07.07: Wheels Within Wheels

[Krajk]

Throne? Krajk neither knows nor gives a damn about some local throne. Or about any throne for that matter. Royalty is annoying, above or below the waves, with its inflated sense of self-worth and grandeur and its grasping desire to keep power solely to itself. Unfortunately that is rather a sophisticated concept to try and convey by pantomime, even if the person you are trying to explain it to isn't fleeing away at top speed. With a powerful surge, the wereshark rockets forward in a desperate attempt to catch his prey before it can reach... whatever the hells that glowing line is. Unfortunately, he fails. Even more unfortunately the margin is close enough he was sure he'd succeed until the very last second and it is much harder to kill forward momentum underwater than it is on dry land. Despite an impossibly lithe twist around and all the might Krajk can bring to bear, his predatory rush of a few moments ago carries him forward a few feet too far.

There is a moment of panicked thrashing as he finds himself falling to the floor, struggling to breathe in an atmosphere that has suddenly become less hospitable, before conscious thought regains control over animal instinct and he shifts back into man form. Panting hard, he rises to his feet and swears as he realizes where he is standing. Fumbling at his belt for a dagger, he realizes that this means he can now speak*. Even as he yells, "What bloody throne?" at the siren, he flips his grip on the dagger and launches it through the air**. It's not balanced for throwing, but the distance is short enough that doesn't matter much.

(*The swearing had been more or less unconsciously done.)
(**He's aiming to incapacitate or cripple, not kill, though he wouldn't complain if he "misses" and kills the siren instead.)

[Joshua]

It may be helpful to note that the 'water' aspect of the place doesn't completely vanish until the first veil. That being said, even a few feet in, it's no longer solid/real enough to support swimming.

The dagger fades into non-existence the moment it leaves the area over the pattern on the floor*. (Hope it wasn't important, and there isn't really a better way to tell you not to step off.)

The siren is walking forward, blue sparks starting to climb up his legs and body as he trudges forward. "The throne of Rebma. Someone who has walked the pattern will claim the throne. That's what he said to the newcomer when I was stealing his magic cards. These things are matters of ownership. Of this place, of reality itself." He is attempting to run, but as Krajk will soon find out, walking the pattern feels like trudging through mud**. "Someone is finally ready to walk and it shall be me."

Ossian and Corystes arrive just a little too late to stop you. Unable to shout through the water, they can do little more than make frantic 'Don't walk back!' gestures, followed by Ossian making a 'keep going' gesture... He looks rather concerned this might be fatal, but really isn't sure how to explain it further, and it's clear walking back will be fatal***.
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*: For the sake of 'minor consistency' we will assume the coincidence that the dagger flew off the pattern toward the center. Again, it has been OOC theorized you could step away from the pattern and survive before the first veil. This is both unlucky (as you have to walk the pattern now) and lucky (In that you know not to step off). So, we'll call that a wash. Plus, the first curve does go into the pattern.
**: My thought being, that you're going through water as much as walking Amber's pattern allows you to walk through air. Once on the hyper-reality of the pattern, such things are a moot point.
***: The current OOC theory is that the further you go, the more real you are. Walking back causes you to fall through the "lesser reality" of the early part of the pattern into the abyss. Much like stepping off does.

[Krajk]

Krajk swears again, in multiple languages and at multiple targets (mostly the siren and Ossian), stalking forward along the path of his inflicted doom. "Akkorokamui take you for kraken bait, I don't want anyone's bloody throne let alone one from a land so puffed up with its ego. And what in the frozen hells possessed you to violate guest rights by attacking someone who otherwise wouldn't have given a damn about whether you existed or not? If you'd bothered thinking for even half a second you would have had this mess to yourself and I'd have gone my way elsewhere when the stupid festival ended..."

[Joshua]

The siren is starting to look like hell. Drained on a level that you're just starting to understand. (Of course, he has chaos endurance, so... you kinda beat him there.) You're wondering what he's complaining about just briefly until you hit the end of the first curve. There's kind of a jolt, like you're making a huge step up. The closest you've heard of this is it resembles stories of what lycanthropic infection is like. At least mentally, there doesn't seem to be any clear effects like heightened senses. The step is formless, like an invisible barrier, or going with teh water aspect, the mud you're trudging through gets a lot thicker for a moment.

With dogged persistence you break through, getting a momentary reflection of yourself in the invisible barrier. In the reflection you are by a coral throne. You stand, uncomfortable in a formal dress uniform (military or not, it's hard to tell), decorated with what can only be your family crest (or what you would make as a family crest, even if you've never seen such a thing before, this is a reflection of you...). It is clear that standing by or sitting on the throne is your choice as you receive the mantle of nobility.

The flash passes, the blue pattern coming back into focus, but the rest of the room does not return. Walking gets slightly easier as the invisible mud thins, as you are now in an empty black abyss. Just you, the siren, and the pattern. Actually, the pattern, free of the floor it was previously inscribed in, now clearly has wavelike ripples frozen in it; a series of hills that you are now walking up and down as you move in toward the center.

