something to focus on other than her worries.

She increases the distance between them as Quin joins Aibne but remains close enough for her keen ears to catch most of the conversation. After a few moments, seeing Aibne a bit distressed, she gathers her courage and decides to approach. "I...I'm sorry if I'm interrupting...and I'll leave if you want me to. I heard a bit of what you both were discussing, and I can't really add anything in the way of explanation...but maybe the why doesn't matter so much. You have power to help protect the people you care about. Understanding the pattern (purposefully not capitalized, Jiga has no real idea about such things) is great but I think what you decide to do with that power is more important." She shrinks a bit as she finishes, looking somewhat insecure herself.

[Joshua]

Quin will nod in agreement. "Plus, you are still you. The mark just made you more you."

He will pause. "I don't think you were targeted specifically. People wanted to test what was real. What hit you could have hit anyone."

"I'm not sure I'm the best to talk to about this. I am an outsider."

[Draylen]

"I just..." he sighs, and looks at Jiga. He's clearly annoyed, but shakes his head a little, breathing out slowly. "No. You are as welcome here as I am," he says, inclining his head slowly. He takes a deep breath, in and out, before closing his eyes. Slowly, calm appears over his features, and he relaxes slightly.

"You are no more outsider than I, Quin, fool of wisdom," he says in reply to the jester, giving a small, wry smile. "Older than all of us by far, and wiser than most would believe by your foppish state. The only one more knowledgeable than you is the asshole* who drew the thrice be damned thing." He folds his arms, growling a little, before taking another deep, calming breath, in and out, before turning to Jiga.

"Power without purpose is meaningless. Yes, I have the power to protect my friends. But I didn't do anything I couldn't have done before. It was just... faster. And cheaper. Significantly cheaper. You don't want to know how much it costs to get a cadre of sorcerers to shape shadow to an unknown location with unknown prizes at the end of it for one person, even someone as known and respected as Rogbar. It's... A lot."

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* He rather noticeably yells this at the sky, under the (probably not inaccurate) assumption that Dworkin will be able to hear it.