The siren almost stumbles, driven in front of you by fear. "It was clear. I had to take your privilege to walk this. The card was one way to do so. For now, it is a race, only one will survive."

[Krajk]

Krajk has stopped swearing by now, but it's clear from his sulfurous expression that he's still thinking them. He plows forward and if he doesn't speed up like his efforts show he's clearly trying to he doesn't seem to slow down as much as might be expected. He pushes the imagery away for the time being; real or (hopefully) not, survival is paramount now.

Well, survival and karma/revenge, and with Krajk the latter two are often hard to tell apart. He braces himself for impact as he hits the second veil*, but even as he does so he reaches out to grab one of the siren's arms...

(*Not sure if he can tell where they are, but he can tell the siren suddenly bogged down.)

[Joshua]

The second veil hits and doesn't hit at the same time. The moment you grab the siren's arm, a simple fact becomes clear. The pattern is killing him and he won't make it. The image has a single question to define who and what you are: Will you kill him through action or inaction? Do you take revenge directly or leave him to his doomed fate*?

Krajk** demands of the siren, "Die trying or die failing?"

Unfortunately***, the siren has passed out, his life slowly leeching into the pattern below. He cannot answer.
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*: As a minor reminder, per Merlin, choices offered by the pattern are often lies.
**: Spoke to Krajk's player over IM to speed this part.
***: OOC: This is still the second veil, a pure reflection of Krajk and not the siren.

[Krajk]

Krajk bulls onward, still clenching his hand around the siren's arm. Once free of the veil, he slings the body over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. The siren may have died an idiot, but at least he'd died trying and Krajk could respect that. Perhaps dragging the body along would keep his ghost from returning to haunt him; ghosts were a nuisance and you couldn't even eat them once you'd killed them... again. If nothing else, perhaps his corpse would make a good distraction to dump on Ossian's (figurative) lap. Or something. By this point Krajk has begun to give up on making sense of this bewildering mystical... thing that he's beginning to fear is a nightmare of a trap...

[Joshua]

Oh, a corpse would make this way too easy. No, the siren is still breathing, and you best get him off the pattern quick if you want to keep him that way. (Or slowly, if you'd prefer a corpse. It is clearly, painfully, your choice. Seriously, the pattern itself is making you aware that this person will live or die as Krajk wills, and no one else has a say in that. It's subtle yet pervasive. Carrying him out would be an act of mercy*.)

The difficulty of the pattern has been glossed over a bit. Being submerged in thickening concrete is fairly close. whatever force is hindering your walk is smooth, not grainy. Although the electric feel of the pattern sparks has your entire skin tingling at this point, so it's hard to tell. The sparks themselves give off a strange light, but are not blinding, it's very clear where the pattern is and is not.

A good reason why the difficulty is being ignored is Krajk is focused on a goal and has both the stats and the single-minded determination to not let himself be distracted. (And he definitely isn't going to rest. Even with your stats, you're not completely sure you could get started again if you stopped moving.)

Shortly (Not so shortly? it's hard to get a feel for time here), the siren will regain some semblance of consciousness. He will ask, "Why save me? If we reach the center, we will stand as equals before the court, all crimes forgiven." He will cough. "We will be the kings of Rebma. Tied to it and marked by power**. Wherever we travel, the worlds themselves will part for us, and we will find any and all we choose. And Rebma will know us and we will command its loyalty."
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*: OOC: Not that I'm encouraging or discouraging saving him or not, but the nature of the test is that you must choose to save him or leave him, and the pattern / test itself is forcing your eyes open about the act.
**: I'm not feeling too creative, it's supposed to be clear that this mark of power will always state you are 'of Rebma' and that it ties you to that court as much as ties the court to it. The impression is that even wayward princes will be tracked down and brought back because of this mark of power. Although, given that the PCs you interacted with did not bear a visible mark, it might require such a power to notice such a mark (Odin could do so). Although, you might be able to avoid that by being useless. Not that Krajk would ever, could ever, choose to be useless.

[Krajk]

Krajk doesn't respond to the siren's confusion at first, his whole focused on the task at hand. He does not give up easily, only fleeing when it becomes clear that that is the only means of survival, and with fleeing apparently being tantamount to death he's not about to do that either, now. Finally after several long moments, he growls, "You can distract the bastards and play their stupid court games; it's what you wanted and I hope you choke on it. You broke guest rights and instigated this whole cursed farce, it seems only meet that you be likewise damned and owing a life debt to the one you tried to kill."

[Joshua]

"Who said I will owe you?" The siren asks. "We will be equals when we come out of this. Nothing more, nothing less. The equal of all the other amberites. You give that to me, perhaps... that's what I was supposed to do. Have you carry me. If you wish, I can be king and let you be the knight. I could repay such loyalty. Is that your choice? Do you choose to be my equal, my lesser or something else*?"
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*: Stupid metaphor fail... Basically, the only way to enforce such a debt is to assume a higher station than the siren when you finish. Something is attempting to force that kind of choice from Krajk.